“There are no perfect paths, only imperfect ones. Our job is to identify and implement the best of the imperfect paths.”
I made this statement often while serving as the IRS Commissioner. Each day, I was confronted with any number of significant, complex challenges with no easy answers. Every path weighed was wrought with tensions – operational, policy, and invariably, political.
Even seemingly straightforward decisions were anything but. For example, should the IRS provide a new option for filing your taxes online for free? I thought so. But while we were heads down working through the intricate operational issues involved, we received a barrage of letters from stakeholders across the country with competing answers to this question. The editorial boards of the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal wrote competing opinion pieces on it. And some Congressional members introduced legislation to kill the project, while other members urged the IRS to see the project through.
In high impact moments of public sector leadership, how did I find the signal when surrounded by noise? I did what I was trained to do at Duke – to find my true north and follow it. For me, true north in public sector leadership is to embrace the tensions, validate varying perspectives, commit to objectivity in assessing the situation in full, rely on credible evidence in drawing conclusions, be transparent about how you weighed the tensions involved, and commit to seeking ongoing input as you head off into the best of the imperfect paths before you.