Project: Leadership [1 ed.] 1138338664, 9781138338661

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Preface to the series
Foreword
Chapter 1 Transparent project leadership
What is leadership?
The development of your leadership abilities
Formative influences
Leadership or management
Leadership styles
Controlling leadership styles
Participatory leadership styles
Situational leadership styles
Transparent leadership
References
Chapter 2 Strategic growth and development
Personal strategic planning
Values
Mission
Vision
Evaluation
Professional/personal goals
Personal/professional objectives
Personal/professional tasks
Personal/professional journal
References
Chapter 3 Self-management for leadership
Habits and cognitive behaviour
Self-change ten-step method
Self-help and self-maintenance
Self-control
Creative self-management methods
Stress and its management
Balanced life
Rest and sleep
Willpower and needs
The unconscious
References
Chapter 4 Development, health and defences
Health and morale
The meaning of health
Defence mechanisms and anxiety
Mature defence mechanisms
Neurotic defence mechanisms
Immature defence mechanisms
Unhealthy defence mechanisms
Other defence mechanisms
Mental health
References
Chapter 5 Self and economy of mind
Energisation and the psyche
Body and mind
Self-image
Inner life
Feelings and emotions
Economy of the mind
Self-management
More on the unconscious
Dreams
References
Chapter 6 Creative leadership
Thinking
Higher-order thinking
Ingenuity
Creative teamwork
Structure and order
Active imagination
The irrational
Two methods from de Bono
Various methods
Exercises
References
Chapter 7 Ethical leadership
Morals and ethics
Moral leadership
Moral dilemmas
Values and moral ideals
Virtue-based ethics
Utility-based ethics
Duty-based ethics
Rights-based ethics
The ethical leader
References
Chapter 8 Critical leadership
The Greeks
Socrates
Intelligence
Open-mindedness
Idea
Critical thinking
WRAITEC
Mind and matter
The soul
References
Chapter 9 Project leadership and society
Self-improvement
Utility
Signals
Vitality
Knowledge
Paradox
Developmental alternatives
The project leadership mission
References
Index

Citation preview

Project: Leadership

Projects need leaders who are able to bring out the best in others, unite their teams, engage business partners, and facilitate harmonious delivery. Project: Leadership explains the core features of leadership for project managers, enabling them to develop a leadership style that is authentic and transparent, informed by a perspective of psychological understanding and personal growth. This book enables both potential and prominent leaders to dig deeper into the meaning of leadership, fostering personal growth which enables professional development. It opens with an introductory orientation on leadership and links it with management in general and project management in particular. The reader is then encouraged to take an introspective approach, underpinned by the fundamentals of cognitive-behavioural psychology and theories of personal growth, in order to develop authenticity in their leadership style. To this end, the reader is encouraged to develop an awareness of unconscious aspects of their personality with the help of insights from depth psychology, as well as the fundamentals of creative thinking, ethical thinking, and logical thinking. This is all carefully and pragmatically applied to the context of leadership of projects, with the aim to foster growth and development in individuals, project teams, and organisations. Project: Leadership is also an ideal introductory book for undergraduate and postgraduate leadership programs. Haukur Ingi Jonasson is a professor at Reykjavik University, a consultant and Certified Stanford Project Manager. His background is in theology, philosophy, and psychology, which he applies to engineering and management. He is the author of several books on leadership and management. Helgi Thor Ingason is a professor at Reykjavik University, a consultant, and a Certified Senior Project Manager. He is the author of several books on management and his work has been published in the Project Management Journal, International Journal of Project Management, and Journal of Metals.

Project: Leadership Haukur Ingi Jonasson and Helgi Thor Ingason

First published 2019 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business ©  2019 Haukur Ingi Jonasson and Helgi Thor Ingason The right of Haukur Ingi Jonasson and Helgi Thor Ingason to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-138-33866-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0429-44154-7 (ebk) Typeset in Goudy by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

This book is dedicated to Magga and Elly

Contents

List of figures

x

List of tables

xii

Acknowledgements xiii Preface to the series

xv

Foreword xix 1 Transparent project leadership

What is leadership? The development of your leadership abilities Formative influences Leadership or management Leadership styles Controlling leadership styles Participatory leadership styles Situational leadership styles Transparent leadership References

2 Strategic growth and development Personal strategic planning Values Mission Vision Evaluation Professional/personal goals Personal/professional objectives Personal/professional tasks Personal/professional journal References

1

25

 vii

3 Self-management for leadership

45

4 Development, health and defences

75

5 Self and economy of mind

99

Habits and cognitive behaviour Self-change ten-step method Self-help and self-maintenance Self-control Creative self-management methods Stress and its management Balanced life Rest and sleep Willpower and needs The unconscious References

Health and morale The meaning of health Defence mechanisms and anxiety Mature defence mechanisms Neurotic defence mechanisms Immature defence mechanisms Unhealthy defence mechanisms Other defence mechanisms Mental health References

Energisation and the psyche Body and mind Self-image Inner life Feelings and emotions Economy of the mind Self-management More on the unconscious Dreams References

6 Creative leadership

Thinking Higher-order thinking Ingenuity Creative teamwork Structure and order Active imagination The irrational Two methods from de Bono Various methods Exercises References

viii  Contents

131

7 Ethical leadership

155

8 Critical leadership

175

9 Project leadership and society

193

Morals and ethics Moral leadership Moral dilemmas Values and moral ideals Virtue-based ethics Utility-based ethics Duty-based ethics Rights-based ethics The ethical leader References

The Greeks Socrates Intelligence Open-mindedness Idea Critical thinking WRAITEC Mind and matter The soul References

Self-improvement Utility Signals Vitality Knowledge Paradox Developmental alternatives The project leadership mission End of the road? References

Index 211



Contents ix

Figures

  1.1    1.2    1.3    1.4    1.5    2.1    2.2    2.3    2.4    2.5    3.1    3.2    3.3    3.4    3.5    3.6    3.7    4.1    4.2    4.3    4.4    4.5    5.1    5.2    5.3    5.4    5.5    5.6    5.7    5.8 

The human life-cycle The dialectics of growth and development Two interrelated threads of leadership Controlling leadership styles can be appropriate As a participatory leader you position yourself within the team The process to create your personal and professional strategy What does and what doesn’t the mission consist of? Personal and professional goals Results orientation means keeping track of your successes!  It is very beneficial to keep a personal/professional journal It is gratifying to self-manage well Finding the right option to solve a problem can be a challenge A stressful event and your cognitive response Stress level and productivity The short and long-term implication of stress The goal is the attainment of wholeness and balance Aiming high, falling into the depths, and going up again A multi-dimensional approach to wellbeing and health Can you self-analyse all of your behaviour? We project things we can not acknowledge in ourselves Splitting creates a “me” versus “you” mentality The aim is to be in control and enjoy your mission Early experiences can create complexes that can be triggered The self can be depicted as a circle The basic structure of the brain The iceberg idea of the functioning mind How is it to reside within your “self”? You learn about your self in relation to others Your “self” in relation to your team, organisation and society Your sense of self is founded on what your belief is the experience of others of you   5.9  Feelings and emotions play a part in decision-making

x 

6 9 12 14 17 26 29 33 36 39 49 55 60 61 65 69 70 78 83 88 91 95 102 104 106 107 109 110 111 115 118

5.10  It takes courage to face the unconscious 5.11  The psyche as a landscape at night and the consciousness as spotlight 5.12  Interpretation of dreams   6.1  Three types of thinking   6.2  Innovative people are both creative and practical   6.3  Creativity can be both fun and demanding   6.4  Creativity demands a systematic approach   6.5  The imagination can take you anywhere   6.6  Creative people often keep journals   6.7  De Bono suggests a five-step process to deal with problems   6.8  The four dimensions of creativity   7.1  In moral dilemmas there are competing values   7.2  Virtue-based ethics   7.3  Utility-based ethics   7.4  Duty-based ethics   7.5  Rights-based ethics   7.6  Using all the theories to illuminate the issue at stake   7.7  We are all in this together   8.1  Be curious, ask, and check your assumptions!   8.2  Allow others to express their ideas and views   8.3  Critical thinking is a method to find out what is most true   8.4  Active listening is a key to good dialogue   8.5  Community of inquiry is a method to explore truths   8.6  Experiencing the soul can be menacing and fascinating   9.1  Individuation is being uniquely you   9.2  Goals contradicting unconscious intentions can create problems   9.3  Leaders need to be in touch with themselves   9.4  Leaders need to be able to be in touch with others   9.5  You are a leader that stands out in society

121 125 127 134 136 139 142 144 146 148 150 160 163 164 166 168 170 170 176 180 182 187 188 190 194 197 200 204 208

Figures xi

Tables

1.1 Developmental stages according to Erik Erikson 1.2 The Big Five Factors (OCEAN) of character traits (low/high scores) 2.1 Your personal and professional values 2.2 Personal and professional mission statements 2.3 Personal and professional vision statements 2.4 Your personal and professional SWOT analyses 2.5 From goals to measurable SMART objectives 2.6 Your personal and professional tasks 3.1 From undesired behaviour to desired behaviour 5.1 Two different scenarios showing self-management in action 6.1 Edward de Bono’s approach to solve problems

xii 

5 21 27 28 30 31 33 35 46 123 148

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to our families for their encouragement, patience, and their contributions. Very special thanks to Jonathan Norman at the Major Projects Association Knowledge Hub for his unceasing support, guidance, dedication, and friendship. Thanks to Tim Morissey who read through the text and gave us some great suggestions for the content. Our thanks also go to Lara Jonasdottir, Jon Asgeir Sigurvinsson, and Jane Appleton for their help with translations and to Olof Embla Eyjolfsdottir for her help in initiating the project with Routledge. We also want to thank some of our friends and colleagues within the project management community for the many inspiring discussions: Bob Dignen, Beverly Pasian, Darren Dalcher, Mark Morgan, Miles Shepard, Rodney Turner, Steven Eppinger, Sharon De Mascia, Tom Taylor, and Yvonne Schoper. Also, we extend our thanks to co-workers in the Master of Project Programme (MPM) at Reykjavik University: Asbjorg Kristinsdottir, Benedikt Arnason, Agnes Holm Gunnarsdottir, Gudfinna Bjarnadottir, Ellen Gunnarsdottir, Florence Kennedy, Greta Maria Gretarsdottir, Hannes Petursson, Yr Gunnarsdottir, Pall Kr Palsson, Pall Jensson, Pauline Muchina, Marta Kristin Larusdottir, Morten Fangel, Markus A Zoller, Thordis Wathne, Throstur Gudmundsson, and Thordur Vikingur Frið geirsson. We want to thank the University of Reykjavik and all our co-workers there and our students for ongoing invaluable input, support, and encouragements. Special thanks to Aslaug Armannsdottir MPM and Iris Hrund Thorarinsdottir MPM and our co-workers on the Project Leadership and Project Management programme at the University of Iceland: Kristin Jonsdottir Njardvik, Kristin Birna Jonsdottir, and Elin Julia Sveinsdottir; and at the University of Akureyri, Elin Hallgrimsdottir. We thank also Gudrun Hognadottir, Gunnar Stefansson, Kristjan Kristjansson, Kristinn Orn Vidarsson, Ingolfur A. Johanneson, Margret Bjornsdottir, Petur Maack, Runolfur Smari Steinthorsson, Kristinn Orn Vidarson, and Tryggvi Sigurbjarnarson for their support. Special thanks to CCP Games in Reykjavik, its CEO, Hilmar Veigar Petursson, and its SVP of Human Resources, Sophie Froment, for their help in funding the translations. We want to thank JPV Publishing in Iceland,

 xiii

particularly our editor Oddny S. Jonsdottir and CEO Egill Orn Jonatansson, for their encouragement and cooperation. Last but not least we want to thank Halldor Baldursson for his wonderful illustrations and friendship and Amy Laurens and Alexandra Atkinson at Routledge for their patience, suggestions, and support. Haukur Ingi Jonasson Helgi Thor Ingason

xiv  Acknowledgements

Preface to the series

Transparent leadership and sustainable project management This book is a part of a series of four that are written for anyone who needs to be able to lead and participate in different kinds of projects and the human, technical, and communication aspects of projects, programmes, and portfolios, using a style and techniques adapted to the context and the environment of each one. The series is tailored to help you strengthen four key proficiencies in a very creative way: strategy, leadership, implementation, and communication. Use the advice they contain to develop your personal leadership and managerial style and your ability to take ideas and advance them through planning and execution – with the transparency and accountability that successful project management today demands. We put equal emphasis on the technical and human elements of effective management. Success will require the alignment of the objectives of the project leader, team, and organisation within the project’s social and environmental context. We’ve written this series primarily for the next generation of project, programme, and portfolio managers. The models, techniques, and advice within the books have been taught for many years in the most popular and successful management education and training program in Iceland. They reflect the integrated nature of this successful program, which is designed with the needs of those who want to lead well in both their professional and private lives, in mind. This means to bring a degree of self-awareness and self-realisation to the leadership of businesses, public bodies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and society in general. We have aligned the books to the most recent version of IPMA Competence Baseline ICB4. The idea is to provide something that is practical as handbooks and as supporting documentation for anyone aiming to become certified ICB 4.0. We wanted to make sure the series will be of interest to an international readership since projects today are typically planned and operated across

 xv

international boundaries and involve teams from different disciplines and cultures. Our aim is to transform you into an international and transparent leader; someone who is intellectually and emotionally ready to manage others in a spirit of self-reflection, has the values and ethics to guide them in often complex and difficult environments, and has the flexibility and confidence to listen to and make use of criticism and communication, in all its forms. Transparency implies leading in a way that shows constant, considered awareness of the project’s content, context, and consequences for you, your team, and your organisation, as well as the society and environment within which you live and work. The series is based on this vision.

xvi  P reface to the series

Foreword

Project management is an internationally recognised discipline that has received more and more academic attention in recent years as our experience of complex projects, both large and small, has developed. This book forms part of a series of books written by the same authors that each individually focus on one of the following four topics: Leadership, Strategy, Communication, and Planning. These have been written as a guide for professional project managers, students of project management, and people from different sectors with an interest in the field. These books have been developed using the publications and guidelines of internationally recognised project management organisations as a foundation and are intended to complement these by providing further depth and examples to highlight different aspects of project management and to demonstrate practical approaches to real-life problems. In this book, we focus on leadership – a basic element in the make-up of a project team and how they carry out their activities and achieve their goals. In a given situation, there are those that lead and those that follow, and time and circumstances mean that sometimes people might lead, sometimes they might follow, or a mixture of both simultaneously. A young child, for example, will look to their parents or guardians for support and guidance in how to behave. This process continues as they mature through to adulthood, observing new role models and coming under the influence of new authoritative figures. Over the course of time they gain more experience and inherit more responsibility and will eventually themselves become a leader of sorts with others following their guidance and example. Being a recognised leader means you are someone who is out ahead and whom others follow in their thoughts and actions within a particular environment, be it within a project, an institution, a family or any other group. Real leadership is related to, but distinguished from, the notions of power and authority – a true leader does not need to force or oblige others to follow as they do so willingly. This overall concept is explored in detail in this book and is the foundation of good project leadership. There has been an exponential rise in recent times in the number of people interested in studying leadership to further their career and ambitions and out of general interest. In the field of project management there can be very diverse reasons for this. For example, it can be very empowering for someone

 xix

to graduate from a situation where they are required to follow the authority of others that they do not respect or agree with and to have the liberty to be able to make their own decisions and follow their own path. This process is typically accompanied by a greater degree of responsibility, however, and one needs to become more socially aware and prepared for the inevitable challenges that will arise. Our surroundings are constantly evolving and in the modern information age there has been a rapid increase in the level of monitoring, data acquisition, and information communication. As a result, leaders of one kind or another – be they political, military, business, academic, social, or otherwise – operate with greater scrutiny than ever before. One consequence of all this information flow is that it has become apparent that a large number of people in business life, politics, and other arenas have been making mistakes in their roles as leaders, even allowing for the context in which they had to operate within. Whereas before there was a tendency for this to remain unnoticed, now it can be widely exposed. At the micro-level, even a single unwarranted comment or action can go viral on the internet and reputations can be damaged as a result. In light of all these developments, we, the authors of this book, believe that the time is right for renewal in management theory, where knowledge of practical studies and the humanities come together. Project Leadership is intended to contribute to such a renewal and to reinforce the importance of long-established principles of good leadership in the modern environment. The book aims to serve as a real-life practical guide for existing and aspiring leaders operating within a diverse range of fields. The nature of the role of leadership and the use of leadership theory to succeed in private life and at work is discussed at length. We want to help you become more capable of working with yourself and, by doing that, increase your insight into human nature. During the course of this exercise, leadership will be linked to communication and influencing skills, strategy, and execution (project, portfolio, and programme management). The leadership theory we propose is integrated with a particular emphasis on preparing you – through serious self-reflection – to become a potential future leader in business, culture, and society. The book encourages you to tend to your own development with personal strategies and their implementation. It discusses the emotions, thoughts, and behaviour of you as a potential leader, as well as deepening an understanding of the effect of outlooks, expectations, and personality. Ideally, reading the book will encourage creative, ethical, and critical thought and offer you, as a current and/or future leader, a range of practical insights into psychology and practical humanism. The book is divided into nine chapters that are each in turn divided into short sub-chapters. The first chapter discusses the role of the leader, different leadership styles, and introduces the concept of the transparent project leader. The second chapter is about personal strategies and how to realise these in a practical sense. Chapter three covers the self-awareness, behaviour, and conscious self-control of leaders and chapter four deals with issues of health

xx  F oreword

and unconscious defence mechanisms. In the fifth chapter, we delve deeper and look at the reality of the unconscious. Chapter six covers ingenuity and creative thought, and the seventh chapter looks at ethical thinking, different ethical theories, and ethical decision-making. The eighth chapter addresses the practical sense and critical thought required of leadership and the ninth and final chapter is about the growth targets of a leader and the nature of their role in society. We have written the book in a way that is designed to personalise the subject matter and encourage you, the reader, to allow yourself time to pause and reflect on the questions that are asked. We hope that you will enjoy reading the book and that it will provide you with new insights and further your skills as a potential future project manager. Happy reading. Haukur Ingi Jonasson Helgi Thor Ingason

Foreword xxi

1 Transparent project leadership

While leadership is often traditionally associated with heroic or romantic ideas of powerful people making their mark on the pages of history, less attention has been given to more mundane, everyday leaders; the people who set about important work on a daily basis, bringing others along with them in achieving success. Whatever the scale on which you are operating, the basic principles of practical leadership are the same for any leader performing within a team, organisation, community, or society at large. We will explore your leadership potentials both in general and also specifically in relation to projects, programmes, and project portfolio management. The essential context of project leadership includes: (1) the project – a non-routine set of tasks with defined scope and resources, designed to reach a particular goal; (2) the project team – the people charged with realising the project goals and made up of those who lead and those who follow; and (3) the project environment or the circumstances under which the project is undertaken. Given the context, we have included at various points in the text an extensive commentary on the personal and social competences of the Individual Competence Baseline (ICB4) of the International Project Management Association (IPMA, 2015) which are: self-reflection and self-management, personal integrity and reliability, leadership, resourcefulness, and results orientation. In our book on project communication, in the same series, we take a closer look at the competences ICB4 defines as personal communication, relations and engagement, teamwork, negotiation, conflict, and crisis. The books on project leadership and project communication are intertwined. In this book we touch upon these themes from an intra-personal perspective. In our book on project communication, we will look at them from a social and interpersonal perspective with a focus on communication and team dynamics. In our books on project strategy and project planning we explore the more organisational and executive aspects of project, programme, and portfolio management. In this chapter you will learn the basics of leadership and how leadership relates to self-reflection and personal integrity. Understanding leadership demands insights into both individual and social psychology. Our primary focus here is on the individual psychology, whereas we will cover the more social aspects of group psychology in our book on

 1

communication in the same series. This book sets out to prepare you for leadership in any number of fields. Your role may be to lead a project team, manage an organisation, or head up a political movement — or it may be to support someone else in their role as leader. We believe that the more people who come to appreciate the nature and importance of leadership, the better able we will be to learn collectively from the experience and encourage equitable and sustainable approaches to projects and to work in general.

What is leadership? Leadership can entail a variety of things, for example it can be defined as the talent to (1) form a future vision; (2) inspire in others the ambition to reach desired goals; and (3) facilitate and enable those who can to turn that vision into a reality. It also involves having the tenacity and drive to see things through to completion as circumstances change. Sometimes leaders form their vision alone and sometimes they do it with others. Leadership theory explores the nature of leadership including influences, styles, and achievements, and can be both descriptive and prescriptive. Descriptive leadership theory describes what is best known about leadership as it has been observed in practice, while prescriptive leadership theory describes how leadership skills can be developed, acting as a guide to the skills and art of getting others to do what needs to be done. In our overall model of leadership, we consider transparency to be a key factor, meaning that at any given moment in your leadership role you are conscious of the assumptions, reflections, and conclusions that underpin your decisions. This does not mean that you reveal all your emotions, feelings, and thought, but rather that you can understand how and why you are responding to what is happening and you are capable of managing that response appropriately and constructively in the heat of the moment. Any leader will benefit from a well conducted self-reflection and the ideas and techniques we offer will provide you with the knowledge, skills, and competences to work towards increased self-awareness and better self-management. We also believe that a better understanding of your own motivations and behaviours will enable you to better understand others. To this end, we include several self-reflective questions at the end of each chapter that are aimed at facilitating personal growth and professional development. You will get the most out of the book if you take the time to consider them and to write down your answers. The obvious first questions to ask: •• •• •• ••

What drew you to this book? Are you a born leader looking for a confirmation of your talent? Have you found yourself called upon to lead within an organisation, family, or in the public arena? Do you feel you lack leadership skills and would like to acquire them?

2  TRANSPARENT PROJECT LEADERSHIP

Whatever your answers may be, it is clear in our minds that the world needs qualified project leaders who have the ability to self-reflect and self-manage in their leadership roles. This need is amplified in times of economic and political turmoil when we should be making a serious review of both our leaders and our systems. History provides headline examples of leaders who wreaked havoc. Some, without doubt, had good intentions but lacked skills; others had the skills but lacked good intentions. Sometimes leaders lose track; sometimes power corrupts them; sometimes their psychological flaws undermine their intentions — sometimes the consequences are trivial, sometimes very costly — and occasionally catastrophic. Your approach to project leadership development should be enjoyable and may be challenging; and there are many possible routes. The path we have chosen is that of the intra-personal aspects of the leadership experience. This approach explores how your inner life can have an impact on your ability to influence others, and on your mental resilience in the face of challenges. This inner life can be, for instance, your impulses, emotions, fantasies, aspirations, thoughts, and dreams. We shine a spotlight into your mind and your ways of thinking. The idea is that you need to consider what is happening around you and how you are interpreting and responding to these events. It is only when these two threads are intertwined that they form one durable rope that can be used to pull others along. This book will make you self-reflect for the benefit of better self-management. It will provide you with the ability to recognise, reflect on, and understand your emotions, behaviours, and values. It will also encourage you to set personal goals, progress, and to cope with the challenges of daily work in an organised way.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

How would you define leadership? What do you know about leadership theory? What is your experience of leadership? What type of leadership was demanded of you in these circumstances? What characterises the interplay between a leader and a follower?

The development of your leadership abilities Your personal experience influences how you make sense of the world and influences your thinking and actions. Understanding this can reduce the risk of bias. So, we can start by asking, how does your personal experience influence your leadership? Were you born with leadership abilities? Or, did you acquire them in your upbringing? Or through your life experience? In other words, are leaders born or made? Some children and teenagers show

TRANSPARENT PROJECT LEADERSHIP 3

a greater interest in leading rather than following. Some are more assertive from an early age than others. Some seem better at relating to others and to get more attention from their peers. Equally, some children show definite personality traits that can clearly relate to their potential leadership approach later in life. Genetics may surely play their part, but there is undeniably also a very strong environmental component in how we grow and develop as leaders. The potential to develop leadership skills is like all other forms of mental and physical abilities, greatly dependent on our childhood experience and our influencers; the people who brought us up. British psychoanalyst Donald W. Winnicott put it like this: “Home is where we start from” (Winnicott, 1990), meaning that your sense of self, self-awareness, and self-image take shape in your childhood and upbringing; and it is on that emotional and intellectual platform that you stand on when it comes to assuming and accepting your own feelings, thoughts, and behaviour as an adult. If something goes wrong during this delicate process, you are more likely to look for explanations for your problems outside yourself, which can undermine your ability to assume the responsibilities required when in a challenging leadership role. As an adult your continued intellectual and emotional development will largely depend on you. The first step towards developing leadership competences is the ability to read and trust your own feelings and emotions — and on that basis to form coherent thoughts and take responsible actions. In your formative years, it was your parents, or whoever brought you up, who supported this endeavour. Later, other role models such as friends, teachers, celebrities, colleagues, authorities, and leaders begin to increasingly influence your views and perception. As an adult, and especially when you have taken on a leadership role — you, and you alone, are responsible for your emotions, thoughts, and behaviour. This is an important insight which has significant social implications. Winnicott, whom we mentioned previously, pointed out that democracy, which is one of the most important tools for collective decision-making, can only prosper if enough people in society have sufficient insight into themselves to be able to take responsible decisions (Winnicott, 1990). The American psychoanalyst Erik Erikson in his book Identity and the Life Cycles speculated on the formation of personality and the connection between self and society (Erikson, 1959). In this book he examines the lifespan of the individual from the perspective of the social development of the personality, and identifies distinctive developmental stages he believes can foster, or hinder, personal growth. Each of these transitions are, according to Erikson, marked off by a specific type of conflict and the working through of this conflict. In a healthy development process, conflict is initially tolerated and then constructively solved. If there is no or only limited processing at a particular stage or if the outcome is not satisfactory, then the individual may need to deal with problems related to these unresolved issues later in life. Table 1.1 is based on this idea.

4  TRANSPARENT PROJECT LEADERSHIP

Table 1.1 Developmental stages according to Erik Erikson Stages

Period age

Age

Crisis

Best resolution

1 2

Infancy Early childhood

0–1½ 1½–3

Hope Will

3 4

Play age School age

3–5 5–12

5

Adolescence

12–18

6

Young adulthood

18–40

7

Adulthood

40–65

8

Maturity

65+

Trust versus Mistrust Autonomy versus Shame Initiative versus Guilt Industry versus Inferiority Self-identity versus Social identity Intimacy versus Isolation Generativity versus Stagnation Integrity versus Despair

Purpose Competency Fidelity Love Care Wisdom

On the basis of Erikson’s theory, we can assume that an individual who has managed to work through the challenges of each stage of development satisfactorily is better able to tackle — due to a higher level of maturity — the challenges of leadership than someone who has not managed to do so. Failure at a particular stage does not necessarily stunt your development as it may lead you to develop skills that may prove useful. Erikson’s theory is a useful indicator for understanding behaviours, but should not be regarded as a decisive ruling on eligibility or ineligibility for leadership. Challenge or trauma can be a significant motivator for someone in later life. For another person, the same experience may encourage them to retreat inwards in an effort to protect themselves from other similar sources of emotional pain. There are several paths towards developing your own leadership potentials. These can be divided into two basic categories, which are by no means mutually exclusive. On one hand, you might focus on gaining further insight into yourself (intrapersonal). For example, reflect on how you can remain informed, calm, and collected under pressure. On the other hand, you might focus on your social skills and your ability to influence others and maintain good working relationships (interpersonal). It is important that you have enough self-awareness to be conscious of what affects you and what effect you have on those around you and why. Human self-consciousness is a remarkable product of human development that involves a mixture of unconscious, subconscious, and conscious elements. Who you are intra- and interpersonally goes to the heart of your identity and the question of what ultimately defines you is a question that is part scientific, part philosophical, part psychological, and part spiritual. The Swiss psychoanalyst Carl G. Jung, in many of his writings, occupied himself with an understanding of the inner subjective reality of the psyche (Jung, 1933, 1954). He believed that what is imagined can be as real as what can be physically touched, and that psychosis — the mental state when people lose touch

TRANSPARENT PROJECT LEADERSHIP 5

with what convention defines as reality — occurs when there is an imbalance between the conscious and unconscious aspects of the mind. In such a case the unconscious overpowers the conscious; internal voices become all too real and begin to obscure our objectivity; we begin to lose touch with who we really are, our feelings, impulses, and dreams. An appealing metaphor for the lifespan of the individual comes from Jung, who likened the emergence of self-awareness with the sun at sunrise, the adult conscious with the midday sun and the self-awareness of old age with the sun at sunset (Figure 1.1). In childhood we live an innocent life but one in which we learn to address the physical urges which express themselves in strong sensations such as hunger, anger, hatred, desire, pleasure, and happiness. It may be argued that self-awareness arises from dealing with these realities — as we learn to recognise and address our instinctual behaviour with our learned behaviour. The more complex emotions such as shame and pride, which can be very influential in terms of our approach to leadership, develop over time, but still can be initiated in our infancy (Tracy & Robins, 2004). The early formative years – even the first few months of our life – are thus extremely important in our development as they can set us on a trajectory that may not seem so easy to alter. At a young age, experiencing loss or tragedy, illness, poverty, physical and psychological abuse, a lack of recognition and affection from others, excessive pampering, overly high expectations, a lack of stimulation, a lack of discipline or excessive discipline, and a dramatic change to your environment can all both be highly disruptive and have a negative influence on your wellbeing later in life. In terms of your psychology, perceived and real attacks on your sense of self-worth and self-esteem can be particularly damaging in our formative years. This can also apply as you get older where traumatic experiences can severely impact you, even though you had hitherto had a happy and fulfilling life. For example, a small business man or woman, or house owner may experience fraud or robbery or a campaign of vilification or intimidation with the result that they become withdrawn, seeing threats or negativity all

Figure 1.1 The human life-cycle.

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around. Whether their feelings are imaginary or not is beside the point as their internal reality makes them very real. How you deal with circumstances that greatly affect you, both past and present, is a major factor when it comes to forming your leadership competences, such as: how open you are to relating your thoughts and feelings to others and how well you can accept external help or counsel when required. The crux of what is being said here is the understanding that you are simultaneously working in an inner subjective world and on an objective outer reality. As a leader you need to be able to look both inwards to their inner world and outward to your environment. If you as leader refuse to look inward, you may find that your view of the external world is critically biased by prejudices and perspectives of which you are unaware. Let’s take an extreme example. The charismatic US religious cult leader Jim Jones was responsible for the mass suicide of 900 of his followers in Guyana in 1978. In a definitive book on these events, Reiterman and Jacobs (1982) describe the background influences that fed into the leadership style of Jones and the events in his life leading up to his violent demise. The experiences of prolonged deep shame and rejection in early life; a keen intelligence and enhanced ability to communicate; subsequent early career success leading to hubris, arrogance, and amorality; and surrounding himself with unquestioning and loyal acolytes were all contributory factors that combined with a basic narcissistic personality to produce a leader who saw himself as having messianic qualities. When this self-image was decisively challenged the response was to lash out in violence and ultimately in the destruction of himself and the vast majority of his followers. While this example may appear to have little relevance to what occurs in everyday life, there are echoes of this story in how certain leaders carry out their roles and the results, while not as catastrophic, can nonetheless be very damaging for those affected. The banking crisis in 2008, for example, involved a number of leaders in the financial and political world who demonstrated narcissistic traits and who refused to recognise reality in the lead up to it, surrounding themselves with people who praised their endeavours and raised no objections. It is a recognised problem that a number of leaders pay little heed to their inner world and do little in the way of understanding themselves; or are illequipped to do so. And, why should people focus on themselves when it is possible to be effective simply by giving their initiative free rein in the outer world?

Reflection points: •• •• ••

What effect does the home environment in which you grew up in have on your leadership? How did your parents/guardians encourage you to show initiative? How did your parents/guardians discourage you from showing initiative?

