Increasingly our people are aware of these tensions and also see their leadership (principally governments) making only half hearted attempts to come to grips with an approach to them. For generation Y, for example, this translates into relatively low meaning and value in the work we do in our organization, when compared with the work that they see as important to be done - dealing with these tensions. Unlike 20 years ago, when helping our clients develop and grow, advance their technology and organizational performance and so on was tremendously exciting, increasingly our people see it as "more of the past whilst ignoring the future".

Our response has been to work even more closely with our client Boards and CEOs in those "powerful conversations", helping them see both the need and their own ability to add real meaning to the work of the organization as a competitive advantage in both attracting the best people as well as a leadership position in the emergent future. We've been at it for three years - progress is slow but we are maing positive progress. Strategy, implementation and human performance work increasingly contains objectives and content related to integrating the ambiguities inherent in one or more of these dynamic tensions. We are also allowing the tension a voice and challenging ourselves to actually do something about resolving the tension.
Take the Euro/Western centric world view in an economy in which China and India will be larger in 20-40 years. How do we build in preparation, integration and responsiveness to ourselves and our client work? Are more Chinese and Indian Executives holding senior roles in our work? How multilingual / multicultural are we? How easily do we discuss the history, geography and global relationships of these cultures?
It is not possible to resolve much in relation to these tensions on our own - but it is possible to feel like we are a participant in responding to them as part of building a better future.