"...and so on and so on and scooby dooby doo"

There is a great song by the musical group Sly and the Family Stone called "Everyday People".  It's a great one - check it out.  There's a line in the song that says, "And different strokes for different folks, And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo" that immediately came to mind when I read a post from Ryan Holiday's "Daily Stoic" blog.  Holiday titled the post, "Different Folks Need Different Strokes" (okay, my mind works strangely at times).  I thought the post was superb, as it talked about something that is certainly relevant to leadership today.  Holiday started with a story from the ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius:

Confucius was once asked for advice by a student, and in replying essentially urged him to wait and be patient.  Later he was asked for advice by another student, and advised that student to not be patient and to solve the problem immediately.  An observant third student noticed the seemingly contradictory nature of Confucius' responses and asked him to explain.

Confucius replied, "Ran Qiu is over cautious and so I wished to urge him on.  Zilu, on the other hand, is too impetuous, and so I sought to hold him back."

Wow - what a fabulous lesson here!  If someone is normally impatient and frequently acts in haste, then we as leaders need to tell them to slow down and think more before acting.  Conversely, if someone is normally way too conservative, deliberate, and risk averse, then perhaps we as leaders need to tell them to move forward, make a decision, and take a risk.  In other words, good leaders will flex and adapt their leadership style to meet the needs of the different individuals on their team.

As it turns out, Confucius was absolutely correct.  Everything worked out in the end for both Ran Qiu and Zilu (at least in this particular story).  "And so on and so on, and scooby dooby doo.  Ooh, sha sha."