Introduction to the leadership paradox series

One of the unexpected gifts of stepping back from principalship is the space to reflect on what leadership actually teaches us. Not the polished ideas found in books, but the gritty, stretching, and sometimes confronting truths that surface when theory collides with reality.

Because that is where leadership lives.
In the tension between what should happen and what actually happens.

Over time, I have learned that leadership theories do not sit neatly alongside one another. They rub. They contradict. They create friction. And if we are willing to stay with that friction, they offer deep insight.

These tensions are not signs of failure. They are signs that leadership is real.

Over the coming months, I will be sharing a fortnightly series titled The Leadership Paradox. Ten articles, each exploring what happens when leadership ideals meet the complexity of people, culture, systems, and human nature.

There will be no neat answers. Only honest reflections shaped by real work, real pressure, and real responsibility.

The first article is titled:

Simplicity: The Leader’s Greatest Discipline

Leaders are taught to streamline, clarify, and reduce noise. Yet simplicity is rarely simple. Every attempt to focus a system triggers resistance, fear of loss, and the pull of legacy structures. This piece explores why simplicity is easy to admire but costly to practise, and why the discipline of removing the unnecessary may be one of the most demanding leadership acts of all.

The first article will be published in the first week of January.

This series will not be rushed.
Each article stands on its own.
Each is written to provoke reflection rather than offer formulas.

If you would like to follow the journey and receive the articles as they are released, feel free to subscribe or connect.

Leadership is rarely tidy.
But inside the tension, there is truth worth exploring.

Where tension lives, leadership grows.