Oct 14, 2015–2 minutes on opposition buddies and leadership.

Most of us know the feeling when someone tells a story and suddenly there’s a click in the back of our mind. There’s a connection with an idea that you had heard ages ago. Next, the understanding kicks in. That feeling is good. If I’m honest, the thought that by understanding more, we also develop the ability to see around corners, drives me crazy. It’s addictive.

So I got this feeling yesterday. My University lecturer Stuart shared an idea about British politics. Nothing really exciting, except he did argue a good point. He said “Good government has a strong opposition. They help to deliver better leadership from the majority of the parliament”. I don’t really care about politics, but I do like the concept that the opposition drives a better leadership. It almost feels like we are designed in a way that when it’s hard we do our best work.

I’ve seen this first hand when leadership produces anger and sweats, as the arguments and ego battles rage on. The opposition “buddies” usually goes after everything as that’s their bias. It’s almost like they hear a little voice in their heads “They don't know anything, don’t let them win”. Sometimes their arguments are legit, sometimes they are worthless. It all comes down to one thing, it creates a tough environment to bulletproof leaders.

However, most of the time leaders don’t want to hear the opposition, not because they don’t want to prove they know better, but because they want to find a shortcut. So they use authority to dismiss and discredit any objections. It’s much easier to get rid of opposition than to prove you’re really right.

What I’ve found is that authority used wisely - inspire. But in reality, authority means power and people tend to use it to their advantage. When some abuses authority, he becomes a center for fear and hate. Just think of a struggling relationship where the guy pulls out his “ace” card, or at least he thinks it’s ace. He says I’m the man of the house, I call the shots. That’s abusing authority and ultimately produces one thing — rebellion or fear.

There’s the 20 second takeaway. When I see that something isn’t moving forward, I ask myself “Is there an opposition to me?”. If there’s no opposition the work probably isn’t important or new. People tend to resist things that challenge their beliefs. Important and new beliefs about the world will produce opposition.

Be cool with opposition buddies — Thanks for reading.

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