Harnessing the “Toomuches” With Bedrock Leadership
Unlocking the power of extremes through prudence, Taoist wisdom, and focused leadership
Introduction
I see myself as a catalyst, not a coach or mentor. While coaches and mentors guide and provide advice, a catalyst activates and accelerates what already exists within people. My role is to unlock the potential within individuals and teams, helping them channel their natural tendencies into productive outcomes—whether that means too much creativity, caution, or drive. This approach allows leaders to use the power of extremes rather than simply managing or moderating them.
In the ever-evolving landscape of modern organizations, Bedrock Leadership emerges as a foundational approach that emphasizes being ruthless in problem-solving and compassionate with people. At its core, Bedrock Leadership is about building a solid foundation—much like bedrock—that supports growth, innovation, and resilience.
However, within any team or organization, there are individuals with tendencies to go to extremes in their pursuit of specific values or traits. I refer to them as the “Toomuches.” These are the people who are often seen as being “too much” by their colleagues, managers, and even sometimes by their parents. Whether it’s an overabundance of creativity without execution, excessive caution that stifles innovation, or a relentless drive for freedom that disrupts structure, these “Toomuches” can both propel and hinder progress.
The challenge for leaders is not to suppress these extremes but to harness them—channeling the excesses for the sake of ruthless problem-solving while treating the individual with compassion. This requires a nuanced approach that blends steadfast leadership principles with adaptable strategies.
Understanding “Toomuches”
The term “Toomuches” refers to the phenomenon where individuals prioritize and seek an excess of certain traits or values—be it freedom, security, innovation, or control. It’s human nature to gravitate toward what we value most, but when unchecked, these preferences can become excessive, leading to imbalances within a team or organization.
In professional environments, these excesses manifest in various ways:
- Overemphasis on freedom can lead to a lack of structure and accountability.
- Excessive desire for security might result in resistance to change or innovation.
- Too much creativity without practical execution can stall progress.
- Over-control can stifle autonomy and diminish morale.
Recognizing these “Toomuches” is the first step in turning potential pitfalls into strengths.
Examples of Conflicting “Toomuches”
- Freedom vs. Security: The visionary thrives on unfettered creativity, pushing boundaries and imagining possibilities beyond the status quo. They seek freedom to explore new ideas and innovate without restrictions, which can lead to groundbreaking solutions. However, this excess freedom can also result in disorganization, lack of structure, and misaligned efforts within the team. On the other hand, the planner values stability and predictability, focusing on creating clear processes, minimizing risks, and maintaining control to ensure smooth operations. While their need for security is crucial for consistent performance, it can stifle innovation and slow down the team’s ability to adapt to change. Leaders must balance the visionary’s drive for freedom with the planner’s demand for security, ensuring that creativity is nurtured within a framework that allows for both innovation and stability.
- Ideation vs. Execution: The dreamer generates a wealth of innovative ideas, often envisioning transformative possibilities that can propel the team or organization forward. However, without the ability to turn these ideas into actionable steps, they risk remaining unfulfilled concepts. On the other hand, the doer excels at bringing plans to life, efficiently executing tasks, and ensuring projects stay on track. However, they may lack the creative input necessary for innovation, potentially leading to stagnation if not paired with new ideas. An imbalance in either direction—too much ideation without execution or too much execution without fresh ideas—can disrupt project outcomes. Leaders must foster a dynamic interplay between ideation and execution to ensure both creativity and progress are maintained.
- Risk vs. Caution: The risk-taker pushes boundaries, embraces uncertainty, and pursues bold initiatives that can lead to breakthroughs and competitive advantages. However, this approach can overlook potential pitfalls, leaving the team exposed to unnecessary risks. On the other hand, the cautious strategist meticulously evaluates every decision, identifying potential challenges and mitigating risks, which provides valuable stability and foresight. However, excessive caution can lead to indecision, delaying action, and missing out on opportunities. Both extremes, if not balanced, can either jeopardize progress through reckless risk-taking or stall momentum with over-analysis. Leaders must find a middle ground where calculated risks drive innovation without compromising security.
