The Power of Managing Polarities: Lessons for Modern Leaders, *by Ollie Malone & alan Brenner

In the fast-moving, complex world of leadership, we’re often told to make decisions, set clear direction and choose a path forward. Yet some challenges resist clear-cut choices. These are not simple problems to solve, but ongoing tensions to manage—what leadership theorists call polarities.

A polarity is a pair of interdependent values or behaviors that seem to be opposites, but both are necessary for a system to thrive. Think of stability and change or control and empowerment. Leaning too far toward one side may cause the other to erode, creating unintended consequences. Effective leadership lies not in choosing one pole or the other, but in learning to balance and integrate both over time.

Roots in Gestalt Theory

The concept of polarities traces back to early Gestalt therapy, developed in the 1950s by Fritz Perls and colleagues. Gestalt psychology emphasizes the idea that humans experience reality through wholes—integrated patterns rather than isolated parts. In therapy, “polarities” referred to the opposing aspects of the self—for example the tender and tough sides of one’s personality—that needed awareness and integration, not suppression or elimination.

Applied to organizations, this same insights holds: health and growth come from recognizing and balancing opposing forces rather than denying one side or the other. Where early Gestalt practitioners helped individuals unify inner tensions, leadership development practitioners now help organizations and teams harmonize structural tensions that drive success.

Contemporary leadership coach and author, Barry Johnson expanded this concept into a practical framework for organizations through his Polarity Management model, first published in the early 1990s. Johnson’s work brought language, tools, and structure to what Gestalt therapists had intuited—that some problems are not puzzles to solve, but polarities to manage over time.

Polarities and Organizational Paradoxes

Johnson’s approach parallels and complements the growing body of research on organizational paradoxes developed by scholars such as Marianne Lewis and Wendy Smith. Both perspectives share the view that organizations face persistent tensions—between exploration and exploitation, flexibility and control, purpose and profit—that cannot be “solved” but must be navigated. Paradox theory emphasizes the cognitive and behavioral capacity to embrace contradictions, while polarity management provides practical frameworks and tools for leaders to map, monitor, and balance those tensions over time. Together, they reflect a shift from linear problem-solving toward systems thinking—an essential evolution for today’s complex environment.

Polarities Every Leader Faces

Leaders encounter polarity tensions daily such as:

• Centralization vs. Decentralization: Balancing top-down control with local empowerment.

• Stability vs. Change: Preserving core processes while adapting to evolving conditions.

• Short-Term Results vs Long-Term Goals: Meeting this quarter’s targets while building for the future.

• Cost Containment vs. Investment for Growth: Protecting margins while funding innovation.

• Employee Well-Being vs. High Performance: Fostering support without losing drive.

• Task vs. Relationship Focus: Ensuring accountability while nurturing collaboration.

• Candor vs. Diplomacy: Speaking truth while maintaining respect.

• Confidence vs. Humility: Projecting assurance while staying open to discovery of what one may not know.

Each polarity represents a dynamic rhythm—both sides are valuable and overemphasizing one inevitably drains energy from the other.

Contemporary Leadership Polarities

Innovation --—— Standardization

Corporate-Driven ——— Field-Driven

Remote Work ——— On-Site Work

Customer-Centric ——— Operations-Centric

The Benefits for Leaders

Leaders who learn to manage polarities skillfully benefit in several ways:

1. Better decision making. Viewing challenges as both/and tension instead of either/or choices broadens perspective and leads to more sustainable decisions.

2. Resilience in complexity. Polarity thinking helps leaders stay balanced amid uncertainty, avoiding the overcorrections that cone from panic or rigidity.

3. Healthier cultures. Teams led by polarity-savvy leaders experience less conflict and more trust, as members feel their concerns are acknowledged on both sides of the equation.

4. Sustained performance. Managing polarities ensures that short-term wins don’t undermine long-term viability and that innovation doesn’t destroy needed stability.

A Dynamic Balancing Act

The art of leadership, much like Gestalt therapy’s focus on awareness and integration is not about eliminating tension—it is about staying conscious within it and recognizing the strengths and benefits of both poles. Frequently, there is compelling rationale for both sides of the polarity. Leaders, in an attempt to get things done quickly, too quickly dismiss one side of polarity in favor of the other. An innovative lens focused on the polarity may stimulate new ways of thinking and leading.

Polarities energize systems when held in balance, pulling organizations toward wholeness and adaptability. As the world becomes more interconnected and paradoxical, leaders who develop this “polarities mindset”—as Barry Johnson has taught for decades—will not only make better decisions but will help their organizations thrive in harmony with their own humanity.

Summary

As long as there are differing perspectives, leaders will encounter polarities. The leader’s task, as stated previously, is not to eliminate the polarities, but to explore them in service of the best solution for the issue at-hand. Left unattended, the leader and organization run the risk of proving Peter Senge’s admonition, “Today’s problems are caused by yesterday’s solutions.”

About the authors: 

*Dr. Ollie Malone is President and Principal Consultant of Olive Tree Associates, a Texas-based consulting firm that he founded in 1993 (after graduating from the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland). He is also a member of the faculty of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and its Gestalt Institute Leader Development (GILD) program.   His clients have included Walmart, Shell, Boeing, Arizona State University, the University of South Carolina, and State Farm Insurance. He holds a doctorate in Adult Development and Learning, a second doctorate in Transformational Leadership, a master’s degree in business administration, a second master’s in hearing and speech, and a bachelor’s degree in communication.

*Alan Brenner, a former senior executive with Blackberry and Sun Microsystems, is currently the Interim Executive Director of the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland(GIC) and a member of GIC’s Board of Directors. . His professional background includes extensive work and leadership in technical organizations in creating climates where innovation thrives and where financial results satisfy shareholders. He is a graduate of several programs in the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and is currently active in the Gestalt Institute Leadership Development (GILD) program.