The first option is to welcome the challenge. If someone is not happy with your leadership or the direction you’re taking the team, then you could view this as a valid concern. They clearly must have some motivation for not liking the way things are going and that is useful information to you. They have a divergent opinion so instead of staying glued to your confirmation balance – listen to what they have to say and invite them to suggest an alternative option. Often this will take someone so much by surprise that it can earn you instant success.

Better yet, take someone who is trying to encourage more people to side against you and put them in a position of power and responsibility. This is a technique called ‘transformismo’ that was championed by Italian ruler Mussolini. It’s the perfect solution because it a) demonstrates to that person the difficulty of being in your position and shows them that leadership is not so easy as they might like to make out and b) busies them to the point where they can’t become problematic.

Or as Sun Tsu put it: keep your enemies close…