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Competing demands are interdependent — embrace both/and.
Wendy K. Smith (Dana J. Johnson Professor, University of Delaware's Lerner College) and Marianne W. Lewis (dean, University of Cincinnati's Lindner College) built paradox theory over two decades of collaboration begun in doctoral studies. Their 2011 Academy of Management Review paper won the journal's Decade Award; Both/And Thinking (2022) carried the theory to practicing leaders.
Smith and Lewis's dynamic equilibrium model (AMR Decade Award winner) established paradox as a core lens: organizational tensions — stability/change, learning/performing — are persistent and interdependent, and thrive when embraced rather than resolved. Both/And Thinking translated the theory into leadership practice.
The era: Human-Centered & Paradoxical — Psychological safety, vulnerability, identity, and both/and thinking. Leadership as creating the conditions for learning — and holding competing truths at once.
Competing demands are interdependent — embrace both/and.
Where this work feeds the Open Sky frameworks.
Fellow travelers on these threads:
Name the tensions you face as paradoxes, not problems to solve once.
Move from either/or to both/and: ask how competing demands can fuel each other.