Conventional wisdom used to say that in a jam, a leader had to make a decision, any decision, and then stick to it. Waffling, indecisiveness, or changing one’s mind was considered to be weakness. True strength came in just deciding something, anything, and standing by it right or wrong.
No more.
Nancy Pelosi has just demonstrated the courage it takes to change one’s mind – with the whole world watching. After months of vigorously resisting her own party’s calls to start impeachment proceedings against the President, she abruptly changed course, and announced she was commencing impeachment proceedings immediately. Based on new evidence showing the President had asked a foreign power to do something that was in his own partisan interest, she flip-flopped; she waffled; she changed course.
When To Hold; When To Fold?
So, when is it time to change your mind, and when is it time to stick to your guns? The answer to that time-honored leadership question is not only “it depends,” it is also changing in front of our eyes.
God and the devil are in the details. And when a preponderance of new evidence (and there’s lots of it these days) calls for a change in course, it is the wisest of leaders who have the courage to follow that evidence. That, apparently, is what Speaker Pelosi decided to do on Tuesday, September 24th, 2019.
Pressure on her must have been extraordinary, from her own party as well as outside of it. But as a product of an earlier leadership model, until today Speaker Pelosi showed every indication of sticking to her guns, not giving in to pressure, and following her own strategic instincts.
Then new evidence surfaced, and she had the guts and savvy to change.
A New Leadership Standard
And this ability to pivot is becoming the new leadership standard. Because every day, in our hyper-charged, disruption-worshiping, digitally based world, new facts are uncovered every nanosecond, and can travel the globe at the speed of light. And with each discovery, a new strategy, and a new decision may be called for. Leaders can no longer afford to stay hunkered down and decisive, when fast-changing facts indicate another strategy is needed.
The art of the pivot is becoming the determinant of success. Agile; nimble; lean – call it what you will – but companies will rise and fall, presidents too, on how agile and courageous their leaders are in the face of changing winds.
The Art Of The Pivot
Ironically, the art of changing his mind is also one that has been perfected by President Trump. Whether it is misdirection to be used in a negotiation among superpowers, to keep opponents off-balance, or because, as some aids have suggested, he goes from his gut, and his gut changes from moment to moment, Trump has perfected the art of the pivot.
Gamesmanship At Its Most Extreme
So, what we have looming in front of us in the next year appears to be a dance of elephants, each pirouetting and pivoting away, sometimes to the prevailing winds and other times to a tune heard only by themselves. Fact-based, maybe; a spectacle for sure.
But who will win – possibly he or she who can pivot faster, dance more nimbly, and redefine decision theory time and time again. Buckle your seat belts.
