We Need Leadership!
The book, “ Leading Through Conflict” by Mark Gerzon attempts to attack a core issue that continuously challenges companies, governments, churches, and businesses throughout the world and here at home. He states, “Every one of us leads a life with conflict. It is everywhere: from organizations that are divided about their strategy and roles to local communities that are divided by race, economics, religion, or politics;”[1]He continues in his introduction that the reason why that conflicts are “only increasing and becoming more complex and intractable, because the walls are coming down.”[2] Walls that separate cultures, communities are coming down. He quotes AT&T CEO Michael Armstrong by stating, ““It’s an irreversible trend, whether they are tariff borders, monetary borders, political borders, ethnic borders—they are coming down.”3 And as the world is changing, leadership must change too.”[3] The need for “boundary crossing leaders” as Gerzon states can help the parts work together and strengthen the whole. The question is how you and I will respond to this conflict is an act of leadership. “ “Leading through conflict” involves facing differences honestly and creatively, understanding their full complexity and scope, and enabling those involved to move toward original solutions.”[4] Gerzon defines three faces of leadership. The first model is called the Demagogue which Gerzon defines on page 19 as, “leads through fear, threats, and intimidation; turns opponents into scapegoats, uses lies and propaganda to dehumanize the other ,and resorts to violence to dominate or destroy the other.” The second model is called the manager. “ A manager’s mandate is, almost by definition, limited to the group or project to which that manager is assigned. So, when a leader takes a managerial approach, there are real benefits but also serious limitations.”[5]
The last model of leadership that Gerzon defines it is called the mediator. “The mediator represents a leadership approach that transformed differences into opportunities.”[6] He also states that when we lead, “we cannot be dictators or even ordinary managers we have to lead like mediators.”
[1] Gerzon, Mark; Gerzon, Mark. Leading Through Conflict (p. 1). Harvard Business Review Press. Kindle Edition. [2] Gerzon, Mark; Gerzon, Mark. Leading Through Conflict (p. 2). Harvard Business Review Press. Kindle Edition. [3] Gerzon, Mark; Gerzon, Mark. Leading Through Conflict (p. 3). Harvard Business Review Press. Kindle Edition. [4] Gerzon, Mark; Gerzon, Mark. Leading Through Conflict (p. 4). Harvard Business Review Press. Kindle Edition. [5] Gerzon, Mark; Gerzon, Mark. Leading Through Conflict (p. 31). Harvard Business Review Press. Kindle Edition. [6] Gerzon, Mark; Gerzon, Mark. Leading Through Conflict (p. 5). Harvard Business Review Press. Kindle Edition.