The Practice of Adaptive Leadership

CHAPTER 8

Make Interpretations

EFFECTIVE VISIONS HAVE accuracy and not just imagination and appeal. Providing thoughtful, accurate interpretations that get at the essence of the complex reality you observe in your organization is enormously helpful to people. An incisive statement of the key issues that underlie a messy, complexified discussion orients people and helps focus attention productively. Although people may balk at your interpretation, having one on the table to discuss, revise, and amend is profoundly useful. But the interpretation also has to capture key realities. Dreams and fantasies are essential sources of new ideas and hope, but adaptive solutions have to capture and build from today’s realities toward new possibilities. ...