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Formative influences One of the most obvious ways to learn about leadership is to seek out role models. If the leaders in your life have been the people who had the strongest and most constructive effect on you, you may ask: Who were those individuals? Who cheered you on? Who tried to bring out the best in you? Who sparked your desire for success? Who paid attention to you? Then ask yourself: Which traits characterised these people? What skills did they have? How did they use those skills? You can use the answers to these questions to help you identify the leadership qualities and competences that may be most useful to you. It probably won’t take you long to remember some key role models. Most people only have a handful of their most influential. When we assign this task to our students individually, some choose famous historic leaders, others choose contemporary leaders, and others choose a colleague, a family member, or a friend. If we assign the task to a group, it illustrates clearly how leadership can entail many diverse qualities and variations in style. People frequently mention, for example, courage, integrity, motivation, intelligence, modesty, and many other qualities. What are the fundamental skills considered pre-requisite for good leaders? (1) an ability to form a vision; (2) an ability to generate a sense of urgency; and (3) an ability to keep the prize in sight. A leader does whatever needs to be done or perhaps the leader brings about what needs to happen. So, the leadership mission involves working with and supporting others to get desired results in an appropriate way and bringing everyone along on the mission. Being a leader is, therefore, rather like being a guide; you have an unerring sense of the general direction and are able to translate that into a shared journey that remains realistic and sustains momentum. As a leader you may need to take charge at the beginning of the journey, maintain control, delegate to others, and encourage others onward with appropriate recognition and feedback. It is your job to keep your followers active, motivated, and aware of the importance of their contributions. Taking people along on your journey entails responsibility, particularly when the path ahead is uncertain or risky. This is something that only contemplation, experience, and honest feedback from good mentors can teach. In order to succeed, followers need to be able to turn to you, communicate with you honestly, and consult you with confidence. You do not need to be perfect, but as to maintain credibility you need to set a good example and offer direction and guidance. It is also important that you have the inquisitiveness, strength of character, and humility to recognise and learn from your mistakes and difficulties, and to listen and be influenced by those around you. The more complex the projects, the more challenging the relationships, and the more incompatible the interests, the better you will need to understand the players and the groups involved.

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The leadership mission centres on bringing about change — within a team, organisation, or society – which can elicit opposition. People in an established environment tend to be conservative and want things to remain the same. You will need to straddle the fence between tradition and change, which entails respecting the way things have been and are now, while at the same time bringing about the necessary changes. The balancing act entails listening, trying to evaluate the situation, and understanding the potential opposition before embarking on a particular course. Ask yourself: What is the situation? What is the likely opposition? What is a good outcome? This notion can be traced back to German philosopher George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) who described the dialectical procession from position (thesis) to counter-position (antithesis) to a new situation (syntheses) that Hegel believed manifested in all growth and development (Hegel, 1807) (see Figure 1.2). If you do not have formal power or authority, but nevertheless want to get people to work with you and agree to a particular course, goal, method, or outcome, you need to find other ways to capture the attention and gain the respect of your followers. Respect is reciprocal. Show respect to those around you by living up to your commitments, being consistent, reliable, and involving them. You increase your likelihood of influencing others by

Situation

Counterposition

New situation

New counterposition

Figure 1.2 The dialectics of growth and development.

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encouraging them to participate, listening closely to what they have to say, and by demonstrating that you are able to put the needs of others above your own, when required.

Reflection points: •• ••

Which individual do you respect for their leadership abilities? This may be a prominent historical figure, a colleague, friend, relative, or someone else. Write the name of the person on a page. What ten attributes make this person the leader that they are? Write those down as well. This list will give an indication of the desirable characteristics of a good leader that are worth striving for.

Leadership or management Leadership and management are closely related, but it is common to make a distinction between them. Let’s say that management is based on formal authority, and that key management competences evolve around the ability to create a strategy, organise, plan, staff, negotiate, and control – and consequently get things done through formal authority. Leadership, on the other hand, is about being able to influence others, create a vision and a sense of urgency, not necessarily on the foundation of formal authority, but by using various informal approaches. As a project leader, then, how do you go about creating a position of influence for yourself, with or without formal authority? In the context of a project, leadership entails identifying a project, determining individual parts of the work process, setting goals, selecting a project team, forming a collective unifying vision for the project team, project stakeholders and interested parties, make things happen, get things done, and be an advocate of the undertaking externally. You can see that in many ways this description directly corresponds to your formal responsibilities as a project manager. Project leadership, however, provides the medium for engaging people, generating momentum, and assuring resilience, none of which is necessarily a given on the basis of conventional project management procedures. Project leadership is required at every stage in the project lifecycle, especially when problems arise, when changes are needed, or when there is the need to review how to reach set goals (Lewis, 2003; Colemann & MacNicol, 2015; Mascia, 2016; Muller & Turner, 2016). A key aspect of the project leadership mission is to promote the project, its processes, and outcomes. You need to be able to advocate for the mission and explain the “why”, “how” and “what” to all concerned parties. Such promotion reinforces results orientation by making clear both the outcomes and the need for the outcomes. You can do this formally through regular reporting and stakeholder engagement or through informal communications.

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Your leadership might be judged based on whether you can get results, and this takes clear outcomes, plan, self-confidence, and confidence in your team. Project leadership is about delivering results and getting acceptance from stakeholders and your team. You need, therefore, to be able to rally people to the cause while sticking to a plan. This is best done by communicating trust and providing guidance towards set goals, maintaining the vision and direction, and resolutely following it through. You can of course choose your own management and leadership approaches to motivate your team, make decisions, and sustain a connection between yourself and the team. The important thing is that you are present and focused. Indications of deficiencies in your ability to lead can manifest themselves in different ways, e.g. do you struggle to delegate work in an appropriate fashion, find it difficult to guide your staff without dictating to them, or worry if their way of doing something is not exactly the same as yours? It is difficult to follow a directionless and unfocused leader, especially if those working on a project have more ambition for the project than their leader. Leadership is contextual and situational. You need to understand when your role is required and when it isn’t. The distinctive characteristics of your team will influence the style in which you should lead: What’s the culture of the organisation and of individual team members? How experienced is the team? How novel the project? The nature of your contribution is also important. You should use your cognitive, emotional, and social intelligence as well as your imagination to match the contribution to the levels of uncertainty, shock, and impact of what is happening. If management is primarily about strategy, organising, planning, staffing, negotiations, and control through formal authority then leadership is primarily about the various leadership styles that you have at your disposal and about the competence to determine which method to apply to get the best effect under varying circumstances. Some leadership styles will be within your capability, others not. Each time you apply a particular method that you believe is suitable, it is useful for you to take a moment to reflect on performance and get feedback from your team, followers, colleagues, or stakeholders to help you learn and improve in the future (it’s also a good strategy for building trust). Leadership competence comes through practice so seize any opportunities that come your way to take on a leadership role but show some sensitivity to others who may wish to do the same. 

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

What is the difference between a project manager and a project leader? What characterises a good project leader? What characterises a bad project leader? Are there particular types of projects in your field of experience that have a greater need for strong leadership?

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Leadership styles Every activity, from leading a football team to competition success to leading a large-scale humanitarian aid initiative, can be viewed in leadership. Of course, the complexity and circumstances of what you are doing can vary enormously depending on the nature of the project or programme. Let’s take a look at our football and humanitarian examples to illustrate how different leadership styles can influence outcomes. In the footballing example, a coach may emphasise the benefits of teamwork and pick players on merit while his counterpart from another team may choose players on the basis of those he likes and gets on with, at the expense of less favoured players. Circumstances can play their part, but which of these coaches is more likely to be successful in the long run? In the second example, that of humanitarian aid, a project leader might question the limits of his or her own knowledge and the validity of their judgement. He or she might seek counsel from a selected group of experienced local managers on planned action before committing to a decision; while another project manager might proceed to action with only minimal consultation and absolute personal conviction. Again, which of these is more likely to be successful? In both cases the answer is probably nuanced. It depends! Objective leadership factors include everything that you need to tackle in your external environment to be able to work effectively with your followers. This includes all the information and insight that you and others can discern and process collectively. In this arena, leadership means your ability to work with objects, data, plans, structures, and management systems. Subjective leadership factors, on the other hand, relate to your inner life, which is likely to be less readily apparent than the external reality and involves the various elements of your psychology and behaviour to which we alluded earlier (see Figure 1.3). When it comes to the subjective competences of leadership, the approach in this book is both broad and instructive, but at the same time probing, demanding, and targeted at you. Our emphasis will be on your self-understanding, personal growth, and professional development and is based on the belief that you – as a promising or prominent leader – can use your capability for self-determination to have a formative effect on your leadership potential. On this journey we will travel far and wide, exploring leadership theory and various leadership styles, the use of psychology, and how your sense of reality

Figure 1.3 Two interrelated threads of leadership.

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and self may be biased or skewed. The core concern throughout is to support you, as a future leader, in furthering your emotional, mental, and social intelligence and, in order to do so, to help you develop ingenuity, your moral compass, and your practical wisdom. Even though we suggest looking at leadership on a personal level, no leader works in a vacuum. You can only operate as a leader if you have support from others. The interplay between leaders and followers is very dynamic; roles can change, and individuals can take turns leading in teams. No matter how things actually play out in your relationship with your followers, don’t forget that the ideal characteristics of a good leader are very much the same as those of a good follower. A good follower can, therefore, take on a leadership role when called upon to do so, or if necessity demands, can support the one who leads. Leadership competences are elements within an overall leadership style that can vary widely and that leaders employ – consciously or unconsciously – to influence others. The style may be task-oriented, which means your primary concern is organising and defining roles, allocating tasks, and explaining how they should be carried out and completed. The style can also be relationshiporiented, in which case your concern is around creating and maintaining relations with colleagues, keeping the lines of communication open between them, supporting them, and facilitating their relations. There are times when these two roles are incompatible as one is about getting things done, whereas the other is about socialising within the team. Theories about leadership authority all revolve around the development of relations between a leader and followers (e.g. Kellerman, 2008). These relations are apparent in everything that takes place between these two parties. How things proceed depends on which leadership style is used, how relations develop over time and are maintained. Changing circumstances, type and context of an organisation, and the nature and varying lifespan of a project can all call for one leadership style rather than another. Those who criticise the idea of a leader’s personal charisma point out that it is primarily communication, circumstances, and aspects of the leader-follower interactions that create leadership authority, rather than personal magnetism. They also assert that the role of a leader is first and foremost to provide followers with resources and structure, ensure implementation of work, shape and define roles, and create and maintain a vision of the goals that should be pursued.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What methods do you apply to influence other people? What characterises your dealings with other people? What methods do you apply to optimise interaction? What methods do you apply to form a vision? What methods do you apply to ensure the execution of projects?

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Controlling leadership styles As a laissez-faire leader, you give your staff a relatively free rein and provide little guidance or feedback. This may be because they are highly experienced and require limited supervision to reach their goals. This is an active leadership style that should not be confused with the styles of leaders who simply don’t lead. Your followers are given a wide latitude to do what they want and what to do, and they are encouraged to use their own abilities to the fullest. The team is given the decision-making power and you watch from the side lines only to provide assistance when necessary (see Figure 1.4). As a managerial leader, you handle the main aspects of management, such as strategic planning, scheduling, project management, and supervision. You organise, hire people, coordinate the workforce and resources, take care of funding, accounts, and supervision, as well as lead the group through formal authority. Management is often seen as a technical profession, a logical process based on rational decision-making, where managers consciously decide where they want to go and how they are going to get there. Whilst the managerial leader may be largely concerned with tasks, it is equally important to regard management as a balancing act between the needs of personnel and the needs of the organisation.

Figure 1.4 Controlling leadership styles can be appropriate.

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As a bureaucratic leader, you are concerned with defining processes and frameworks and keeping close track of them (Weber, 1947). There is an emphasis on rules and supervision, order, regulation, and transparency in processes, so that everyone is sitting at the same table. Universities, banks, state institutions, and hospitals, for example, emphasise such formalities in leadership to ensure quality and safety and to ward off corruption. As a charismatic leader, you base your leadership authority on personal charm and on transferring energy and motivation to your followers (Weber, 1947). Some argue that leadership skills revolve around the leader’s personality and personal charm, rather than power or circumstances. Such theories are based on the notion that personal charm gives some people the ability to make others prepared to give them leadership authority, whereas others clearly do not have the qualities needed to get other people to follow them. This theory does have a certain appeal but can be criticised for its vagueness and for lack of reference to circumstances and relationships. Charismatic leadership is sometimes called hero leadership and it can be efficient and productive. However, the danger is that you put yourself too often in the foreground and then rely heavily on your followers’ trust. There is also the danger that when you relinquish leadership, it becomes difficult to find a replacement. The charismatic leader is usually a good communicator and easily generates trust – sometimes deservedly, sometimes less so. An autocratic leader gains authority, possibly on the basis of experience, relations, use of force or expertise, to make decisions alone and without support (Lewin et al., 1938). This style can work well when close supervision is necessary, when there are large gaps in experience between a leader and their followers, when decision-making speed is of great importance, or when a team is indecisive. As an autocratic leader, you try to retain most of the power yourself, take all the key decisions and assume the group will comply with those decisions, come hell or high water. You pay little attention to the opinions of team members about directives or decisions. The main drawback with this style is that it can elicit hostility and resistance in the team and will rarely encourage initiative or development. It is likely that such leaders are regarded as inflexible and demanding. Although this style is unpopular and unfashionable, there are situations in which it is highly effective, such as in an emergency or crisis situation. Even then, this style requires a highly competent leader, because if you don’t know what you are doing, the team will look for ways to circumvent you. This style has sometimes been correlated with an outdated patriarchal approach as it can seem censorious, onerous, or too focused on micromanagement. As a transactional leader you base your leadership authority on your ability to reward – or punish – depending on whether others have performed well or not. The rule is “if you do this for me, then I will do this for you” or “this for that”. It is up to you as a leader to assess, correct, and direct personnel when performance is not good enough and to reward for a job well done. It has also been claimed that the transaction leader’s power is based on a “win-win”

TRANSPARENT PROJECT LEADERSHIP 15

relationship and that followers will support such a leader on the basis of an anticipation of reciprocity. If that is the case, then people will follow the leader as long as they believe they have something to gain from taking part. This theory, viewing leadership authority from the viewpoint of financial or other material gain, became popular both because it seemed to explain what personality theories had not explained, and because of its simplicity in explaining human behaviour based on self-interest. It has been criticised for being overly simplistic in terms of the dynamic of human relationships.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• •• •• ••

Name leaders who you consider to have used each one of the abovementioned leadership styles. Describe the pros and cons of each leadership style. Provide an example of action you have taken which demonstrates one of the above-mentioned leadership styles. Describe how your action may have differed had you adopted one of the other leadership styles. Which of your personality traits give you leadership authority? Which of your personality traits prevent you from gaining leadership authority? What are your personal charms? What can you offer others to convince them to give you leadership authority? What do you get from those who grant you leadership authority?

Participatory leadership styles Operating as a participatory leader you position yourself as a co-worker and a colleague within the team. You indicate that you want to be involved in the team’s work and you make decisions in collaboration with colleagues. All this increases the group’s sense of responsibility and enhances existing talents. This is a popular style of leadership, perhaps because it seems friendly and engaging for those, bringing the leader into the group, rather than outside or above it. This style is most appropriate when working with talented and motivated people who have the desire and ability to participate in decisionmaking and are in a position to contribute. The style can also be suitable if you want the group to own the project and take collective responsibility for it. The participatory style needs to be authentic and does not work well when there is little trust between you and your team. The participatory style puts a lot of emphasis on co-working and the “we” as a team (see Figure 1.5). A consultative leader seeks the opinion of the team before making decisions. You do this, however, without feeling bound to comply strictly with the group’s opinion, and conscious that you will need to have the final say in the ultimate

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Figure 1.5 As a participatory leader you position yourself within the team.

decision. The consensus leader has a similar style and encourages dialogue within the team, bases decisions on the outcome of that dialogue, but waits and facilitates until a complete consensus has been reached. It can take a long time to build up enduring consensus in the group, especially if personal commitment is at issue and if there are high stakes. In such cases this technique can be time-consuming and decision-making protracted. As a support leader you strongly support your followers and give them constructive feedback by distinguishing their individual skills, share your power and information, and even encourage independence to the appropriate degree. The support leader will use their empathy or direct inquiry to establish and respond to the needs of the team. The strength of the style is that it encourages and motivates, which in turn can make followers think unconventionally and independently. As a support leader you can also lead by example to provide guidance and inspire others with your good performance. A service leader aims to encourage the average worker to go the extra mile in serving the needs of customers (Grönfeldt and Strother, 2006). You emphasise to staff that their role comes with accountability and that they need to take the initiative and go that extra distance in order to help make customers or colleagues feel that they are being treated well and getting good service. The servant leader helps the team with its goal-setting by being of service and providing whatever it needs to get results (Greenleaf, 1970, 1977). You thus become a resource that your colleagues can use, rather than an authoritative figure who makes demands. This style is in many ways similar to the style of the democratic leader; decision-making takes time, but the advantage is that participants are more active. A democratic leader seeks the group’s input and scrutinises its ideas, but ultimately makes the final decision (Lewin et al., 1938). The team contributes,

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and this creates a sense of consultation when decisions are made. This style can take time, but it is often time well spent because the group is then open to any changes it might have to make following the decision. In other words, this leadership style lessens the reluctance and resistance to change. A democratic leader lays the final responsibility on the shoulders of the group, and that infers that the style is more suitable for community work than for a regular operating environment. On the other hand, company directors learn to realise the potential inherent in involving staff in decision-making, so the style is gaining ground in the commercial sector too.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

Name leaders you believe has employed each one of the above-mentioned leadership styles. What are the pros and cons of each of the leadership styles described above? What characterises your participation with others? How do you use your participation to gain influence?

Situational leadership styles The transformational leader is a contextual role that is usually required in the context of significant organisational or social change. The role of the transformational leader is to create a vision of aims of the project and maintain it all the way through. As a transformational leader you are highly visible and use both hierarchy and chains of influence to get results. There is a greater emphasis on achievement than on your personal characteristics or your specific relationship with the group. Leaders use this style when they need to inject new life into an organisation or a community and stimulate people to usually grand scale actions. Such a leadership style fosters a “yes, we can” attitude and uses vision to motivate for results. A transformational leadership style is based on sensitivity towards situations and culture. Success is greatly determined by the leader’s ability to read and influence that culture. You intervene when the circumstances demand; read the situation and implement change, but then when things are right you might step away from your leading role and allow others to step in. Cultural leadership involves you being sensitive and aware of the prevailing culture of the team or the organisation with which you are working in order to have a formative effect on it. One way to achieve this is to assume the role of someone who is always eager, curious, and interested in improving things within the project on which you are working. Alternatively ask for cultural backgrounds and interests and create a consensus around a celebration of the different cultures residing within the team. Understanding group dynamics is crucial, because you are in effect using the organisational culture to stimulate, motivate, and encourage your team.

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As an environmental leader, you aim to cultivate the working environment of your team so as to influence the experience or perceptions of individuals within the team or the organisation. Shaping the environment can enable you to motivate, remind, and inform the team on its mission; with posters, visual presentations, set ups, and rewards. If done well, you may be able to build a form of knowledge community within which both individuals and teams will start to adapt their working environment and make it increasingly habitable for the work at hand. Use this sense of community to formulate policies or mandates among participants to achieve goals that are desirable for everyone. Environmental leaders may place a special emphasis on ethical considerations related to sustainability and sustainable development. Contingent leadership regards different styles as being suitable for different situations and requires that you adapt to different situations with the requisite leadership style to increase the likelihood to success (Fiedler, 1958; 1967; 1971). It follows that as a competent contingent leader you will need to understand the whole spectrum of different leadership styles and have a good understanding of when to use which style. This implies flexibility, awareness, and experience of reading situations and how they change. The context of your leadership can be dynamic. Different situations may demand a drastically different approach. The organisation’s inner environment – structure, size, mission, or nature of the team – can call for different leadership approaches. The organisation’s outer environment – politics, the economy, society, technology, laws, and ecology – can also have an impact. So, the nature of projects, the context and situation, all influence what leadership style is most suitable. Last, but not least, your character, attitude, objectives, and expectations, as well as your professional or specialist skills, may need to adapt to different leadership skills; all this indicates the importance of the situational bound contingency leadership style. The most recent trends in leadership theories are a mixture of personality theory, relationship theory, cultural and transformational theory and often places an emphasis on agility and integrity. These include the theories about emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1995; 1998), multiple intelligence (Gardner, 2011), and theories that integrate insights from other theories (e.g. Chemers, 2002). It has been suggested that, in the future, leadership theory will increasingly be formed on the basis of insights from empirical sciences, the arts, social sciences, and humanities, and that future leadership will focus on the ability to reduce uncertainty and chaos, and to work creatively in a fast-changing world (Weick, 2001). As you can see, leadership theory has identified a variety of leadership styles. The practical value of knowing the different styles is that it enables you to discern more effectively what styles people in leading positions are using and what you might want to deploy. It might also help you to practise adopting different styles in different situations to learn what works and when. This is not the whole story, though, because we have not yet described the leadership approach which is perhaps the prerequisite of being able to systematically

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select and employ successfully any of these styles – we call this approach the transparent leadership style.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• ••

Review the leadership styles listed and provide examples of leaders who you believe have used these leadership styles. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of each leadership style. What techniques do you use to influence other people? What is your leadership style? What methods can you use to reduce uncertainty and chaos? What techniques can you employ to instigate change?

Transparent leadership The term transparent can be defined in terms of leadership as your ability to allow your inner energies – your desires and even your soul – to pass constructively on through to others. In other words, it is your ability to allow your instincts to express themselves appropriately as to motivate your team and organisation. You might have picked up that transparent leadership relies on your ability to introspect and self-reflect. It demonstrates a greater ability to monitor and freely express motives and assumptions to enable you to gain influence, work with integrity, and clearly express your expectations and feedback to others. Herb Baum’s book The Transparent Leader: How to Build a Great Company Through Straight Talk, Openness and Accountability (Baum, 2004) links the concept of transparent leadership to a style that is decisive, straightforward, and lays all cards on the table. The idea, as we use it, however, originates essentially from Ann Belford Ulanov, a former professor of psychiatry and religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Ulanov’s discussion focuses in general on the need for transparency of the unconscious in conscious living (Ulanov, 2000; 2003; 2004), an idea that we will here apply to the field of leadership. It should be clear from reading this chapter that leadership skills are not necessarily qualities you are born with, although some genetic elements may play a role. Your psychological core, your character or personality, will inevitably manifest in leadership situations. There are many interesting psychological theories about personality. One of the most popular ones is the theory of “The Big Five Factors”, each of which describes personality traits. The Big Five Factors aims to define your character in five dimensions, i.e. how open, conscientious, extroverted, agreeable, or neurotic your personality might be. Table 1.2 gives you an idea of how the “OCEAN” of character traits work.

20  TRANSPARENT PROJECT LEADERSHIP

Table 1.2 The Big Five Factors (OCEAN) of character traits (low/high scores) Character trait

Low score

High score

O

Openness

C

Conscientiousness

Conventional and prefers routine Disorganised, unreliable, impulsive

E

Extroversion

A

Agreeableness

Wide range of interest and curiosity Organised, reliable, committed, result-oriented Outgoing, talkative, assertive, interested in others Cooperative, empathic

N

Neuroticism

Withdrawn, quiet, suspicious, non-assertive Critical, uncooperative, sceptical Calm, secure, low level of anxiety

Anxious, unstable

The Big Five model is considered to provide a picture of the predominant aspects of human personalities and is useful, up to a point, for understanding how people are different and what tendencies are specific to their character type (Tupes & Cristal, 1961; Digman, 1989, 1990). Even though models such as the Big Five are handy for understanding some aspects of your leadership role, you should see them as indicators rather than absolute determinants of your ability. In other words, you can change! Despite all the classifications, experience shows that it is possible to acquire leadership abilities and most people hold the basic potential to become at least competent leaders. Your future leadership role will depend on the given moment, the circumstances, and on your relationships with followers. The starting point for developing your leadership skills is your willingness to learn and your desire to take the responsibility that a leadership role entails. Your success will be based on your ability to hold the course, adapt, and, in the long term, on your ability to maintain a healthy relationship with your inner life – your feelings, emotions, and thoughts; in other words, manage well your intra-personal dynamics. Becoming a leader also involves having the necessary inter-personal skills needed – to work collaboratively, listen to others, and even put the needs of others above your own needs when necessary. At the end of the day, the leadership competences that we suggest are the product of transparency of personality in relationships with others. Such transparent leadership rests on your ability to gain and maintain influence by reading and making use of your feelings, emotions, and thought processes to modify and determine your actions. This requires a considerable level of self-reflection and self-management. What you will encounter in the coming chapters are methods for gaining self-insight and developing your leadership intelligence – including your social intelligence. Different leadership styles, especially the concept of transparent leadership, raise a question of ethics: What is the difference between good and bad leaders? Is dedication to leadership a case of getting the skills to fulfil the leadership mission, regardless of the purpose for which those skills are used?

TRANSPARENT PROJECT LEADERSHIP 21

Our purpose is to guide those who want to take the lead in a responsible and constructive way to benefit individuals, teams, organisations, and communities. We urge you, as your contribution to this purpose, to find the critical path to ethically sound leadership. Sadly, there is no causal link between those in a leadership role and those who are self-reflective and self-critical. We could point out a number of leaders who, based on psychological criteria, could be considered unfit to lead. Our intention is not to judge people’s personalities as such, but it is clear that those with serious, harmful personality defects, the amoral or even the sociopathic, do not have a place in positions of influence where influence can lead to serious consequences for people, organisations, and society.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

In what ways are you acquiescent and lacking in resolve? What aspect of your personality would you prefer not to acknowledge? What aspect of your personality do you not want others to know about? What in your personality prevents you from being a transparent leader?

References Baum, Herb. (2004). The transparent leader: How to build a great company through straight talk, openness and accountability. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. Chemers, M. M. (2002). “Meta-cognitive, social, and emotional intelligence of transformational leadership: Efficacy and effectiveness” in R. E. Riggio, S. E. Murphy, F. J. Pirozzolo (eds.), Multiple intelligences and leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Colemann, Sarah & MacNicol, Donnie (2015). Project leadership. Farnham: Gower (Routledge). Digman, J. M. (1989). Five robust trait dimensions: Development, stability, and utility. Journal of Personality, 57, 195–214. Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of the five-factor model. Annual Review of Psychology, 41, 417–440. Erikson, Erik (1959). Identity and the life cycle. New York: W. Norton and Company. Erikson, Erik (1982). The life cycle completed. New York: W. Norton and Company. Fiedler, F. E. (1958). Leader attitudes and group effectiveness. Urbana, IL: University. Fiedler, F. E. (1967). A theory of leadership effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill. Fiedler, F. E. (1971). Leadership. New York: General Learning Press. Gardner, H. (2011). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books. Goleman, Daniel (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. Goleman, Daniel (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. Greenleaf, Robert K. (1970). The servant as leader. Indianapolis, IN: Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership.

22  TRANSPARENT PROJECT LEADERSHIP

Greenleaf, Robert K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press. Grönfeldt, Svafa & Strother, Judith (2006). Service leadership: The quest for competitive advantage. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Hegel, G. W. F. (1977 [1807]) Phenomenology of the spirit. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. IPMA (2015). Individual Competence Baseline (ICB4) of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). Zurich, Switzerland. Jung, C. G. (1933). Modern man in search of a soul. London: Kegan Paul Trench Trubner. Jung, C. G. (1954). The development of personality, Volume 17 of the collected works of C. G. Jung, transl. R. F. C. Hull. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press/Bollingen. Kellerman, Barbara (2008). Followership: How followers are creating change and changing leaders. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Publishing. Lewin, K., Lippitt, R., & White, R. K. (1938). “Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created social climates.” Journal of Social Psychology, 10, pp. 271–299. Lewis, James P. (2003). Project leadership. New York: McGraw-Hill. Mascia, Sharon de (2016). Project psychology: Using psychological models and techniques to create a successful project. London/NY: Routledge. Muller, Ralf & Turner, Rodney (2016). Project-oriented leadership. London/NY: Routledge. Reiterman, Tim & Jacobs, John (1982). Raven: The untold story of Reverend Jim Jones and his people. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. Tracy, J. L. & Robins, R. W. (2004). “Putting the self into self-conscious emotions: A theoretical model.” Psychological Inquiry, 15(2), 103–125. Tupes, E. C., & Cristal, R. E. (1961). “Recurrent personality factors based on trait ratings” in Technical Report ASD-TR-61-97. Lackland Air Force Base, TX: Personnel Laboratory, Air Force Systems Command. Ulanov, Ann Belford (2000). The wisdom of the psyche. Einsiedeln, Switzerland: Daimon Verlag. Ulanov, Ann Belford (2003). “The Christian fear of the psyche” in Picturing God. Einsiedeln, Switzerland: Daimon Verlag. Ulanov, Ann Belford (2004). Spiritual aspects of clinical work. Einsiedeln, Switzerland: Daimon Verlag. Weber, Max (1947 (1915]). The theory of social and economic organization, Transl. Talcott Parson. New York: The Free Press. Weick, Karl (2001). Making sense of the organization. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Winnicott, D. W. (1990). Home is where we start from: Essays by a psychoanalyst. New York: W. Norton and Company.

TRANSPARENT PROJECT LEADERSHIP 23

2 Strategic growth and development

In the opening chapter we defined a number of aspects that relate to being a leader, and we introduced a range of factors and concepts essential to being effective in this role. We suggested that you look at your leadership in terms of project management and discussed some of the necessary competences we suggest you possess when circumstances demand that you step up as a leader. We also talked about how leadership based on self-reflection and personal integrity should evoke self-understanding and integrity. We talked about how the potential influences in your formative years, and your development from early childhood into adulthood, may have an impact on your ability to lead, and we described a dedicated leadership style based on what we referred to as transparency. This chapter builds on the introductory material and offers you a guidance in forming your strategy both with regards to personal growth and professional development. The chapter also discusses how you can make use of a personal journal to improve your ability to take on leadership roles in a broad range of settings.

Personal strategic planning It is the leader’s role to evaluate decisions and actions and their impact on project success and organisational strategy. Leadership choices should be based both on agreed outcomes and on your own goals. Leadership means to balance needs and means to success, through allocating or denying means (resources, money, time, attention) to certain projects or tasks. Optimising demands a clear picture of the priorities based on an assessment of the needs to be fulfilled, and the ability to reason well for set priorities and say “no” when needed. If you have taken time to reflect on where you want to go and how to get there, you are much more likely to reach your destination than if you are playing it by ear. Personal strategic planning is a method for identifying your aspirations, purpose, and goals, and you can use it both to foster your personal growth and your professional development. It is also a useful technique for addressing problems and finding a way out of difficulties. You can use it on

 25

your own, with the help of your family, co-workers or a coach; and you can suggest individuals in your team use it to define what they expect from you and the project. There are various approaches to the technique. The method discussed here is just one of many – or perhaps the common denominator to them all – as it aims to recognise what matters to you at the time your strategic planning is formulated and at identifying your goals, objectives, and tasks. Use it to address the present and present the future you want in a systematic way by mapping out markers on your journey and define a route from where you are now to where you want to be. We will encourage you to do this on two planes, one with a focus on your personal growth and the other focusing on your professional development. Figure 2.1 illustrates the personal/professional strategic planning process. You will start by exploring your values, mission, and vision. Then you will consider the current state of affairs by identifying your own strengths and weaknesses, and also opportunities and threats in your environment. Finally, you will define goals, measurable objectives, and some initial tasks. You will, in other words, begin with lofty ideals, but as you start to add detail, you will get down to brass tacks.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What is your experience with making a personal strategic plan? How did you go about it? What worked for you? What did not work? What happened when it came to implementation and tracking performance?

Values

Mission

Vision

Objectives

Goals

Analysis

Tasks

Figure 2.1 The process to create your personal and professional strategy.

26  STRATEGIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Values Your first step is to identify your personal and professional values; these are the themes that describe your overall philosophy of life and work. Doing this also enables you to reflect on how your values affect your work. Your values colour your opinions, viewpoint, ideals, and ethics and are the ground for your decisions and actions. Various leaders from history have shared their values in the form of poetic confessions, philosophical proclamations, or simply as a wish list of virtues by which to live. Benjamin Franklin, one of the US Founding Fathers, made a list of virtues and used special cards to measure his daily success in living by them. Franklin’s values were temperance, order, resolution, frugality, moderation, industry, cleanliness, tranquillity, silence, sincerity, justice, chastity, and humility. These served him well and helped him to maintain integrity and self-manage throughout his leadership mission. Aim to limit your list to no more than three values to define your personal growth and no more than three to define the core of your professional strategy. Use a noun to describe each value – just as Benjamin Franklin did – and relate them to the answer to the following question: What are the values that you want to be guided by in your mission towards personal growth (×3 nouns) and professional development (×3 nouns)? These should be absolute values and not open to compromise. If you are struggling to pin down your values, take a close look at what it is in the conduct of people in terms of personal issues and professional undertakings that evokes the strongest responses in you. The results, positive and negative, are indicative of your own values. An example of a format that you can use to define your personal and professional values can be seen in Table 2.1.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• ••

What are your three core personal values? What are your three core professional values? What matters to you when it really comes down to it? What sort of behaviour of people in leadership roles gets on your nerves? What sort of behaviour of people in leadership roles fills you with inspiration? How do you want your general demeanour to be characterised?

