The Corporate Board with High “PQ”

The paradox is like the two sides of the coin, they are not just opposite, but also complementary, to make it a whole. BoDs need to be strategic, insightful, influential, and highly effective.

The paradox is “a situation, person, or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities.” It is the result of two opposing truths existing side by side, which can be both right. With “VUCA” new normal, there are many concepts that seem to be opposite, indeed, they are complementary to keep the world balanced.

A corporate board with high paradoxical intelligence (PQ) can set the tone to practice situational leadership, advocate changes, and strike the right balance of toughness and softness, no silo thinking, no binary or extreme thinking.


Candor and diplomacy: The more complex the situation is, the more different approaches and role gaming is needed to search for insight and pursue true knowledge. Senior leaders such as board directors play a critical role in setting digital principles and policies, overseeing strategies and monitoring performance. True critical thinking and constructive criticism are very important at the round table; “Thought candor” is offering a different way of thinking about a situation or a problem that fills the blind spots and moves the strategic conversation forward in the boardroom.

The corporate BoDs with high “PQ” can accommodate the value of alternative perspectives, respect diverse opinions, assess and converge the diverse thoughts into sound judgments. To get into the deep, deep digital reality, diplomatic board leaders present the strong "intellectual persuasiveness" skill, have vision, knowledge, insight, and wisdom to make a profound influence. Leadership is an influence, influence comes from progressive mindsets, profound understanding, diplomatic attitude, and step-wise actions.

Logic and creativity: The nonlinear vertical business logic comes through different characteristics such as mixed structures, diversity, volatility, ambiguity, unpredictability, and increased flux. Being an innovative board director means you need to break down silo thinking, breakthrough conventional wisdom, and if necessary, challenge the status quo. That is not easy for many top seasoned board directors who have decades of experience and enriched knowledge in certain areas. Creative board directors would be good at asking ‘Why’ and ‘Why not” questions, putting aside all the trained thoughts, systems, and boxes, letting the open possibility come naturally, keeping everyone involved and fostering an environment of creativity.

In the executive suite, you need a balance of both logic and creativity. Be creative enough to "dream" big and "sell the dream," but be logical enough to make dreams come true. It is absolutely correct that the logical mind with critical thinking is very important for board leadership. More often than not, the BoDs are the "framer" of complex problems, leveraging Systems Thinking for problem framing helps to take on a broad open perspective and solve them via “putting them together” seamlessly without creating too many new problems.

Confidence vs. humility: No challenge is one problem; overbearing interventions is another. One of the biggest challenges in this complex, multi-polar world is the fact that we need different perspectives and alternative ways to solve problems. The board understands the fine line between management and governance. They have to show humbleness and respect and start to listen. You are open to learn both about yourself, others and love new ideas. Talking and actively listening to one another. Being humble to ask thought-provoking questions improves leadership effectiveness and maturity.

Keep in mind, humility is not about being unsure or afraid to try new ways to do things. Rather, it speaks to a person’s openness to feedback, learning agility and continuous improvement. It is good to be confident in a natural way and there is no egotism in that. When you identify with your higher self, strength, spirit, or some other definition of the higher part of you which is not ego, you feel totally at peace to keep your mind flowing and amplifying leadership influence.

Reinventing business to get digital ready is an evolutionary journey with ups and downs, promises and perils on the way. The paradox is like the two sides of the coin, they are not just opposite, but also complementary, to make it a whole. BoDs need to be strategic, insightful, influential, and highly effective. The high-quality board leadership has very characteristics such as vision, learning agility, openness, and high PQ, etc.

Posted in: Board Room