Yes, it is true that what is a strength can be a weakness in another context or if pushed too far. So we don’t really present these as strengths, but rather as a set of characteristic in tension that one needs to navigate (oneself or with partners).

How about ‘Storyteller and Listener’. I agree that great leadership holds these tensions and look forward to seeing how you progress with the model. Thanks for sharing early, C

Thanks, Ruth… what’s a word you would use for someone who has reaches out to different audiences – with a message? Performer, perhaps…

I think we get too hung up on ‘communication’ meaning talking. A vital part of communication is also listening. You don’t really have one without the other (well, you might, but the communication isn’t going to be effective)

Hi Stuart…. thanks. At one point we did have visionary as the other end of the pragmatic spectrum and replaced it with passionate. Do you think that visionary captures the tension with pragmatic better?

We have debated strategic and came to a (tentative) conclusion that it falls under the big picture description. But we recognize that strategic is a bit more active than big picture. When we write them up we’ll revisit this, so thanks for drawing our attention to it.

Hi Alan… yes, perhaps “communication” is not the right word. We’re trying to get at the ability to tell a good story to different types of audiences, the ability to explain and/or convey a message.

Would communicator-listener do it for you?

These are our own observations and words used by social learning leaders to describe what they do. They are not contradictory, but often in tension. We are saying that good social learning leaders at good at living in those tensions.

Thanks for your thoughts!