God has given me the blessing and privilege of working with a number of great leaders throughout my career in ministry and in business. One of those leaders was a “paradoxical leader”. He believed that a paradox (a self-contradictory statement) was an effective way to create tension within a group or organization from which creative solutions can emerge. That type of leader is very comfortable with ambiguity, uncertainty, messiness and contradictions. The desired result is direction without directives, authority without control, and a creative tension from which creative solutions will emerge. The idea is that the solution to many problems is found somewhere between the two paradoxical thoughts, and the creative tension will allow the diverging groups to converge on that solution. It’s an interesting leadership style; one that can be challenging to work under. But it was highly effective for this leader.

Jesus Himself is well known for using verbal paradox to communicate truth – “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”(1) “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”(2) And, “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.”(3) But His use of paradox did not point to a truth somewhere in the middle; His paradox underscored the truth. And i would definitely say that there is nothing paradoxical about God’s leadership. He is both directive and authoritative. His truth is absolute, and without contradiction….