Neutrality is Not a Leadership Hack, It’s a Practice That Changes How We Work Together
You’ve seen it – maybe even felt it – in a conversation or meeting where an idea gets dismissed and the room’s energy tightens. Then something shifts: someone pauses, takes a breath, and chooses curiosity over judgment. That’s neutrality in action.
Drop the shoulds. Find the coulds. Neutrality is how teams move from stuck to flow – unlocking freedom, peace, and agility. It’s not more noise in a world of leadership hacks, it’s a practice anyone can bring to the table, and it changes how organizations work together.
Why Neutrality Matters in Leadership
Neutrality is the treasure at the end of the Map to Clarity. It’s not resignation or passivity; it’s the vantage point that opens possibility. For teams and organizations striving to work better together, neutrality offers 3 essential advantages:
Freedom: With neutrality, people suddenly see more choices. Old assumptions fall away, and what once looked like a narrow path opens up in to multiple possible routes forward.
Peace: Neutrality lets us release self-judgement and stay present. Teams can acknowledge what didn’t work without spiraling into blame, keeping the focus on learning and next steps.
Agility: Neutrality shifts heavy “shoulds” into lighter “coulds.” That agility shows up as adaptability and responsiveness – pivoting mid-project when new information surfaces, or adjusting strategy in real time without getting stuck in defensiveness. Neutrality opens the door to that kind of flexible response.
Neutrality isn’t just for people in formal leadership roles. Every member of a team shapes the culture in the space between. Each person controls what they put into the shared space – and what they choose not to add. Practicing neutrality at any level creates ripple effects that strengthen collaboration. In that sense, everyone has the chance to contribute from clarity instead of conditioning.
What neutrality is: Think of it as a clear lens: objectivity that strips away bias, curiosity that keeps options open, imagination that allows new pathways to appear, and open-mindedness that invites others to contribute their best thinking.
What neutrality is not: It’s not blind acceptance that shuts down inquiry. It’s not relativism that avoids responsibility, resignation that gives up too soon, or value judgment that ranks people and ideas before they've had a chance to grow.
A Pop Culture Case: Ted Lasso and the Power of Curiosity
You’ve seen neutrality play out in pop culture. There’s a moment in Ted Lasso when Ted is underestimated and mocked during a game of darts. Instead of reacting defensively, he stays neutral. He doesn’t carry old judgements about who he is or what he’s capable of. He simply says, “You know what you should do? Be curious, not judgemental.” And what happens next…well, let’s just say that neutrality proves to be a powerful stance.
That’s neutrality in action. Ted doesn’t deny reality – he notices the dynamic, stays centered, and makes choices from clarity rather than conditioning. In organizational life, leaders and team members alike face moments just like that: situations where bias, old stories, or judgement cloud the space. Practicing neutrality lets us shift the dynamic, invite possibility, and sometimes even surprise ourselves with what’s possible.
From Shoulds to Coulds: Finding Agility at Work
These three gifts – freedom, peace, and agility – show why neutrality in leadership isn't abstract, It’s practical. In leadership and collaboration, neutrality creates conditions for innovation. It makes room for ideas to emerge without fear of judgement. Within organizational culture, neutrality empowers teams to listen deeply, think flexibly, and move together toward solutions. When leaders practice neutrality, they contribute to a relational container wherein creativity thrives. And when that neutrality is absent, cultures often tip into rigidity, defensiveness, and fear of risk – the very dynamics that stifle curiosity, creativity, and flow.
And neutrality isn’t only about what we contribute. Each person also controls what they take out of the shared space. A little neutrality in perception and interpretation goes a long way – helping us notice where we’re carrying a bias, clinging to an old idea about who someone is, or staying attached to a story that no longer reflects who we are today, Practicing neutrality in what we give and what we take creates a more open, adaptive culture for everyone.
Practicing Neutrality in Real Time
Try this: pause for a moment, close your eyes if you can (after you read what to do next, obviously). As you exhale, imagine you are breathing out anything that’s interfering with you taking a more neutral perspective. As you inhale, imagine you are breathing in curiosity. You don’t need to name what you’re clearing out, the intention alone is enough for this exercise. Repeat a few times. Try being playful with it, for example giving your exhales color or texture (I find flames are fun), or your inhales temperature (coolness is a nice one). Notice what happens as you allow that subtle shift in your body and mind.
This doesn’t have to take extra time or feel strange. You can do it silently in the middle of a meeting or conference call or while walking down the hall to your next conversation. Neutrality isn’t about stepping away, it’s about finding your center right where you are. Return to the conversation from a new energetic space – from more neutral ground.
Neutrality as a Cornerstone for Flow
Neutrality isn't the finish line, it’s the ground floor. It’s what makes collaboration, innovation, and forward motion possible. It’s an essential component of what we call energetic intelligence.
Energetic intelligence is simply knowing what state(s) of being will serve you best in a given moment, and having ways to create those states on purpose. When teams consistently cultivate neutrality, clarity emerges. Practices like breathing in curiosity and breathing out judgement may feel insufficient in the face of whatever problem your team is trying to solve, but they very effectively strengthen the musculature required to create and sustain an organizational culture where collaborative problem solving is a super power.
At 4th Wheel Flow, this is our work: making those practices accessible so working together actually works better.
If you’re ready to drop the shoulds, find the coulds, and contribute from clarity instead of conditioning – don't just leave this as another good idea. Make it a practice. Before the rut gets any deeper, shift into neutrality and see what opens up.
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