You accept a big new role at a fast growing company in desperate need of your expertise. For a brief moment you’ll be given the opportunity to redefine yourself. The new team doesn’t know much about you. They’ve seen your LinkedIn profile or maybe stalked some of your social media accounts. Ok, they’ve definitely looked at your social media accounts.

Either way, they want to know what kind of leader you’re going to be. If a leader at all. How will you rule? What will you manage?

The presidential election last week featured two very different candidates and, with the subsequent posturing over the results, many business leaders watched two starkly different methods of leadership with interest. Which begs the question..

What kind of leader is the best kind of leader?

Picture two ends of a spectrum. On one side there is blissful benevolence and on the other sits iron fisted tyranny:

• Benevolence
  Kindness and forgiveness abound. A friendlier environment for a team to work in. There is freedom for teammates to work as they wish and deliver work when they wish. On the flip side, people may take advantage of your kindness. They may not have the internal drive to see projects through without firm instruction
• Tyranny
  There’s the hill. Go take it, no matter the cost. Right and wrong. Black and white. The Machiavellian “ends justify the means” argument. Effective motivation delivered through fear. Yet, the stress of the sword’s cut can lead to mistakes. Lack of communication due to fear of punishment. The team may perform on the razor’s edge

Somewhere in between there is a sweet spot to fit your style. Either extreme is likely a disaster, right?

A positive environment built on kindness is good! Simultaneously, it’s important to make sure performance is measured and expectations are firmly held! It’s holding a balance that is the key.

In 1975, British economist Charles Goodhart released an article on monetary policy. It highlighted the challenge of statistical regularity and its usefulness once that statistic was used for control purposes. His theory is more commonly known today as when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.

The strategy we’ll then propose to pull effectively from both extremes is that performance must be measured tyrannically with the gift of benevolent context to allow team members the freedom to operate and find their own creative solutions.

Tyranny has purpose for specific deliverables. Benevolence will undoubtedly give teams more flexibility and stamina. Understanding both extremes will allow any leader redefining themselves the opportunity to find a place on the infinite continuum of space, time, benevolence, and tyranny.

We shall see what the future brings…in this country and your teams.