- Excitement vs. Calm: High-energy individuals can invigorate the team with enthusiasm and a sense of urgency, driving momentum and inspiring creativity. However, their intensity can also lead to chaos, miscommunication, or burnout if not properly channeled. On the other hand, those who value calm bring stability, clear-headed thinking, and a measured approach to challenges, which can be crucial in stressful situations. However, they may risk underreacting to urgent issues or fail to generate the necessary energy to push initiatives forward. The challenge for leaders is to balance these contrasting dynamics, using excitement to spark innovation while maintaining the calm needed for strategic execution.
- Growth vs. Sustainability: A focus on rapid growth can strain resources, push teams to their limits, and lead to short-term gains at the expense of long-term stability. While growth can drive innovation and market share, it may overlook the careful planning needed for future resilience. On the other hand, prioritizing sustainability ensures long-term viability and responsible use of resources, but it may limit expansion opportunities and slow down immediate progress. Leaders must find the balance between driving growth and ensuring that their strategies are sustainable over time.
Prudence Versus Temperance
Prudence
Prudence is the virtue of wise decision-making based on context. Instead of merely moderating excesses, prudent leaders channel individuals’ tendencies into constructive outcomes. It’s a flexible approach that adapts strategies to the situation and people involved. For example, a prudent leader may recognize a highly creative team member who struggles with execution. Rather than stifling their ideation, the leader focuses their energy on brainstorming while assigning an execution-oriented team member to handle implementation. This way, the leader maximizes both strengths, driving the project forward effectively.
For example, a prudent leader might identify that a highly creative team member, who often generates a flood of ideas without following through on execution, can be invaluable in the early brainstorming stages of a project. Instead of trying to temper her ideation, the leader focuses his energy on deploying her ideation across different projects and assigns a more execution-oriented team member to handle implementation. This way, the leader maximizes the creative individual’s strength while ensuring the project moves forward.
Temperance
Temperance is the virtue of moderation, taking a balanced approach to desires and impulses. In management, temperance focuses on maintaining equilibrium within the team by moderating extremes, ensuring no single “Toomucher” dominates. It involves setting clear boundaries, policies, and rules to keep the team aligned. While essential for stability, temperance can sometimes suppress the very excesses—like creativity or bold risk-taking—that could lead to innovation and breakthrough performance.
For example, a manager might notice that one team member is highly driven by risk-taking and constantly pushes for bold, aggressive strategies. To maintain balance, the manager sets clear guidelines, limiting the level of acceptable risk to prevent reckless decisions that could jeopardize the project. At the same time, the manager enforces rules to ensure that more cautious team members have space to contribute their risk assessments. While this keeps the team stable and aligned, it may also inadvertently stifle the risk-taker’s bold ideas, potentially missing out on innovative opportunities.
Prudence Calls for Yin, Yang, and Qi
Prudence, as a guiding virtue, not only helps leaders make wise decisions but also aligns perfectly with Taoist principles like Yin, Yang, and Qi, which emphasize balance and the flow of energy. Together, these principles allow leaders to skillfully manage extremes and channel the diverse energies within their teams toward productive outcomes.
Yin and Yang, the Taoist concept of harmonizing opposites, directly complement prudence, which calls for wise decision-making in the face of extremes. Whether balancing creativity with structure or risk with caution, prudence mirrors Yin and Yang’s focus on achieving harmony by embracing and aligning opposing forces.
Similarly, Qi, which represents the flow of energy, complements prudence’s ability to direct diverse team energies. By facilitating the free flow of Qi, a leader ensures that team members’ excesses—whether ambition, caution, or creativity—are channeled into productive pathways, maintaining harmony and driving progress.
Together, prudence, Yin and Yang, and Qi provide leaders with a powerful framework for transforming extremes into strengths. By making prudent decisions, leaders can balance opposing forces and maintain the flow of energy within their teams, turning potential challenges into opportunities for growth.
