Modern organizations contain a wide variety of tensions that leaders must face every day: collaboration vs. control, flexibility vs. efficiency and profit vs. social responsibility, to name just a few. The authors present an approach for handling these tensions: the paradox perspective. Paradox Theory presumes that tensions are integral to complex systems, and that sustainability depends upon attending to contradictory-yet-interwoven demands simultaneously. The authors introduce a new skill that enables leaders to embrace paradox: 'dynamic equilibrium'.

Strategic agility evokes contradictions, such as stability-flexibility, commitment-change, and established routines-novel approaches. These competing demands pose challenges that require paradoxical leadership-practices seeking creative, both/and solutions that can enable fast- paced, adaptable decision making. Why is managing paradox critical to strategic agility? And which practices enable leaders to effectively manage tensions? This article describes the paradoxical nature of strategic agility. Drawing from data from five firms, Astro Studios, Digital Divide Data, IBM Global Services Canada, Lego, and Unilever, it proposes leadership practices to effectively respond to these challenges.