The need for leaders to think and act from a Both/And perspective has gained increasing attention during the past decades. Polarities like candor::diplomacy, structure::flexibility, local::global, employee-focus::organization-focus are central to complexity, transformation, and development. Unfortunately, while many talk about the criticality and benefits of Both/And leadership, few offer practical methods to help coaches support their clients as they develop this later-stage muscle.
In this session, Kelly Lewis, co-author of Navigating Polarities: Using Both/And Thinking to Lead Transformation, will explore why navigating these paradoxical tensions is often easier said than done, the important role identity and vulnerability play in navigating them, and introduce practical coaching applications that help clients develop both/and mindsets, heartsets, and skillsets.
Click here to watch a short video about polarities – what they are, where they show up, and how they work.
Presenter: Kelly Lewis
Kelly Lewis, PCC, is a Principal of Andiron, a leadership development firm committed to providing the space and tools for transformation. For more than 15 years, Kelly has been using Polarities as a lens to help leaders and organizations navigate some of their most complex challenges. She is particularly curious about the roles identity and vulnerability play in helping people thrive in the midst of paradoxical tensions.
Kelly works from a principle that leadership is a way of being, not just something we do. She is known by her clients as a coach that “finds the just right place in between support and challenge” as well as a “thought partner who leverages her mastery of polarities coupled with her experience as a Fortune 500 executive to understand the context”. In addition to coaching and consulting, Kelly teaches about paradox in leadership at Georgetown’s Institute for Transformational Leadership, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Maryland.
Kelly is co-author of Navigating Polarities: Using Both/And Thinking to Lead Transformation and a contributing author to On Becoming a Leadership Coach: A Holistic Approach to Coaching Excellence. She is co-creator of the Polarity Navigator, a sense-making tool to deal with polarities, and the Key Polarity Indicator, a 360 sense maker that identifies and measures some of the key polarities that contribute to leadership effectiveness.
She is honored to serve on Georgetown’s Institute for Transformational Leadership faculty and to have earned her Leadership Coaching Certificate from Georgetown. She is a Master in Polarity Thinking and has been designated a Professional Certified Coach by the International Coaching Federation. Additionally, she earned a B.S. in Business Management from Virginia Tech University.
Kelly resides in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband, Glenn, and furry child, Charlie.