Leading “Toomuches” in the Team Environment
Applying Prudence
A Bedrock Leader employs prudence to channel excess energy into productive outcomes:
- Excess Freedom Driving Innovation: When team members crave freedom, a prudent leader provides autonomy within a framework. This allows creative ideas to flourish while ensuring they align with organizational goals.
Example: Steve Jobs learned at Pixar that creativity flourishes within structure. By combining autonomy with clear frameworks, Pixar balanced Yin and Yang—freedom and structure—to enable innovation without chaos. Jobs brought this lesson to Apple, fostering an environment where creativity was encouraged but always grounded in a disciplined process.
- Excess Caution Enhancing Risk Management: Team members who are overly cautious can be instrumental in identifying potential risks and crafting mitigation strategies.
Example: During the development of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, the engineering team took an extremely cautious approach to safety and material testing. While this delayed the project, it also led to innovative solutions like the use of composite materials for weight reduction. This cautious approach to risk management helped mitigate potential safety and structural issues, ensuring the long-term success and safety of the aircraft.
- Excess Ambition Driving Performance: Highly ambitious individuals can push for rapid progress, but without guidance, this can strain resources or create burnout. A prudent leader directs this ambition toward key objectives with realistic timelines to ensure sustainable growth.
Example: The rise and fracture between Ron Meyer and Michael Ovitz at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) illustrates unchecked ambition. Ovitz’s aggressive drive for growth strained relationships and resources, leading to his short-lived, turbulent tenure at Disney. In contrast, Meyer’s measured ambition at Universal Studios led to sustained success, showing how prudence channels ambition into long-term results, avoiding the fallout that can come from unchecked drive.
- Excess Risk-Taking Spurring Innovation: A team member who frequently takes bold risks may need careful management to avoid recklessness. A prudent leader will encourage calculated risks but with safeguards in place.
Example: The Jérôme Kerviel incident at Société Générale in 2008 is a classic case of excess risk-taking gone unchecked. Kerviel took massive, unauthorized positions in stock market futures, leading to a $7.2 billion loss that nearly collapsed the bank. A prudent leader would have ensured robust risk management systems and regular oversight to prevent one individual’s actions from spiraling into catastrophe. This case illustrates the dangers of unchecked ambition and risk in financial markets, where prudence is essential for long-term stability.
Don’t Mistake Temperance for Prudence
Temperance and prudence are both essential virtues in leadership, but they can be mistaken for one another because both involve managing extremes. However, while temperance focuses on moderation and equilibrium, prudence is about wise decision-making that channels excesses toward productive ends. When temperance is mistaken for prudence, leaders may mistakenly believe they are being strategic when, in reality, they are simply moderating behavior. Here are symptoms of that confusion:
1. Stifling Innovation
Leaders who confuse temperance with prudence may overemphasize balance, suppressing bold or creative ideas in favor of maintaining stability. By moderating extremes, they may inadvertently quash the kind of risk-taking or visionary thinking that can drive innovation. This shows up as reluctance to take calculated risks, opting for safety over potential breakthroughs.
2. Over-reliance on Rules
A leader mistaking temperance for prudence may rely too heavily on policies, procedures, or guidelines to keep things in check. While structure is important, rigid enforcement of rules without considering the specific context of a situation—especially one that demands flexibility—can stifle adaptability. The result is a team that may follow the rules but misses opportunities for strategic thinking.
3. Paralysis by Moderation
While prudence calls for contextual decision-making, temperance focuses on maintaining balance at all costs. This may lead to indecision, as leaders try to avoid extremes and lean too much into moderation. By trying to satisfy every concern, they can delay action or dilute ambitious ideas, resulting in stalled progress.
4. Suppressed Strengths
Leaders focusing on temperance may work to moderate individual team members’ tendencies rather than channeling them. For example, they may tone down a risk-taker rather than find a way to strategically guide their energy. This approach can lead to undervaluing individual strengths that, if harnessed properly, could contribute significantly to the team’s success.
5. Contentment with Mediocrity
When temperance is mistaken for prudence, leaders may unintentionally settle for mediocrity, content with maintaining an even keel rather than pushing for excellence. While keeping the team stable is important, prudence pushes leaders to channel energy where they can achieve the greatest outcomes rather than just preserving the status quo.
