# Fighting a Two-Front War By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-04-12 Let's say that you've become a manager against your better judgment, and you begin to implement strategies to be a different and better manager who works in solidarity with your fellow humans. You may be well prepared for the resistance and pressure from the organizational and managerial establishment. These pressures are easy to see and predict. But, what might be harder and throw you off the path of progress is the pressure to conform from the people you manage. While you may be "enlightened," odds are that most other people will not be. This happens even if you were once peers complaining about the same things over lunch for years on end. When you transition from worker to manager, things drastically change. You'll come to realize how strong the status quo is. Many of us prepare for the uphill battle with the organizational hierarchy, but few prepare for fighting the battles of those being managed. Fighting a two-front war is often problematic and a recipe for disaster, especially when you don't see it coming. You may think a quick way out is to use your authority to tell your employees to fall in line. However, isn't this against what you've set out to do as a new kind of manager? So, maybe you yield to employee pressure and keep some ancient ideas around to appease them. After all, they have a voice in your belief system. However, isn't this against what you believe to be a better path? It's a Catch-22. Damned if you do, and damned if you don't. Perhaps at this moment, you realize why things do not change. On one front you are fighting those with more power than you, and on the other, you are fighting the masses who do not believe what you believe. The path forward is not about winning the fight in hand-to-hand combat. Instead, it's about creatively side-stepping the two incoming foes and using their momentum to propel everyone forward. Show them you understand, but also point to the flaws of their position. Do not view them as the enemy, but as a partner in development. If none of this works, the timing may just be wrong. But never underestimate how challenging it will be to change something regardless of the rank you hold in human society. #### Related Items [[Change]] [[Metamodernism]] [[Management]] [[Organizational Analytics]] [[Society]] [[Solidarity]] [[Paradox]]