Table 2.1 Your personal and professional values Personal values: #1 #2 #3 Professional values: #1 #2 #3

STRATEGIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 27

Mission The second step in personal strategic planning is to define your mission. The mission concerns your purpose in relation to yourself, family, colleagues, organisation, environment, and society; it could also define your conscious role in your personal life or in your job. In the broadest context of leadership, you could even define a mission as a vocation or a calling – a strong urge towards a specific occupation, career, or a project. Your mission can range from being anything from a simple description of your role in a project to the more profound context of family and social accountability and even spiritual life. To simplify things, try completing the following two sentences to create your personal and professional mission statements: “My mission with regards to my personal growth is to …” and “My mission with regards to my professional development is to …” An example of a format that you can use to define your personal and professional mission can be seen in Table 2.2. If you were to apply this to a specific project, then you could adapt the statement to read: “My role in this project is to …” or in more general terms: “My mission in this leadership role is to …”. Using a mission statement is a way to articulate what you believe you should be, do, and for whom – and in doing so you are also defining and differentiating this from what your mission should not entail. If you like, you can draw a circle on a piece of paper and write inside the circle all that your mission should entail, and outside the circle anything that it should not entail, as per Figure 2.2. Your well-defined role, or clearly defined mission statement – is an essential tool for your leadership journey and crucial if you hold a leading position in demanding situations. Unclear roles and diffuse missions can easily lead to stress, burn-out, and mistakes. When people, stakeholders, institutions, and the media begin to make demands on your time and ask questions about your strategy, you need to know what impacts your leadership role and what does not. A well-defined mission is something that can be constantly referred back to in order to retain focus and reduce the likelihood of stress. In leadership positions your mission helps you to maintain personal integrity and reliability, communicate to others who you are, and how you see yourself. This can lessen the likelihood of conflict and enables you better to negotiate different Table 2.2 Personal and professional mission statements My personal mission is to …

My professional mission is to …

28  STRATEGIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Figure 2.2 What does and what doesn’t the mission consist of?

positions. It will also help with self-management in situations where you might be exposed to role-conflicts, role-overload, or underload. But all of these are well-known stressors. A clear personal mission statement helps with maintaining personal integrity. As a leader in a political party, for example, your mission could be to ensure unity within the party and to be a spokesperson for the party externally. You might, on the other hand, believe that speaking ill of political opponents and managing the party office are not part of your role, preferring instead to lead the process of policy development. Whether your mission of a political leader survives intact once you gain office and come under all kinds of external pressures may present you with a challenge to your identity and a dilemma; to hold to your original mission or reframe it in the light of circumstances.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• ••

What is your personal mission? What is your professional mission? What are you going to do and for whom? What are you not going to do and in relation to whom? To whom are you indebted? What is your leadership mission?

Vision The third step is to define a leadership vision that reflects your ambition and describes the changes that could come about in your character, position, or situation as leader by a defined date in the future (Table 2.3). This future point

STRATEGIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 29

Table 2.3 Personal and professional vision statements My personal vision is to … In [future date] I am …

My professional vision is to … In [future date] I am …

may be identified as a few hours, days, a week, month, year, or decade away – or even as the moment of your death. Those who have experience in counselling people facing death know that it is wise to stop and define the future before you lose the ability to do so, instead of looking back, sometimes too late, with regret for lost opportunities. Your personal and professional leadership vision is intended to shed light on the future image of what you wish to accomplish. It should not describe the status quo but should describe the ambition and intended changes that you want to strive for. The simplest way to express the vision is to identify a specific point in the future and say: On the … [insert specific point in the future] I am … [insert description of the future circumstances]. An example of a future vision for personal growth might be: “On the 1st of April 20XX, I am living a good and healthy life surrounded with close friends and family [… etc.]”. An example of a future vision for professional development could be: “On the 1st of April 20XX I am my country’s ambassador to the United Nations and have been for three years [… etc.]”.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

How do you see yourself in the future? How do you not see yourself in the future? What will have changed? Identify a date in the future and ask yourself: If you were to see yourself on that date, what would you see?

Evaluation Once you have laid out the vision, the fourth step is a good time to pause, assess the current state of play and the chances of the vision becoming a reality. At this stage you should try “to be” instead of deciding what “to do”, in

30  STRATEGIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

other words you self-reflect on “what is going on” before deciding “what to do”. Your evaluation involves analysing the current circumstances and realising what is supporting you in achieving your vision and what is not. You might ask yourself: What is currently working in favour of my vision being realised and what is likely to work in the future? What is currently impeding it and what might impede it in the future? Here, you can do a stakeholder analysis to measure the effect of your vision upon others; a financial analysis to look at its economic impact and an opinion analysis to get a feel for how relatives and supporters feel about your vision. You could then undertake a SWOT analysis, which identifies your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities hidden in the environment, and threats that put your vision at risk. One way of doing this is to say that the strengths and weaknesses concern yourself as leader, while opportunities and threats concern your environment. This can be done by creating a form similar to that shown in Table 2.4. Gap analysis is a related approach (similar to weaknesses in SWOT and commonly applied to businesses). In this instance, you are seeking systemically to identify the areas where further work needs to be done to ensure better leadership capability and performance and where further resources are required. For example, a public figure in a company or political party might see deficiencies in their communication skills or have it pointed out to them and seek professional media coaching. SWOT analysis can increase self-awareness through reflection of your strengths and weaknesses. The individual is aware of what he or she is good at and passionate about and which tasks should be delegated or left to others. Table 2.4 Your personal and professional SWOT analyses Personal SWOT analysis My personal strengths are:

My personal weaknesses are:

My personal opportunities are:

My personal threats are:

Professional SWOT analysis

My professional strengths are:

My professional weaknesses are:

My professional opportunites are:

My professional weaknesses are:

STRATEGIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 31

Knowing your abilities and accepting your limitations fosters a healthy selfimage and self-confidence.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

What are your strengths? How can you use them? What are your weaknesses? How can you overcome them? What threatens you? How can you minimise these threats? What opportunities are open to you? How can you take advantage of them?

Professional/personal goals The fifth step in a leader’s personal strategic plan is to break down the vision into three personal goals and three professional goals. These are short statements that reflect the ambition put forward in your personal and professional vision statements. If you are trying to learn new leadership skills, then one goal could relate to that acquisition of skills. But remember, it can take some time to formulate goals that really do express your ambition. Invariably, exceptional leaders have honed their leadership skills over many years, having been tested in numerous situations, simulated or otherwise. This is why it is good to pause, think, and allow enough time for the goals to take shape. The final result should be three powerful statements on your personal ambition and three powerful statements expressing your professional aims. We suggest that each goal be expressed with an adjective/adverb and noun (examples could be patient father, interesting co-worker, cultivated leader, etc.). It is important to maximise the potential of your goals by having them focus on different dimensions in your mission statements. This can be shown graphically as in Figure 2.3. It is important to remember that these goals are not measurable, but their theme is expressed with a noun and the related ambition with an adjective/ adverb. The opportunity to measure your personal strategic planning goals is not addressed until we look at leadership objectives, described in the next section. Examples of leadership goals could be “healthy soul”, “great teacher”, “ambitious human-rights-advocate”, or “good mother”.

Reflection points: •• •• ••

Examine your vision and try to break it down to three main themes. Try to come up with a single word to express each of these themes. Find one adjective that describes the ambition that you want to have for each theme.

32  STRATEGIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Capable specialist

Good husband

Very funny

Financially independent

Respected leader

Established author

Figure 2.3 Personal and professional goals.

•• •• ••

Propose three leadership goals that are expressed as one adjective and one noun. Memorise the leadership goals, display them in a prominent place, and let friends and family know that you are aiming for them. Tell colleagues about your leadership goals.

Personal/professional objectives The sixth step in personal and professional strategic planning is to divide each of the immeasurable goals into several measurable objectives; precise, defined indicators that can show with a great deal of certainty whether or not a goal has been reached. As with the objectives mentioned in the previous chapter, it is important that objectives include appropriate performance indicators and these need to be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (Doran, 1981) (see Table 2.5). Examples of objectives related to personal growth could be: Table 2.5 From goals to measurable SMART objectives My personal goals and objectives are: •• … •• … •• … My professional goals and objectives are: •• … •• … •• …

STRATEGIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 33

•• •• ••

“Take a one-hour walk three times a week until April 1, 20XX”. “Read at least 12 good works of literature a year until December 31, 20XX”. “Knit twelve pairs of size 43 socks a year until April 1, 20XX”.

Examples of objectives related to professional development could be: •• •• ••

“Do all the exercises in the book Project: Leadership before April 1, 20XX”. “Take on at least one new leadership role a year until December 31, 20XX”. “Discuss, for at least 2 hours a month, the importance of the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and compliance with standards and regulations with my team until April 1, 20XX”.

Setting personal goals for direction releases energy and motivates you. Transforming your aspirations into clear objectives helps you to stay focused on tasks, despite interruptions and distractions. This also decreases the likelihood of procrastinating and postponing, reduces stress, and enables you to cope with the challenges your personal and professional life imposes.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What motivates you? Divide each of your personal and professional leadership goals into as many sub-themes as needed. Devise one measurable (SMART) objective for each sub-theme. Make sure each leadership objective has a well-defined timescale, quantity, percentage, or other gauge to ensure measurability. What distracts you from staying focused?

Personal/professional tasks The final step in personal and professional leadership strategic planning is to identify the specific tasks that you need to do in order to achieve your personal and professional objectives. This you do by carefully examining each objective separately and then asking yourself: In order to achieve objective X, I need to do (1) … and (2) … and (3) … You should clearly identify: •• •• •• •• ••

The task you are going to do. When are you going to start doing the task? When are you going to finish the task? How much should/could the task cost? What should the task bring as results (for instance in revenue)?

34  STRATEGIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Table 2.6 Your personal and professional tasks My personal tasks are: •• … •• … •• …

What?

Who?

Begins?

End?

Results?

My tasks are: •• … •• … •• …

What?

Who?

Begin?

End?

Results?

An example of a format that you can use to define your personal and professional tasks can be seen in Table 2.6. When your tasks have been defined, it is time to start implementing the strategy. If the strategy is well formulated, everything goes according to plan, and you accomplish your tasks, then you should also achieve the objectives, in which case you will be well on your way to realising your future. If the strategy reflects the spirit of your values, then implementing it will be an important part of fulfilling your mission on the basis of those values. The emphasis here is on a personal and professional strategy but as a leader you can also develop a similar strategy for (and in cooperation with) your family, team, or organisation. You can also use the method to align the ambition of individuals in your team in a way that will guide the whole team or organisation and reflect collective goals and values. This type of strategic planning is detailed in our book on project strategy. Well-defined goals and objectives make you more capable of attending to the important leadership virtues of goal seeking, result orientation, planning, and control. This is the art of directing your attention, and that of colleagues, to what needs to be accomplished, thereby maximising the chances of success. If the need arises to make changes to a project, you should ensure that the changes are appropriate, relevant, supported by all parties concerned, and consistent with legal and ethical benchmarks. Leadership is almost by definition results oriented. The focus is on the outcome and that entails prioritising in dealing with obstacles in an aim for optimal results. Keep discussions focused on results, efficiency, and effectiveness. Project leadership deals with scoping the project, delegating a task, and making choices. Results orientation in project management means maintaining focus on key objectives to obtain the optimum outcome and being well aware of all ethical, legal, or environmental issues at stake. This also means maintaining the vision for the team and getting the consensus of stakeholders and interested parties. Explore what your team members and stakeholders would like to get out of the project and take into account the need for professional development of each team member. Success in projects can be evaluated in various ways: was the project completed on time? Was it on budget? Was it well managed? Were customers or stakeholders satisfied with the outcome? Was I happy with the results? Was the STRATEGIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 35

team content with the work? These criteria help project leaders maintain a sharp personal and professional vision of the purpose of a project from the beginning. Performance criteria are clearly defined performance indicators. They need to be well defined and preferably classified according to the customer, the project team, and other stakeholders. When working with a group, your role is to define the project, ensure a project plan is devised, pay particular attention to factors that could yield results quickly, introduce the plan, and obtain consensus on it. You should repeat this step throughout the project’s lifecycle and as a means of managing any risks, changes, and expectations (Figure 2.4). Your result-orientation should lead to constant improvements by reacting positively to good performance and giving all concerned the opportunity to monitor progress and success based on performance criteria (see more on this topic in Muller & Turner, 2016). You let the work get done and look out for new opportunities and possibilities as well as for potential threats. You maintain a good relationship with stakeholders and take into account their expectations. You have a broad overview but are also conscious of the details, without trying to micromanage. An architect (design leader) working on a building project is a good example. Building construction is often a process where imposed changes can be a common occurrence when, for example, an original design is refused at the planning permission stages (or when an architect feels it is likely to be and acts proactively). In this case, he or she needs to take control of the direction of the project and respond to the needs of all the

Figure 2.4 Results orientation means keeping track of your successes!

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stakeholders and find acceptable solutions. We have already defined a leader as someone who creates and maintains a vision and gets people to follow them in the pursuit of particular aims. Without aims, a leader loses influence and must either follow others instead and maybe perhaps resume the leadership role again later on or recognise that the project is beyond their capacity and act accordingly. The project may bear the brunt of a lack of goal setting. Perhaps you are too eager to accept prevailing circumstances and fail to adapt. Perhaps you lack the imagination to solve problems, are risk-averse, and overlook opportunities that arise. Perhaps you are overly defensive, confine yourself to predetermined limits, and consequently miss out on innovations and opportunities that could have benefited the project. A leader who is not performance-focused may also neglect stakeholders, find it difficult to influence people or manage the expectations of followers. You could also miss important details and lose perspective. A common reason for failure in projects is that excessive time and resources are allocated to minor aspects of the project and the larger picture is overlooked. It is one thing to strive for goals and another to ensure efficiency. Efficiency involves using time and resources in the most resourceful way and applying appropriate methods, systems, and processes to achieve this. Efficiency is a quality that people in leading roles should adopt and disseminate in all the activities of an organisation. Time and resources are always limited in some way and it can be very deflating for project participants if they consider that things are being done in an inefficient fashion. You can improve efficiency with training and guidance but also with improved methods, systems, processes, and planning. This requires planning the requisite actions, securing resources for them, assigning them, while at the same time factoring in any uncertainties. Efficiency entails prioritising, defining acceptable deviations, and constantly searching for possible cost-cutting opportunities. For example, rather than having colleagues travelling the whole time for project meetings and suffering unnecessary travel fatigue and stress, use a video conferencing system to replace, at least some of, the face-to-face meetings. Monitoring your successes and comparing actual achievements with plans is a worthwhile pursuit. Before beginning any of your projects, you need to estimate all the resources that will be needed to complete it, see whether it looks as though there are any shortages of resources and make necessary adjustments. When your project is completed, you should have an accurate picture of the actual resources used and, based on this, re-estimate any similar future projects. Efficiency demands continually improving, documenting new knowledge, and disseminating experience to areas where it might be of use. You should take the time to define what efficiency means in your projects and demand it in individual tasks. Efficiency means considering all interests at stake to sustain direction, engagement, endurance, and ambition. A leader who does not realise the importance of efficiency does not encourage it and

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does not create a sense of the importance of good supervision and management. Implementing a personal and professional leadership strategy entails goal seeking and improving diligence and efficiency. Think about how to communicate all these ideas to your team for good relations and engagement. Such strategic planning is generally aimed at effecting change in your feelings, attitude, thinking, or behaviour, but you might ask: can you influence the extent that the desired changes will occur? How deeply ingrained is your character? How can you maintain your personal integrity and reliability? The fact is that it is possible to change even very predominant elements of an individual’s behaviour if you have the appetite to do so. Anyone who has seen TV chef Gordon Ramsay in action in those programmes where he tackles the owners of failing hospitality businesses will see this idea put into dramatic effect. Setting personal and professional goals supports the development of your leadership skills because it strengthens your will, attention, and concentration. Goal setting can create a sense of engagement, responsibility, independence, and progress, and inspire you as a leader. But it can also be depressing and demotivating if your goals are unrealistic and lack appropriate self-reflection. Sometimes a lesser ambition is better than a greater one. Unrealistic goals cause disappointment and hopelessness, and unremitted new goal setting even leads to depression. Set yourself step goals instead of always gunning for maximum success from the beginning. Practising therapists know how commonly we can delude ourselves by setting demanding goals with no real intention or means of achieving them. Your personal and professional leadership strategy should be under constant review because ambitions, situations, circumstances, and the environment may change. You should record your experience of implementing your strategy and gather together in this way the leadership knowledge that results from all the projects that you lead. Such self-reflection enables you better to self-manage. Some leaders keep a learning journal for this purpose, and you might find the experience surprises you; you’ll start to notice characteristics, tendencies, possibilities, and opportunities to which you had paid scant attention previously.

Reflection points: ••

••

Make a comprehensive plan of attack in which you bring together everything that has been revealed so far: your personal and professional values, mission, vision, evaluation of the current state of affairs – and then lay out your personal and professional leadership goals, SMART objectives, and tasks. What else do you need to do to ensure you are results oriented in the implementation of your plan?

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•• ••

What do you need to do to ensure efficiency in the implementation of your plan of attack? Work out to whom, when, and how to communicate your ambition.

Personal/professional journal In the first chapter of this book we discussed the importance of transparency for a good leader. Journaling, that is, writing a personal diary on a regular basis, is a great way to develop your competence as a transparent leader as it enriches your ability to reflect on what is going on both within – your temperament, feelings, and thoughts – and without – in your environment. The journal is your conversation with yourself. Take a break from your daily routine and look inwards to see and understand what is going on in your inner life as well as reflect on your personal and professional experiences. Journal writing that aims for a high level of transparency demands you are ruthlessly self-critical, hide nothing from yourself, and record even your most personal experiences. Such in-depth journal work will create the opportunity for you to meet yourself and makes use of your self-awareness to let you step outside yourself and examine yourself close up and from afar at the same time. In the journal you can include important experiences, reflect on the causes of problems, deal with mistakes, discuss solutions, consider your level of maturity, identify progress, and record general thoughts, opinions, fantasies, dreams, and daydreams. The journal can incorporate new ideas, interesting experiences, remarkable incidents, projects that are underway, and things that inspire you. This will be a useful tool for coming to terms with a troubled past, facing present difficulties, and making you better able to deal with leadership challenges in the future. Journal writing can elicit strong feelings and so it is important to try to make your journal your friend, rather than a stick with which to beat yourself (Figure 2.5). A journal should not be a dry account of what has happened in the course of the day, but a lively, exciting, and colourful description of emotion, thought, and action. When journal writing is directed towards enhancing leadership skills, you can record everything you think and experience in relation to leading, and to monitor success in personal strategic planning. As a leader, the purpose of personal journal writing is that you come to realise, in detail,

Figure 2.5 It is very beneficial to keep a personal/professional journal.

STRATEGIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 39

what is going on inside you, who you really are, and get to know yourself on more than one level. It draws particular attention not only to what you write in the journal, but also to everything that you are unwilling to write in it. The journal provides an opportunity to give your imagination and creativity free rein and might include pictures, drawings, poems, clippings, and articles you find pertinent. There are many types of journals: historical journals record occurrences, events, sequences of events, and incidents. Keeping a journal trains your selfexpression but this requires sincerity, self-confidence, and courage. The aim, amongst other things, is to be able to express yourself freely, with integrity and free of affectation and pretence. To this end it is useful to scrutinise what, and why, certain tendencies are prevalent in your feelings, thoughts, and actions. You can use the journal for introspection, to record events, conversations, and interpretations of conversations. It should help you to sharpen your vision of yourself, other people, and issues and to keep better track of projects. Journal entries can be both active and passive. A passive entry is an objective record of facts and incidents, for example: “The temperature is seven degrees, it’s raining, and I got a job”. An active entry is when you put more of yourself into it and explain the meaning of incidents and events, expressing your feelings and perceptions about what is happening, for example: “It’s finally warming up and I got my dream job. I hope it goes well – I’m very excited”. A meetings journal contains a record of what happens at meetings and includes an interpretation of what takes place there. For a leader in a position of influence, this is especially important because participation in meetings and what happens there can have grave consequences. In an ideas journal you can record the myriad of ideas that spring to life every day and are lost forever unless they are written down. An ideas journal is useful for creative people and those who wish to cultivate creative ideas. A project log is for project objectives, milestones along the way, reviews after each task, minutes of any meetings, and an evaluation that includes performance analysis. It is good for recording ideas about projects, problems, and solutions, collaboration, undertakings, and solutions to national matters. Intensive journaling is a process intended for you to acknowledge and document in detail what is really happening emotionally, in your mind and your behaviour. This type of journal includes psychological experiences, recording them so that you can then look dispassionately at them, acknowledge them, and connect them with your life experiences (Progoff, 1975). You can approach this in a number of ways. For example, let your mind roam free, write down imaginary conversations with historical figures or key people from your own personal life; write down events, important people you have met or need to meet, dreams, feelings, intuitions, physical symptoms, and social and personal experiences. This is a golden opportunity to try to remember your dreams, which may well be communicating something important for you. A spiritual journal aims at spiritual strengthening (Cepero, 2008). Your spiritual journal is your monologue with your soul about what ultimately

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concerns you. In it you reflect on your life in light of moral values, or of what might be called the ultimate meanings of your personal life, or even reflect with the help of eschatological benchmarks. Eschatology is the study of the end of something, such as the final moment of your life, when you might ask whether you have – or have not – walked the critical path to harmony with others, personal happiness, and professional flourishing. Spiritual journaling is to review and scrutinise your general demeanour in light of the highest values and virtues and notify how you can within your lifetime live accordingly. If you envision your life as a project, you imaginatively position yourself at the end of it, and reflect back and contemplate how you want to live your future, in light of this contemplation. There are diverse ways in which a journal is useful for developing leadership skills. In the end it is a gift from journal writers to themselves. A remarkable example of this kind of journal is Liber Novus or The Red Book of Swiss psychiatrist/psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung that he wrote in calligraphy and illustrated beautifully (Jung, 2009). Liber Novus is an intensely personal expression of the inner life of a man who has achieved all the professional success that he could expect in terms of reputation and fame, but at the same time of a man who understood the limitations of this success and, with the journal, wanted to go further in the dialogue with his inner self than he had done before. Everyone fights their own inner battles, not least those in responsible leadership positions. In journal writing, it is wise to tread carefully in dealing with yourself. The expression “exercise caution in the presence of a soul” is a piece of wisdom that is particularly relevant when you are soul searching. So be both curious and gentle and gradually you will start to receive the fruits of your self-reflection in your ability to self-manage and relate to others. Your journal writing will enhance personal integrity and encourage honest engagement in relation to your inner life. It also will enable you to imaginatively tune into your inner resources for your personal growth and professional development.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

Imagine having a conversation about your mission with someone you look up to as a leader. Write down the conversation. Check out Clayton E. Tucker-Ladd: Psychological Self Help www.psychologicalselfhelp.org Take the time to write one journal entry per day, taking no less than 15 minutes each day. Think of each day of your life as a piece of art and how would it get expressed. Imagine yourself at the end of your life and reflect back at it; one way to do this is to write your own post-mortem In memoriam.

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References Cepero, Helen (2008). Journaling as a spiritual practice: Encountering God through attentive writing. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. Doran, G. T. (1981). “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives.” Management Review, 70, 35–36. Jung, C. G. (2009). The red book: Liber novus. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Philemon Series. Muller, Ralf & Turner, Rodeny (2016). Project-oriented leadership. London/New York: Routledge. Progoff, Ira (1975). At a journal workshop: The basic text and guide for using the intensive journal process. New York: Dialogue House.

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3 Self-management for leadership

The previous chapter looked at the role of personal strategic planning and journal writing in furthering your leadership skills. The idea was for you to get to know yourself, identify your ambitions, figure out your strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities and then determine the way forward. When undertaking such self-examination, it is likely that you will discover various aspects in your way of thinking, your attitude or behaviour that you would like to change or influence. This chapter discusses how you can work with the skills, strengths, and weaknesses of which you are aware and how to get started identifying areas for improvement. This isn’t simply a matter of pointing out the myriad of methods available. Rather, our primary goal is to draw attention to the nature of your self-awareness in the context of behavioural and cognitive modifications. This is the realm of positive psychology, cognitive-behavioural psychology, and coaching, all of which focus on helping people to live better by using their conscious mind to exchange their bad habits for better habits. This chapter, therefore, discusses conscious tendencies and working with self-awareness, while the next chapter looks at unconscious tendencies and working with the unconscious mind.

Habits and cognitive behaviour One vital leadership competence is to organise your work in accordance with the situation and available resources. Situations can differ and that demands personal agility. You need to both comprehend the situation you are dealing with and self-manage accordingly. In order to do so, insights from positive psychology, cognitive-behavioural psychology, and coaching come in handy. Psychologist William James, who is sometimes called the father of American psychology, once said that when living beings are observed from the outside they appear to be little more than a collection of habits. He reached the conclusion, which has subsequently been thoroughly verified by cognitive neuropsychology, that the central nervous system works by nerve cells signalling one another and forming circuits or neural pathways. The repeated activity of particular neural pathways then creates tendencies that become habits.

 45

James believed that although the habits of animals were involuntary, humans were able to moderate and control them and he realised that self-control involves altering your response to habits: instead of being the puppet of your unconscious tendencies, you should be pulling some of the strings yourself in the development of the conscious mind. Self-control, according to James, entails careful reflection about your general demeanour and thereby developing the brain’s neural pathways in a desired direction. The key to success involves making your nervous system your partner rather than opponent and working with it. He compared selfdevelopment with the life of an alcoholic because, he argued, just as you become alcohol dependent by repeatedly drinking too much, you could just as easily cultivate your morals and become a champion of self-control by continuously making positive changes (James, 1890). The same trend manifests in positive psychology, cognitive-behavioural therapies (CBT), character psychology, and coaching. Another leading American psychologist, B. F. Skinner, was a creative, productive, and a happy professional who used his expertise in self-change and self-management to self-control. His focus was on modifying behaviour through the reinforcement of positive behaviour and “punishment” for negative behaviour. Skinner’s success with the use of self-management principles in his own life should encourage us to use it for our potential personal growth and professional development (Epstein, 1997). Using Skinner’s approach you may want to list all the behaviours that you want to rid yourself of, and situations that trigger that behaviour, and then subsequently the new behaviour that you desire to replace it with. Each day give yourself a smiley face (or a non-smiley face, for “punishment”) for your success (see Table 3.1). Two other leading American psychologists, Albert Ellis (1913–2007) and American psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck (1921–), focused more on cognition and choice. They suggest that you can alleviate psychological stress by altering your faulty self-signals and conceptions. Correcting erroneous beliefs can relieve you of symptoms. If you want to follow in the footsteps of James, Skinner, Beck, and Ellis, then you need to start by determining consciously if, and then what, you want to change in your behaviour. The concept of consciousness refers to whatever you are cognitively aware of at a given moment, and behaviour refers to the emotions, attitudes, thoughts, and conduct that informs this consciousness and which you can directly influence by concentrating on your consciousness Table 3.1 From undesired behaviour to desired behaviour Undesired behaviour

Situations provoking

Desired behaviour

Day 1

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Day 2

Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6

and its cognitive potential. Changes in behaviour can take time and are more effective if you take them one small step at a time. So, to begin with, you should only choose two or three things to change and use a systematic approach towards the change. This can be done using the ten-step method.

Reflection points: •• ••

Name five personal things about yourself that you are content with. Name five professional things about yourself that you are content with.

Self-change ten-step method In order to illustrate this method, we’ll relate each step to an example of a head chef who runs a very pressurised kitchen in a renowned and very busy mobile catering business (each new set-up equating to a project). There is a high staff turnover, some customers have complained to the owners about hearing shouting coming from the kitchen, and the health of the head chef is deteriorating because of constant stress (from work and elsewhere) and the heavy work load. Before taking you through the method and how to apply it, we should point out the style of leadership in this scenario, which is typically that of an autocrat. The chef demands perfection, which is very challenging in the context of uncertainty generated by customer needs, location changes, unsociable hours, very limited time, and an ingrained hierarchical culture. 1

The first thing you need to do is challenge the state of denial that things are somehow okay despite mounting evidence to the contrary. You need to understand what is preventing you from dealing with the changes that need to occur. The next chapter will show you that denial is a defence mechanism against an anxiety in the face of a threat. You may be unaware of your subconscious self-defence tendencies, but the self-improvement described here encourages you to face, head on, the problems that burden you and makes sure you have the means to move past your denial. Without external influence the head chef in our example might just keep ploughing on along the same furrow with things incrementally worsening until everything actually breaks down entirely, in which case steps may finally be taken to address the situation but these may be too little too late. Strong words from a partner, employer, doctor, therapist, other family members, colleagues, or friends may help, and our chef will need to trust the motivations, experience, and perception of those around him, listen to what is being said and affect change before it is too late. The biggest challenge in all that may be the very first step: accepting the need for change.

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2

Once you have identified a problem, you will need to reflect on it carefully and work out what it actually means. How long has it been noticeable? Is it ongoing? How is it manifested? Do you have a tendency to give up in the face of the problem? Do you prevaricate or postpone dealing with it? The high turnover of staff in the kitchen indicates that the behaviour of the head chef and/or the employer is central here. A sense of teamwork is obviously lacking, and junior staff do not feel valued. Maybe they feel they are shown no respect, not allowed to show initiative, and shouted at for little or no reason. Perhaps the employers do not value either the head chef or the other staff, paying them minimum wage, without any opportunity for performance bonuses and expecting them to do their work with limited resources. Stress at home (e.g. personal conflicts, illness, financial worries) may also be a major factor in the behaviour of the head chef.

3

The next step is to understand the nature of the problem and describe it precisely: Why do I do this? What makes me feel this way? Why do I always think about this in this way? An outcome, for example, could be that the head chef thinks to themselves: (1) “I’m taking everything out on my staff, I need to realise that I have responsibilities here and try to get us all working as a team”; (2) “The toll of looking after a young family and very elderly parents has affected me to the extent that I don’t recognise myself anymore”; and (3) “This situation whereby my employers expect me to perform miracles while being paid minimally minimum wage can’t last”.

4

It should now be clear what you are dealing with and you may already be able to define the ultimate goal which you can express by completing the sentence: “I’m going to […],” and making a personal commitment to an action (Figure 3.1). In our example: “I’m going to relieve some of the stress in my life”.

5

The next step is to find and define possible solutions to enable you to reach the goal, for example by breaking down how your time is spent, reassessing your finances, reading up on topics, talking to family and friends, or by looking for support groups or a therapist. In our example: “I’m going to have a serious discussion with my employers and make my concerns about what needs to happen clear to them, confront my two other siblings about how they can help look after our elderly parents and not find other ways of venting so that I don’t shout at staff but listen to them better”.

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Figure 3.1 It is gratifying to self-manage well.

6

When the final goal is clear, and solutions identified, you need to define performance milestones along the way and begin the journey, step by step, task by task, from one milestone to another (remember the strategic planning?). As each milestone is reached, it is good to pause and reward yourself for good performance – but make sure you don’t lose your momentum. It is worth using your leadership journal to keep you on track and monitor your progress. This may sound like a very mechanistic process, given that you are attempting to change behaviour, manage relationships, and address potentially painful, personal issues. Whilst you can’t predict where the conversations themselves will take you, you can programme the steps you follow, which will help provide you with the discipline and the milestones to make the change. In our example: “I’m going to ask my employers for a proper overtime arrangement and two weeks unpaid leave when things quieten down; ask each of my siblings to be responsible for helping my parents one day each week and make sure I see all of my staff genuinely smiling at least once during each work shift”.

SELF-MANAGEMENT FOR LEADERSHIP 49

7

Along the way you need to be aware of the power of habits and recognise your tendency to revert to previous patterns of emotions, thought, or behaviour and find ways to stay on track. In our example: “I’m going to remain calm when talking to my employers and siblings and not raise my voice, trying to get them to see things from my perspective. I recognise that the ‘School of Hard Knocks’ that I had to endure in my early career as a trainee chef is not a good example of how I should communicate with my staff.”

8

In order to be certain that you complete the goal, you need to be totally honest with yourself, acknowledge if the methods you are using are not having the intended effect and if that’s the case, find a new more suitable approach. An overnight change whereby our head chef suddenly becomes interested in the problems of the staff whereas before they were completely ignored might be unconvincing. The staff may think it is just bizarre behaviour and expect that if they open up and talk about what is getting to them it may come back to bite them in due course. The build-up of recognition and trust in this case could take some time and may involve, for example, gradually more appreciation being shown for work done well, more delegation of responsibility, and an overall lightening of the atmosphere.

