Article
03 January 2024, 3 min read
Navigating complexity to a Wellbeing Economy
How do we embrace the inevitable tensions when transitioning to an economy for people and planet?
Exploring duality and paradox
In December 2023 I hosted one of our regular Big Conversations - a series of intimate thought-leadership dialogues - focused on complexity and duality as they relate to business leadership. We were specifically exploring our collective transition towards a Wellbeing Economy aligned with human dignity, fairness, and ecological health.
We all grapple with contradiction and tension in both our personal and professional lives. As human beings we embody duality, feeling capable yet lost, outwardly smiling while inwardly struggling. We continuously seek to balance vulnerability and strength.
Understanding ourselves and the systems we inhabit requires embracing messy complexity rather than reductionist binaries. There are no singular truths.
Business leaders face endless dualities
In business, leaders face endless dualities to navigate on a daily basis: standardisation versus customisation, global integration versus local needs, centralisation versus decentralisation.
Personally, we may feel like capable leaders yet question our direction. Or struggle beneath a veneer of success while lacking fulfillment.
Tensions inherent in systems change
As we work to transition our economic system to better support collective wellbeing over profit, profound tensions arise. Forces tug between profit motives and social impact, short-term shareholder primacy and long-term sustainability.
Progress emerges not by forcing singular truths, but through compassionately integrating multiple, even contradictory, valid perspectives.
Key insights from our dialogue
Our wide-ranging conversation revealed how embracing the inevitability of tension unlocks innovation. But this requires moving beyond fragile egos seeking to be “right” and embracing humility.
Bravery and trust enabled our group to explore complex interdependencies. We discussed the challenges policymakers like Scottish Enterprise face in balancing economic growth with benefiting society.
Transition requires getting comfortable with the “messy middle” rather than adhering blindly to either pure free markets or central control. Both ignore inevitable trade-offs.
Growth demands self-examination
On an individual level, genuine influence starts with self-examination, asking, “What do I turn away from?” Rather than fearing tension, we can reframe anxiety as growing pains. By leaning into discomfort, we expand.
This ability to hold complexity, surface blindspots and see from multiple angles becomes a leadership superpower.
The path ahead: embracing contradiction
In closing, I emphasised the significance of acknowledging contradiction without demanding singular truths or simplification. As we navigate bumpy transition to a Wellbeing Economy, perhaps such ability to creatively hold complexity will light the way.
What complex dualities or tensions do you navigate as a leader seeking positive change?