6. Avoiding Conflict
Temperance often seeks to avoid conflict by keeping all things balanced, whereas prudence may involve making hard decisions that embrace necessary tension for long-term benefits. Leaders confusing the two may avoid challenging discussions or decisions that disrupt harmony in the short term but are necessary for progress.
Symptoms Summary:
The key distinction is that prudence strategically channels energy and tendencies to achieve specific goals, while temperance aims to avoid extremes, which can result in missed opportunities for growth and innovation. Leaders must be mindful not to default to temperance when a situation calls for prudence.
Call to Action
Embrace the “Toomuches”
Recognizing and valuing the extremes within your team—rather than suppressing them—is crucial, but this approach can be challenging, especially if you’re used to managing by moderation. The first step is committing to this mindset. It requires a shift from focusing on balance to harnessing energy, and that takes time to master. As a leader, start by actively observing the natural tendencies of your team members. Are they overly cautious, risk-seeking, or driven by creativity without execution? Instead of trying to temper those extremes, look for opportunities to channel them toward strategic goals.
To do this effectively, it’s important to learn specific techniques. For example, pair visionaries with planners, giving each space to shine in their area of strength. Support high-energy individuals by placing them in roles where their enthusiasm drives innovation while offering structure through collaboration with more methodical team members.
If this approach feels unnatural, that’s okay—it’s a skill to be learned. Begin by practicing self-awareness in your own leadership style, noticing where you may be quick to suppress excess. Then, actively look for moments where those extremes can be guided into productive outcomes. Over time, mastering this practice allows you to foster an environment where diverse energies are not only accepted but become the fuel for your team’s success.
Apply Prudence and Taoist Principles
To truly elevate your leadership, begin incorporating prudence and Taoist principles like Yin and Yang and Qi into your approach today. Start by using prudence to guide your decision-making, assessing each situation with a focus on channeling your team’s natural strengths. Rather than reacting instinctively or suppressing excesses, use prudent judgment to determine where extremes like creativity, caution, or ambition can be directed for maximum impact.
Embrace the balance inherent in Yin and Yang by recognizing that opposites—such as innovation and structure, or risk and security—are not contradictions but complementary forces. Practicing this principle involves learning to shift between these polarities as needed, fostering a dynamic team environment where every strength has its place.
Finally, focus on the flow of Qi by ensuring your leadership style supports the free movement of ideas, energy, and collaboration. Pay attention to areas where energy might be blocked—whether through micromanagement, lack of autonomy, or rigid processes—and work to unblock these channels. By continuously applying these principles, you create an adaptable, energized team ready to tackle any challenge.
Cultivate Self-Awareness and Growth
Create a team culture where self-awareness is encouraged and personal growth is prioritized. As a leader, you can foster this by providing regular feedback that helps individuals understand their natural tendencies, whether they lean toward caution, risk, creativity, or structure. Encourage team members to reflect on how their strengths and “Toomuches” impact their work and the team’s dynamic.
To support their growth, offer opportunities for development, such as mentorship, cross-functional projects, or self-assessment tools. Create an open environment where individuals feel safe to explore their tendencies and make adjustments. By cultivating self-awareness, you empower your team to better manage their extremes, transforming potential challenges into personal and professional growth.
Conclusion
Prudence, when combined with the Taoist principles of Yin and Yang and Qi, creates a powerful framework for leaders to effectively harness and channel the “Toomuches” within their teams. Through prudence, leaders make wise decisions that strategically focus excesses, while Yin and Yang help balance opposing forces like creativity and structure or risk and caution, ensuring harmony within the organization. Qi facilitates the smooth flow of energy, allowing diverse strengths and tendencies to be channeled productively. Together, these principles enable leaders to transform potential challenges into strengths, driving the organization toward long-term success.
Thank you for reading. If you found this insightful, feel free to share your thoughts or experiences with harnessing the “Toomuches” in your own leadership journey.