Don't Choose -- Create

The key is to not conceptualize it as a tough choice - an either/or. As I quoted the great CEO AG Lafley in my book, The Opposable Mind: "Anybody can do either/or."

In this case, anyone with any talent at all could choose either to refuse to cooperate in a huff or submit meekly. The key is using the opportunity to think creatively about how to engineer something better than the extreme alternatives. It is, after all, a minority government. It has to listen or be defeated. It is not as though there is no power in Livni's hands. So put on the thinking cap and create a better solution. Will it be the perfect solution? No necessarily. But can it be better than the extremes? Absolutely. And it is a good test of whether Livni deserves to be in Netanyahu's place the next time around.

Great leaders don't embrace the notion that they have to make "the tough choices." They know that when they face a situation that everyone sees at a tough choice, they shouldn't choose -- instead they should create. And challenging as that might be for Livni; that is her job.

By Roger Martin

 |  February 23, 2009; 1:16 PM ET
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