The still point: Finding balance in governance

GOVERNANCE is often a dance between movement and stillness. Decisions, debates and deadlines create a rhythm that can easily overwhelm the deeper discipline of reflection. Yet, within that motion, there must exist what the poets have called a "still point’; a centre of clarity where judgment is not rushed by noise and perspective is not lost to pace. The most effective boards learn to find this balance. They move with purpose but pause with intention.

- NQOBANI MZIZI

Balance in governance is not neutrality. It is the wisdom to act without haste, to lead without domination and to decide without losing sight of principle. The modern board operates in constant tension between risk and opportunity, regulation and innovation, duty and empathy. These tensions are not flaws in the system; they are its pulse. Governance falters not because tension exists, but because balance is lost.

When equilibrium disappears, leadership becomes reactive. Some boards respond to crisis with overcontrol, mistaking rigidity for discipline. Others swing to the opposite extreme, avoiding difficult decisions under the guise of prudence. Both approaches betray the same imbalance: the absence of calm conviction.

To the skeptic, this might seem like a plea for indecision. It is not. The still point is not a haven for the passive; it is the source of clarity for the courageous. ‘True governance requires neither haste nor hesitation, but the courage to stand still long enough to see clearly.

The still point is not the absence of movement. It is the space within it. It is found in the measured silence before a vote is cast, in the listening that precedes a decisive question, in the thoughtful pause that separates reaction to response.

King IV speaks to this balance in its fourth principle, reminding governing bodies to steer performance and strategy with awareness of their ethical, social and environmental impact. Balance, then, is not a passive state. It is active stewardship.