9

Draw up an outline of what you expect to happen and when so that you can maintain the progress made to ensure you can sustain it in the long run. Treating the staff better will only work in this case if it relieves the pressure on the head chef, for example, because the staff are happier in their jobs and willing to engage and perform better. If the benefits do not outweigh the required effort it may be time to seek alternatives.

10 Finally, look back, examine what has worked for you and what has not. It is worth writing down the conclusions you reach in order to record and internalise the knowledge and prevent it being wasted.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

Name five personal things you would like to change about yourself. Name five professional things you would like to change about yourself. Draw up a list of methods you have used to make changes in yourself. Discuss with someone you trust what you are content with and what you are not.

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Self-help and self-maintenance There are many methods leaders can employ to affect their consciousness and thus their feelings, attitudes, thoughts, and behaviours. For some, this is a normal and exciting aspect to life, but for others it is a major challenge. Rather than specifying various psychological techniques that you might use to alter or develop your self-awareness, we prefer to think of less technical strategies that come from various sources. These are methods that are designed to support and improve your conscious endeavours and adapt your behaviour. If you want more detailed guidance for psychological self-help, a good place to start is on the internet (such as www.psychologicalselfhelp.org) or with professionals in the field. Further, here are some general guidelines for selfmanagement and self-sustainment: Physical exercise: We all need physical exercise and leaders are no exception. What you do and how much you exercise depends on each individual; some choose to exercise inside, others prefer the outdoors. If you are a city-dweller, a gym may be the most practical option, while an outdoor activity might suit you if you are fortunate enough to have nature right on your doorstep. Physical exercise is fundamental for healthy living and has been proven (particularly in the case of activity that also demands concentration) to be even more effective in reducing depression than the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) that have a specialised effect on the activity on the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. Healthy diet: You are, to a large extent, what you eat. You need to eat nourishing food that is rich in protein, has the right balance of vitamins and minerals and tastes good and drink sufficient water. Appetite and taste preference depend on the individual, but the rule of thumb is to eat a variety of food that you enjoy eating and that you give yourself enough time to eat. In terms of ideal weight, it is simple: do not eat more than your body burns, avoid stress, and drink plenty of liquids. Mental exercising: As a leader you need to cultivate your mind. The human brain is a complex collection of nerves and neural pathways and is well placed to face a wide variety of challenges and work through them. However, you need to train your brain to maintain its ability to think, remember, change, and develop. The best way to sustain your brain is by staying mentally active your whole life, constantly challenging your mind, memorising and learning new things. Virtues: In the chapter on personal strategy we suggested that you define your core values. Another take on this is to identify those virtues that you want to practise and endeavour to live by and use these consciously to guide your behaviour and develop your character. You can monitor how successfully you manage to adhere to the chosen virtues by drawing up a table and giving yourself a score for daily success. Examples of this kind of virtue benchmarking can be found among leaders within all of the major religions of the world as well as in Greek philosophy. In recent times you can see this idea behind positive psychology which, instead of emphasising deficiencies in

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an individual’s personal development, draws attention to what cultivates the personality. Chris Peterson and Martin Seligman’s book, Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification, discusses six cardinal virtues that crop up again and again in human history and culture and are considered desirable: (1) wisdom and knowledge, (2) courage, (3) justice, (4) humanity, (5) temperance, and (6) transcendence. The book examines the meaning of virtues and ways to cultivate them (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). We’ll discuss virtues in the context of virtue-ethics later in the text. Rest: Your body needs to rest, and this includes both active rest and sleep. Active rest is a conscious state in which you take rest by concentrating on doing one thing that is meaningfully different from your work, to refresh you, improve your mental and physical performance, and renew your stamina. For example, doing stretching exercises between strenuous exercise; closing your eyes and focusing on your breathing; reading the newspaper in between correcting exams; or simply eating and drinking. Active rest is probably best achieved by immersing yourself in whatever you are doing. You can learn this skill from children who surrender completely to their play. In terms of sleep, people have different requirements and every one of us needs to find what we require and then allow ourselves to fulfil that need. Too little sleep and too much can both lead to poor functioning and depression. If a partner, children, other householders, or neighbours are preventing you from getting the sleep that you require in order to be able to function properly, then you need to take steps to address the situation whether on your own or with the help of others. Fellowship: You need the company of other people to sustain yourself. Sense of self is built on your experience of those you associate with throughout your life. The self constantly receives and interprets messages from the environment, and that interpretation influences your self-image. This is a very subjective experience and although you may not have consciously experienced anything in your environment that was stressful, it is the experience and your interpretation of this over time that influences your sense of self. Your experience of others is thus a part of you. If it is a constructive influence for the self-image, it is called a good self-object, but if it damages the self-image, it is called a bad self-object. Where you have the option, choose your associates carefully and be conscious of the effect those associations have on you. Likewise, you should endeavour to be good company and thus a good self-object for others. Receiving genuine criticism from someone is very different from being belittled and made to feel inadequate. Solitude: Social living is not enough. In a leadership position you also need to be able to be alone with yourself; creative and active solitude involves pausing for introspection and contemplation. Solitude is rewarding and is not the same as loneliness where the individual feels dejected and isolated. The purpose of solitude is to be alone to train your stamina and sensitivity for yourself. Meditation is related to this along with the vast variety of techniques that can be used to train concentration and contemplation. A focused leader is more able to exist in the moment and gradually a trained concentration translates into contemplation, a state where the mind is focused without self-consciously

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trying to be. This is the state that the meditation gurus of religions have described when they advise us to still our minds and stop thinking (which is actually a contradiction in terms and hence easier said than done). In such a practice, one way to deal with invasive and distracting feelings and thoughts is to cognitively catch them – in a similar way as a goalkeeper catches a football – and then envelop them with all your positivity and compassion. With practice, your self-managerial ability steadily grows to let feelings and thoughts come and go, without dwelling on them, and in the process you develop a tolerance for them and they will no longer trouble your consciousness. Wellorchestrated meditation gradually brings mindfulness whereby you live fully in the present moment, fully conscious of your feelings, thoughts, and actions. Project management: Leaders of all sorts can learn a lot from professional project managers. Before commencing a project, they identify clearly and prioritise tasks on the basis of their importance and schedule them accordingly. They want to know what matters most, less, and least, and make practical plans about how to go about each task, one after the other and in the most suitable and systematic order. Project managers know that it is important to figure out the scope of a project before setting off, and they will not want to launch into a project that is too big for them to handle well. They also ensure there are sufficient resources at hand and pay particular attention to quality, cost, and time constraints. Project management calls for time management which also entails prioritising tasks and determining realistically how much time is needed to see them through to the end. The goal is to avoid the negative burden of time shortage and stress due to disorganisation. Problem solving: As a leader, you should work to solve any problems that arise quickly and effectively, saving yourself from worrying about them. Previously we explained that denial can prevent you from making the necessary changes to your own feelings, attitudes, thoughts, or behaviour. There are also other things that can get in the way of solving the problems you face: unwillingness to change, resistance to external pressure, resignation that leads to an unchanged state, false reasoning that underestimates the problem (related to denial), or a sense of powerlessness. The most dangerous enemy of change is self-pity, because if you see yourself as a victim of your circumstances you will not take responsibility for the change. Responding to challenges: As a leader you need to be able to withstand psychologically-demanding challenges. In managing psychologically-demanding tasks, you need to overcome both the fear associated with completing the task and the fear of failure. Perhaps the best course in this context is to immerse yourself even deeper into the undertaking. Exam preparation is a good example of this kind of pressure, and an exam that you are well prepared to take should be an enjoyable challenge: you show up, open the exam paper, read it through, understand next to nothing, read it again, understand more, consider the tasks at hand, draw up a schedule, and then set to work. You should tackle one task at a time and then engage in a creative and critical conversation with whomever will read, examine, and grade the exam.

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Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What methods do you employ to develop yourself? What has worked for you? What has not worked for you? What more could you do to develop yourself? What methods from your profession can you use as self-management tools?

Self-control In a leadership role you are inevitably a role model when it comes to selfmanagement and self-control. Self-control is the ability to have a calm and disciplined reaction to something when under stress as part of a routine day or when faced with changing demands and difficult situations. You must be able to detect signs of stress both in yourself and your colleagues and be able to take measures to prevent the stress from becoming unmanageable. If you, or someone in the team, are losing control, you or that person needs to address this and find a solution to it. Self-control not only entails being able to contend with stressful situations but living your life in such a way that you avoid becoming stressed, anxious, and upset. This can be done in various ways such as by maintaining a balance between work and your private life, enjoying time with family and friends, by keeping company with interesting people, and by putting aside some time to do something fun and creative. This can also be achieved by having a hobby in which you are not in a leading role, by listening to friends’ suggestions – or if you do not have friends, by listening to your enemies, as they might be right. You could also follow the rule that a 107-year-old woman whom one of us met in a New York hospital lived by: work eight hours, play eight hours, sleep eight hours. She stuck to this rule her whole life and only made exceptions under exceptional circumstances. The importance of a leader having a safe haven in which to rest, think things through, and seek advice has also been pointed out. This can be within the home, the holiday house, or by being close to rational and empathic colleagues and friends who can both tell you the hard truths and inspire you to greatness. It is not enough for you as leader to perform your role with enthusiasm and ambition. You also need to have the knowledge and skills appropriate to the task. Hence, you should critically ask yourself: •• •• ••

Do I know what I need to know? Can I learn what I need to know in the time available to me? Am I ready and willing to look for information and accept help from others?

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The ability to judge characters and read situations and how they might pan out in the future is very important. Having the self-control to remain focused on solutions rather than being carried away by different emotions which will cause you to become ineffective in your role is also vital. For example, while one coach on the side-line may become fixated by the decisions of the referee in the closing stages of a tight game, another might remain focused on the structure and tactics of their team, see a glaring mistake in defensive positioning, and instruct their team accordingly before the damage is done. Effectiveness in leadership can evaporate very quickly if your followers see a loss of self-control. A teacher who turns up for a class in an inebriated state will lose the respect of their class as would an obnoxious boss acting inappropriately at a work party. Consciously maintaining a certain distance between your work life and private social life creates a firewall that avoids many opportunities for things to go wrong (Figure 3.2). For difficult tasks it is easy to fall into the psychological trap of anxious procrastination or despair. It can require a good deal of self-control and self-motivation to overcome inertia in these cases. Once a project is underway there may be different obstacles and if you find your approach is not working, it is wise to pause, step a little away from the project, look at it from a distance, and restructure the work. The aim of stepping back is to ensure that the project does not become something that is stuck and immovable in your nervous system, but that it is a manageable issue that you can externalise. Self-control builds on personal insight. If you lack this awareness you may have trouble dealing with yourself and with others. You may be hot-tempered, unpredictable, easily offended, haughty, over-sensitive to criticism, or even prone to inappropriate sentimentality. A lack of insight into yourself is also

Figure 3.2 Finding the right option to solve a problem can be a challenge.

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problematic when dealing with disagreement because you lack the sensitivity to be self-critical and to understand where the other person is coming from. This can lead, in turn, to intractable disputes or attempts to bludgeon the opposition into silence, which will compromise the project or further collaboration. On a personal level, if you do not review your own self-awareness and take your inner life seriously, its importance and needs, you risk descending into negative states such as those seen in depression or addiction. The latter involves a serious breakdown of self-control and can include a wide range of addiction types such as alcohol abuse, drug abuse, excessive gambling, sex and romance addiction, and cell-phone and computer addiction. Workaholism is one of the most common forms of addiction in the leadership context; drowning yourself in work and neglecting your feelings, your private life, and/or family. A workaholic may remain effective in their role for a while, but the condition invariably takes its toll, both physically and mentally, and needs to be addressed before the condition becomes debilitating. Maintaining a balanced life and having the stamina and temperament to tackle adversity in leadership is very important. Having the self-control to think clearly under pressure, pause before acting, and avoid prejudice is vital for project challenges including dispute resolution. Leaders need to support the airing of different views in group discussions and act impartially in order to retain respect and hence authority.

Reflection points: •• •• ••

What is self-control? How do you maintain self-control? What could you suggest to others with regards to self-control?

Creative self-management methods Leaders can seek assistance from various parties to help them work through a complicated and demanding task and should be able to learn something useful from everyone they come across. Consider the following examples: The child: You can learn many valuable things from the way children surrender themselves to their games when playing. They are dedicated and fully focused, do not think about anything else, and play earnestly. The play both allows for relaxation and the opportunity to try out new things and master them. The advantage of playing is that the world becomes slightly less serious, time becomes relative, and a creative transitional space is formed. This can help to clear the mind and can lead to inspiring ideas being formed that could not surface in a closed mind that is already full.

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The draughtsman: Draughtsmen scrutinise their tasks well, pay attention to detail, and look at things in context. Sometimes draughtsmen carefully and systematically work on a limited section of the task, without losing sight of the big picture. At other times a draughtsman will speed up and make quick, but reliable, sketches. The same goes for various tasks a leader may perform when the need for speed outweighs the need for precision. Sometimes a job worth doing is best done immediately and doing it quickly but satisfactorily is more effective than doing it slowly in absolute detail. The engineer: You can learn many things from engineers when it comes to planning a technically complex project. Engineers, even though task-driven, define their task precisely before executing it. They measure, collect data, calculate, and design. They prioritise, calculate risk, make detailed plans, and go from one stage to the next, right to the end of the work. They are also alert to deviations from the plan, and pause to reflect: Where am I situated in the project? What needs improving? What can be learnt from any mistakes made so far? They want to complete and deliver satisfactory projects when they take them on (see e.g. Petroski, 1992). The karate practitioner: As a leader you can learn from the discipline and energy of the karate practitioner. Karate practitioners condition their reaction to threatening stimuli over and over again. The purpose of training is to create an automated response in the mind and body; the right reaction to a real situation, without the need for conscious thought. When under pressure, the well-trained karate practitioner can take on opponents energetically, fully prepared to do what needs to be done. The karate practitioner enjoys an inner peace, is spirited, focused, and courageous and at the same time able to plug spontaneously into the energies needed for the fight. When the fight begins, they preserve their energy, read the opponent, and then try to defeat each of their adversaries fully, before taking the next one on. The lesson is that being well prepared, certain of victory, single-minded, and bold enough to keep going no matter what is thrown at you serves you well, as well as dealing fully with one task at a time and finishing it completely off. The mountaineer: You can learn from mountaineers how best to apply yourself and solve complicated problems in demanding and dangerous situations. The mountaineer has personal endurance and chooses a climbing partner that they can trust completely at the other end of the rope. Mountaineers are patient and cheerful working in conditions that are determined, more than anything, by an environment that they cannot control. They enjoy the journey and they work their way safely through rain and hail. The mountaineer takes one step at a time, confident that the top will be reached, but also prepared to turn back if necessary. The firefighter: You can learn from firefighters to have a good partner by your side and never to enter an unknown territory alone. Firefighters always enter smoke-filled spaces in pairs and hand in hand. They stick together, keep the group together, and support one another. The experience of 9/11 in 2001 in New York taught NY fire teams that when inexperienced members are

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involved it is better to have an experienced firefighter accompanying them on rescue missions. The more experienced member of the pair supports and helps the other, not only with technicalities but also in providing a “holding environment” to deal with the extremely dangerous situation. When the job is over, and the team is back to safety, the colleagues continue to support each other, discuss the experience together – and then review what could have been done better and what was done well. The pianist: Concert pianists prepare to the utmost in advance and then perform the piece with little thought for the preparation at the concert. The pianist closely studies the music, listens to others, decides on a personal interpretation, rehearses both slowly or quickly to ensure they can make it through, and conditions their body’s ability to remember in detail all the challenging aspects of the music. When it comes to the performance, the pianist uses every ounce of willpower but at the same time puts determination aside. Overthinking or allowing personal doubt will only increase the chances of error. A well-rehearsed work that has been performed repeatedly in practice allows the pianist the opportunity to enjoy the moment and frees them up to concentrate on the interpretation and flow of the music as it is being performed. Having a strong flow to the music keeps the audience at ease and allows them to immerse themselves in the experience. In a somewhat different fashion a jazz pianist will have a well-rehearsed set of musical patterns and complex knowledge of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic associations which they then use in their solo or group improvisations. In both cases the approach is more intuitive, and the flow of the music is of paramount importance. The singer: You can learn from a singer’s stage presence and stamina. How does a singer go about filling a whole opera house with their presence and voice? The singer focuses equally on the technical aspect of their singing and on the members of the audience, the intended listeners, and somehow invites them into their aura. Even though the sound is formed in the throat and the mouth, the main work is in fact carried out by the diaphragm, which, in the case of the best practitioners, seems to have endless endurance. You can use this concept in leadership, not only in terms of voice projection and personal presence, but also when it comes to listening to others. Instead of just listening with your ears, you can use your diaphragm and remain calm and strong by breathing in and out deeply and regularly. The person of faith: Leaders can even learn a thing or two from the determination and humility of people who cultivate a spiritual life. Sincere religious practice involves training your concentration, whether through worship, reflection, yoga, mantra singing, or other activity. The person of faith accepts the fact of their belief, has a mind uncluttered by doubt, and their concentration slowly dissolves into an altered heightened state that can be called contemplation. The person of faith also looks for meaning and purpose in their work and sees it as an essential part of a bigger context that aims for collective betterment. The best example of someone with faith is the resolute, patient, and contented leader who uncompromisingly believes that all humans have shared qualities and wants us to be given the same opportunities.

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Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What can be learned from your profession about self-management? Name five individuals who you think have good self-control. What characterises these five individuals? What self-control techniques do they use? What new methods could you employ to improve self-control?

Stress and its management We have made some reference to stress, but as stress can be such a dominating factor in the life of a leader it is important to discuss its nature and manifestations in slightly more detail. To sustain your health and the health of your team, you need to identify and understand your reactions to the stress and know how to deal with them. Stress is a normal, natural, physical phenomenon that is a sign of our intrinsic ability to deal with the challenges life throws at us. You may appreciate your stress reactions in a leadership role, but, at the same time, a high level of stress over a long period can be very damaging. Stress is a response to a stressor, which is an internal or external stimulus that makes demands on you physically and/or psychologically. If nothing is done, stress can become fatigue, which then leads to burnout, which often appears as indifference, apathy, or numbness. Your own physical and psychological resources depend both on fulfilling essential physical needs, such as food and rest, and on psychological and spiritual needs, such as variety, companionship, and balance. Without these resources your body will fail, and your mind burnout. There are numerous symptoms: you may be distracted, tired, sleep too much or unable to sleep, eat too little or too much, go home from work early or are always staying at work. Burnout can appear as fatigue, insomnia, back pain, indigestion, the list could extend to nausea. How can you deal with stress and stressful situations? First of all, to avoid the problem, you need to analyse the stress factors and ask: When, where, and why does stress occur? Is the stress agent in the external environment, or is it psychological? If it is psychological, is the stressor something you are aware of or is it something you are not able to identify? This last question will be looked at more closely in the next chapter of the book. To deal with stress, you have three options: (1) get rid of the stressor; (2) remove yourself from the situation causing the stress; or (3) accept the stressor and strengthen your tolerance to it. Insight from Beck and Ellis, which we mentioned earlier in the chapter, also come in handy here. Once you face a stressful event consider this sequence and try to use it for your benefit (Figure 3.3).

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Activating event

Disputation to challenge irrational belief

Beliefs about event

Emotional results

Effective rational belief replacing the irrational one

Figure 3.3 A stressful event and your cognitive response.

Your beliefs about the event will determine your response. Cognitive distortions are faulty irrational beliefs that you might use when interpreting an activating event and distract your self-understanding. Some of the more common ones are: •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• ••

Filter thinking is an irrational focus only on the negative (also called polarised thinking, “black and white” thinking or all-or-nothing thinking) and leaves room for nuance or complexity. Overgeneralisation thinking is when you irrationally take a single incident and use it as the only evidence to justify a general conclusion. Jumping to conclusions thinking is when you irrationally are sure of something without evidence. Catastrophising (magnifying/minimising) thinking is when you irrationally believe that the worst will happen or has happened. Personalisation thinking is when you irrationally believe that everything you do has an impact on external events and/or other people. Control thinking is when you irrationally believe that everything that happens to you is due to your own actions or the result of external forces. Fairness thinking is when you irrationally believe there should be no unfairness despite the fact that life is not always just. Blame thinking is when you irrationally believe that it is always someone else’s fault when things go wrong. “Shoulds” thinking is when you irrationally create implicit or explicit rules about how we and others should behave. Emotional thinking is irrationally believing that if you feel a certain way, it must be true.

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•• •• •• ••

Change others thinking is irrationally believing that other people should change as it suits us. Global label thinking is irrationally believing that one or two instances or qualities can be used to justify a global judgment. Always right thinking is irrationally believing that you must be right and that being wrong is unacceptable. Reward thinking is the irrational belief that sacrifice or self-denial on your part will pay off (Grohol, 2016).

The predominant modern stressors of those in leadership positions are personal difficulties, family problems, job insecurity, disagreements, and various kinds of role ambiguity. You need to know that an unclear, overloaded, or insubstantial leadership role can cause stress and the same goes for a lack of positive feedback and disagreement about the mission you are leading and its direction. Your ability as a leader to set goals, clearly define your and the team’s mission, and provide positive feedback becomes very important when you and your team prepare to tackle a demanding project. The appropriate allocation of responsibility, authority, tasks, and mandate can prevent the onset of role ambiguity. Good planning reduces stress induced by chaos and disorder. The implication of stress might initially be increased productivity, but as the stress level increases your ability to work well will decrease (see Figure 3.4). Dealing with stress is a constant challenge for leaders and a normal part of reality for organisations and teams where adverse circumstances, conflicting personalities or cultures and difficult decisions are part of their everyday challenges. You need to know this, make use of it, and try to create conditions that are not too stressful. You also need to be able to cope with stress within your team and there are several methods to help you do this. You can make a strengths/weaknesses analysis of the group or invite individual group members

Figure 3.4 Stress level and productivity.

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to set themselves personal goals. You can also reflect as an individual and a group: What am I/we going to get out of this project? What in the project is important to me/us? What leads to me/us being stressed? Stress management often creates physical tension that sparks a sense of urgency that can, if well managed, be used to the project’s advantage, but if the tension builds it can cause discomfort and destroy motivation. Open and honest communication is one of the best ways to prevent and relieve this tension. Your interest in your colleagues – in getting to know them and understand their situation and attitudes – is especially helpful in this regard. Knowing that there is a significant source of stress in someone’s personal life, for example, can help colleagues understand otherwise irrational behaviour at work and maybe lead to them offering some kind of assistance – e.g. “We’ll mind the kids for you while you…”. Humour can be used very effectively to diffuse tension and point out realities provided it is tactful and does not attack the self-image of others in a way that is likely to be damaging. In work situations, bantering occurs to a greater or lesser extent and is typically done to enhance a feeling of camaraderie. There are times, however, where it lacks any empathy and respect and becomes a form of psychological bullying. Leaders need to monitor this and be careful not to single out particular individuals to be the “butt of jokes” as others will see this as an open invitation to join in and the individual concerned will feel prolonged rather than momentary shame. Mindfulness is essentially a modern term for meditating or engaging in a state of contemplation, which is a truly ancient concept integral to many religions such as Buddhism. In a mindful state, we focus on the here and now and the stream of conscious thoughts that come to our mind in so doing. For example, we can begin by describing our situation and surroundings: “I am writing this text on a Macintosh computer and in front of me there is a beautiful painting…” As we progress further we can document a variety of things taking place within us, some of which we are routinely aware of and others less so, e.g. physical processes, immediate thoughts, future thoughts, memories, affections, feelings, and emotions. Working in combination, these will influence our mood and it can only be when we stop to think and contemplate these different aspects that we really begin to see what is affecting our behaviour. This approach is also a key aspect of cognitive behavioural therapy where the aim is to think through our responses and identify why issues arise and find ways to overcome them. In this way we may come to better deal with our fears, frustrations, insecurities, anger, hopes, longings, and desires.

Reflection points: •• •• ••

What impact does stress have on your mental activity? How are stress and anxiety the same/different? Have you experienced burnout? How was it? How did you manage to get out of it?

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Balanced life In our previous discussion on transparent leadership we described the ability of leaders to be open and able to read whatever was happening within themselves. Transparency is often mentioned in relation to the running of organisations, institutions, in politics, or in decision-making and also as something important for any society in which confidence and trust are to prevail. It is synonymous with the notions of fairness and balance. This has a major reference to what has been called social capital, which is measured in the level of trust and sense of community in a given social setting. Transparency builds on openness in interpersonal relations and management, where concerns are explored in the open rather than in secret. Maintaining secrecy is necessary with certain types of confidential personal or proprietary information, but these instances are rare. It can take a lot of resources and it can be mentally draining to be always “on your guard” and keeping things hidden from the view of others. A basic level of circumspection should suffice for a leader who is otherwise open in how they communicate with others. Being transparent in one’s feelings and thoughts, which are linked to both the unconscious and conscious mind, leads to a natural balance in temperament. Hence, a transparent leader is more likely to remain true to themselves despite what is thrown at them and is better able to tackle the challenges of leadership. One might also expect that such a leader will be happier than one who is anxious or tense, worrying about how others might feel towards them if their feelings and thoughts were truly known – if the façade drops. To some extent it is up to a leader to ensure that members of their team maintain the vital balance that characterises an effective team and its members. You do this by looking out for signs of tension or fatigue in the group and, where this is evident, understanding what is causing it and implementing countermeasures. In some cases, it helps to draw up an action plan specifically designed to counteract stress or fatigue factors. Stressful situations can arise in any project, creating a negative atmosphere within the team and affecting progress. You need to watch out for such situations and develop ways to keep their negative impact to a minimum, for example by setting aside special time for team building and social activities. One technique you might try is to assign equal importance to task-oriented processes that support progress and relations-oriented processes, which are aimed at strengthening the team. Try to maintain a balance between these two processes. You need to be able to relax; to ease the tension in difficult circumstances, regain balance, and then get things back on an even keel. Relaxation and rest are essential to reduce stress and re-energise yourself to contend with your leadership role. It need not take much; a moment here and there for reflection, possibly (if appropriate) a nap, a little privacy, can be enough to replenish your spiritual reservoir. After a demanding project you should take the time to properly relax and rest, and to ensure that the whole team has a good opportunity to do the same.

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Ensuring balance in relation to how a project is approached is also a key aspect of the leadership role. You can have your own strong opinions, however, you need to be able to see things from all angles, and clearly pay attention to what both internal and external stakeholders may need and ensure their voices are heard. Ideally this should stem from having a strong innate human sense of respect for others, but it can also avoid major conflict later in the project.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

What characterises a balanced leader? What is the effect of achieving internal balance between what is conscious and unconscious? Name five examples of task-oriented processes. Name five examples of relations-oriented processes.

Rest and sleep Rest is important for everyone, especially those who have demanding jobs. Your ability to relax under pressure and ensure you get rest makes you better able to respond to situations in a level-headed and energetic fashion. Being tired is directly linked to your ability to perform tasks and as this is one of the primary causes of a broad range of accidents it links to health and safety. It can be very difficult to fight against tiredness while you are trying to carry out an activity that requires concentration. Things said or done while suffering from tiredness can be regretted later as they do not reflect how you normally behave. Leaders need to be aware of their own limitations in this regard and those of their team and avoid situations where tiredness may lead to a negative outcome. In discussing this topic, it is worth understanding the distinctions between tiredness, fatigue, and exhaustion, which differ from each other in the period of time they relate to and in how they affect a particular individual. Olson (2007) documents significant differences in the symptoms between these three states and goes on to state that failure to recognise the difference between tiredness, fatigue, and exhaustion could lead to inappropriate approaches to combat the problem, which could make matters worse. For example, exercise can be effective at alleviating mental tiredness but can decrease the ability to adapt in people who are suffering from fatigue or exhaustion. Broadly speaking, however, as a preventative measure for mental tiredness and fatigue, you should grab the opportunity to build up your team by providing engaging leisure activities or other opportunities in which the team can collectively take its mind off the project.

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Figure 3.5 The short and long-term implication of stress.

Figure 3.5 illustrates the short and long-term implications of stress. As stress goes up you get alert, if it lasts long you will begin to develop resistance (defences), and if for too long you will surrender, and that’s where burnout might kick-in. Understanding your own symptoms of stress enables you to take remedial action before it is too late, and before you fall apart. Also, awareness of the importance of rest makes you more alert to preparing for difficult situations that may lie around the corner. For example, before doing a stressful interview you might take a short walk in the fresh air to clear your head and gather your thoughts in anticipation of certain awkward questions that are likely to arise. If you do not relax or rest your stress begins to manifest as anxiety or even illness. In leadership, high levels of stress can render you unfit to read situations correctly and lead to poor decisions. Blaming things on team members when they are actually due to circumstances beyond their control or due to a basic lack of experience is one example of what may ensue. Another is that a leader retreats into themselves and carries on as if on autopilot, in which case they are not engaged with their surroundings, may miss or overlook important events or information, and their ability to provide direction to others greatly diminishes. People looking to you for leadership become tense when they see that you are uneasy. As an anxious leader, you are not a good judge of your own situation and do not adapt well to circumstances. This fact reminds us once more that a prerequisite for one being able to lead others is the ability to know and manage oneself.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

How does stress manifest itself? What effect does stress have on you? What are the benefits of stress? What are the drawbacks of stress?

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Willpower and needs You can see from what has been said above is that leaders are better equipped to govern others when they take care of their own emotional wellbeing and use their cognitive ability to manage their behaviour. But how well is your conscious mind equipped to do this? Think about it in this way: Can the mind control or influence the body? The term most often used in this situation is willpower, defined as the ability to resist short-term frustrations to long-term goals. With strong willpower you can overcome being derailed in your endeavours through factors such as tiredness or temporary self-doubt and deal with all manners of stressors that come your way. The power to keep performing and achieving goals in the face of severe adversity comes from the mind and this has enabled remarkable feats of leadership. For instance, the rescue of his stranded Endurance crew from Elephant Island, Antarctica, in 1916 by exploration leader Ernest Shackleton and a handful of his team who travelled by small boat across ice and over 800 miles of treacherous ocean to South Georgia Island has been widely described as being incredible and unprecedented (e.g. Barczewski, 2009). Such heroic feats of leadership illustrate what willpower can achieve and act as an inspiration for others. It is often the case, though, that prolonged extreme exertion takes its toll on the mind and body, and leaders need to be aware of their own limitations and those of their team. Willpower will get you so far in difficult circumstances but having an end in sight and being able to fully recuperate from extreme toil is vitally important. Shackleton died at the age of only 47 and the extreme mental and physical hardships he endured during his polar journeys undoubtedly contributed to his early death. When stressful periods become prolonged or difficult experiences become the norm, such as is the case with medical teams, the behaviour of a leader can be very important to inspire and sustain the team. Being transparent in the sense of being able to share experiences with others, acknowledging the ephemeral situations while maintaining a positive and effective stance, and acting decisively with due consideration and with positive intent are all important elements of leadership behaviour. A heavy atmosphere needs to be periodically lightened and the team will take their cue from their leader in this. Being mindful of having a positive but realistic outlook that is respectful to all is an important guide to behaviour in such circumstances. Everyone has needs of one form or another and leaders have the responsibility of appropriately addressing both their own needs and the needs of their teams. On a basic level these needs include food, shelter, rest, and safety. While these may sound mundane and part of everyday project management concerns, there are many situations where the impact of stressors means that they may not be met, such as is the case for projects that are carried out in unsafe and inhospitable areas or projects that have strict all-or-nothing deadlines. Here the leader might have to lead from the front by setting a good example, showing empathy and concern. In exceptional extreme situations

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the leadership role might demand the leader to take on a specific challenge or danger personally, eating the same (or less) rations as team members, or simply being the last to leave the office at night. There are, of course, many more intangible emotional needs which leaders and their teams have, and which leaders have a responsibility to deliver. In a leadership role you need to feel respected and in control of events while other team members need to feel valued and have pride in their work. You need to feel confident in the direction you are taking, and your followers need to understand why this route is being taken and feel that it can lead to light at the end of the tunnel. You also need to feel that you can be open in your communication with the teams and vice versa. It is also true to say that everybody has a need for intimacy of one form or another. The mind-set, intuition, and the conscious efforts of a leader are very important in meeting these and other emotional needs. Finally, with regards to self-management, continuous learning and selfimproving with regards to work, actions, and decisions are crucial; so be open to feedback and seek consultation on your path towards personal growth and professional development. Others’ perceptions of you and the harsh critical feedback can be a great opportunity for growth.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• •• ••

How do you experience the conscious mind? How is the environment of your inner world? What are your personal needs? What are your professional needs? What are your concerns? What needs of yours can you attend to by yourself? What needs do you require the help of others to address?

