Mastering Leadership

Is your leadership a competitive advantage, or is it costing you? How do you know? Are you developing your leadership effectiveness at the pace of change?

For most leaders today, complexity is outpacing their personal and collective development. Most leaders are in over their heads, whether they know it or not. The most successful organizations over time are the best led. While this has always been true, today escalating global complexity puts leadership effectiveness at a premium. Mastering Leadership involves developing the effectiveness of leaders—individually and collectively—and turning that leadership into a competitive advantage. This comprehensive roadmap for optimal leadership features:

• Breakthrough research that connects increased leadership effectiveness with enhanced business performance
• The first fully integrated Universal Model of Leadership—one that integrates the best theory and research in the fields of Leadership and Organizational Development over the last half century
• A free, online self-assessment of your leadership, using the Leadership Circle Profile, visibly outlining how you are currently leading and how to develop even greater effectiveness
• The five stages in the evolution of leadership—Egocentric, Reactive, Creative, Integral, and Unitive—along with the organizational structures and cultures that develop at each of these stages
• Six leadership practices for evolving your leadership capability at a faster pace
• A map of your optimal path to greater leadership effectiveness
• Case stories that facilitate pragmatic application of this Leadership Development System to your particular situation

This timeless, authoritative text provides a systemic approach for developing your senior leaders and the leadership system of your organization. It does not recommend quick fixes, but argues that real development requires a strategic, long-term, and integrated approach in order to forge more effective leaders and enhanced business performance. Mastering Leadership offers a developmental pathway to bring forth the highest and best use of yourself, your life, and your leadership. By more meaningfully deploying all of who you are every day, individually and collectively, you will achieve a leadership legacy consistent with your highest aspirations.

Acknowledgements xi

Introduction A Universal Model of Leadership and The Leadership Circle Profile Assessment xv

How This Book Came to Be 2

A Better Model of Leadership 2

The Promise of This Book 2

Two Books in One 2

Take the LCP Self-Assessment 2

Going Full Circle 2

Chapter 1 The Promise of Leadership: Meeting the High Bar of Expectations 1

High Bar of Experience and Expectations 2

Leadership Matters 2

Four Universal Promises of Leadership 4

Broken Leadership Promises 9

Keeping the Promise 9

The Leadership Agenda 10

Chapter 2 Leadership Effectiveness and Business Performance: The Primary Competitive Advantage 13

What the Research Shows 13

What is Your Leadership Quotient? 17

Provocative Questions 18

Collective Effectiveness 19

Collective Effectiveness and Intelligence 22

Chapter 3 Mastery and Maturity, Consciousness and Complexity: The Leadership Development Agenda 27

Triumph and Failure of the Inner Game 28

Competency is Only Half the Game 29

Two Games of Leadership 29

Inner Game Runs the Outer Game 31

Litany of the Literature 33

Four Foundational Premises 35

Consciousness and Complexity 38

Understanding Complexity: Redundant Polarities and Problems 40

Non-Obvious Points of Leverage 41

The Leadership Imperative 42

The Core Argument 43

Uncommon Sense 44

Collective Wisdom 45

A Global Leadership Imperative 46

Chapter 4 Stages of Development: The Backbone of the Universal Model of Leadership 47

Stages of Development Framework 48

The Universal Model of Leadership 49

Correlation Conclusions 53

Trajectory of Life-Long Development 55

Childhood: Seeing Development the Easy Way 56

Identity is at the Core 58

Chapter 5 Five Levels of Leadership: Structures of Mind and Performance 61

Egocentric Leadership 63

Reactive Leadership 66

Creative Leadership 75

Integral Leadership 82

Unitive Leadership 85

Chapter 6 The Universal Model and Metrics: Global Leadership, Cross-Cultural, and Gender Application 87

