The Space Between: Where Vision and Skills are Both Fulfilled
“What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.”
Lao Tzu , Chinese Philosopher
--The Space Between--
“Long-term commitment to new learning and new philosophy is required of any management that seeks transformation. The timid and the fainthearted, and the people that expect quick results, are doomed to disappointment.”
Often in my coaching I am torn between the practical (Try this and let me know how it goes!) and the inspirational (Think about this and see if anything opens up for you!) To have any value whatsoever both ways of thinking/seeing must be related or connected by something I call “The Space Between.”
Lao Tzu and W. Edwards Deming are both leadership theorists.They are mainly known to us now by their legacies. Lao Tzu, a philosopher, left us a couple of thousand years ago with a complete contextual perspective on leadership and living life. Dr. Deming, the father of the quality movement across the world, was a mathematician who created a comprehensive, systemic , practical yet also philosophical approach to developing and sustaining economic value. He is also gone now, since 1993.
What draws me to these two sources is that they saw life through different eyes. Both views comprehensive, neither complete unto itself. When considered as complimentary perspectives their views point to the need for both a long view and a measured and detailed approach for any endeavor. Life in general or life in business was to be “measured” in order to be appreciated, measured as successful in terms of both the quantity of achievement and the quality of interactions that took place on a day to day basis. Neither was very interested in “top line” success stories, they wanted to dig deep, get down to what really mattered. They were concerned with enterprises lasting for as long as they added value and understanding the process of doing that.
Both these men also saw that without profound knowledge and a worthy vision, whatever the endeavor came down to putting in your time, like a “life sentence.” In Deming’s world profound knowledge meant developing a deep understanding the process by which you were creating value. For Lao Tzu the knowledge he was recommending we develop was knowledge of ourselves.
Where do I make the connection between the admonitions of the crusty mathematician and the poetic if at times enigmatic counsel of the Chinese philosopher? In the Space Between.
Of what value are tools and skills without a project to fulfill? Of what value is a vision without a path for fulfillment? It’s small wonder that Dr. Deming spent much of his professional career exasperated. He had designed tools to fulfill profound economic visions and what he found for clients were often business leaders that had little sense of Mission and a strong desire to simply hit their numbers. Lao Tzu would call this an absence of leadership. For leaders they would say there is always the Mission. Mission is the name for the Space Between. Without Mission there is no real need for application of tools and skills, no need for all that we inherited from Dr. Deming. Without Mission a Vision comes off as a pipe dream, or worse a manipulation, there is no sense of connection to anything beyond the immediate.
Have you named the Space Between for yourself or for those who report to you? Do you truly have a vision for yourself, as a professional and as a person, which calls forth a Mission, which begs for learning in the way Dr. Deming described it? And what about for the people who report to you? Have you shared it with them in ways and language they find meaningful?
- What are your projects between now and the time you become a butterfly?