The unconscious You do not just have your consciousness to contend with, there is also – for lack of a better term – your unconscious (or the “subconscious”). The unconscious describes the mental activity of which you are not aware. This can be viewed on a number of levels. At a basic level it is widely recognised that humans show implicit (unconscious) and explicit (conscious) cognitive behaviour (e.g. Graf & Masson, 1993; Frith & Frith, 2008). Implicit cognitive behaviour is involved in all aspects of our perception including how we learn language as children, how we communicate through body language, and how we learn to perform complex physical tasks such as riding a bike. As individuals, we are most likely not conscious of how much we know and how past experiences affect us and influence us.

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Our unconscious mind can influence us in positive and negative ways. In the positive sense, for example, intuition – defined here as the ability to observe, identify, and critically examine what is psychologically happening within you in a given situation – is likely to be derived, at least in part, from your implicitly-derived knowledge and experience. Good intuition is based on gut feeling, experience, and practical knowledge in dealing with uncertain situations. It is often difficult to provide a reason why some thought or action is right other than it just “feels” right. This is a very important aspect of leadership, particularly in relation to ascertaining the character and motivations of team members or other stakeholders. Motivational speakers, self-help guides, and life coaches might refer to your “untapped potential” as the power and knowledge residing in your unconscious self and how you can achieve much greater things if you can find ways to access this resource and channel it in the right ways. In the negative sense, you may experience internal conflict as a result of unconscious resistance, anger, bitterness, disappointment, jealousy, or anxiety. The reasons behind this may remain obscure and any attempt to try to rectify these deep negative feelings may prove very complicated. In order to deal with your unconscious, you need to observe different signs and messages that the unconscious communicates to the conscious mind in the form of automatic associations, thoughts, dreams, and in your reactions to the external environment. This can be tackled by the individuals concerned but is also the realm of the professional counsellor, psychotherapist, or psychoanalyst. As a brief aside, you can look at this subject from a higher level and note that there are many different answers to be found to the following questions: What constitutes the mind? How may it be different from what we call the soul? How does the soul/mind relate to the body (matter)? How do our unconscious mind and conscious mind relate to each other? Philosophers, theologians, psychologists, neuroscientists, psychoanalysts, and others have many different views on these questions and this general area of thought is commonly termed the mind-body problem. The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC) wrote extensively on this subject in his work De Anima and contended that the soul (of which the mind is one key element) is the “form” of the body (matter) and steered a middle ambiguous line in between thinking of the mind as solely part of the body or as an entity separate from it. The French philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650) had a somewhat different concept, equating the soul and mind as being fully one and the same nonmatter – and hence not subject to the laws of physics – and distinct from the body (matter). This is referred to as Cartesian Dualism. Another view, shared by many working in the fields of biochemistry and neuroscience, is that the mind and body are essentially part of the same system that is mechanistic in nature. Complex human thought processes in this system are explained as occurring in the brain using variations of the computational theory of mind (e.g. Piccinini, 2006) and this is often summarised as no brain–no mind. Christian theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) followed many of

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Aristotle’s teachings but thought of the soul as being of unique incorruptible substantial form that persists after death and believed in the concept of divine intervention. In some religions the persistence of the soul after death and the concept of reincarnation are central tenets. All of these beliefs and theories have long influenced the work of psychoanalysts such as Jung who recognised the deep role of the unconscious in our overall psychological make-up. He argued that alongside the personal unconscious, as described by his fellow psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, there was also a collective unconscious, which only reveals itself in dreams, fantasies, and exceptional states of mind, and that this is underpinned by instincts and archetypes that are associated with the psychic experiences of our ancestors stretching to prehistory (Jung, 1968; Jung, 1940). For Jung, individuation describes the process of transformation whereby an individual psyche is formed and differentiated from the general collective psyche when integration of the conscious and unconscious occurs. The goal is the attainment of wholeness and balance in the higher self with deviations from this ideal leading towards either neurosis or psychosis (Figure 3.6). Discussing the role played by our overall unconscious in our daily lives as project managers may seem an esoteric pursuit but there have been numerous accounts of exceptional experiences including, amongst other things, the Third Man Factor, that suggest there may be a good deal more to our individual psyches than meets the eye. The origin of this term is actually related to the

Figure 3.6 The goal is the attainment of wholeness and balance.

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account given by the Irish-born British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his two fellow rescuers during their final desperate journey across the mountains of Georgia Island to seek help at a whaling station. They all relate that there was somehow a fourth presence who travelled with them although they did not know who or what this embodied. John Geiger documents numerous incidents where people had this exceptional feeling of not being alone and there being a significant other presence at key moments during traumatic ordeals (Geiger, 2009). Mountaineers feature heavily in his examples and the separate stories of James Sevigny and Joe Simpson are particular noteworthy for the absolute desperation of their situations and improbability of their survival. In both cases, after horrendous falls leading to normally fatal injuries, their conscious selves had resigned themselves to the hopelessness of their situation and they lay awaiting their deaths. Both then experienced commanding voices, which were very distinct from their conscious selves, that urged them to keep on and seek rescue. With massive injuries and very restricted mobility they made their way in painstaking fashion following specific guidance from these reassuring internal voices. On the verge of certain death, both climbers relate how they felt this significant other within, who had been always with them on their incredible journeys, disappear just before others spotted them and rescued them. Within the framework of Jungian analysis, Sinason and Cone-Farran (2007) discuss numerous possibilities in the case of Simpson (who memorably recounted his experiences in a 1988 book Touching the Void) and suggest that the unconscious part of ourselves may become more apparent to us and directly involved in decision-making when we are in severe danger and the conscious mind has all but decided that there is no possibility of survival. Aiming high, going deep, and up again has a psychological significance and illustrates the intersection between cognitive psychology and depth psychology. You consciously aim high, you are faced with the depth of the unconscious, and hopefully you get up again and back into society (Figure 3.7).

Figure 3.7 Aiming high, falling into the depths, and going up again.

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In the broader sense, this example can be viewed as a particular type of altered state of consciousness, an umbrella term which includes many different states such as those experienced during hypnosis, meditation, waking dreams, intense concentration, severe trauma, or through taking psychoactive substances. These states can be induced by physiological, psychological, or pharmacological factors or agents and many creative people have used these experiences as a means to expand their creative horizons such as the inventor Thomas Edison and the painter Salvador Dali. Depending on whether one has a tendency towards scepticism and requires strict scientific evidence or is willing to accept paranormal explanations, these types of experiences may be interpreted differently but, in either case, it is apparent that they indicate the great depths of our unconscious.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

Write down a description of an incident in which you lost control of yourself. What made you lose control? What are the consequences when you lose control of yourself? What does refining your general demeanour involve? How do you experience your unconscious mind?

References Barczewski, S. (2009). Antarctic destinies: Scott, Shackleton, and the changing face of heroism. New York: Bloomsbury. Epstein, R. (1997). “Skinner as a self-manager.” Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis, 30, 345–568. Frith, C. D. & Frith, U. (2008). “Implicit and explicit processes in social cognition.” Euron, 60(3), 503–510. Geiger, J. (2009). The third man factor: Surviving the impossible. Edinburgh: Canongate Books. Graf, P. & Masson, M. (Eds.) (1993). Implicit memory: New directions in cognition, development, and neuropsychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawerence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Grohol, John (2016). https://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-cognitive-distortions/ Retrieved online May 2018. James, William (1890). The principles of psychology, Vol. 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Jung, C. G. (1968 [1934–1954]). The archetypes and the collective unconscious, Volume 9(i) of the collected works of C. G. Jung (2. ed.), Transl. R. F. C. Hull. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press/Bollingen. Jung, C. G. (1940). The integration of the personality. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Olson, K. (2007). “A new way of thinking about fatigue.” Oncology Nursing Forum, 34(1), 93–99.

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Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. New York: Oxford University Press/Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Petroski, Henry (1992). To engineer is human: The role of failure in successful design. New York: Vintage Books. Piccinini, G. (2006). “Computational explanation and mechanistic explanation of mind” in M. DeCaro, F. Ferretti & M. Marraffa (Eds.), Cartographies of the mind: The interface between philosophy and cognitive science. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Simpson, Joe (1988). Touching the void: The true story of one man's miraculous survival. Scranton, PA: HarperCollins. Sinason, M. D. A. & Cone-Farran, A. M. (2007). “The new, the now and the nowhere of Kalsched’s archetypal self-care system” in Casement, A. (Ed.) Who owns Jung? London, UK: Karnac Books Ltd.

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4 Development, health and defences

In the last chapter, leadership was considered in the context of how you can use your self-awareness to self-manage. It also touched upon various ideas around psychological health and ended on a brief discussion regarding unconscious tendencies. This chapter continues along the same path and looks at how the self can be cultivated with a particular emphasis on self-image and the life of the unconscious. We begin by introducing some general concepts that relate to the overall functionality of you as a leader in the context of your team. We then focus on the health of the leader; its importance and how to maintain your health in a leadership role, before we turn to the main defence mechanisms of the self, which are the psychological coping mechanisms that the self uses to adapt to reality and to protect against intrusive anxieties.

Health and morale As a leader, it is undoubtedly better in terms of achieving your goals that you and your team are healthy rather than unhealthy and also that you are not over-reliant on good fortune in the act of staying safe and successful. You will have a number of important responsibilities, need to make good decisions on behalf of yourself and others, and avoid taking unnecessary risks. It is important to view health and safety as interrelated terms that cover a multitude of different physical and psychological aspects and to understand what is important in terms of the wellbeing of you and your team. Leadership is very much about maintaining your own safety, health, and productivity. But it is also about ensuring the same for your whole team. Keeping things safe and healthy and free from unnecessary distractions helps to focus on the mission. You are, to a certain extent, a buffer between the environment and the team so monitor each situation and likely scenarios, create a holding environment, absorb ambiguities, and shield the team from unnecessary outside disturbances. Standard safety measures to protect people from undue risk in project situations are to be found widely in instruction manuals, management protocols, behavioural guidelines, and emergency procedures. We are assuming here that you are aware of all the relevant safety

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material and that you are vigilant and diligent in how you monitor adherence to this material and lead by example. Sometimes, you’ll need to map out new safety rules, guidelines, procedures, or routes. In the unforgiving and very changeable wilderness of Iceland, for example, rescue teams are frequently called out to perform rescues of injured, stranded, or missing persons or animals and each incident requires a new plan. In each case, the approach chosen by team leaders is based on a wealth of experience and protocols but there is also a certain element of uncertainty. Leaders in these situations may be asked to make very tough judgement calls and need to take full responsibility for their decisions and actions. You’ll also need to take responsibility for ensuring that your team members are able to cope physically and mentally with what you are asking them to do, which can sometimes be gruelling, harrowing, and deeply traumatic. This requires forward planning and training, a high level of self-awareness on behalf of the leader, and a good knowledge of their team and the characters of individuals. At times, there can also be situations where the intuition or the “sixth sense” of a leader can be called upon. Aside from safety concerns, leaders need to have good awareness of their own physical and mental health and that of their team. A common term used in relation to the overall health of an individual or a team and their ability to perform tasks in the face of adversity is morale. This is usually referred to in the collective sense and teams that do not display good morale are ineffective in achieving their goals. For example, unproductive dissent, disobedience, pulling in opposite directions, lack of focus, disillusionment, and absenteeism are all symptoms of teams where morale is low. Ensuring that team morale is high and that this is maintained throughout a project is a key aspect of good leadership. You’ll need a strong sense of self-awareness and awareness of others, to show respect and empathy, be positive and realistic, lead by example, make good strategic decisions, show careful attention to detail, and manage expectations. This may sound straightforward, however, it is anything but. In the remainder of this chapter, we’ll explore many different aspects of our leadership capabilities including how we define individual and collective health in the broadest sense. Anxieties and defence mechanisms are looked at in detail and the importance of transparency and of the maxim “know thyself” is emphasised throughout.

Reflection points: •• ••

What stories can you tell about safety? What stories can you tell about health?

The meaning of health What is health? What is a healthy leader? What is a healthy project? What is a healthy team and organisation? These are important questions because if

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you don’t know their answers you’ll struggle to know what to aim for. They also spark a variety of related questions, such as: what happens if leaders of a project team, organisation, or society are not in psychologically and morally good health? What impact might that have on their followers? Even though you might have an innate understanding of what you consider “health” to be, when you try to define what it is, it becomes apparent how wide-ranging and subjective the term can be. What it relates to varies, and what it means in terms of individuals, groups, society, and our environment in general also varies widely. There are various books dedicated to this question. In one of them, the British sociologist Mildred Lillington Blaxter describes health as: “a multifaceted dimension of human life, and as a ‘reserve stock’ of vitality, fitness and strength (whether psychological or physical or both) which individuals can draw upon to pursue their goals and actions” (Blaxter, 2010). In fact, health is such a complicated and multi-faceted issue that no single discipline can lay claim to a universal understanding of it. When discussing health, it is important to recognise how it is viewed by society in general and the stigma that can be associated with particular conditions. For example, if you miss work because of a viral infection, other than the obvious issue of contagion and perhaps some muttering about looking after yourself better, this is understood and accepted by others. If you miss work due to mental health problems such as depression or anxiety, however, the view taken by others may not be as accepting. “It’s not real, it’s all in their head, why can’t they just get on with it” are typical responses. The absence of obvious physical symptoms affects how these things are perceived by others. Unsympathetic responses from your colleagues can make the condition worse, particularly in the case of depression or anxiety. In light of this it is important to consider how your understanding of health impacts your ability to perform as leaders and teams in reaching your project goals and the need to expand on the limited references to health in the project management literature. For this reason, we tend to focus here on psychological health as it is more of a hidden factor but one that can nonetheless greatly influence outcomes. Let’s look at this subject from a range of different angles and along the way, we’ll make reference to those authors who have taken a multi-disciplinary approach to this complex area (Figure 4.1). Paul Tillich (1886–1965) was one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century and wrote extensively on the relationship between the health of the self, self-awareness, and self-image. He was an army chaplain in the First World War and one of the first German academics to take a stand against the German Nazi Party from 1933. His active protest against Nazism led to him being one of the first German intellectuals to be expelled from Germany, and he fled to America. He first taught systematic theology (a mixture of dogmatic and ethic) at Union Theological Seminary in New York, then at Harvard, and finally at the University of Chicago. Tillich’s theology is not only philosophical and well informed but also very practical. His theories were

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Figure 4.1 A multi-dimensional approach to wellbeing and health.

not simply formulated at his desk but rather came from real-life experience and his personal struggle as an intellectual leader during challenging times. In his exploration of what constitutes “health” and self-actualisation, Tillich draws on insights from numerous areas of thought such as existentialism, psychoanalysis, phenomenology, and systematic theology. A cornerstone of existentialist thought, for example, is the belief that we shape our nature with our own actions: you are what you make of yourself – and nothing else – no help is available from others and no apologies accepted. This provides a clear, and also a provocative, insight into health and into the leadership mission. In 1961 he wrote a paper entitled “The Meaning of Health” which gives us a comprehensive insight into the overall health of an individual (Tillich, 1961), and a brief outline of the ideas presented there is given below as the material remains very relevant to the concept of health in leadership today. Tillich argued that health is not a given, but rather a possibility. We recognise good health when we experience it, but we recognise it most clearly when faced with its opposite – illness, disease, and general inability to function. Long before it became widely popularised in modern western medicine, he was promoting the idea of holistic health and arguing against the prevalent reductionism amongst health professionals. In his own words: “The difficulty and the challenge of this subject is that in order to speak of health, one must speak of all dimensions of life which are united in man”. A brief description of each of the dimensions is given below: a

The mechanical dimension of health can be described using the metaphor of the body as a well-oiled machine within which there are many systems such as the circulatory, respiratory, nervous, and skeletal systems.

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b

c

d

e

These systems, when damaged (i.e. not functioning normally), are the specialist area of the surgeon who opens, cuts, fastens, joins, and changes parts, just as a mechanic does with a broken machine. Natural healing with rest also plays a big part. The chemical dimension of health entails maintaining a balance in the body’s chemical processes and metabolism. This is a complex domain that overlaps with other dimensions in many ways that are currently difficult to define, e.g. how the release of hormones associated with certain psychological conditions. Poor health in this context may be remedied in multivarious ways, e.g. with improved nutrition, pharmaceutical and herbal medicines (such as antibiotics, antivirals, or psycho-tropical substances). The biological dimension of health relates to savouring and managing your biological environment constructively: by eating wholesome food, exercising, being outdoors in the fresh air, and having a balanced lifestyle. Ill health in this sphere can appear as fatigue, exhaustion, dehydration, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, or burnout. Natural healing with rest also plays a big part here. Health in the psychological dimension involves, amongst other things, the ability to tackle difficulties and work through the psychological challenges that life throws our way. Illness appears in the form of depression, obsession, neurotic and psychotic symptoms, personality disorders, and in active defence mechanisms of the self, which are considered in more detail later. Psychological health, as it is defined here, can greatly affect leadership. Leaders are often faced with various kinds of psychological challenges, such as disappointments, shocks, traumatic experiences, conflicts, and crises, all of which can put pressure on your psychological endurance. The spiritual dimension can be divided into two: on the one hand it refers to spiritual life (with a small “s” as Tillich puts it) as it appears in values, culture, and faith. An example could be someone who is mindful of their general demeanour, practices art, scholarship, and science, or pursues spiritual practice such as yoga or prayer. On the other hand, there is the Spiritual dimension (with a capital “S”), whereby everyone – believers and atheists alike – may perceive directly the transcendence of life and its laws. Here Tillich is referring to something that concerns us all at the end of the day and is the foundation of our whole-of-consciousness. Tillich simply called this “the ultimate concern”. This is the reality that religion is concerned with, but people also base their existence on a variety of factors that are in the strict sense, non-religious. For some the ultimate concern is the work, the success, the car, the family, a dog, golfing – but for others it is a divine being(s) in all their manifestations. Whatever your ultimate concern is, the resultant effect it can have on your real life can be either healthy or unhealthy. For example, according to Tillich, an unhealthy relationship to religion entails being a slave to religious dogma, which makes us repressed, spiteful, and prejudiced, and even extremely violent about people and issues.

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f

The final dimension that Tillich identifies is the historical dimension – what has gone before us and what we leave in our wake – which is especially important when it comes to the leadership mission. In short, Tillich asks one key question: How can a society become healthy if its leaders are not healthy? This question must grab the attention of those with an interest in leadership skills.

Tillich believed health to be governed by the same laws as all development and all life processes. Personal health, development, and maturity, in his view, entails a dialogue between two basic polar elements: self-identity and self-alteration. He said that such dialogue operates at all levels and hence characterises the cellular life, physical life, psychological life, the life of groups, organisations, and societies. The health of an entity cannot be sustained by remaining fixed on one of these poles, there is a constant tension between “who am I” and “who do I want to be”, which you need to rebalance continually. Just as healthy cells are constantly changing due to molecular movements across their membranes, so it is with humans who respond with changes from within and from their surrounding environment. Any sustained imbalance in the dialogue is unhealthy; you may stagnate or become risk-averse or defensive if you are unwilling or unable to change or, alternatively, you may lack focus and be aimless if you constantly change your position. For example, one organisation may be strong in self-identity (e.g. values, mission, vision, process) but also needs to adapt to its environment (e.g. customers, competition, regulations, financing, political shifts, environmental concerns, and so on), while another may be very adaptive but lacks a strong core and seems insubstantial because of the constant change. To relate this to project management, imagine one team developing data-handling software refuses to consider the latest trends in programming language compatibility while another team in the same field designs something that is hugely innovative but far beyond the needs of the target market. In both cases market failure is likely, and one wonders how they would get on if they joined forces and engaged in dialogue before committing to action. Tillich’s message is also that absolute health in all dimensions might be an impossibility. In terms of the individual leader, it is possible to be a healthy leader without the leader needing to be healthy in every possible way. Franklin D. Roosevelt, for example, was one of the most beloved and successful US presidents but could not walk unsupported, while Winston Churchill was a heavy drinker who suffered at least one stroke while being a prime minister. Being healthy in terms of certain criteria such as self-awareness, self-control, clarity of thought, communication ability, and decisiveness then becomes even more important as you will need to compensate for any weakness in one area. Given that we live in constantly changing times, the prominence of social media has grown to the extent that minor misdemeanours, or even a hint of impropriety, can strongly influence the public perception of the health of leaders and have a significant impact on individuals and their organisations.

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Putting a foot wrong or showing a weakness can result in an aggressive backlash and the reputations of individuals and their ideas of self-worth can be trampled on by the herd. We regularly hear of politicians and public figures who are lambasted, and you need to realise the inherent dangers of this form of communication as it is recorded for posterity that is hard to erase or forget. Being a leader of one kind or another invariably means there are usually some people who oppose you and may be looking for ways to damage you. These opponents may choose to operate on the principle of: “Throw enough mud at the wall and some of it will stick”, particularly where significant power and money are involved, misinformation and smear campaigns can be commonplace and can greatly damage others’ perception of the health of the leader in any of the many dimensions already discussed. This is where the idea of transparent leadership once again becomes meaningful; given the right information and a balanced perspective, let us hope that the majority of people will recognise what is important and what is not, and will see orchestrated negative campaigns for what they are. In a leadership role you will need to have a thick skin and be able to deal effectively with negative commentary that comes your way. Returning to Tillich’s notion of self-identity and self-alteration, the American social psychologist William Swann Jr. has written extensively about the dynamics of self-esteem using slightly different terms, self-verification and self-enhancement. In his book Self Traps: The Elusive Quest for Higher SelfEsteem (1996), Swann makes a number of observations about how we measure our own self-worth and how we want those that surround us to see us and treat us. This is a complex area and he criticises many self-help authors for trying to simplify the subject and offer a false sense of hope for people who suffer from low self-esteem. Referencing John Bowlby’s theory of attachment – which suggests that humans come into the world pre-programmed to form attachments with others as part of our survival strategy (Bowlby, 1982) – Swann argues that from our earliest years, the gradual construction of our own self-identity is primarily influenced by those nearest to us and this influence remains throughout our lives. His self-verification theory relates to his observation that once people develop a firmly-held belief about themselves, they will come to prefer that others see them as they see themselves – even if this is in a negative light, which causes them anguish. Self-enhancement, in this scenario, can be considered too daunting and individuals can become trapped as a result. A common example noted by Swann describes someone with low self-esteem who seeks out others who reinforce their own negative self-image, which can lead to an abusive or masochistic relationship. In fact, these relationships can be remarkably resilient because the will to escape never outweighs the will to be accepted. In this context, Swann discusses the importance of examining our relationships with others to determine how they influence the health of our self-image and self-esteem. In order to avoid self-traps, you should try to avoid the company of those who seek to undermine you and to have the determination to strive for a healthy self-image through self-enhancement.

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Swann has also contributed to the identity negotiation theory. This relates to the process whereby people in relationships reach agreements (often unconsciously) regarding “who is who”. All sorts of psychology can be at play in this process, particularly early on in the relationship, and you can often be unaware of how early patterns of behaviour become the template for future behaviour. The identity negotiation theory is useful in determining the health of our relationships and, by extension, our self-esteem. When these theories are discussed with your leadership in mind, we can see that if you rely solely on preserving your self-identity, you might run the risk of introversion; you shut yourself off and do not associate with others. At the other extreme, if you solely focus on self-alteration this too can be destructive; you are constantly outgoing, trying to be everything to everyone, and run the risk of losing yourself in the process. Such are the two main dangers of the two life processes in the life of the leader. One is the danger that self-identity can lead you to become isolated and the other is the danger that self-alteration can lead to you losing yourself.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What is health? What is self-identity? What is self-alteration? What characterises a healthy leader? What characterises an unhealthy leader?

Defence mechanisms and anxiety Now that we have demonstrated the value of considering the self, self-­reflection, self-image, and the meaning of health in the context of your leadership, we can move on to discuss the defence mechanisms of the self. The original work in this area was carried out by Sigmund Freud and his daughter Anna Freud (Freud, 1937) and their observations and theories have since been expanded by a range of psychologists, psychoanalysts, and psychiatrists who have tried to understand how we unconsciously try to protect our self-image (Cramer, 1991). Defence mechanisms of the self are instinctive reactions that the self falls back on when its experience of itself – ego, consciousness, self-image – is threatened (Paulhus et al., 1997). They are common adoptative tendencies that people apply unconsciously and are more likely to be noticed in others rather than in yourself. It is useful for you to be aware of other people’s active defence mechanisms, but it is even better if you can reflect on your own defence tendencies when the self deploys such protective mechanisms. Psychological treatment – especially if it is psychoanalytical in nature – involves, amongst other things, identifying defence mechanisms that awaken

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Figure 4.2 Can you self-analyse all of your behaviour?

when an individual is in the consulting room with a therapist (Figure 4.2). A poor result from therapy involves the patient concluding the session with an awareness of other people’s defence mechanisms but not of their own. There is a biblical quotation that is particularly apt: is it not easier to see a speck of dust in another’s eye than a log in your own? This tendency can in fact be an indication that you are avoiding confronting your own defences. We hence suggest that you learn to recognise when defence mechanisms are activated, both in yourself and in others, to understand the effect of these measures and how to manage them appropriately. Defence mechanisms of the self are always a response to inner stimuli. This idea seems strange to many people because the tendency is to consider all human reactions to be triggered by external stimuli. However, the trigger starts with an internal response to a stimulus and it is this that needs first to be managed. This notion also highlights the role of your psychological state operating as an independent reality in how you react. It enables us to see that the psychological reaction is taking place within ourselves and it this reaction that needs to be managed. While you may not have any influence over the external situation, you can aim to understand and control your conscious and unconscious reactions to it. Here is a good example: You are made bankrupt and eliminated from the Monopoly board during a game with a group of your co-workers. If your selfimage is healthy and your psychological resilience sufficient, this will only ever represent a minor psychological challenge and you can laugh off the defeat at your own expense. If, however, you take the loss personally and react with anger, by refusing to play again or by attempting to sabotage the rest of the game, it is an indicator that you may have fallen back onto your psychological defences because you are unable to accept the loss of face or the damage to your reputation as a competitive player. You may claim that you are being victimised by everyone else who is colluding against you and this is why you lost. This can be easier than admitting that you made poor choices in the

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game that resulted in defeat. In psychological self-defence we try to devalue that which threatens our self-image. We become defensive. Your defence mechanisms are reactions to anxiety and they are an entirely natural part of the strategy that helps us to survive, face reality, and adapt (Vaillant, 1977; 1992). The contradiction is that on the deepest level the defences are efforts to maintain health and a sense of self-worth, even though the defence can by others seem obscure and pathological, and their application can bring about undesirable consequences. Active defences reflect a conflict between the inner and outer reality. If something happens in the outer environment that is truly threatening, it causes real anxiety, for which we can easily distinguish the causes. Neurotic anxiety, on the other hand, is anxiety that afflicts us without us being able to discern the trigger. Both real anxiety and neurotic anxiety exist because we are instinctively reacting to a stimulus. Whichever type of anxiety you experience, the self tries to react by slamming the door on the instincts it stems from, or by redirecting them into a less threatening course. Your defence mechanisms often kick in without you noticing, which means that you do not realise when you are becoming defensive. Now that we have introduced the concept, let’s discuss a few of the predominant defence mechanisms of the self. Note that they all represent efforts to protect your view of yourself in the face of real or perceived threats. They are, however, of varying degrees of value as a defensive tool; some are very beneficial as they help you to adapt to the environment, others are much less so and can push you away from other people.

Reflection points: •• •• ••

How do you react to anxiety? What have you done unwillingly under pressure because of anxiety? What have you done unconsciously under pressure because of anxiety?

Mature defence mechanisms Intimacy is when you unconsciously strive for relations with others to help tackle anxiety. It creates feelings of worth and meaning in relations with others and under normal circumstances helps you to adjust in a healthy way to reality. In seeking healthy intimacy, the individual looks to others, starts conversations, and shows an interest in others. Less healthy manifestations include the inability to be alone, unable to cope without the company of others and in interpersonal demands that might be seen as awkward. As an example, intimacy could be expressed in this way: “Jason, can you come with me to the meeting with the project sponsor as we need to show a united front”? Humour is when anxiety makes you unconsciously make fun of yourself, others, or situations. It aims at deprecating someone or something that in fact

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matters to you. Humour, especially in the form of sarcasm or irony, shows that you are trying to manage your anxiety within a given situation. As already referred to in the context of stress management, a distinction may be made between healthy jocularity, which is good-natured humour designed to share laughter with others; and, on the other hand, laughing at others and at their expense. Humour can help you to lighten situations, connect with others, and to see things in a positive light, but it can also involve ridicule and be a way of avoiding intimacy. Humour is regularly directed towards others in an effort to strengthen relations, but its effect is often the opposite, pushing them away instead. When you make an attempt to be funny you run the risk that others take you seriously, which can create misunderstandings and complications. Humour could be expressed in this way: “If you had brains you’d be dangerous…” Some forms of altruistic behaviour can be an attempt to overcome insecurity by being overly friendly, supportive, or helpful towards others. This shows sometimes in people’s attempt to live the life of others, by constantly being involved, making suggestions, and offering help. It may be the case that some people may take on a leadership role with the aim of helping others, such as in a humanitarian project, whilst deep down they are mainly trying to come to terms with themselves. Altruism can occasionally be misinterpreted and seen as manipulative and exploitative of the situation. When a celebrity says “nobody should go hungry” does their concern stem from purely altruistic thoughts or is their public stance guided by some unconscious desire? Sublimation involves impulses that you deem unacceptable which are changed into something that you believe that you, your team, your peers, and/­or society can endorse. Thus, an angry teenager can become a police officer and a discontented adult can find the solution to their problems by becoming a project manager; and it may be great! Indications of sublimation can be seen in all aspects of human undertakings, in the arts, academia, sciences, culture, engineering, and religious life. The well-known UK graffiti artist “Banksy” would be an example of someone who began as an underground angst-ridden “social nuisance” but their sheer talent allowed them to gain widespread admiration and new respectability. Perhaps at the end of the day, the purpose of life consists in sublimating primitive impulses and putting their power to good use.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

When have you employed intimacy? How did it manifest itself? When have you used humour? How did it manifest itself? When have you employed altruism? How did it manifest itself? When have you experienced sublimation? How did it manifest itself?

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Neurotic defence mechanisms Isolation of affect is when anxiety makes you unconsciously insolate a difficult emotion from your awareness to compartmentalise it away from other feelings, emotions, thoughts, and memories. This entails the self trying to isolate and suppress emotions surrounding a particular difficult experience, memory, or idea; something associated with a strong impulse that is carefully kept in check. An example could be when people working around accidents unconsciously keep their emotions aside so as to be able to remain calm and objective in the situation. A related concept is temporal bracketing, which involves people who have led troubled lives in the past but are reformed or “born again” in some way, completely isolating their former selves from their current selves. An example may be when we know deep down that we messed something up but when events catch up with us we isolate this sense of culpability. Rationalisation is related to isolation, but it is a rational distortion of facts designed to remould the sense of menace from an incident or pressure from instinctual life. It can consist of logical and moral explanations that you create to rationalise your actions, thoughts, and feelings. Various kinds of justifications which are used to save your own skin and banish anxiety are also examples of rationalisation. A classic example would be a poorly performing player or manager blaming a referee for a poor result by highlighting a small number of decisions that went against the team while, at the same time, ignoring other decisions that went their way. Financial fraudsters tend to be very adept at rationalising their actions to convince themselves that what they are doing is OK even though most neutral observers would think otherwise. This is related to intellectualisation, which entails an individual trying unconsciously and unilaterally to reconcile themselves with some inner conflict and emotional turmoil by employing their intellect. The meaning is rather negative, because specific thoughts and intellectual debate are favoured over normal acting out and acknowledgement of feelings and fantasies. Regression involves the self moving backwards in psychological time to an earlier time or stage of development. You might even return to your child-self when you behave in a particularly childlike manner. This protection against anxiety could be a result of your self trying to apply methods which were once successful in stressful circumstances or using childish behaviour to abrogate responsibility and authority to others. Regressive adjustment can sometimes be positive and beneficial, for example when adults throw themselves into a fun and constructive game. It can also be very creative, given we sometimes see possibilities in childhood that adults do not see. However, it can be very disconcerting for others if you behave in a way that is inappropriate for your age and expected level of maturity. Imagine a leader picking on a junior member of their team and publicly isolating and ridiculing some mistake in their work that was made due to inexperience. This behaviour may cause undue humiliation and damage to that person’s self-esteem in the process. This is

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the opposite of the mature approach, which, in this case, would involve you talking to the junior team member on a private one-to-one basis, acknowledging that they should have been more aware of their experience level and highlighting their errors in a sensitive and constructive way. Withdrawal is when anxiety makes you unconsciously move away from situations and not engage others. This is a common feature in situations where a leader suffers burnout or finds themselves out of their depth and unsupported by their team. A leader who is withdrawn may only engage their team in very limited ways, be unable to answer questions properly, leave vague and/­or conflicting directions for others to follow, become easily distracted, dodge responsibility, and generally distance themselves from the hard work and accountability required of a good leader.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

When have you experienced isolation of affect? How did it manifest itself? When have you experienced rationalisation? How did it manifest itself? When have you experienced intellectualisation? How did it manifest itself? When have you experienced regression? How did it manifest itself? When have you experienced withdrawal? How did it manifest itself?

