The owl and the fox: Embracing contradiction

In a world defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, traditional models of leadership are breaking down. Control, prediction, and linearity—the hallmarks of industrial-age strategy—are no longer sufficient.

Today’s leaders are faced with live contradictions, emergent risks, contested narratives, and fast-moving systems. What’s needed is a deeper capability: the ability to hold opposing truths, move between mental frames, and blend reflection with action.

At Mindofafox, we believe that two enduring archetypes—the owl and the fox—capture the essence of this new kind of strategic leadership. Not as a binary, but as a creative tension. A dialectic. A dance.

The Owl: wisdom, reflection, and systemic sight

In myth and philosophy, the owl is the symbol of wisdom. It sees in the dark. It flies silently. It observes patiently.

As a strategic archetype, the owl brings:

• Systemic awareness: seeing the interconnections, the patterns, the feedback loops.

• Long-term orientation: playing the long game, not just the next move.

• A search for meaning: anchoring decisions in purpose, not just performance.

  
  

The owl echoes Gregory Bateson’s “wisdom of the system”—the ability to think in terms of relationships rather than objects, to anticipate unintended consequences, and to recognise double binds. It resonates with Edgar Morin’s advocacy for complex thought—thought that resists reduction, accepts paradox, and embraces interdependence.

But the owl alone is not enough.

The Fox: enquiry, adaptation, and movement

The fox, by contrast, lives on the move. It thrives not through foresight but through agility. In strategy and communication, the fox represents:

• Curiosity: asking the inconvenient question.

• Adaptability: pivoting when conditions shift.

• Experimentation: testing multiple hypotheses instead of committing to one big bet.

  
  

In Isaiah Berlin’s famous essay The Hedgehog and the Fox, the fox is the pluralist—comfortable with many ideas, connected or not. In complex environments, this is a survival trait. The fox knows when to act, when to retreat, and when to try something entirely new.

Crucially, the fox questions what the owl sees. It disrupts. It tests. It acts.

Contradiction as a creative force

Together, the owl and the fox form a dialectic. Reflection and action. Insight and agility. Pattern and pivot. This is not a matter of balance, but of synthesis. As in the Hegelian model, progress comes from tension:

• Wisdom without challenge becomes rigidity.

• Enquiry without reflection becomes chaos.

• Only together do they generate learning, movement, and regeneration.

  
  

In this loop, theory informs action—and action reshapes theory. This is the essence of strategic learning: moving within complexity, rather than trying to simplify it. Holding tension long enough for something new to emerge.

Leadership becomes less a plan and more a practice. A discipline of paradox.

Why this matters now

The need for owl-fox leadership has never been more urgent. We live in a world where:

• Strategy is contested in real time, not just set in boardrooms.

• Narratives can be shaped—and shattered—by global shocks and social movements.

• Legitimacy now depends not only on competence, but on meaning-making.

The owl brings narrative endurance, anchoring actions in coherence and long-term direction. The fox brings narrative agility, tuning into the moment and pivoting when necessary.

Edgar Morin said:

“Every great strategy must be capable of complexity, contradiction, and regeneration.”

We are no longer leading factories. We are navigating forests.

A final provocation

So we ask:

• Do you lead as a wise owl or a clever fox?

• Or, have you learned to move between them?

• Can you hold contradiction—not as a weakness, but as a source of generative power?

  
  

In a world where being right too early is indistinguishable from being wrong, the leaders who will thrive are those who can see through the night and move through the underbrush.

Those who are, in essence, both owl and fox.