Task and Relationship—Horizontal Axis 87

A Dynamic Model 89

Optimal Leadership 90

Link to Performance and Effectiveness 92

Dynamic Polarities 96

Universality of the Model 99

Case in Point: Cross-Cultural Application in Rural Uganda 102

Gender and the Universal Model 104

Stage of Development Research 106

Conclusions and Implications 112

Chapter 7 The Leadership System: The Central Organizing System 115

Six Systems of Organizational Effectiveness 116

Whole Systems Approach to Developing Leadership 120

Four Compelling Case Studies 122

Owning Development from the Top 151

Chapter 8 Reactive Leadership: An Insufficient Triumph of Development 155

Performance Review 156

Leave Your Ego at the Door 156

I Dare You to Tell Me the Truth 156

Two Primary Movements 160

Structure of Reactive Mind 169

Core Operating Beliefs 176

Putting It All Together 179

The Leadership Agenda 180

Chapter 9 Reactive Leadership at Work: From Patriarchy to Partnership 183

Moving from Patriarchy to Partnership 183

Navigating Two Journeys 185

Three Core Reactive Types 186

Gifts of Each Type 189

Gifts Hung on a Reactive Structure 191

Reactive Dynamics—True to Type 194

Reactive Type Dynamics in the Universal Model 198

Natural Selection Process—Creating Collective Patterns of Patriarchy 200

Chapter 10 Creative Leadership: Fulfilling the Promise of Leadership 205

Performance Review 205

The Hero’s Journey 207

What the Transition Looks Like 209

Talking About It Without Knowing It 211

Creative Structure 213

Creative Structure of Identity 216

Restructuring Identity Beliefs 216

Designed for Leading Change 220

Creative Mind and Performance 221

Alignment 223

Path of Development—Move Toward Your Near Enemy 224

Type Through Stage 229

Creative Organizations 229

Integration 230

Literacy in the Pathways of Transformation 231

Two Currents of Transformation 232

Chapter 11 Six Leadership Practices: Spiritual Boot Camp for Leaders 239

Practice 1: Discerning Purpose 239

Practice 2: Distilling Vision 245

Practice 3: Knowing Your Doubts and Fears 248

Practice 4: Engage in Authentic, Courageous Dialogue 252

Practice 5: Develop Intuition, Open to Inspiration 255

Practice 6: Think Systemically 259

Path of Mastering Leadership 262

Chapter 12 Integral Leadership: Built for Complexity, Designed for Transformation 265

Brief Summary of Stages 267

Servant of the System 268

Maturing Intuition 268

Seeing the Entire Development Spectrum 269

Holding Unresolvedness, Conflict, and Tension 270

As Within, So Without 271

A Meeting of Twin Opposites 272

Have You Ever Once Asked Me What I Want? 272

Shadow Side of the Universal Model 274

Fierce Compassion, The Dance of Enemies 286

Why is Change so Difficult? 291

Integral Leadership Imperative 292

Chapter 13 Unity: Journey’s End, Development Turned Upside Down 295

Waves on the Ocean 296

No Self, All God 297

Development Turned Upside Down 299

Two Arguments for Development 300

Not Me, Not Me 300

Unity Leadership 301

Appendix 1 Leadership Circle Profile Summary Dimensions 303

Appendix 2 Theorists Integrated into The Leadership Circle Universal Model of Leadership 309

References 315

Index 000

ROBERT J. ANDERSON is the Founder and Chairman of The Leadership Circle and the Full Circle Group. He has been a pacesetter and visionary in the leadership development field for 30 years.

WILLIAM A. ADAMS is the CEO of The Leadership Circle and the Full Circle Group. He has been a practice leader in the field for 30 years. His clients include the CEOs and teams of major Fortune 500 corporations (public and private) and private equity start-up businesses.

With The Leadership Circle and Full Circle Group team.

We wrote this book because, after a combined 60 years' of working with leaders on their development, we know there is a far better way to go about it. The current "state-of-the-art" of the Leadership Development field is not up to the task of developing leaders for the complex challenges we are facing now, let alone for the future.

We need leaders of greater effectiveness and integrity, mastery and maturity, courage and compassion, competence and character, consciousness and wisdom. We need those leaders now. Not only is complexity outpacing the development of effective and consciously competent leaders, but the world is facing a leadership crisis. Our collective welfare, organizationally and globally, depends on our ability to develop leaders that are up to the challenge of creating a thriving future for everyone.

Most of our approaches to developing leaders are inadequate. They are episodic, not systemic; individually focused, instead of individually and collectively focused; they are too often superficial, lacking the depth required for genuine breakthrough; and they are generally sponsored, not led, by top leadership. Add to this, that the field of Leadership Development is a random collection of unintegrated theory and research. As long as we continue to approach the development of leadership this way we will continue to fall short. We wrote this book to document how we have changed this and to raise the bar on how to develop great leadership.