Immature defence mechanisms Acting out is when anxiety makes you unconsciously do something “wild” without any moral consideration; simply acting out of impulse, without reflection and no care for the consequences. Unrestrained acting out can manifest itself as anger, fanaticism, and various kinds of intemperance. Acting out can help you in dealing with demanding situations, such as those requiring exceptional strength to protect yourself from danger, but, because it involves suspension of rational thought, it is generally inappropriate in most business situations. An example could be punching a wall in response to extreme frustration or anger. While this may do some damage to yourself it is far less than would be caused if the punch was aimed at another person and the act itself will lead to reflection and calming down as the pain is experienced. Another example could be: “Well, Jane just freaked out and said to all lawyers in the meeting that we do not want any bloody lawyers involved. They all left the room”. Projection is when anxiety makes you unconsciously try to rid yourself of something that you cannot tolerate within yourself by putting it upon others (“It’s not me, it’s you …”). Milder versions show as assumptions based on ignorance and prejudices. An example could be: “You must think it’s great here … coming from X”. When you are unable to recognise your feelings or when we think they are inappropriate there is a tendency to attribute them to ­others (see Figure 4.3). The individual on the receiving end of such a projection

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Figure 4.3 We project things we can not acknowledge in ourselves.

may begin to play a role that is unnatural for them due to co-dependence. In cases of projective identification, others unconsciously identify with the projection and adopt to this unnatural role. Projective identification can be positive, in which case it enables higher levels of empathy when the person who is projected upon empathises at a deep level with the person projecting. Leaders constantly take projections from their followers and their opponents and can also project onto their followers and opponents – sometimes to the extent of becoming paranoid about what people are thinking about them as a result. Trying to avoid projecting onto others and identifying negatively with the projections of others are important leadership skills – but anyone who has faced this challenge knows that it is easier said than done. A negative example of projection is seen when bullies are envious and project their own vulnerabilities and insecurities onto their victim, who may be a strongminded, cogent, and empathetic individual. In this case bystander apathy and twisting of the likely verbal resistance of the target to suit the bully’s agenda are part of the overall plan which, in this case, is to ruthlessly isolate, torture, and eliminate the target. Fantasising involves you dwelling on your imagination to escape an anxious situation or condition. It enables you momentarily to avoid real problems, troublesome thoughts, decisions, or conflict by escaping into fantasy or daydreams. The fantasies often revolve around sex, aggression, or power. These can grant temporary relief, but the problem with fantasising is that the energy which could be used to address a situation is tied up in fruitless activity, and this gets in the way of dealing seriously with whatever is causing the anxiety. The self becomes starved and passive because the fantasies take up the time and psychological energy; a state which can lead to depression. A leader who lives in a world of fantasy either has hopes and expectations but does not earnestly tackle the task at hand, or begins to project these fantasies upon reality,

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often with grave consequences. Fantasising is different from creative thinking and imagining which both serve an active function to solve problems. For example, a project leader who is gradually losing control of their budget and milestone schedule may remark to their team members: “Our performance to date has exceeded all my expectations and I think we can start to think about expanding the concept”. Identification is when anxiety makes you unconsciously become like someone else in order to be liked. The self unconsciously starts imitating that of another individual’s as a solution to an emotional problem. The defence is designed to boost self-confidence, help handle loss or separation, mitigate a sense of vulnerability, or make you more likeable to others. This happens, for example, when a child adopts an aspect of their parent’s personality, or when a subordinate adopts the manners of a superior. This is not the same as an individual consciously making another individual a role model. Identification is an unconscious act, in which something that characterises one individual automatically starts to characterise another individual, without that person intending or noticing it. It is not unusual for people to identify with those in leadership roles and imitate their manners, voice, and behaviour. Example: “It is great, when we meet on the Reykjavik event, we all dress the same! I really feel I belong”. Identification with an aggressor is when you become like someone who you fear or has treated you badly. The self is identifying with another individual’s threatening behaviours and aggressive qualities to make them their own in order to move away from the vulnerable position of being a victim. Some people who are project and programme initiators on a grand scale became leaders on the basis of identification with an aggressor. Followers of a leader who is violent towards them are likely to be violent towards others. Another example of this defence mechanism is the so-called Stockholm Syndrome, which involves a hostage siding with those who hold them hostage, or abused people siding with their tormentors, sympathising with them and justifying their actions. In less extreme examples, peaceful members of a team may side with others who are more aggressive to avoid conflict. An example of identification with an aggressor could be someone who has been undermined by a chairman who then rounds on others during a meeting: “I would just like to expand on what the chairman said and say that I don’t think I have seen such a poorly-conceived idea in all my life”. Devaluation (of self or others) is when anxiety makes you put yourself or others down. This is a common defence mechanism which is expressed in behaviours such as bad-mouthing people and airing prejudices, becoming paralysed by self-doubt or instinctively doubting others. An example could be one site foreman talking to a colleague about another: “That man’s a clown”. Grandiosity (of self or others) involves you unknowingly putting yourself or others in an inflated context. It often goes hand in hand with devaluation and they can be two sides of the same coin. Grandiosity is to put oneself or others on a pedestal which is not necessarily deserved. It is

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often the case that supporters or adversaries try to either put a leader on a pedestal or humiliate them. “Attacking the man, not the ball” is a colloquialism derived from sport that describes when someone avoids answering an awkward question by questioning some unrelated aspect of the questioner’s character.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• ••

When have you experienced projection? How did it manifest itself? When have you fantasised? How did it manifest itself? When have you experienced identification? How did it manifest itself? When have you experienced identification with an aggressor? How did it manifest itself? When have you exhibited signs of devaluation? How did it manifest itself? When have you exhibited signs of grandiosity? How did it manifest itself?

Unhealthy defence mechanisms Turning against yourself is when anxiety makes you unconsciously turn your anger inward at yourself and where any failure leads to a severe reprimand of the self, sometimes including physical punishment. This can result in self-sabotage and paralysis, which can reinforce the feeling that more selfpunishment is needed. Rather than engaging with others constructively or confronting others on how they angered us, we attack ourselves instead and put the blame for any failure on our own doorstep. There can be a constant voice in your head berating you and this may be an echo from your childhood experiences. If you feel anger towards close relatives, friends, or co-workers who matter a lot to you will unconsciously deem your anger unacceptable. Because unacceptable anger towards a person that matters resides in the self, the self becomes unacceptable and consequently the anger is directed towards it. This can have a strong effect on your self-image and even lead to its distortion, such as what happens in various kinds of eating disorders, for example. This defence mechanism lies behind various types of depression as the anger directed towards the self and the consequent stress saps all strength and overcomes any hope. Some people take on a leadership role to try to overcome such an inner tendency and correct or mitigate it by getting the attention of the masses or followers. This defence mechanism sometimes accompanies passive-aggressiveness (described as passive resistance to demands for adequate performance in social and occupational situations), which appears in those who seem excessively friendly but are in fact suppressing hatred or anger, which then finds an indirect outlet in their passivity. Passive aggression implies an interpersonal context for such behaviour, but it is also the case that passive aggression can be directed towards the self. This can result, for

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example, in being unduly pessimistic, intentionally inefficient, giving up too easily, dismissive of our own abilities, and so on. Splitting is when anxiety makes you unconsciously split the world up into all-good and all-bad, so you can identify with the “‘good”. The divide allows the self to feel itself only partly, as it has split itself and the discarded split-off part often gets projected upon others (see Figure 4.4). This is a primitive defence mechanism that is most apparent in individuals who – as a result of projection – see others (or events) as being either completely good or completely bad. The self has split itself into an acceptable and an unacceptable part and this split is projected out into the environment and starts to be reflected in the individual’s interpretation of the environment and their relationship with it. They do not realise when they split and will usually deny it vehemently in order to avoid addressing this tendency that is, by its nature, highly irrational. The desire to see just one side of a matter is common in unhealthy management, religions, politics, and world views. Splitting could be expressed in remarks like: “If those environmentalists had their way we’d be back in the Stone Age”. When a baby needs to deal with his or her primary caregiver (most often, in our gendered society, the mother), the caregiver may be an endless source of resources who fulfils the baby’s every wish, but sometimes she is not. The child projects both its love and hatred towards the mother and divides her into two; one absolutely good and the other absolutely bad. To resolve this split the child needs to realise gradually that the “good mother” and the “bad mother” are in fact the same person. This adjustment can cause temporary childhood depression. Most children recover quickly from this depression but some experience longer-term mental issues. These children continue to see the world in binary terms of opposing black and white.

Figure 4.4 Splitting creates a “me” versus “you” mentality.

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Somatisation is when anxiety makes you unconsciously develop physical symptoms to ease the anxiety. The self reacts to anxiety by making the body its main concern. The individual can become obsessed by their body and may even start to develop something that resembles symptoms of physical illness, in the absence of any physical causes. Known examples include many kinds of psychosomatic pain and fears that could be expressed in various complaints.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

When have you shown signs of turning against your self-image? How did this manifest itself? When have you shown signs of splitting? How did this manifest itself? When have you shown signs of passive-aggressiveness? How did this manifest itself? When have you shown signs of somatisation? How did this manifest itself?

Other defence mechanisms Displacement is when anxiety makes you unconsciously switch your feelings towards one person or object to another person or object (the first might not be available, not ready to face you, or be too close to you). A feeling that has not been expressed to anyone–perhaps because it was unacceptable – is transferred to another person, animal or object, for example, when you think you like someone who strongly resembles a person you really like, or when you act out your anger at work on the family dog. Project leaders and team members can displace older emotions, relations, and situations from the past to a present situation. Such behaviour sometimes helps address new and foreign situations but can also create difficulties of its own. Displacement could be expressed in remarks like: “Hearing the bad news, I lashed out at John, who walked in at that moment, for not being on time”. Undoing is when anxiety makes you unconsciously use some behaviour or ritual to lessen the psychological impact of a situation. The self makes an attempt to prevent the impact of an event through the use of some kind of a ritual or contradictory action as a source to sustain the sense of self. The behaviour aims to reduce the effect of an incident or minimise its significance. For example, you cross your fingers to lie, and convince yourself that this makes it ok. Various kinds of religious conduct reflect undoing, through for example different penitent rites. An example of undoing could be the following statement: “I’ve never had an accident while I was wearing my old construction helmet”. Related to undoing is reaction formation; a defensive process where emotions and impulses that are anxiety-producing or perceived as undesirable are overcome by the exaggeration of the opposing tendency.

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Denial is a primitive defence mechanism in which anxiety makes you unconsciously blind or unable to acknowledge something in your outer reality as it is too challenging to face it. The self tries to block facts by keeping the external reality away from your consciousness as it is too threatening for the self-image. This is a common reaction to bad news and psychological shock, as the denial helps (temporarily) to acknowledge reality by accepting it in manageable doses. Denial can be dangerous if reality is rejected over a long time. If denial is an unconscious tendency to gloss over the external reality, repression (discussed below) is an unconscious tendency to gloss over the inner reality. An example of denial could be an engineer who, having errors in calculations, is unable to see them and says “There is no way I could have made mistakes in my assumptions … it was the equipment that failed …” Repression is when anxiety makes you unconsciously deny an inner reality (feeling, memory, trauma, and so on). It could be reflected in remarks such as: “Strange, I do not remember what happened when the floor collapsed with the workers”. The self tries to protect a threatened self-image when faced with a traumatic and demanding experience; the experience is absorbed but then consciousness closes off any memory of it or its effects. If such repression continues, the memory – the feelings and thoughts associated with the event and what may be called a psychological complex – will completely disappear from consciousness and the associated concern with it. If the repression is strong enough, the individual does not sense the influence of the complex at all; the memory is well forgotten, buried, and inaccessible. Problems arise, however, when the repression does not hold, and your mind begins to retrieve memories or emotions associated with it. Signal anxiety is often the first symptom that the unconscious is trying to process the experience. This serves as an early warning for the ego (conscious mind) to react by deploying emergency defences. Sometimes a repressed experience comes through in dreams, involuntary fantasies, or compulsive behaviour. A behavioural therapist weighs up whether the complexes – this unconscious bunch of experience, emotion, memory, and/or thoughts – should be tackled by strengthening the repression or by coaxing the memory forth and working through it in a fully aware state. The latter method is perhaps more typical, but various kinds of experience can be so radical for the self-image that it may be better to reinforce the repression. Suppression is when anxiety makes you unconsciously withhold something from your awareness (a milder form of repression, also called “motivated forgetting”). The self tries to not hear something, postpone it, or tries to convince itself that it can be tackled later. An example could be when a project manager says, “I hear what you are saying, but let’s stick to the agreed agenda and we can revisit this in another meeting”. Asceticism or self-sacrificing is when anxiety makes you unconsciously deny yourself comforts that, for whatever reason, you deem as inappropriate or on the basis that you do not deserve them. The self rejects some aspects of life because they are felt as incompatible. The demands can be: do not

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eat, do not mix with others, do not make love, or do not generally engage with life and remain withdrawn. Examples of this can be various kinds of anorexia, masochism, self-imposed isolation, and abandonment to various religious rituals or uncreative working conditions. Many leaders have considered it their calling to place themselves and their followers under duress in the name of exalted objectives, and this approach is perhaps best personified by Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), who came to renounce objects and pleasures and commonly underwent extensive fasts in order to obtain his main political objectives by non-violent means; the struggle for emancipation and independence in India and the bridging of differences between Hindus and Muslims.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

How have you exhibited signs of displacement? How did it manifest itself? How have you exhibited signs of undoing? How did it manifest itself? When have you exhibited signs of denial? How did it manifest itself? When have you exhibited signs of repression? How did it manifest itself? When have you exhibited signs of asceticism? How did it manifest itself?

Mental health The psychological defence mechanisms described above can be manifestations of a variety of conditions that relate to the mental health of both you and your co-workers. These conditions can range from being very minor to serious in nature. The first step in understanding is to identify which defence mechanisms are predominantly at work when it is apparent that there is some deeper malaise that is encumbering or influencing you or an individual with whom you are working. In doing this, it is important to remember that defence mechanisms are naturally adopted efforts by the self to adapt and deal with situations. Certain defence mechanisms may have been useful to you in the past, but you should consider whether they are still working and whether they are still appropriate and desirable. Crying, being childish, throwing a tantrum, or taunting others might have been useful as a child, but as an adult and as a leader, this behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable. The current aim is to be in control – without becoming dull or all too rigid – and enjoy your mission (see Figure 4.5). On the other hand, the involuntary use of a psychological defence mechanism could still allow you to gain influence and maintain power, but then you might ask whether it is psychologically healthy for you – and your team, organisation, or society at large. What would you think of a leader who if they do not, at first, get their own way, then seeks to realise their ambitions in any way possible, including by threatening others?

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Figure 4.5 The aim is to be in control and enjoy your mission.

It is risky to make judgements about the character of people in leadership roles – or of people generally – but it can be necessary. It might not be wise to allow an individual who is not conscious of their prevailing defence mechanisms to hold leadership authority, nor to have a situation where a team or society is so ill-informed about defence mechanisms of the self that they do not detect them in their leaders. A sound knowledge of defence mechanisms of the self can reduce the risk of someone gaining a leadership role on the basis of strange and even pathological self-needs and helps individuals, groups, and societies move towards a successful co-existence in a just society, where leaders come to power because of their ability to see people and issues in a healthy light. Having read this chapter it would be a shame if the knowledge it gives you serves only to pick holes in the behaviour of others and to pass judgement on that basis. Rather, you should use your insight to take a serious look at yourself and do your best to notice when your own defences kick in. This is not easy, and you might not necessarily always succeed because defence mechanisms are unconscious and are easier to recognise in others than in your own behaviour. Asking observant, neutral people who you admire and trust to give you feedback on your thoughts, words, and actions and actually listening to what they have to say is an important way of understanding your unconscious tendencies. Another helpful approach is allowing older children and young adults to experience responsibility on a gradual and monitored basis so that they can learn about themselves and act maturely when in adult leadership situations. This is an important aim of many social youth organisations. A significant aspect of the journey towards becoming a resourceful project leader is gaining good awareness of how the self protects itself against anxiety by falling back on defence mechanisms. This journey can help you

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identify and address what it is that threatens the self, your self-awareness, and self-image. Defence mechanisms can be pathological and immature and can show all the characteristics of neuroticism or can be sublime and better enable you to face all kinds of demanding managerial situations. In all cases, they are psychological defences that come into play for valid reasons and are thus generally important to individuals. This is why we need to tread carefully in unmasking defensive tendencies and, if that is your role, informing those you work with about their defensive reflexes in a sensitive fashion. Some people will be very receptive to the information but, for others, it can often be difficult for them to face themselves and admit to the way they are. In this chapter we have discussed the relationship of health to the self, self-awareness, and self-image, and the psychological defence mechanisms of the self. We have explained that defence mechanisms build on instinctive tendencies of the self to defend your self-awareness and self-image as project leader. This is a good foundation on which to proceed to the next chapters, which delve still further into your self-understanding and introduce what will be referred to as the economy of the mind.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• ••

How is it possible to work through something that is unconscious? What other methods, not cited above, does the self use to protect itself? What would characterise someone who did not use any defence mechanisms of the self? Describe how defence mechanisms of the self can relate to mental difficulties. How can predominant defence mechanisms grant an individual leadership authority? What consequences can result if an individual with significant, prevailing defence mechanisms reaches a position of power?

References Blaxter, M. (2010). Health, 2nd Edition. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press/Wiley. Bowlby, John (1982). Attachment and loss, Volume 1: Attachment, 2nd Edition. New York: Basic Books. Cramer, P. (1991). The development of defence mechanisms: Theory, research, and assessment. New York: Springer-Verlag. Freud, Anna (1937). The ego and the mechanisms of defence. London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis. Paulhus, D. L., Fridhandler B., & Hayes S. (1997). “Psychological defense: Contemporary theory and research” in Briggs, S., Hogan, R. G., and Johnson, J. W. Handbook of Personality Psychology. 543–579. Boston, MA: Academic Press.

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Swann, William (1996). Self-traps: The elusive quest for higher self-esteem. New York: Freeman. Tillich, Paul (1961). “The meaning of health.” Perspectives on Biology and Medicine, 5(1), 92–100. Vaillant, George E. (1977). Adaptation to life. Boston, MA: Little, Brown. Vaillant, George E. (1992). Ego mechanisms of defense: A guide for clinicians and researchers. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Publishing.

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5 Self and economy of mind

Following on from our earlier discussion on self-awareness, your health as a leader and the defence mechanisms of the self, we are now in a position to move onto the deeper waters of psychology to answer the following crucial questions about enhancing your leadership ability: What internal dynamics define your actions? What drives you to do what you do? What prevents you from doing what you should do? What keeps your consciousness awake and alert, and enables you to face the challenges of everyday life? What internal forces define your self-experience? How do all these factors shape your motives and leadership approach? In this chapter, we will discuss the views of leading thinkers on the human psyche from a range of backgrounds and we’ll provide you with some reflective questions at the end of each section to elicit answers from within you. The focus throughout will be on explaining how your vitality and innate energy reserves can be used to support your true “self” and how problems arise when this is not the case and you find yourself drained by (largely unconscious) unproductive mental activities.

Energisation and the psyche There are different views relating to what constitutes the human psyche and how the physiological and the psychological are combined. Your ability to do the routine things in your everyday life is a manifestation of a wondrous level of mental and physical co-ordination and mental strength. For example, how would a neuroscientist describe the moment-to-moment workings of the psyche in the case of an entrepreneur who: (a) leads a business with several employees; (b) is a soon-to-be divorcee; (c) happens to be driving a car full of noisy kids to school through busy traffic; (d) has a decisive interview straight afterwards with creditors that is vital to the continuation of their business; and (e) will face likely repossession of their house in the event of failure? In this case, reductionist science will probably only ever barely scratch the surface of the myriad complex contemporaneous processes that are occurring and the driving forces behind them.

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There are numerous theories and studies carried out that relate to concepts of energisation and associated combined physical and mental processes. For example, Sevincer et al. (2014) demonstrate conclusive links between conscious mental states and physiological energisation and ability to perform physical tasks. It would appear that your ability to experience self-consciousness, be aware of your external reality and deal with it stems from the conversion of physiological energy to a psychological force that first awakens and then sustains your consciousness. Your consciousness, in turn, guides your actions and influences your energisation state through your feelings and thoughts. For practical purposes, we will simply combine all of this and refer to psychological energisation as the capability of the human psyche to exploit and influence the physiological activity of the body. It is fitting to talk about “energy” in this context as most of us know all too well the lack of energy that we experience when we are unable to sustain ourselves and become deprived of energy. The symptoms can include simple lack of interest, boredom, laziness, and indolence, or more seriously, burnout and psychological depression. What then, in the absence of sustained physical exercise or other biological causes such as infections or food intolerances, drains us of our energy? There appear to be a number of factors. Some of these we have already discussed in the preceding chapters, for example, the impact of lack of sleep and rest, and the multifarious stressors that you encounter in your lives. These may have causes that are easy to comprehend, although the remedies may not be so straightforward, for example, trying to bring about lifestyle changes in the face of limited finances, a demanding work situation, and the pressure of looking after dependants. A more difficult group of causes to comprehend and deal with are those where the energy drainage is more enduring due to deep-seated internal factors. On the surface everything may appear as normal with no obvious stressors, but the reality is that you are experiencing inner conflict and the events in your unconscious self are depleting you and may be producing undesirable symptoms. When you experience stress or trauma, the consequent negative feelings (e.g. fear, anger, disempowerment, isolation, sorrow, guilt) can be very strong for a period but will normally diminish with time and changing circumstances. In some cases, though, a line is crossed and a negative emotional state enters a positive feedback loop which means it grows in strength and frequency and can begin seriously to impair your functioning in a variety of ways. The nature of these traumatic trigger events, the age at which they occur, issues of genetic susceptibility to mental illness, childhood experiences, chemical imbalances in the body, can all, to a greater or lesser extent, be very significant factors in how we are affected. In Chapter 4, we described how humans have evolved a suite of defence mechanisms to protect our conscious selves in the face of disturbing or threatening thoughts. Repression, for example, involves such thoughts being

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automatically dealt with at the unconscious level, so that they do not overwhelm our conscious self-identity. The issue here though is that such thoughts can continue in our unconscious selves and influence our physiological and emotional states in various ways such as through “somatisation” or “complexes”. Somatisation, in this case, refers to the idea that psychological distress can be manifested in the form of bodily symptoms which signal the mental dissonance (e.g. headaches, breathing difficulties, wakefulness). Studies have shown a range of measurable physiological effects associated with people who are “emotional repressors”. In a review and study by Coifman et al. (2007, and references therein), there appears to be differing evidence regarding longer-term success for this coping mechanism. Some studies suggest it can manifest itself in serious health problems down the line, while others say it can lead to better functionality after a period has elapsed since the traumatic event that initiated the response. Some psychologists believe that repressed thoughts can also resurface in consciousness in various undesirable forms, for instance, as a contributory trigger for obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD). These disorders are a spectrum of potentially debilitating conditions where significant amounts of energy are used in normally futile rituals; antisocial behaviour is associated with many of them. Famous examples include the great inventor Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) whose OCD was overshadowed in his early life by his phenomenal drive, creativity, and thought leadership, but became more obvious and challenging as he aged. His technological leadership competence became greatly diminished and to an extent his life was lived outside what would be considered social norms. Interestingly, Nastovic (2010) provides a perspective on Tesla´s life experiences and creativity from the viewpoint of complex psychology and considers that Tesla may have had a unique connection to the different strands of the unconscious – personal, familial, collective – and was energised and guided by distinct archetypes or psychological programmes to be found there. You may be familiar with terms such as “inferiority complex” and “persecution complex” that are examples of negative complexes. A “complex” (relates somewhat to the so-called “schema” in cognitive psychology) in general can be thought of as a node in our unconscious characterised by a pattern of emotions, memories, perceptions, and wishes that revolve around a common theme (see Figure 5.1). These can be related to singular events (e.g. bad accident, personal attack) or a related series of events that made a strong impression on us in our formative years. The latter, for example, could include: rejection, neglect or excessive pampering by caregivers; bullying; and guilt induced by transgressing imposed religious and cultural codes. Some complexes may be associated with positive feelings whereas others, such as the ones mentioned above, are associated with negative feelings and can drain our energies and restrict our ability to function. Regardless of whether stressors are internal or external, experiencing sustained stress involves a range of physiological processes that use up a lot of energy, as well as prevents the repair of body systems through interfering with

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(early) experiences

Complexes (Schematas)

Thoughts Emotions Behaviour Physiology

Triggers

Figure 5.1 Early experiences can create complexes that can be triggered.

sleep and other processes. In leadership roles, we can be faced with prolonged complexity and responsibility in resolving issues with no end in sight and have trouble “switching off” as a result. We may also feel powerless and trapped in our circumstances, alternating between states either of unhappiness in our current situation (performing a task under duress for example) or dread an upcoming situation. There are, of course, limits to our capacity to function in such situations. Sleep and mental and physical rest in general are crucial aspects of recharging our batteries in order to face the next round of challenges. Feeling empowered can be just as important and this means that we feel in control of our actions and of our destiny and are able to exercise our rights. You may be an excellent leader in what you do under normal circumstances but may not feel empowered if you are faced with undermining conditions. The psychological energisation we have referred to above is something that you must both self-manage and deal with when motivating others. Capable leaders are usually able to channel this vital force towards their mission and energise their team. The art is to exploit the inner physiological drives in such a way that it sustains a healthy self and motivates sound actions. If you are not able to harness this energy constructively, then you are more prone to experiencing anxiety, burnout, depression, and a lessened state of consciousness. Nowadays it is common to refer to all questions regarding our physiological instincts and psychological impulses and hence our core motivations as neurology. However, for the sake of simplicity and consistency with the psychological content of this book, we’ll proceed here with the view that you possess natural inherited drives that maintain your awareness and encourage your actions. Various attempts have been made to define the nature of the primary instincts of humans, such as the hunger instinct, emotion instinct, relational/social instinct, creativity instinct, sexual instinct, and the instinct to behave aggressively. If this idea of inner forces holds true, it is only when your physiological instincts are awakened that your psychological impulses make you take an action. In a leadership role it is crucial to understand these dynamics and how they can play out in your leadership situations.

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Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What is self-awareness? What affects self-understanding? What drives you to do what you do? What within yourself prevents you from doing what you should do? What inspires and motivates you?

Body and mind The relationship between the body and the mind is one that has exercised theorists across numerous disciplines since antiquity. If you take your lead from scientific positivism, you might come to the conclusion that everything you do can be reduced, in one way or another, to specific internal physiological processes that can be viewed totally objectively given the right amount of consideration. Your mental life would then be reduced to cellular and molecular activity and your various mental processes would have their own corresponding distinct neurological patterns of activity that fully describe them. Within the materialist view, there are also two different schools of thought that further describe the processes involved. To a reductive materialist, for example, such physical processes will eventually be recognised as explaining all psychological aspects and functioning. Eliminative materialists, on the other hand, believe no coherent neural basis will be found for certain mental states, and that the path of scientific discovery leads towards explanations at the biological level that best explain the more objective psychological concepts of behaviour and experience. According to this school of thought, subjectivity is, therefore, an illusion. In such a world without subjectivity, we may imagine a future in which generations live in a time where the self – this so very ambiguous and subjective phenomenon – will be totally understood and defined by the empirical means of natural science. This would mean that we have reduced the human world to well-defined core principles – with the associated predictability of feeling, thinking, and behaviour. We could further conject that uncontrolled or undesirable states of mind will soon be a thing of the past and that pills, memory implants or some other form of treatment can guarantee us the right mindset when required. This is still, as yet, the stuff of science fiction, however, and numerous theorists in this area dispute the validity of such mechanistic reasoning. The American psychologist (and cross-disciplinarian) Stanley Klein believes that “the self consists of a multiplicity of aspects, some of which have a neuro-cognitive basis (and thus are amenable to scientific inquiry) while other aspects are best construed as first-person subjectivity, lacking material instantiation” (Klein, 2013). UK neuroscientist, author, and polymath Raymond Tallis also shares a similar view in opposition to purely reductionist thinking that has been outlined in many of his books such as I am: A Philosophical Inquiry into First-Person Being (2004).

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We could explore all the metaphysical debates relating to the mind and body ad infinitum, but our focus here is on the practical aspects of the subject and how they can influence your leadership abilities. So, let us ask: how can we understand the dynamics of the self and our internal energy and convert this into useful personal and professional self-reflection and self-management? The self can be depicted as a subjective circle that surrounds what you experience as your core (see Figure 5.2). Concepts of the self, self-image, and self-awareness are among the things that are discussed in the book The Self and Its Emotions (2010) by the Icelandic philosopher Kristjan Kristjansson. In this probing book, Kristjansson makes many observations about contemporary society and challenges the dominant memes – units of cultural transmission or imitation – in relation to how we can view the “self”. He describes the term “self” in terms of the common sense view of it being “the set of a person’s core commitments, traits, aspirations and ideals: the characteristics that are most central to him or her”. In his view, far too much emphasis is placed on a superficial understanding of the self in the popular media where, increasingly, subjective self-views that are typically dogmatic in nature are becoming cultural norms based around notions of self-esteem, self-love, and self-confidence. This is fed by the ubiquitous self-help literature and contrived media programming that distorts the true reality of what constitutes the self. Kristjansson prefers a much deeper reasoning of what constitutes the self and refers back to the views of ancient Greek philosophers such as Socrates. According to his compatriots, Socrates had a deeply curious intellect and was always searching out answers, while at the same time being humble and self-content with the limitations of his understanding. He was reconciled to the view that there were hidden depths to his “self” that he could scarcely fathom and thought others should think likewise of their own “selves”. A central view of Kristjansson is that the self can be viewed as a combination of the “emotional” and the “real”. The emotional side is central to the creation and sustenance of the self and can be multi-faceted and extend well beyond the realms of the conscious. You can pose many interesting questions about your “self-identity” and “self-image” and the nature of the answers can have a profound impact on the life you lead. For example: Is there just a singular “self”, or do you house multiple “selves”? Can you change your “self”? To what extent is your “self” dependent on your environment, circumstances, culture, and your age? What if there is dissonance between your true “self” and your conscious self-image? Your experience of your “self” is unlikely to change substantially from birth to death, yet at the same time it is something that evolves and reacts differently

Figure 5.2 The self can be depicted as a circle.

