Door #3

Binary professional thinking runs rampant. Pay attention to how often you see, hear, say, read, and experience either/or optionality.

It’s either this or that.

We can solve this one way or the other.

Let’s buy this software or the other one.

It’s gotta be his or her fault.

We should go for it or play it safe.

There’s a winner or loser.

Let’s choose profit or people.

Door #1. Door #2. Two options, lined up, waiting for you to pick a side. And most of the time? We pick. It feels decisive. It feels like leadership.

But, it’s rarely that black and white.

There’s almost always a third door. The one many don’t see, sense, or search for. Door #3.

Door #3 is the both/and. The direct truth and the kindness. The margin and the mission. The profit and the people.

It doesn’t show up on its own. It’s not standing in the hallway next to #1 and #2, waiting politely. You have to go looking for it. You have to believe it’s there before you can see it.

Both/and is harder. It asks more of you. It takes longer. It won’t hand you a clean, fast answer you can defend in a meeting.

And that’s exactly why most people walk past it.

A leader’s job isn’t to pick one binary option a little quicker than everyone else.

A leader’s responsibility is to keep believing Door #3 exists. And to do the curious, compassionate, clear work of finding it.

Not once. Not only when it’s convenient.

Consistently.