Expanding consciousness:
the quest of
a lifetime
Elevating your consciousness involves vertical development, which is about changes in how you think (Petrie, 2014). This is different from horizontal development, which is about what you think after adding knowledge, skills and competencies. The higher we ascend, the more we can handle complexity and ambiguity. If you’re serious about leadership as a way of being, you need to pursue vertical development.
Stardust glass
This term makes it sound like we climb a ladder and voilà, we reach the top. But increasing consciousness isn’t linear and we also simultaneously operate at different levels. For example, you may expertly stickhandle complex issues but be unconcerned by the adverse impact of your words and behaviours. So you’re at a higher level of consciousness regarding complexity; a lower level vis-à-vis people skills.
Even if you attain a higher level of consciousness and consistently think and behave from that place, you’re never free from your shadow. Everyone contains light and darkness. Denying the latter is a good way to let it run the show. You start feeling superior to others who seem less evolved than you are, which automatically lowers your consciousness level (snakes and ladders.) The quest that I had in my younger years – that I could systematically climb the ladder, reach my highest ideal and stay there – well, that’s not possible. You may be wondrous in one area of life and immature or even selfish in another. You may feel like a higher consciousness rock star one day and ruled by ego the next.​
Leadership and Consciousness
In my book Self-Coaching The Dragon Within: The hardest person you'll ever lead is you,
I argue that leadership is a way of being. It's not a title and it isn't confined to work. How you be at work and elsewhere in life reflects your level of consciousness. Are you all about you? Or does the person in front of you matter to the point where you become more interested in helping them shine than shining a light on yourself? Do you keep the organization as a whole top of mind or fight for your silo? And in your personal life, do you rise above irritations and do what’s right for your child, speak positively about your ex, consider your partner's needs and serve your community? That’s leadership.
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It sounds obvious, but if you want to behave like a leader, you need to learn how to lead you. This requires self-awareness, which helps you understand your mindset, go-to emotions, habitual reactions, how you act when things go wrong, and everything else about how you be. This benefits you and everyone around you because operating at higher levels of consciousness is highly correlated with leadership effectiveness. As management guru Peter Drucker said, “Your foremost job as a leader is to take care of your own emotional energy and then help orchestrate the energy of those around you.” This is vitally important if you wish to manifest leadership as a way of being at work and everywhere else in life, whether you’re a manager or not.
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Tending to your way of being involves deep work. As a young man, Leadership Circle Founder Bob Anderson became fascinated by how people develop from the inside
out. He decided his life’s work was to help people grow and develop emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. He was exposed to many thought leaders, including Robert Kegan (adult development), Carl Jung (ego/shadow) and Peter Senge (systems thinking).
As Anderson pondered their theories and frameworks, he noticed they weren’t connected. He set about integrating theories from leadership, psychology, consciousness, spirituality and human potential. The result was his Universal Model of Leadership.
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Its theory base includes work by Peter Block – authenticity; Robert Burns – cognitive psychology; Center for Creative Leadership/DDI – competency research; Robert Fritz – creative orientation; Karen Horney – character structure; Carl Jung – ego/shadow; Robert Kegan – adult development; Abraham Maslow – self-actualization; David McLelland – achievement orientation; OSU – Task/relationship; Peter Senge – systems thinking.
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UNIVERSAL MODEL OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership Circle
“Leadership is a way of being; it’s a way of life.”
Nozomi Morgan, coach and leadership consultant
TM
Unitive
Highest stages of awareness. A sense of oneness (inter-connectedness of all beings) births universal compassion. There is no separation between you and me. Therefore, the leadership orientation is global: concerned with finding solutions to improve the greater good for all of humanity. One percent of adults—often sages and gurus—reach these levels. (Think Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela.)
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Integral (self-transforming mind)
People at this level fully embrace their shadow. There is no defensiveness when they receive feedback because they already know they’re imperfect. Conflict is welcomed as it expands understanding. People at this level don’t feel defined by one identity as they can flex according to the context at hand. They embrace paradox and can lead through complexity. They pursue a purpose that is larger than self, showing up as a servant leader and working for the benefit of the system. Only four percent of adults ascend to the integral level.
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Creative (self-authoring mind)
We can see our habitual ways of thinking and reacting. Our self-worth is internally validated: we're not defined by our achievements, relationships, or brains. We are purpose-driven leaders, share authority, welcome ideas from all levels, and emphasize self-development. Other behaviors include collaboration and empathy. Fifteen percent of adults reach this level.
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Reactive (socialized mind)
Externally validated self-worth. Self is defined from the outside in. Identity is derived from ideas, relationships, or brains. “I am my relationships” identity results in complying behaviors such as people pleasing, a need for belonging, and not rocking the boat for fear of affecting relationships. “I am my achievements and my ideas” results in protective behaviors: arrogance, being critical, and distant. The identity of “I am my rational brilliance” drives controlling behaviours: perfectionism, ambitious and autocratic.
Seventy-five percent of adults operate at the reactive level.
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Egocentric level
Five percent of adults are stuck at the egocentric level: their needs are primary. They relate to others to get their needs met. Leaders tend to be “my way or the highway.” It’s all about them, which is normal in adolescence but destructive in adulthood. If you’ve ever had an egocentric boss, friend, or partner, you know how egocentric types show up. Growth beyond this phase involves taking others’ needs into account.