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to situations as time progresses. You and the circumstances surrounding your life can be unpredictable and complex in nature. A “sensible” adult can still regress at school reunions; chronic illness or serious accidents can greatly impair your functionality; successful business people can become homeless addicts; homeless addicts can become successful business people; thriving professionals displaced by conflict or natural disaster can be reduced to a shadow of their former selves in whatever country they end up. Recent advances in neuroscience have demonstrated the remarkable neuroplasticity of the brain – the ability of the neurons of the brain and the neurological pathways to adjust – that continues in the face of new experiences into old age. Experiments such as that performed by Moseley and Brugger (2009) on how amputees learn new movements indicate that your conscious mind (whether you consider this to be just the brain material itself or something more metaphysical) can actually change the physical brain (see Figure 5.3). In discussing the “self” and what it comprises, many of the ideas and concepts relating to the architecture and functioning of the mind have remained largely intact since first being proposed by Freud in the period between 1895 and 1926. This is seen in the relatively new study of neuro-psychoanalysis that developed in the 1990s with leading proponents including Antonio Domasio, Eric Kandel, Mark Solms, and Jaak Panksepp (e.g. Solms & Panksepp, 2012). The aim of this field is to try and bring together the previously distinct fields of neuroscience and psychoanalysis, in a way that is reflective of the earlier work of Freud such as The Project for a Scientific Psychology (1895) where he sought to gain a physiological understanding for phenomena such as “instincts” and ”driving energies”, and how these are controlled by our conscious faculties. Freud’s economical model of the mind, which is the basis for the title of this chapter, appears to have been derived from ideas from political economy, prevalent at the time, and revolves around maximising utility from the limited resources of the psyche. We’ll return to this idea later in the chapter. In his Structural Theory, Freud describes a tripartite theory of the mind involving the ego (dealing with reality and balanced conscious decisions), id (representing primal driving instincts and energies), and super-ego (representing the conscience or ideal moral self that takes its cue from learned behaviour and becomes our inner critic) (Freud, 1923). Using a simple analogy, we could describe the id as a horse who wants to throw its rider and eat grass, the ego as the rider on that horse, holding the reins and protecting themselves from falling in order to return home safely before dark, and the super-ego as the voice in the rider’s head making them feel guilty for not paying attention to the time earlier in the day and thus leading to the present situation. The ego manages conflicting messages from the id and super-ego on an ongoing basis and adapts to reality and tries to navigate a course of action that strikes the right balance between these two. The id, on the other hand, is where

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the driving energy that powers the psyche is to be found and, according to Solms and Panksepp (2012), is associated with the brain stem region, which is also primarily responsible for consciousness. By employing the higher-level functioning model of Freud, rather than the complex computational models of cognitive neurology, we can better describe actual human instincts, behaviour and potential conflict in the psyche. Freud also talked much about the relative involvement of the unconscious, preconscious, and conscious in our overall psyche and came up with the famous iceberg analogy to illustrate that much of our cognitive processes are hidden beneath that which is visible above the surface (conscious) (Figure 5.4). The range of unconscious defence mechanisms discussed in Chapter 4 is testament to this and we will return to the unconscious psyche later in this chapter. Even though the “self” might be difficult to define from a scientific or philosophical viewpoint, you may well have some understanding of what the term relates to – and you make reference to it as “myself”, “yourself”, “selfimage”, “self-identity”, and “self-doubt”. In everyday language, you will likely refer to the “self” as “that which distinguishes your personal experience as

Figure 5.3 The basic structure of the brain.

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Figure 5.4 The iceberg idea of the functioning mind.

an individual from the experience of other people”. Culturally, the modern attitude towards the self is to look primarily at its role in cognitive function, motivation, emotion, and social identity. The self defines your individuality and a healthy self possesses great inherent ability to cope with the challenges of leadership and life in general. There are, however, many things that can affect your sense of self, which most theorists agree develop through a very delicate personal process – a very subjective dialogue with the objective external surroundings, beginning from very early on in your individual personal development. In practical terms, your consciousness is what enables you to deal with your environment by assessing your surroundings and making choices. This can translate into many different functions such as actively delaying gratification (self-restraint), investigating the reasons behind phenomena (curiosity), caring about the plight of others (empathy), changing your behaviour to suit your environment (adaptation), or opting to change your environment and learn new skills (progressiveness). Even though these are all important attributes in terms of leadership competence, if asked, the vast majority of people would probably express satisfaction with their level of conscious awareness and behaviour. However, we suggest you need to look hard at yourself to really ensure that this is justifiably the case. All your experiences are based on what you see, hear, touch, smell, taste, and perhaps feel intuitively; but your interpretations of these experiences are, in one way or another, determined by your subjectivity, your genetic make-up, your past experiences, and your interpretations of those experiences. Therefore, your background, culture, the language you speak, and the discourse you are accustomed to all contribute to what you notice, how you notice it, and how you interpret it. When it comes to taking on a leadership

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role, your identity and self-image will inevitably shape your response to the stresses of life, and define how you see people, situations, and manage reality. Hence, your consciousness is biased and that bias can impact your leadership competence, for both good and ill.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What is the self? What is self-image? What is self-identity? What shapes your self-understanding? How has the community you live in shaped your self-understanding?

Self-image We can define self-image as the collection of conscious ideas that you have about yourself. If there is dissonance between your true “self” and your conscious “self-image”, in the subjective sense, then we can talk about selfdeception (although self-ignorance may be a more appropriate term). As Kristjansson (2010) explains, the question arises as to whether we only have a shallow understanding of who we really are and what our needs are, and that we never take the time to pay close attention to what we do, and why we do it. It may be that you employ a number of the defence mechanisms discussed in the previous chapter and that you may need to break down some mental barriers to see yourselves in a clearer light. Here is a little exercise: look for a good length of time at some specific object in your environment; explore it well, focus on its colours, form, and relationship to its immediate surroundings; now close your eyes and recall a picture of the object in your mind. Explore this inner picture of the external object well, and then, once you are ready, open your eyes and look back at the external object for comparison. How well did the internal image resemble the external object? What was your internal imagining experience like? In most cases, people who do this find that they have been reasonably successful in creating a perceived inner replica of the object in their mind. Now close your eyes again and try to reproduce a picture of your own self. How is it to reside within your self? (Figure 5.5). What do you experience? How do you perceive the “self”? Most people find their “selves” more difficult to envisage than to recreate a mental image of an external object; they often claim that the image is much more vague, complex, and unclear. Interestingly, in our experience, many report seeing a picture of a child, or they recall a photo of themselves. This vagueness and complexity might be one explanation for why many of us are better at understanding and working with external reality, rather than what is internal. A follow-up exercise might

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Figure 5.5 How is it to reside within your “self”?

be to take the time to analyse, with as much conscious objectivity as you can muster, questions such as: •• •• •• •• ••

What thoughts give you a sense of purpose? What thoughts, if any, make you feel awkward or embarrassed? How have your views on things that concern or interest you evolved? How do you think others see you? Are both the words and actions of others towards you consistent with these views and with your own self-image?

Informal chats with family and friends can be revealing, however, friends and family may also be afraid to directly contradict your own self-image for fear of conflict. As a consequence, they may disguise their true views in seemingly unrelated and innocuous observations or stories. A more formal approach to assessing how well your own self-image and the views of others match is the so-called 360º evaluation described in the “Strategy” book in this series. This is typically carried out anonymously in work environments as a way to develop self-insight based on the observations of colleagues and identify areas for improvement, although you should anticipate that the views of others might jar with your own. In reality, the views given in such situations may be helpful, but may still only be relatively superficial. The phrase “It takes one to know one” can apply to finding out more about your “self”. This is actually a key facet of group therapy where those with issues can learn more about themselves through others (see Figure 5.6). The prime activity here is group mirroring, which consists of simultaneous and empathetic mutual revelations, reflections, and knowledge transfer

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Figure 5.6 You learn about your self in relation to others.

between group members. In this way, obstacles to achieving self-insight can be removed and you can learn that what you considered to be serious flaws only in ourselves are actually: (a) more common than you thought; (b) not as serious as you thought; and (c) can be remedied in some fashion or other. On the other hand, if you have a previous high opinion of yourself, or feel that you have done nothing wrong, you may experience the opposite to (a) and (b). This process of mirroring happens to a significant degree in all kinds of social gatherings and sometimes with people you may have only just met. If you are receptive, strangers may actually tell you things about yourself that you have not recognised before, on the basis of their particular experience or insight and powers of observation. In fact, they may be best placed to do this given their distance from you. This is one reason why being outgoing and conversing with people in a genuine open manner can be very productive. Similar themes are developed in our “Communication” book in this series. The individual self is the core unit of all teams, organisations, and societies. The self is the reality that you need to manage as a leader; and not only your own self through self-management, but also, to a certain degree, the sense of self in others. In a leadership role you will be involved in implementing changes. In order to be able to bring about successful change in any given situation, you will need to take into account, and with some degree of empathy, the impact of the proposed change on the people involved. If you don’t, you increase the risk of resistance and behaviours that can greatly undermine what you are trying to do. The self-experience of everyone involved – yours included – needs to be managed and attended to. It is important, therefore, for you to try to comprehend the very subjective reality of the self. In doing so you will be better able to read complex managerial situations and gain a more accurate perception of the information that you are receiving. Most important is the ability to quickly read and understand in depth your own prejudices, emotions, feelings, and thoughts that surface in the heat of the moment.

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We can view the term “self-image” and the concept that it portrays as lacking solidity as the emphasis is on an image derived from your imagination. There can be a fragility associated with this image that might explain why self-esteem can be so easily threatened – even a minor ill-considered or malicious manipulation can cause people to doubt their worth, contribution, or quality. This vulnerability can be preyed upon by those with no concern for the plight of others or who will seek to undermine the selfimage of others for their own selfish reasons – a trait that has no place in proper leadership. In terms of self-empowerment, one way of looking at this is that, if the self-image is the product of imagination, can it not also be positively managed? The answer to this question is of key importance in the leadership development context. If the “self” is just genetically determined and unchangeable, then much of what is suggested in this book would not have much relevance and we should just quietly embrace our predetermined destiny including the malign influence of others. Our experience as sentient beings, however, should reassure us that even though events and the decisions that we make may largely not be under our control, our reactions to these events and these decisions are. For instance, a politician or other public person may express a firmly held belief in an interview and subsequently be vilified by (social) media commentators who thrive in mudslinging and manufactured outrage. In this case, the person may let all the negative comments affect their self-image and withdraw into themselves in an anxious and depressed fashion or they could refuse to back down; hold their ground and either dismiss their detractors or choose to openly engage with them. Similar views on preserving the self-image could be expressed for victims of bullying. On the other hand, there is a small percentage of people with whom the issue of self-image is not really a variable one as they tend to have no critical faculties for judging their own relative behaviour, and so can maintain a positive self-image regardless of their conduct. Various labels can be attached to such people, but it’s more important simply to recognise the general phenomenon is more important. The self and the associated self-image and self-identity also needs to be understood in the context of culture and society (Figure 5.7). For example, you can talk about bodily self, familial self, private self, and social self.

Figure 5.7 Your “self” in relation to your team, organisation and society.

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Your bodily self refers to your experience of being in your body; your familial self refers to your experience of belonging to a family; your private self refers to your experience of yourself on the most personal level; your social self refers to your experience of living in a community with others and how you want others to portray you. We can also use the term persona here, which literally means mask, and can describe a contrived sense of self that we want to portray to others. Because it is not our natural self, maintaining a “persona” sometimes requires considerable energy and focus. This activity can be a major drain on our energies as we remain tied to playing out a role and this is important to bear in mind in relation to the theme of this chapter. For example, an exhausted manager may just want to call it a day and go home to spend time with their family, but instead ends up feeling obliged to remain at work to bolster their hard-working image. In a wider context, various studies have been conducted on how the self, self-awareness, and identity of people can be different from one culture to another (see for instance Roland, 1991). Sometimes theorists differentiate between the ego, the self, and the true self. In this case, the ego refers to the part of the psyche that is trying to deal with external reality; the self is the more fundamental agent dealing with self-image and self-identity; and the true self is the most authentic expression of personality. In terms of functionality, the ego and the self are omnipresent and constantly on their guard to manage situations, whereas the true self gets better expressed in situations where you are more closely connected to your inner life, and able to express it intimately on either an intra- or interpersonal level. In philosophy and theology, the true self is often associated with the sublime and the sacred. All of which reinforces the importance of cultivating your self-image with care. When it comes to adulthood and working environments, we are expected to convey a positive self-image to others and particularly so as leaders. As a leader you must also recognise the importance of self-image in others and ensure that you cultivate their self-esteem. Your upbringing can strongly influence your self-image and it can require considerable effort to turn around situations where your experiences have been negative.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

Draw a circle on a sheet of paper and write in it all those attributes that correspond with your self-image. Place all those attributes that do not correspond with your self-image outside the circle. Does the resulting description of your self-image show internal consistency? How do you experience your body? How does your family define your self-experience? How does your nationality shape your self-experience?

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Inner life Leaders are continually dealing with both internal and external stimulation. In internal stimulation you face the demands of the psyche and in external stimulation the demands of the surrounding environment. One key element to handling this well is the ability to perceive these stimulations accurately and respond constructively to them, rather than reacting involuntarily. In the aftermath of a serious work accident, a project manager under considerable stress might make a snap decision as to who was responsible and launch into a tirade against them, even to the point of dismissal. In a detailed follow-up investigation, however, it may turn out that the blame could not be attributed to the actions of any individual and was more systemic in nature. Decisions that have significant consequences should always be approached with due care and you should be careful to avoid allowing your irrational feelings to dictate reactions. If you are prone to anxiety and your future is on tenterhooks, you can easily make the situation worse by reacting involuntarily to events. This type of action is commonly associated with the fire-fighting stage of a crisis and it can be the time when inner calm is most called for. As a leader you can decide to cultivate your sense of inner calm and conscious responses to stimuli whenever possible so that you have inner reserves and the ability to see beyond the immediate if and when negative events occur. Austrian psychologist, Nazi concentration camp survivor, and author Viktor Frankl embodied this notion in the strongest sense and wrote numerous books about his experiences such as Man’s Search for Meaning (1946). Two famous quotes of his that illustrate this general idea are: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”; and “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves”. We notice that when we mention the term stimuli to our students, external stimuli are more likely to come to mind first; all the things that we perceive through our senses: sight, sound, and touch. These stimuli are usually clear and strong and easier to distinguish than the vaguer internal stimuli that we commonly refer to as “feelings”. In other words, it is easier to perceive the objective external environment than the subjective interior. As a leader, however, you need to have the skills to accurately read the psychological stimuli of your internal life and manage them; and this requires maturity and a fair bit of self-understanding. There may be buried feelings at work that surface at times of stress and that hinder your ability to function. An important aspect of leadership training can be to test for such things and learn ways to deal with them. To guide you in exploring your inner life, we suggest that you assume that your mind is layered and divided into consciousness, the preconscious, and

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the unconscious. Your consciousness contains all that you are aware of at any given moment, your preconscious contains psychological events that we are vaguely aware of but can recall (such as knowledge) and the unconscious contains psychological events that you are currently not aware of.

Reflection points: •• ••

Describe an incident where you or others made a snap decision and later regretted it. How do you prepare yourself mentally for moments when the “heat is on” and inner calm and clarity of thought are required?

Feelings and emotions Feelings and emotions are signals from the body that reach consciousness and if we stay attuned, give us useful information about ourselves, our environment, and the people around us. At times, though, they can also overwhelm our consciousness (ego) and make us do things against our better judgement. They are always an internal stimulus within us but their genesis can be related to particular external events. You can distinguish between feelings and emotions originating at the personal level and at the group level. There can be different dynamics at play in both cases and good insight into the nature and function of feelings and emotions at both the personal and group level is of fundamental importance in being an effective leader. These are forces that the leader may personally use when the situation demands, but also consciously inhibit at other times in order to retain a neutral stance. They can also be deployed to influence others and the ability to work with your feelings and emotions will enable you to become more satisfied with yourself and enable you to enjoy more deeply your engagement with others. Listening to an impassioned speech given by a leader who conveys authenticity of feeling and emotion can inspire those that follow and can completely change their outlook. Charismatic speakers have always had the ability to captivate audiences, sometimes dangerously and with malevolent intent. Feelings and emotions can run high in groups and can be contagious. As humans, we are collectively very socially aware and seeing others around us gravitate towards a particular feeling can sweep us along too. Charismatic leaders that know how to perform for an audience understand this intuitively. Feelings and emotions also have their part to play in the decision-making process (see Figure 5.8). Integrated decision-making should require you to review all the available information, carefully check your feelings and read your emotions, and use your reason combined with common sense to help make up your mind. We will explore this in more depth in the chapters on creative, ethical, and critical thinking. At this stage, let’s just say that we hope

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Figure 5.8 Your sense of self is founded on what your belief is the experience of others of you.

that you have a growing realisation that recognising feelings and emotions – be they at the personal or group level, or associated with internal or external stakeholders – should be part of an effective decision-making process. For too long, narrow notions of logic, engineering, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness have defined the default criteria for key decisions made across a very broad range of sectors and institutions. Such an approach can greatly impair the ability to make good decisions. You should always be aware that your thoughts and attitudes are fundamentally influenced by your feelings and emotions. What you believe as being true and correct is ultimately grounded on your feeling that this or that is true or not true. For example, you recognise objective quantitative data because you believe in the integrity of those who produced it. It is also your feelings and emotions that provide you with a sense of real meaning. For those who pride themselves on their objectivity and “hard thinking”, this can strike them as a strange notion, for is it not logic and common sense that work best to understand reality, weigh it, and make decisions? Maybe, but experience shows us that people who want to completely understand reality in an objective fashion can sometimes be fooled by their own narrow perspective. This can lead to the lack of the ability to understand true complexity and a failure to recognise the value of feelings and emotions, shutting out such things from their conscious decisions. Connecting with your feelings and emotions, and those of others, can provide you with understanding in depth and is essential for being effective in many facets of life. For example, many a business pitch or policy proposal has failed because the proposer has not been able to connect with decision-makers at the emotional level. Consequently, emotional literacy and intelligence should be consciously developed as a leadership competence whenever possible. If feelings and emotions are to be held in such high regard, it is worth considering where they stem from, what causes them, and how they can affect us. As with our previous discussion of the “self”, this is undoubtedly a complex

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subject area that straddles the boundaries between neurology, physiology, psychology, and philosophy. To simplify, let us just say that feelings (more instant) and emotions (more persistent) are internal messages that materialise based on the reaction of our psyche as a whole to a particular set of circumstances. They involve both conscious and unconscious elements that stem from the totality of our knowledge and prior experiences, both in the personal and in the collective sense. This can be a powerful combination and many disastrous situations might have been avoided if enough people with influence had responded to the uneasy feelings they had about the particular direction of events at a stage when they did not have irresistible momentum. If you, as a leader, are able to attend to your feelings and emotions before you react, you are better equipped to read others and assess situations well. Leaders who are incapable of doing this are more prone to becoming victims of circumstances.

Reflection points: •• •• ••

How do you show emotion? What subjects are likely to bring out an emotional response in you? Describe a set of circumstances in the past where you had early misgivings that turned out to be prescient.

Economy of the mind Previously in this chapter we briefly introduced Freud’s topographical model of the mind. Associated with it is his idea of the economy of mind which is possibly best summarised in the following quote of his: “A person under stress might have no mental energy left for everyday tasks, just like ‘a speculator whose money has been tied up in his various enterprises’ might be unable to meet his payroll” (Freud, 1923). We have already mentioned how stress and anxiety can drain your energies. Often, stress will be related to a single identifiable stressor such as illness or financial difficulties, but there can also be multiple stressors, not all of which you are conscious of. You may even feel stress at an existential level – as fears that have to do with the meaning of your life. Much goes on at the unconscious level within the psyche, and leaders in particular need to take a pragmatic and proactive approach to the best use of their resources. In this sense, we can talk of the “economy of the mind” and use terminology such as investment and return on investment in doing so. In terms of the latter, a leader may bear a grudge towards another individual based on perceived past wrongs and devote a considerable amount of time and resources thinking about these events and seeking retribution. If, through persistent and ethical behaviour, some form of justice is exacted or catharsis reached, then this can be worthwhile and, hence, there is a positive return

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on investment. More often than not, though, time and resources are merely wasted thinking about such things (which are not even acted upon) instead of drawing a line under events and moving on with a wiser outlook, also known as embracing reality. The phenomenon of rivals/antagonists getting locked into a destructive spiral of events is well known from all sectors of life including between teenagers and their parents, relationship break-ups, political dogfights, and business battles. In terms of the conceptual dynamics (and economy) of our psyche, Freud believed that our self-consciousness (ego) is constantly engaged in a compromising dialogue between the instinctual demands within (id), internalised behaviour (super-ego), and the demands of the environment without (reality). He saw the nature of the ego as being a product of this conversation between the internal and the external, honed while acting as a managing agent for our mental life. The ego is, above all, about self-control and self-maintenance and its operating principle is the reality principle. The more conflict between these different elements, the more energy is taken up by the ego in resolving them, with typical methods being suppression, repression, or sublimation. For many of us, suppression and sublimation do not occur as often as repression. Our mental health relies on having a strong and flexible ego that can reserve its energy for joyful and creative living. This is possible if the ego does not have to expend too much energy in the act of repressing internal inputs from the id and super-ego, and also is not overcome with demands from reality. In contrast, should the ego fail to moderate between these different entities, then our mental health, and health in general, will suffer. Freud believed that the main challenge to the ego was the id, which is that part of the psyche where innate instinctive impulses and primary processes manifest. We may struggle to characterise the id – it can feel impulsive, unfamiliar, threatening, but also creative, fascinating, rewarding, and gratifying. This might sound like a paradox, because how can something that is within you be something that you do not readily identify with? Well, the simple answer is that it is the it that is just there influencing us with its desires, frenzies, and demands. Metaphorically it resides beneath the conscious level and may only occasionally reach the surface as involuntary instincts, impulses, fantasies, moods, and affects over which we have little control. The id can be described as essentially a driving force that has a life of its own and that has no regard for self-determination and morality. Despite this strangeness, it is also an important factor in our psychological life, as it is what motivates us and sparks our creativity, satisfaction, and wellbeing. Freud theorised that there were essentially two principal instincts associated with the id: the sexual instinct (libido) that manifests itself in the desire to love; and the death instinct that manifests itself in human aggression. Fortunately, we do not usually experience these physiological forces in their wildest expressions, but nevertheless they (or their equivalents as proposed by other theorists) are motivating forces that make us desire what is important to us, defend and fight for it. Instincts and impulses are, therefore, the

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natural forces that can beneficially motivate us. If not appropriately managed, however, they can overwhelm the consciousness and make us lose control. Many theorists in the field of psychology, including Freud, believe that we can often experience these instincts and impulses, not in primary form, but in sublimated or repressed form. This concept has been described already under defence mechanisms and can be a result of the moulding of the psyche in order that our instincts and impulses do not threaten us and conform better with civilised society. Where the id is given freer rein, we may see more primitive behaviour such as childlike fantasies, political and religious extremism, mob violence, and the atrocities of war. Advocates of neuro-psychoanalysis, such as Solms and Panksepp (2012), corroborate the view that the ego is, in fact, born out of the id, and will progressively manage it as best as it can in an attempt to deal with reality as we mature. The other major element in reference to the economy of the mind is the super-ego, which gets created as a collection of influences from the environment. It is usually the internalised (virtually unconscious) voice of authorities, such as the voice of the parents, siblings, teachers, social norms, and the law (Figure 5.9). A supportive and encouraging super-ego (although some may term this a moral conscience) can function as an inner compass that builds confidence, courage, and a healthy self-image (self-esteem). A harsh and condemning super-ego, on the other hand, is felt as discouraging, undermining, and a challenge to our independence and freedom. The principal negative emotion associated with the super-ego is guilt, which normally serves a useful purpose to keep us socially aware and protect our “selves” from the consequences of uncivilised behaviour. According to object-relations theory, the development of the super-ego begins at the very earliest stages of our lives in interactions with our primary care givers. The ‘object’ in this case refers to other significant people, and a number of

Figure 5.9 Feelings and emotions play a part in decision-making.

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different developmental aspects are important including how we learn how to identify the “self” and internally represent an object. According to the theory, the initial super-ego is a very crude representation of external objects based on fantasies of gratification and hostility, and this is gradually refined over time as reality comes to be more acknowledged. Ongoing development needs include proper self and object representation, the need for the self to be mirrored in others, internalising idealised objects, emotional stability, and learning to constantly switch between being the subject and object in interactions. Depending on particular circumstances, though, a child may not experience proper development under these considerations and, as a result, be left with either a poorly structured and weak super-ego (associated with psychopathic or criminal behaviour), on the one hand, or an excessively harsh and unforgiving super-ego on the other hand. The super-ego is omnipresent in the workings of our psyche and can be a very powerful agent. Freud recognised that pathology of the super-ego can be implicated in a number of serious psychological conditions including moral masochism (e.g. self-harm and self-torment), malaise, and severe depression (including that associated with melancholia). In this case it becomes the ego-destructive super-ego. There are many theories that describe how this is brought about and different conditions can have different causal factors and symptoms, but early childhood development is universally held as being especially important. In the case of moral masochism, it might stem from the unconscious seeking for pain as a condition for pleasure (or reduction in un-pleasure). Carveth (2001) expands on this concept and argues that what is really happening in moral masochism is that the feeling of guilt stemming from an original instinctual drive is being evaded by the super-ego by unconsciously transitioning it into a “need for punishment”. According to Carveth (2013), frustration, which is inevitable in life, leads to aggression that must then be either directed outwardly in constructive or destructive ways, or reflected back against the self. This is important in the context of the “economy of the mind” with constructive channelling of aggression being the only action leading to a productive outcome amongst these different options. While we have been talking about the individual, there is also an external dimension that can have a great impact on how you internalise objects. Early damage to your super-ego may be done in childhood but, in later life, manipulative people may try to wear down any remaining defences in order to exploit weaknesses and affect psychological control. This may be done through controlling feedback on actions, restricting external communications and information, skewed rationalising, and using fear and feelings of guilt as a manipulation tool. This is the hallmark of master manipulators who like to masquerade as leaders but who really have no desirable vision to “lead” followers towards, and act in their own selfish interests. Followers, in this case, can effectively relinquish the functioning of their super-ego and conscience to these perceived leaders (idealised objects). Such submission can be unhealthy

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and extreme cases of this are seen in various cult movements such as the one led by Jim Jones and referred to earlier in this book. This discussion on the different agencies of the psyche show, conceptually, how the self, self-consciousness, and self-image originate from a dialogue (including conflict and compromise) between the inner instinctual life and the external environment and show that their development is both very personal and collectively human. Making the unconscious conscious is a major goal of psychoanalytical therapy and this is embodied in Freud’s famous quote: “Where id was, there ego shall be”. Leaders in all walks of life may find themselves one day faced with the incapacity to function effectively in their role and should be aware of the potential for powerful psychological forces to be causative factors in such cases. You need to know that, aside from avoiding pathology, a proper functioning psyche has a natural balance between the different agencies of the psyche and available energy is used productively. There is also capacity there to deal with negative events in a way that does not compromise ongoing functionality.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

How do you experience the ego? How do you experience the id? How do you experience the super-ego? How can the unconscious be made conscious?

Self-management Having a clear vision, leadership skills, and the ability to perform under sustained pressure are necessary attributes of being a good leader. As with most endeavours, it is necessary to study, train, and gain experience incrementally, in real settings, in order to reach a recognised level of proficiency in this regard. Your upbringing and education have essentially been about helping you to sublimate your instinctual life, tolerate yourself, and gain self-control over yourself in order to be able to contribute to civilised society. There can be many obstacles along this path that originate in the external environment or internally within you and becoming aware of these, getting motivated and overcoming them can be a major challenge. There are also other considerations such as: (a) how you value yourself and sell your skills; (b) how you manage your time and devote your energies between work, family, and other interests; and (c) how you rejuvenate your “self” and be ready to tackle the next challenge. The ability to communicate to an audience in a convincing and stirring fashion is a vital aspect of effective leadership. Great speakers have the ability to energise an audience who pick up not just on the meaning of the words

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but also different forms of nonverbal communication. Unconscious aspects of body language and verbal delivery can convey a lot of meaning to people and this is one reason why we promote the idea of the transparent leader in this book. The 2010 film The King’s Speech documents the story of how King George VI in Britain overcame a speech impediment to deliver a crucial and convincing national radio broadcast, declaring war on Germany in 1939. While there may be some historical inaccuracies in the film, the thrust of the story is genuine. The ability to get through this daunting leadership task was made possible by steely determination on the king’s part, coupled with the successful unorthodox coaching approach of therapist Lionel Logue and the great support from the queen. The king had developed a debilitating stammer at an early age. As numerous observations such as the ability to sing without hesitation show, stammering almost always has a mental rather than a physical cause, and the unconscious plays a determining role. Learning to deal with it is an arduous task that can lead to great anxiety if a relapse after a period of fluency occurs. Analogies to such a scenario can occur in relation to many different mental issues that originate at an unconscious level such as addictive behaviour. It is important to keep in mind that if energy is invested in complexes, then it does not feed the “self”. You will require patience to change an unconscious self-image that you had hitherto developed and the timescale can be years rather than weeks or months. Self-management of the unconscious involves consciously working with the functions that energise the economy of your mind (the dragon is a classic mythological representation of the unconscious, see Figure 5.10). This battle can rage on but in a leadership position the need for a resolution can be urgent.

Figure 5.10 It takes courage to face the unconscious.

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But how can you effectively self-manage the little-known aspects of our “self”? Ann Belford Ulanov, who has already been referred to in Chapter 1, and her husband and co-author Barry Ulanov, believe that, in order to get a handle on the inner workings of the psyche, we need to pause, withdraw in silence and try to see what the unconscious reveals. They suggest a four-step process: (1) look inward to see what is taking place; (2) try to interpret what you believe what you experience means; (3) review the material that has surfaced, gather it together and organise it; and (4) prepare for the future by gaining control of yourself (Ulanov & Ulanov, 1991). While this may sound like a straightforward approach, doing it correctly takes time and dedication and may require external help. As a leader, you need to also be observant and understand the needs of those around you and be in a position to help them in those cases where support is required. It is important to realise the prevalence of mental health problems and how they can impact people from all backgrounds, including those that are apparently financially successful and have a stable home environment. To illustrate this, according to statistics from the Mental Health Foundation in the United Kingdom, at any one time, approximately 10% of mothers and 6% of fathers have mental health problems (Parker et al., 2008). Your self-consciousness is essentially located between two different worlds: the inner world – including the economy of the mind – that makes demands on the self; and the outer world, with its assortment of stimuli, requirements, and demands. On an individual basis, you can speculate whether the world within or the world without has a greater influence on your vision, experience, and decisions. The inner world of the psyche is naturally always radically hidden from your self-consciousness. Your consciousness is limited and cannot (fortunately, in this case) attend and report all that goes on within or retrieve instantly all that is stored there. Your mind is, therefore, partly conscious and partly unconscious. On that basis, we can compare the mind with a computer, where the consciousness is the operations of the computer that the user is aware of at a given moment, while the unconscious is all the myriad operations that are taking place in the background without the user knowing, as well as all the data that is stored. Therefore, your consciousness is all that you are conscious of at any given moment, whereas the unconscious holds all your – very subjectively coded – memories and accumulated experiences from birth. Sometimes, these experiences might have been enriching and inspiring, and other times they might have been degrading and discouraging. The fact is that your past experience and conditions can have a major impact on your attitude, and on your vision as a leader. It is helpful for you to acknowledge these realities within and integrate them into your current situation. Doing this for yourself in terms of your own experience also helps you to understand the experience of your peers, followers, and co-workers. Everybody has their own personal back story and current trajectory.

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As a brief illustrative example of self-management in action, we can return to the story of our protagonist (the restaurant owner) from our previous chapter. He was driving to a crunch meeting whilst juggling responsibilities and experiencing all kinds of mental pressures. We have described two different personality types in Table 5.1 and how each would have dealt with, on the face of it, the same set of circumstances, and where they currently stand as a Table 5.1 Two different scenarios showing self-management in action. Leads struggling business

Imminent divorce

Driving in heavy traffic with noisy kids

Crunch creditor meeting

House reposse­sion?

Prior actions

Ignored warning signs, took out frustration on employees, denial.

Never confronted relation­ship issues in a meaningful way.

Has neglected family life and then tended to over­indulge kids.

No genuine new plans prepared and relying on leniency.

Selfishly pursued own interests with fair weather friends with little time for family.

Results

Business on autopilot with employees ready to jump ship at next opportu­nity.

Deeply depressed and anxious about the future.

Difficult to control kids, stress levels rising and clouded judge­ments

Desperate and all eggs in one basket.

Unprepared and no support network.

Prior actions

In the process of trying to turn the business around and invested a lot of effort in realistic employee relations.

Acknowled­ ged faults, tried to repair damage.

Has always respected family time and mixed fun with dicipline.

Has prepared well for several scenario.

Has invested time and effort in maintain­ ing good relations with family and friends.

Results

Under­ standing and supportive employees willing to share responsi­b ility for business.

Saddened, but philoso­ phical about the future.

Kids react to repri­mands, possible to think straight.

Confident but realistic with worst case scenario planning.

Place available to stay tempora­ rily, a wide network of family and friends when necessary.

Person A

Person B

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result. With Person A, one can see a pattern of activity that indicates poor economy of the mind and potentially deeper psychological issues. Person B, on the other hand, is a well-balanced individual who happens to be a victim of circumstances, but who you would have to say has a more optimistic prognosis.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

How would you trace the development of your personality? What methods of self-management do you employ today? How can you look inward to learn more about yourself? How can you look outward to learn more about yourself?

