Shadows

The "rules" for business are well established; efficiency, productivity, control, certainty, the list goes on. The qualities are repeated daily in the business press, lauded by politicians, and woven into the curricula of business schools.

The theme that weaves them together is a desire for predictability. For most of us (and particularly for those of us here in the UK) that's a commodity in short supply right now.

Despite that, we pursue them. Confirmation bias will have its way. They have become, in many ways archetypes, and like all archetypes, we mostly forget that they're there (or that other archetypes are available.)

Every archetype has it shadow; its "dark side"

• for efficiency, it's lack of flexibility

• for control, it's lack of creativity and engagement

• for certainty, it's risk aversion and timidity

• for productivity, it's stasis

The dark side of management is pallid leadership. Managers have to do, leaders need to "be" - they are the lodestone of the meaning and purpose that determin…