I belong to a large number of groups and have seen quite a number of different Leadership styles within these groups.

Just yesterday, I was looking over a Project where Less-Senior Members of the Organization were building something to attract new members.

This particular Project would also be designed to improve the Wellness of current members (MUCH needed in the world today).

The Senior Members of the Organization had been hesitant of the Idea from the beginning.

However, for a period of about a week, it appeared to be going in a good direction.

Until, seemingly out of the blue, the Senior Leadership sent a message to the Group making it (at least seem) that the Project was not to their liking.

At that point, quite a large number of adjustments had already been in the works (with more being Developed) to appease the Senior Leadership.

Innovation was happening toward a direction that should have been part of everyone's Goals, but the Project has seemed to be killed overnight.

From what I am aware of with that group, there are no other efforts being done to attract new Members nor anything for overall Wellness.

One of the hardest things for Leaders to create, true Innovation, was slaughtered with one message.

A victim of Over-Conservatism.

However, there is another danger as well that I see in the world.

Over-Liberalism.

Moving too fast without considering any of the consequences of what could occur.

There seems to be this problem that I am seeing all around.

Many people in Leadership positions seem to lean to one extreme or the other.

Those who lean to Over-Conservatism seem to prevent any Growth and Innovation from occurring at all.

It is like taking plant-killer to an entire garden without looking at what might be Growing, leaving everything barren.

Those who lean to Over-Liberalism seem to push Change too quickly without any Safeguards at all, leaving a path of Chaos in its wake.

It is like planting every seed imaginable, not pulling the weeds out from the rest of the plants, as all the plants fight for lacking resources until the entire garden strangles itself.

Neither of these create a good garden.

Killing everything leads to nothing.

Allowing unquestioned Growth also leads to nothing.

For any Organization to be successful, you need a mixture of Conservatism and Liberalism.

Conservative Mindsets tend to ask great questions about what should be considered before going full steam.

Liberal Mindsets tend to ask great questions about what should be questioned and what should change.

These two Mindsets work best when joined together.

Fast enough for Innovation and Growth not to be decimated.

Slow enough for good Safeguards and proper Cultivation.

The best Organizations find a balancing point toward the middle.

Organizations that lie at either Extreme tend to collapse.

For Over-Conservative, look no further than Blockbuster or Kodak.

Both saw Innovation and the Future right in front of them, and they laughed themselves into Irrelevancy.

For overly Liberal, look no further than the now infamous Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX.

They pushed so quickly to a new Future, and they laughed themselves into Jail and Bankruptcy.

There is something toward a middle ground that can be established, and Organizations can have success even with a slight leaning in either direction.

We can look at both Microsoft and Apple in this respect.

Apple is definitely the more Liberal minded of the two companies, pushing for Innovation.

They are often attempting to create products that define new trends in the world.

However, they still move slow enough to ask the right types of questions about their products before pushing forward.

You can look at how they have marketed their Apple Vision Pro.

Instead of jumping on the bandwagon of Meta's complete failures in VR and the Metaverse, Apple decided to ask different questions.

They have marketed their product as "Spatial Computing".

By not moving too quickly, they seem to have seen the design flaws of "similar" products in the VR space.

They have also designed something that seems significantly more appealing.

This is also coming from someone who tends to hate Apple Products.

I may not care for Apple's products personally, but I Respect how Apple plays the game of Business.

Microsoft on the other hand hasn't created anything that would be considered the Pinnacle of Innovation for some time now.

However, they do stay Innovative enough to remain one of the most Relevant companies in the world.

They don't often move extremely quickly, but when they do, you know they are on to something.

Even recently, within 72 hours, Microsoft made the quick move to hire Sam Altman, just in case OpenAI imploded.

Plus they offered to hire the 95% of Employees threatening to quit!

Most C-Suite Hires take over 2 months to make happen, but Microsoft did it in less than half a week!

Not to mention the Offer to Hire an entire new department!

The way that Microsoft handled the situation showed that they know how to remain a Power Player, and it likely saved all of their investments in AI.

In Business, you can't be at either Extreme.

To Succeed, you need to find the Balancing Point that works for your Organization.

Remember, "Balancing" is a verb, it's an Action.

As you go through Business, you will need to make some adjustments, sometimes leaning a bit more Conservative, and other times leaning a bit more Liberal.

Failure to make those adjustments will eventually lead to Organizational Death.

The Challenge Of Over-Conservatism And Over-Liberalism

The Extremes Of Disaster

What will you write today?