Why vertical development matters in business
Balancing the need to run an effective organization in the here and now while also focusing on long-term strategy is nothing new. What's changed the game is unprecedented complexity and speed. Even the terms to describe this are changing rapidly. VUCA, which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, has been augmented by BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear and incomprehensible) and TUNA (turbulent, uncertain, nebulous and ambiguous). Finally, the Center for Creative Leadership has coined the term RUPT (rapid, unpredictable, paradoxical, tangled). Source: VUCA, BANI, RUPT or TUNA
Whatever you call it, the internal and external environment is changing rapidly and unpredictably, which calls for a completely different kind of leadership. Externally, competition, market forces, environmental concerns, rapid technology advances and many other factors are demanding that leaders solve problems and seize opportunities with a more systemic perspective. Internally, employees are demanding leadership that's much more inclusive and person-centered. The great resignation and constant recruitment challenges are testament to the power that employees now have. Hierarchical, directive leadership doesn't elicit the employee engagement required to solve issues and deliver a customer experience that differentiates companies in a crowded marketplace.
Renowned Harvard University researcher Robert Kegan stated that for leaders to thrive in these increasingly complex environments, they must grow their level of adult development.
Vertical adult development means reaching higher levels of consciousness
and sense-making, which involves deep self-awareness and growth. (See Footnote 1 below)
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This complements research from the Center for Creative Leadership, which says that modern organizations are moving beyond hierarchical and independent leadership models toward one that is interdependent, where leadership at all levels is encouraged, i.e. leadership as a collective activity. This mirrors the higher levels of adult development, where individuals are concerned about the system as a whole and transforming their own levels of consciousness. It is not possible to operate at the interdependent leadership level without growing one’s level of adult development to at least the ‘redefining’ stage (see figure below). Note: Leadership as a collective activity does not eradicate hierarchy in terms of different levels. It does mean that how executives and managers interact with all employees is much more interactive and inclusive than directive.
This move towards a leadership style that harnesses the talents of all employees, in concert with an ability to operate in a highly complex and ambiguous environment, is part of the reason that competency-based development is increasingly viewed as ‘horizontal’ (adding more skills to existing skills). According to Petrie (2014), horizontal leadership development is about what you think and is transmitted from experts, adding knowledge, skills and competencies. Vertical leadership development is about how you think. It's earned through wisdom gleaned from life experiences and by gaining higher levels of consciousness and perspective, which allows us to grow our ability to think and act in complex, systemic and interdependent ways.
The higher you ascend the ladder of adult development,
the more you can lead through complexity and ambiguity.
For more on vertical vs horizontal development:
Footnote:
https://leadershipcircle.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/LeadershipCircle_Adult_Development_final.pdf
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"Elevated Consciousness"
a commissioned mobile for Kellie by Thom McInnis
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Making a commission for and especially about someone is an honour and not one I take lightly. You want to capture, portray and articulate something meaningful, thoughtful, engaging, intelligent. You need to be on point as you are capturing something of the essence of the person.
I hope that even with no knowledge of the background story of this piece, it will be interesting, meditative and soothing.
My mobiles are a synthesis of ideas, stories, and naturally … moving parts, just like us in our dynamic lives. The hardest part in creating a sculpture is resolving the conceptual challenge.
I appreciated the direction you gave me for “Elevated Consciousness.” I immediately knew I wanted to celebrate you, and sculpt a visual metaphor of your journey of self-discovery. You are all about growth, change, introspection, and continual learning. Along this path is your goal of finding peace and elevated consciousness, and ultimately nirvana.
I know you love the notion of “peace” and the peace sign more than any other icon or shape. After a few weeks of serious contemplation about your piece (peace), I had an aha moment. Research revealed that the peace sign is based on the semaphore letters N and D, which stood for Nuclear Disarmament, Then I looked at the semaphore shapes for “E” and “C”. Ironically I was able to see how elevated consciousness in semaphore would be the exact shape of “Peace” flipped upwards! I got quite excited as I was able to create a shape just for you to represent elevated consciousness. You have your our own shape!
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In personifying you, I wanted your piece to feel both expressive and intimate. Although I work in the abstract, your piece is still somewhat representative as it portrays steps, chapters, time, orbits, rhythm … feeling almost harmonic, like floating music.
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The shapes start off smaller (suggesting 2 parents) growing larger as you accumulate knowledge on the way up the path of life. Circling up, we find peace, which morphs into elevated consciousness …. then ultimately at the top are three disks which represent the transcendent, freeing state of Nirvana.
Elevated consciousness is actually the tiniest piece on the sculpture, simply because I feel it’s not a thing we boast about to others, its something we quietly want to exude and demonstrate. ​I'd also like to point out the significance of the shapes I chose for Nirvana: representing “the Real Self and the Ideal Self” ...
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"… the ideal self is not a counterpoint to the real self in the sense of being inauthentic. Unlike the seeming self, which springs from our impulse for self-display and which serves as a kind of deliberate mask, the ideal self arises from our authentic values and ideals. Although it represents an aspirational personhood, who we wish to be is invariably part of who we are — even if we aren’t always able to enact those ideals. In this sense, the gap between the ideal self and the real self is not one of insincerity but of human fallibility … of humanness. And so we can love our imperfect self."
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Some say looking at art is like looking at ourselves. I think my mobiles shadows are equally consequential. It’s important to be comfortable with our shadows, our darker parts, to accept ourselves and to remember, “the purpose of life isn’t to be perfect, it is to be whole.” I think that’s Nirvana.
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Art is therapeutic, helps gives us balance and new perspectives. Kellie, I hope your mobile brings you joy and peace and contributes a little to your transcendent journey of elevated consciousness.
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