In one compelling read, Mastering Leadership integrates the best theory, research and practice into the first Universal Model of Leadership to arise in the field. It radically shifts the understanding of extraordinary leadership and how to champion its development. It thoroughly describes the sequential stages of leadership mastery and maturity. It outlines six powerful practices that will reliably evolve your leadership, individually and collectively. As we unfold the Universal Model, chapter-by-chapter, we provide research that links all of this to measures of leadership effectiveness and business performance; metrics to assess your progress; and case studies to guide your own transformational success story. Research and case studies demonstrate the transformative capability of the Universal Model and demonstrate how to implement a systemic approach to the development of leaders and the Leadership System of your organization.

We wrote this book for all of us. For most of us in leadership, complexity is outpacing our rate of development. We are in over our heads whether we know it or not. We invite you to accelerate the development of your leadership effectiveness by taking The Leadership Circle Profile Self-Assessment that comes with this book. The assessment, which measures leadership effectiveness through the lens of the Universal Model, in combination with this book, is a complete leadership development system. Together, they take you on a deep dive into the terrain of transformation, yours and your organization's.

We need better leaders at all levels—men and women who create thriving futures, healthy cultures and competitive companies; who balance short-term profitability with long-term sustainability; who create a better world. Mastering leadership is now a strategic priority, a competitive advantage and a global imperative. By committing to this imperative you can:

• Develop through each stage in the journey of mastering leadership.
• Turn your leadership capabilities into a distinct competitive advantage.
• Cultivate leaders in your organization with a proven leadership development system.
• Infuse every business conversation with leadership guidance.
• And much more…

Mastering Leadership is a complete system for developing yourself, your team and your organization's Leadership System to maximize performance. It is our sincere hope that this book will support your leadership for life.

Praise for Mastering LEADERSHIP

"This is the definitive book on leadership principles and practices! Expansive and practical at the same time, Mastering Leadership is for forward-thinking leaders who want the most essential leadership lessons analyzed and presented in one astute place. Anderson and Adams' Universal Model synthesizes everything that leadership theory thus far has to offer. Read it, apply its principles, and you witness the transformation in yourself and everyone in your circle!"
— Marshall Goldsmith, Author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Triggers, Top-ranked Executive Coach, Author of bestsellers MOJO and What Got You Here Won't Get You There

"There is no shortage of information on leadership theory—Google will return over 15,000,000 results in .32 seconds. However, in their new book, Mastering Leadership, Adams and Anderson turn theory into practice by framing great leadership as a purposeful pursuit rather than a genetic anomaly. Their leadership model provides a well proven framework that allows leaders to assess their strengths and needs. Importantly, it also provides the practical knowledge and tools to enable a transition to greater effectiveness. This book should be a well-worn staple in every leader's '10 Essentials."
—John Mendel, Executive Vice President, Automotive, American Honda

"This is not a book written for bedtime reading. Its ideas need to be examined in the bright light of day and then…for the courageous…put into practice. The authors have very skillfully woven a tapestry with threads from extensive research, years of experience, philosophy, and metaphysics. The Leadership Circle Profile (LCP) and the Universal Model of Leadership (UML) are tools that empirically guide the reader on a journey of self-discovery and growth. Their application breeches the barriers of traditional thinking and carries the reader into the realm of Unity Leadership. The demands on today's leaders to produce high-performing and highly-productive organizations has never been greater. Therefore, understanding the correlation between business performance and leadership effectiveness has never been more important. This book helps leaders answer the question posed in one of the book's case studies: 'What would you do if you could?"
— Stephen Ewing, Chairman of the Board of AAA Michigan and ACG, Retired President and Chief Operating Officer of MCN Energy Group Inc., Retired Vice Chair of DTE Energy

"This book is a testimony that love and power and clear purpose can co-exist. It gives form and proof that leadership is a human function. You can define it, measure it, teach it, and yet, in the end, our capacity to be honest with ourselves and fulfill our promises to each other is decisive. The book offers the integration of mind and matter, depth and relatedness; rare combinations in the modern world of speed, convenience, and scale. Read the book. Put it under your pillow. Speak of it to others."
— Peter Block, Partner of Designed Learning and Author of Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used; Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest; and The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work