Dr Pippa Malmgren on how good leaders transform zero into infinity

Unlocking infinity

Far from representing absence, loss or lack, zero is a platform for bold ideas, evolutionary thinking and transformative leadership, argues Dr Pippa Malmgren

Aleader’s primary task today is to turn nothing into something. Many look around and see a big zero – zero money, zero cerBuddhism; the yin-yang symbol in China; the Sufi spinning in a circle; the Muslim circling around the Kaaba in Mecca; the halo for Christians; the One Ring for followers of Tolkien. In addition, sceptical tainty, zero reliable business models, zero scientists have relied upon circles we call political dialogue, zero hope. Things are sundials, compasses, astrolabes and, more bleaker still for those who see the world recently, even the circular Large Hadron as a zero-sum game. Collider at Cern. Our most powerful and

Then there are those who can look at iconic structures are circles – from Apple’s the same circumstances and see infinite headquarters to the Oval Office. possibility. The question is how to trans- Once a leader leaps into this new form zero into infinity. It begins by letting imaginal world it becomes easier to see go of the idea that zero is the zero not only as a a number and by recognising its power as a symbol. Leadership symbol but as a tool. In the Cartesian sense, zero It begins by dropping the is about may represent a fulcrum: strongest skillset leaders have – their analytical catransforming a pivot around which a scale can be applied. This is pability – and by learning the zero into zero as neutrality, disinterto deploy imagination and creativity, which is usually the infinite est or impartiality. While leaders are supposed to be a modern leader’s weakest possibility passionate and committed, skillset. they are also required to be

Zero is not just a number. It is a cir- fair and balanced. cle, which, throughout history, stands for A zero is also a concept. In today’s unity, wholeness, cyclicality, eternity and world, most worry about scarcity. We perpetuity. It is a sign of simplicity, per- worry that there won’t be enough. Howfection and balance. We have built power- ever, architect Buckminster Fuller – who ful structures and ideas around the circle designed the geodesic dome (a circle) – as an organising principle. It’s one reason came up with an interesting idea in 1920 why most company logos are circles. It’s that has proven true. Technology keeps the reason why many religious symbols giving us the ability to do “more and more are circles, including the Enso in Japanese with less and less, until eventually you can do everything with nothing”. He called this “ephemeralisation”. Material and capital inputs are literally disappearing, vanishing before our eyes. We really can make something out of nothing, especially in a digital era.

Zero is transcendent: the mirror image of the infinite. It is neither thinking nor doing. It is perfectly in balance. It is, quite literally, nothing and everything. A zero is not just a number. It is a symbol that represents the start of possibility. We come into this world with nothing and we leave with nothing. Our life is parenthesised by zeroes.

Leadership is about transforming the zero into the infinite possibility by changing perspective – by bringing a new twist to a seemingly impossible situation, thereby turning it into the infinity symbol. Balanced leaders that can engage others in this imaginal and creative thought process will win everything: trust, market share, profits, votes, allegiance – and anything else they want.

Dr Pippa Malmgren is an economic analyst, former special assistant to US President George W Bush and author, with Chris Lewis, of The Infinite Leader: Balancing the Demands of Modern Business Leadership