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.

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.

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

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