Ford Foundation President Darren Walker wisely recognizes that “effective leadership requires managing nuance and complexity..." The ability to support people through uncertainty is the core work of a leader, yet it is where leaders have typically received the least preparation and support. We offer these practices to help leaders respond more skillfully to the complexity and uncertainty of these times: 🌀 Distinguish between complicated and complex problems. Complex challenges require leaders to create the conditions for innovation, instead of providing an answer. Solutions emerge through people coming together to try new things and engage in continuous learning and ongoing adaptation. 🤯 Expand mental models. Leaders must continuously challenge their inherited assumptions about what is needed and how meaningful change happens, while creating conditions for others to do the same. 🫱✨🫲 Hold the problem space open. Resist the rush to solutions in favor of engaging multiple perspectives that allow deeper insights and unexpected innovations to emerge. As Walker reminds us, "there is no leadership without risk," and the greatest risk we face are systems that marginalize and exclude. Leaders must be willing to risk the messiness of inclusive and democratic processes with uncertain outcomes. We need leaders with the courage to dismantle inequitable systems and redistribute power, and the ability to create spaces where everyone belongs and has agency to shape our shared future. #EquityLeadership #Horizon3 #HowWeLead
As president of the Ford Foundation, and in my service on numerous boards of directors, I’ve observed a growing crisis of leadership in the U.S. Now, as I prepare to step down from Ford, I worry that this gathering storm holds dire consequences. In The New York Times, I ask all of us—those who lead, those who choose leaders, and those who are led—to re-examine our responsibilities. Together, we can build an America that supports fearless leadership again, for the sake of our shared future.