More on the unconscious To return to the famous Freudian metaphor of the iceberg of the unconscious, much and possibly most of what you have experienced and perhaps forgotten is nevertheless stored below the surface. Not only that, but it can be charged with feelings, emotions, and a variety of complex associations. This material can, under certain circumstances, surface in the form of affections, memories, or dreams, and this applies particularly to past experiences that had – or were interpreted as having – a threatening impact upon the self. Such problematic experiences get placed under the surface as a connected cluster of feelings, thoughts, and memories, which we have previously termed a complex. Freud believed that all that is in your unconscious has derived from your personal experience. In the leadership context, such latent material has the potential to reach the surface and threaten the ability of the leader to have self-control and make good decisions. As referred to earlier in this book, Carl G. Jung, unlike Freud, believed that much more was contained within the unconscious than just psychological material related to personal experience. He spoke of what he called the collective unconscious – part of the unconscious mind that is derived from ancestral memory and experience and is common to all humankind. He believed this was expressed in our psyche and could define behaviour and impact on our interpretation of our environment. He called these collective blueprints archetypes and considered them as having formed through the accumulated experience of mankind from generation to generation of similar situations; e.g. the experience of being born, having a mother, father, undergoing trials and being examined, having a mentor, finding a mate and of death. Jung compared the psyche to a vast landscape on a moonless night, with the conscious self as a small spotlight beam illuminating a small area in the midst of it. What he proposes, and this applies to self-management, is that, in order to get a greater insight into yourself, you should move the light-beam around to realise what lurks within the dark, recognise it, and then catch a

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Figure 5.11 The psyche as a landscape at night and the consciousness as spotlight.

grip of it (see Figure 5.11). Keeping a journal, seeing a good therapist, having good friends, dream-work (described below), and various methods for selfreflection can be useful in this regard. If you want to undertake this kind of introspection to increase your leadership competence and better comprehend your unconscious, try to note tendencies of which you have not been aware and to focus on what appears in your dreams. People who write down their dreams often have the impression that they provide meaningful reflection on their parallel self-conscious waking life. Dreaming seems to be connected to resting the consciousness, reflecting on the psychological remains of the day, working through shocks, and preparing you for coming challenges. Dreams, however, tend to employ symbolic representation that often needs to be decoded to be comprehended. In a dream (or nightmare) anything can happen, and our experiences there can extend far beyond the narrow confines of our waking lives. Little of this is random and messages are being conveyed from our unconscious selves in relation to our conscious life if we have the ability to interpret them. Freud was convinced that everything that you experience in your dreams was rooted in your personal experience, although situations, contexts and constituents, events and characters could be very different from our awakened state. Jung, however, believed that the dream-factory worked not only with themes that could be attributed to the individual personal experience, but also used archetypal symbols manifesting the collective human experience. These, he believed, are more primordial and, hence, surface from a much deeper psychological level than the personal experience of the individual. He believed that the dream world of each one of us had a direct link to the collective symbolic human expression that we also see expressed in myths, fairy tales, folklore, artistic expression, and religious symbols. According to this theory, the symbols of birth, mother, serpent, water, cave, house, wise, the mysterious person of the opposite gender, and symbols of death are all blueprints of the repeated collected experience of mankind. Jung even stated that if we would rid ourselves of all symbols – for example of all

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religious symbols – we would not have to wait long until the same, or very similar symbols, would again naturally appear as part of a natural collective human expression. He saw the archetypes as potentialities – psychological tendencies – that then get input and become charged through our personal experience. Jung saw the archetypes as inherited psychological tendencies that partly define our feelings, thinking, and behaviours; if this is correct, they could then also help to define your feelings, thinking, and behaviour as a leader. They could manifest either in your imagination or get expressed through your actions. He believed that those who want to walk the route to self-understanding and self-development could have to deal with the shadow – with the things that we try to mask with our persona (Jung, 1960; 1962; 1966). If you, as a leader, are not capable of accurately and soberly reading the psychological symbolic manifestations within and decrypting them, you may be more prone to developing psychological symptoms. A leader who is off track and incapable of containing and constructively expressing whatever is going on within is more likely to develop pathological symptoms. If, on the other hand, you are able to identify, decode, and make use of subliminal messages from the unconscious, you might find yourself more capable of reaching your full potential.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

How do you experience your unconscious? How do you experience the unconscious of others? What kind of impact do fairy tales and myths have on you? What symbols elicit powerful emotional responses when they are in your conscious thoughts?

Dreams In the course of this chapter we have encouraged you to pay attention to your inner life and explore the imaginary, irrational reality therein. The purpose of this is to scrutinise, openly and carefully, what is really happening within yourself – it is all part of you – and gain mental and emotional nourishment in so doing. Self-work of this nature can be used to solve psychological conflicts, dissolve psychological complexes, free your mind of unwanted fantasies and emotions, and give you access to more of the psychological energy to feed the “self” – and gain more self-knowledge in the process. Freud believed dreams to be the highway to the unconscious and one of the fastest ways to gain better self-understanding. It is, therefore, appropriate to complete this chapter with some basic instructions on how you can work with your fantasies and dreams. A simple but useful method is to get yourself into the habit of writing down your dream in as much detail as possible as soon as you wake up. This is best done before any distracting activities like talking

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to others or listening to the radio can divert you. When the impressions from the dream begin to surface, take notes of every detail – colours, symbols, characters, and especially what aspects elicit emotional reactions. Once you have re-experienced the dream in this fashion, write it in a narrow column centred on an A4 sheet of paper, as illustrated in Figure 5.12. Now read it through carefully and highlight with the same colour all the symbols that you find within the dream. Ask yourself, in each case: What does this symbol mean to me? Then go through the dream again and mark out in a second colour all the characters (people, animals, and creatures) within the dream. Finally, mark out all emotions in the dream and give special attention to events that stir emotions within you. Try to escalate or intensify these emotions. Once you have done this, try to interpret the dream: What is this dream telling me? How does it relate to my situation and my story? What does it tell me about what I should do? After this initial interpretation, try using your acting skills. Try to enter each of the characters in the dream – people, animals, creatures – and let that character express itself and answer the questions: What are you doing here? What are you promoting? What is your message to me? The last step is to do what Jung named amplification of the symbols. This means to look up the signs and symbols of the dream in books or online resources on symbolism. In doing this, avoid dream interpretation sources that are overly simplistic

Figure 5.12 Interpretation of dreams.

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and banal. What you want is to get a solid and in-depth understanding of how people have collectively understood and made use of such signs and symbols. If you start to do this kind of work on a regular basis, interesting things can happen. You may start noticing that there exists within you an exciting and meaningful life parallel to your conscious everyday life, and that conversing with it brings joy, energy, meaning, and guides you on the path of self-knowledge and personal development. This discussion is carried on in the next chapter where we discuss creativity as it applies to leadership.

Reflection points: •• •• ••

What dreams do you remember? What did you dream last night? Try to use the method described above to work with your dreams.

References Carveth, D. L. (2001). “Self-punishment as guilt evasion: Theoretical issues.” Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis, 14(2), 176–198. Carveth, D. L. (2013). The still small voice: Psychoanalytic reflections on guilt and conscience. New York: Routledge/Taylor and Francis. Coifman, K. G., Bonanno, G. A., Ray, R. D., & Gross, J. J. (2007). “Does repressive coping promote resilience? Affective–autonomic response discrepancy during bereavement.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(4), 745–758. Freud, Sigmund (1990 [1923]). The ego and the id. The Standard Edition, Ed. James Strachey. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Freud, Sigmund (1990 [1895]). The project for a scientific psychology. The Standard Edition, Ed. James Strachey. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Frankl, Viktor (2006 [1946]). Man’s search for meaning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Jung, C. G. (1960). The structure and dynamics of the psyche, Volume 8 of the collected works of C. G. Jung, transl. R. F. C. Hull. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press/Bollingen. Jung, C. G. (1962). Symbols of transformation: An analysis of the prelude to a case of schizophrenia (2. book, transl. R. F. C. Hull). New York: Harper & Brothers. Jung, C. G. (1966 [1917, 1928]). Two essays on analytical psychology, Volume 7 of the collected works of C. G. Jung (2. ed.), transl. R. F. C. Hull. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press/Bollingen. Klein, S. B. (2013). The two selves: Their metaphysical commitments and functional independence. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Kristjansson, K. (2010). The self and its emotions. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Moseley, L. & Brugger, P. (2009). “Interdependence of movement and anatomy persists when amputees learn a physiologically impossible movement of their phantom limb.” Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, 106(44), 18798–18802. Nastovic, I. (2010). Arhetipski svet Nikole Tesle. (The archetypal world of Nikola Tesla). Novi Sad: Prometej.

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Parker, G., et al. (2008). “Technical Report for SCIE Research Review on the Prevalence and Incidence of Parental Mental Health Problems and the Detection, Screening and Reporting of Parental Mental Health Problems.” York: Social Policy Research Unit, University of York. Roland, Alan (1991). In search of self in India and Japan: Toward a cross-cultural psychology. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Sevincer, A. T., Busatta, P. D., & Oettingen, G. (2014). “Mental contrasting and transfer of energization.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(2), 139–152. Solms, M. & Panksepp, J. (2012). “The ‘id’ knows more than the ‘ego’ admits: Neuropsychoanalytic and primal consciousness perspectives on the interface between affective and cognitive neuroscience.” Brain Sci. 2012, 2, pp. 147–175. Tallis, Reymond (2004). I am: A philosophical inquiry into first-person being. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Ulanov, Ann Belford & Ulanov, Barry (1991). The healing imagination: The meeting of psyche and soul. Einsiedeln, Switzerland: Daimon Verlag.

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6 Creative leadership

As a project leader you find yourself faced with numerous and diverse ­challenges that require creative thinking. For example, you may be facing bureaucratic obstacles, devising a communications campaign, finding ways to best use resources in a complex construction project, liquidating a company, or even simply planning ways to keep kids entertained at a party. Self-expression is the product of human thought and it is a resource that leaders depend on to make things happen in projects, particularly where time and resources are limited (as is usually the case). The ways you think and run your projects is crucial, which is why, on a leadership mission, you should think your ideas through as completely as you can before you set about making plans and executing them. You need the tools to work through your ideas, whether that is your own original imagination or whether these ideas come from someone else, and it is assumed that you will use your ingenuity, moral, and practical sense. You need to be able to work from an aesthetic and ethical perspective, with a sensible application of knowledge. This means that you need to be capable of applying creative, ethical, and critical thinking. In this chapter we lay out a structure to help you focus your creative thinking along the most productive and useful lines and emphasise the importance of periodic reviews and checks to ensure that your ideas remain relevant and feasible.

Thinking We are all probably familiar with the experience of sitting around a table with a group of other people and listening to problems being voiced and an atmosphere of gloom pervading the room. Perhaps sales are down 15% yearon-year and jobs are on the line or, maybe your youth club has had to cancel all weekend activities and do some serious fundraising in order to fund the rent on their building or else be shut down entirely. In these types of situations, it is necessary to reflect on all aspects of what is being done and to look for different ways of doing things. This process requires “thinking” in all its different forms to generate new ideas and explore their relative merits. Creative thinking is a particular case where thought leadership can be shown

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by anyone present and conventional thinking along hierarchical lines can be put to one side. In our first scenario, for example, a junior salesperson may take the initiative and share the feedback they received from potential customers on what they considered needed to be changed to market the product better as a result. In the second scenario, another junior member may suggest the possibility of hiring out the youth club venue to others for various functions in order to raise extra funds. In this overall process two forms of leadership are potentially at work: (1) thought leadership in terms of any team member (including a recognised leader) coming up with new ideas and solutions; and (2) an aspect of translational leadership, whereby those in a position to make decisions are open and willing to listen to all, allow the best ideas to be discussed and (after an acceptable consensus is reached) acted upon, no matter who initiated them. It may sound strange but the aim in this chapter is to think about our thinking and scrutinise how we employ reflective practice in leadership. In order to be able to hear our underlying thoughts and emotions, we need to discipline the mind and learn what may be called higher thinking. We have all done this in some way and our education supports the development of our capacity for critical and reflective thinking. Some people who excel at formal education (where rote learning and simple non-complex problems are widely encountered) stumble and falter when faced with real situations where there is no clear-cut solution. Often, the information with which leaders are required to make decisions is incomplete, partly conflicting, illogical, overwhelming, or just highly complex. The ability to apply critical thinking in real-life project management and in wider society is more likely to stem from experience rather than book learning. When we talk about thinking, a good starting point is your frame of mind. This describes your general mood and the state of your feelings and emotions at a particular time. The events that precede that moment in time (particular immediately prior) will influence your mood greatly. Think about times when you have emerged from a long, tense, and unproductive meeting, or when you have just received unexpected bad news. You may become atypically angry if given further bad news, when you are in no frame of mind to receive it, whereas if you’re feeling good you may just shrug your shoulders at the same news and say, “I’ll deal with it later”. Clearing your mind and revitalising the self can be essential tasks prior to tackling a new challenge that requires a great deal of thought. Without it, you may not be working with your full capacities; your thinking and judgement may be clouded, and you may be tempted into snap decisions that you subsequently regret. For the most part, however, preceding events are everyday occurrences that do not induce strong emotional shifts so that your typical frame of mind at a given moment is related to your conscious personality and general outlook on life. This was the view taken by American psychologists Albert Ellis and Robert A. Harper who, in the 1950s, proposed the theory of rational emotive therapy (RET) as a way to overcome various forms of psychological

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dysfunction. They maintained that emotions did not arise from repressed or unconscious desires and needs, but from thoughts and attitudes that serve as a base for people’s daily conversations with themselves. Altering negative ways of thinking could improve people’s quality of life since constant negative thinking can lead to us feeling indisposed. The therapy was devised to work through such thoughts or fallacies and to use reason to get an individual’s thinking in line, such that it steers his or her emotional life in a positive direction (Ellis & Harper, 1961). Once you realise you can create a sense of malaise with negative, illogical thinking, you have the opportunity to correct this way of thinking and change the malaise into wellbeing. These ideas serve as a reminder of the guidance from various philosophers over the centuries, including the Buddhist concept of disciplining the mind that would later lay the foundation for the concepts of cognitive behavioural therapy, positive psychology, and coaching. As Shakespeare had Hamlet say: “For there is nothing either good or bad but thinking that makes it so”.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

How would you describe your current frame of mind? What are you thinking right now? What does it mean to think your thoughts? How do you use your thinking? What is a thought?

Higher-order thinking Higher-order thinking involves a conscious and self-aware process. It is a critical and analytical type of thinking that constantly invites you to investigate the assumptions behind your views. Higher thinking puts matters in their broader context and endeavours to use every possibility inherent in the given premises. American educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom (1913–1999) and others developed theories that revolved around teaching higher-order thinking in an educational setting and the principal skills that they refer to in this context are: (1) analysis; (2) evaluation; (3) synthesis; and (4) creation. Alongside these categories of thought we can also include three terms – creative, ethical, and critical thinking – that apply to how we think within these categories (see Figure 6.1). First, your ingenuity is the ability to be clever, original, and inventive in your thinking. This means challenging yourself to come up with new ways to solve problems and possibly to make connections between things that had not been made before. For example, many respected thinkers across many different fields have been good observers of the natural world and have used the knowledge they gained as a result to inspire new creations or ideas that have

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Figure 6.1 Three types of thinking.

human value. We discuss ingenuity further below as it has a major bearing on our ability to think creatively. Second, your moral sense is the ability to use moral thinking to analyse ethical dilemmas in projects or other situations; discuss and consider them in light of moral considerations and teachings, and then adopt a responsible, considered, moral position. Some forms of research (for example in the areas of psychology or social science) can entail a range of ethical quandaries and those involved need to reflect on the many different aspects that such research is likely to cover before committing to action. Thirdly, your practical sense is the ability to apply critical thinking to analyse views, opinions, and strategies, and to figure out possibilities and limitations inherent in projects. This is related to the idea of common sense although the latter is usually used in the negative sense (i.e. a lack of) in the context of people who think at such a high level that they overlook some of the most basic things that are actually of fundamental importance. Another related concept is being able to “see the wood from the trees”, or, in other words, not to get so bogged down in detail that the overall picture is being missed. Overall, higher-order thinking helps leaders define projects and ensure that they are approached in a creative, ethical, and rational manner. Depending on your field of endeavour, the route to becoming adept at higher thinking (i.e. to the extent of becoming widely recognised as a thought leader in that particular field) can vary greatly. Truly mastering something can often take a lot of time and dedication and you need to be aware that mistakes can be made on this journey and be willing to carry on and learn from those mistakes.

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Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

What is higher thinking? What is ingenuity? What is a practical sense? What is a moral sense?

Ingenuity Our imagination is one of the most important aspects of our mind. We use it to find new ideas, see new contexts, find solutions, and then to organise, plan, collaborate, and see things from the perspective of others. Recall of information (often fragmentary), pattern recognition, and experiential memory together with a keen awareness of what our senses are telling us (including hunches or gut feelings) are important inputs into the imagination which can then be synthesised into thoughts and ideas that break new ground. You are probably familiar with the term “a flash of inspiration”, which represents the instant when different thoughts that were going through our head coalesce and we can have a “eureka moment” where we suddenly understand a previously incomprehensible concept or realise a new solution or idea. Amidst a large amount of information and data, it can often be extremely difficult to spot patterns and to navigate along a promising path towards a novel idea or solution. Imagination should not be confused with fantasy. In psychiatry, imagination engages life whereas fantasies are the result of some form of mental stagnation and indicate that something in the unconscious has frozen; which, in turn, creates unproductive, escapist tendencies and repetition that is cyclical and pointless. In the world of fantasy, we are passive spectators of an internal cinema, and although therapy experience shows that this can seem exciting and stimulating, the spectator is continuously stuck in the same loop of film. Yet, a fertile imagination is not enough. If imagination is to be used for innovation, there needs to be a balance between the creative power of the mind and the reflection required to turn ideas into productive concepts. We need both the creative ideas and the energy and discipline to do something with them. Those who are most successful in academic, professional, and artistic life do not just sit and think – they produce. The end result – be it a fully thought out idea or plan, a picture, a book or a craft – is something tangible and complete that has a value (see Figure 6.2). The greatest threat to this process is distraction, loss of focus, and things left unfinished. Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, best known for his flow theory, has also proposed theories about creativity and ingenuity. He does not deal with creativity with a small c, such as people use when they are decorating their houses or solving simple problems, rather he is chiefly thinking about the leader’s creative power which has a transforming effect on

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Figure 6.2 Innovative people are both creative and practical.

human endeavours. He bases his theory on interviews with leaders who have greatly influenced peoples’ attitudes, understanding, or working methods. He reached the conclusion that the idea that an individual’s creativity could come into existence in isolation and be self-sustaining does not hold. Instead, he believes that this creativity was the result of a complicated interplay between an individual and the environment and that timing was also important. A creative individual is thus chiefly someone who was the right person in the right place at the right time, and ingenuity is the product of a great deal of concentrated work on something that is already in the environment. Csikszentmihalyi also came to the conclusion that creative people undertake this difficult work because they find it interesting, exciting, and fun, rather than to get recognition or reward. In order to apply yourself to contributing something new and creative in a particular field, you first need to study well what has come before (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988; 1990; 1996). The quality of creative leadership also relates to how capable we are of harnessing and using the creative talent of others. Implementing procedures and nurturing the atmosphere that stimulates creative longing and ensures that good ideas are snatched up, evaluated, and followed through is of key importance in creative leadership. A good leader creates a culture that encourages, rather than dampens, the development and implementation of innovative ideas. You need to be prepared to promote pioneering ideas and to encourage your team to take them on. Original thinking is often a prerequisite for success and progress, as well as helping to solve problems and being a catalyst for group work. As a brief aside, a good example of ingenuity in practice is the early development of the semiconductor industry, beginning with the transistor in 1947; a defining moment in the advancement of modern technology (Braun & MacDonald, 1982). In that year, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain of AT&T’s Bell Labs (USA) first observed and confirmed the unusual semiconducting properties of extremely pure germanium. This work was part of a comprehensive technology advancement programme under the supervision of William Shockley, whose work had followed on from various precedents including the serendipitous discoveries of semiconductor properties (i.e. p–n 136  CREATIVE LEADERSHIP

junction) by Richard Ohl (an electrochemist also working at Bell Labs) in the 1930s. Semiconductors act as highly miniaturised (in comparison to thermionic valves that went before) amplifiers, switches, and energy converters. Theoretical knowledge relating to the concept had been accumulating for a long time prior to this breakthrough, thanks to the work of scientific pioneers in the fields of electrical and quantum physics. Polish-American physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld had already filed a patent in 1926 that essentially described a field-effect transistor although he did not make a functional device to demonstrate the concept. It was only when the extreme purity of the materials concerned could be produced and incorporated into test specimens that experimental evidence could be reconciled with this theoretical knowledge and the era of modern solid-state electronics was born. It is important to acknowledge that it was not only developments in physics that underlay the discovery, but also in chemistry, metallurgy, and electrical engineering. What happened over the next number of years is even more fascinating in terms of “ingenuity” (and human nature in leadership) as the proof of concept of semiconductors needed to be turned into a useful and reliable product that could be produced in large quantities at low cost. The initial point-contact transistor for which Brattain and Bardeen were named on the patent proved expensive and unreliable and Shockley (who felt aggrieved at the lack of recognition and who became increasingly competitive) split his work from the others and went on to develop the junction transistor. A number of companies such as Bell Labs themselves, RCA, Raytheon, Western Electric, General Electric, and Motorola made a range of innovations in the production process while attention began to switch to silicon as a replacement for germanium due to its very low material costs. Texas Instruments, with Gordon Teal and Jack Kilby as key figures, was the first company to develop and market the silicon transistor successfully and enjoyed several years of lucrative market success of “first mover advantage” in the mid- to late 1950s. In contrast, companies such as Philco went down a major cul de sac in their product development (backing germanium) and lost a great deal of money. During the late 1950s, a number of talented individuals who had worked under Shockley left en masse and joined Fairchild Semiconductor, which became a semiconductor industry leader for much of the 1960s. This period was notable in how a small number of younger scientists and engineers came to gain valuable personal knowledge while either working in large hierarchical companies such as Bell Labs or became the first to complete degrees in this new field and undertake postgraduate research. Their ingenuity was a highly mobile element and the companies that proved commercially successful were those that were able to harness this prevailing specialist knowledge. Key people at this time include Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, who left Fairchild Semiconductor (they felt undervalued by the then owners) to found Intel in 1968. Intel then went on to develop the world’s first commercial microprocessor and has grown ever since to be the clear industry leader in the field today.

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The reason for including this condensed history here is to show briefly how “ingenuity” can work in reality. The people who were successful (both in terms of science and commerciality) in this area were so due to a number of key factors; (1) having access to the previously published work of numerous pioneers in the field; (2) being part of well-resourced research and development programmes, where communication and teamwork were emphasised; (3) having the foresight to recognise promising areas of endeavour and the ability to recognise the importance of certain results and observations; (4) possessing a high degree of application (along the lines of Thomas Edison’s famous “1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”); (5) being at the right place at the right time to allow them to benefit from first mover advantage and the external developments happening at that time (e.g. advances in production technology and other technology development); (6) being market-focused, with the ability to sell ideas and understanding the likely direction and potential of this nascent market; and (7) being able to recognise ability in others, attract them to you through a willingness to invest in them and creating a sense of shared belief and trust.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What is creative thinking? What inspires creative thinking? What stifles creative thinking? What can I do to stimulate creative thinking? How does a company or organisation that you are familiar with stimulate creative thinking?

Creative teamwork Csikszentmihalyi pointed out that creative people are inquisitive, ambitious, and intuitive when it comes to looking for order and patterns, where ­others only see chaos. He also noted that others can find them arrogant and dismissive but we need to understand that this can be part of an effort on behalf of the creative people to make space for the creative endeavours they find so important. Creative people need a forum in which to share their interests with people who have similar ambitions in a broader stimulating environment (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996). In the example of the semiconductor industry, the environment in the earlier development years in large companies like Bell Labs and Raytheon was strongly influenced by their dominant position in the thermionic valve industry from which the vast majority of their revenues came. Transistors, and later integrated circuits, were highly disruptive technologies in this market and the established hierarchical structure of these large companies was not conducive to the ideal creative environment.

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The result was that the most talented people left to join or create smaller companies where their creativity would not be stifled. As a project leader this can be a crucial factor when you are trying to assemble and retain a talented team in a given field. When Robert Noyce took the reins at Intel in 1968 he cultivated a leadership style that was groundbreaking and that proved highly successful. He did not believe in executive perks and facilitated the development of a less structured and more casual working environment where everyone from the top down rolls up their sleeves and participates in genuine teamwork. He also believed in having a broad perspective on life and his famous mantra – “go off and doing something wonderful” – still graces the walls of Intel facilities today. His leadership style had the effect of making everybody feel involved and this is an essential aspect of instilling a sense of loyalty in team members and an overall willingness to give their best. It is also worth mentioning Arthur Rock who, in conjunction with Noyce, was the first venture capitalist to back the new venture in 1968. He was someone who enjoyed building companies and was very much focused on “investing in people”. He recognised creativity and talent and was always being consulted in the background by Noyce and others. Having backers in any enterprise who are willing to trust talented individuals, show patience and support while keeping an eye on the bottom line is of fundamental importance in first fostering creativity and then harnessing this to create products of value. Finding these people and developing a relationship with them is an often overlooked but very important aspect of creative leadership. Work that consists of developing creative ideas for practical solutions is both fun and demanding (see Figure 6.3). When problems arise, you need to address them creatively and choose the most suitable strategy. One of the simplest and best-known techniques is to hold a brainstorming session, whereby

Figure 6.3 Creativity can be both fun and demanding.

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the team, and possibly others too, put forward any and all ideas relating to the problem. Anything goes – the emphasis during the early stages of the brainstorm is on the quantity not the quality of ideas. A good technique to find creative solutions is to look at a matter from as many perspectives as possible, thus ensuring you make the most of everyone’s intuition, knowledge, experience, and intelligence. Brainstorming aims at producing many and varied ideas and therefore it is important to put them all on the board, without stopping to judge them. The ideas are later evaluated and ranked according to how promising they seem, before narrowing the choice down further to make a final selection of the best. Once you have chosen your solution and reached agreement about what to do, you need to make a plan and translate the idea into the task or set of tasks. During implementation it can be useful to document the knowledge that comes to light, as operational concepts may be used again later. As a creative leader, you are positive and enthusiastic since you trust that the new ideas will lead to good solutions. Creative collaboration may also lead to disputes and in order to settle these, you would do well to build upon not just your own ideas, but those of others too, making use of diverse perspectives and bridging the gap between those who are having the disagreement. As a creative leader, you inspire fertile thinking, try out new methods, and organise teamwork in a way that clearly demonstrates your respect for innovation.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• ••

How can creative talent be retained in teams? How can creative talent be retained in organisations? How does one maintain a balance between creativity and the bottom line? What different methods can be used to instigate brainstorming? Under what circumstances should brainstorming sessions be held? How can you develop brainstorming as a method?

Structure and order Being creative is one thing but achieving actual results that have value involves a creative process. This term relates to the structure and order of our activities surrounding whatever it is we want to achieve. Without structure and order, our creative energy is likely to be dissipated without being converted into something that is useful. If a software developer writes one half of a programme, or an artist paints half a canvas, it is of little use unless the work is completed. In the first example, the developer may experience computer problems and lose the work that they have already done because it was not backed up properly. Meanwhile, the artist may have a very disorganised workspace and actually forget about their half-finished canvas, having stored it temporarily with the

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view to resuming the work at a later date. Creative work demands a certain degree of discipline, even though this may involve organising creative disorder. Simple structuring and organisational tools such as keeping journals, to-do lists, chapter and content lists, Gantt charts, flow diagrams, storyboards, mind maps, and various software applications can be very valuable for aiding creative thinking and directing it towards actual objectives. When a piece of work is finally complete, much of our background structuring work may be invisible. What is left is a coherent and well thought out piece of work that can be viewed from many angles and still retain its form. In novel writing, for example, authors often write a comprehensive back-story for each character (very little of which may be referred to in the actual final work) so that any reference to that character in the text, however minor, is believable and consistent. We’ll return to various methods for structuring creative thinking later in this chapter. The creative process can become far more complex when working in teams. You need considerable effort to record creative thinking and communicate it to others so that it can be made useful. Harnessing creative thinking in a team setting involves providing a framework where the input from team members can be recorded, stored, and synthesised in such a way as it leads to something of value. The example of brainstorming previously mentioned is one such method. As a leader you require a focused and structured mind that is able to keep track of many different strands of thought and devise systems to help complex decision-making. To return to the example of the early years of Intel, this leadership role would have been undertaken by Gordon Moore and Andrew Groves, who were both very systematic in how they managed creative teamwork, as well as being highly focused on efficiency in every way (Figure 6.4). Once frameworks are in place to allow for creative thinking and the sharing of ideas constructively in team situations, be ready to think about how you view creative thinking, and challenge any preconceptions you may have. Respect for creativity requires the ability to read other people’s feelings and be sensitive about them. Active listening to your own intuition and to other people’s views supports the project, is both fun and likely to yield results in decision-making and risk management. On the other hand, blocking is the conscious or unconscious efforts to suppress other people’s views or feelings, or unwillingness to listen to their opinions, expectations, and suggestions. Blocking indicates a lack of healthy intuition and is effectively a big NO to creativity. A leader who blocks new ideas will stick to tried and tested solutions and be too insecure to step outside the box and into the unknown. They condemn and reject innovative ideas, labelling them unacceptable, unsuitable, or inefficient without even weighing them up or evaluating them on their merits. This makes the leader incapable of integrating different perspectives and invites opposition to their ideas and leadership. If you adopt this kind of stifling attitude, it will mean that you will fail to make use of innovation and you will lose touch with your environment. Looking only at known solutions is analogous to being supported by a crutch. You refuse to bring about necessary change, your decisions become superficial, and you lose sensitivity towards

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Figure 6.4 Creativity demands a systematic approach.

others. You are then more likely to focus only on your position of power and avoid any creative risks, leading to stagnation – or, alternatively, you take irrational risks which only make things worse.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

How do the terms “framework” and “structure” relate to creative thinking? Name five examples of good ideas you have implemented. Name five examples of good ideas you did not implement. Why are people scared by innovation? What innovations frighten you?

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Active imagination How can a leader become good at creative thinking and cultivate ingenuity? Creative people use their imagination in particular ways and they use an assortment of methods to spark it. There are different types of creative thoughts that might be associated with different aspects of our brains and minds. These include what are classically termed as primary and secondary thinking processes. The creative ability is based on an appropriate balancing between these two forms of thought. Thoughts that derive from your unconscious – the primary process thinking – can allow you to discover different things that we can then interpret and translate into conscious thoughts. Using primary thinking processes, avoid becoming over-stimulated and overthinking things too much (Martindale & Daily, 1996). Secondary process thinking refers to conscious thinking processes (the ego in psychology) of which creative thinking is an example. When using secondary process thinking, we apply ourselves by persistent conscious effort and think in a way that is logical, organised, critical, targeted, and systematic. This mode of thinking is used to organise, plan, solve problems, and devise tasks (McLaughlin, 1978). Secondary process thinking is most associated with those parts of the brain that have evolved more recently in our history and separates us clearly from our distant ancestry. Primary process thinking, on the other hand, is more primal, illogical, and chaotic. It is generally unaware and mythical, disconnected from a sense of time and notions of impossibility, and unbounded by conscious constraints anything can happen. The imagination can take you anywhere (Figure 6.5). In order to yield thoughts that are both novel and grounded, making use of the creative force of primary process thinking while maintaining secondary process thinking has long been recognised as important by scholars and practitioners of creative thinking. This requires that we discipline our minds and find ways to stimulate both types of thinking and be able to translate the unconscious into the conscious. Active imagination is a method developed by Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung and aims to develop one’s creative thinking, as well as one’s selfunderstanding and personality (Jung and Chodorow 1997; Hannah, 1981). The method entails using your mind’s potential to put yourself in touch with your unconscious creative life. The method is as follows: 1

You need to find out what works best for you to help you forget daily goings-on and pay attention to the inner life of your mind. In an environment that is peaceful and quiet, try to submit to the internal world, focus your mind on paying attention to everything that your thoughts can reveal. You relax and put aside the waking state, intently keeping track but freely letting things happen. The goal is to put yourself in touch with your unconscious, the id, original thought or the dream world. The dream world is the reality which occurs during sleep and is possible to grasp between sleep and waking. Make an effort to linger there and follow

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Figure 6.5 The imagination can take you anywhere.

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everything the imagination produces. Jung pays particular attention to psychological imagination, emotions, and new ideas. Do this a few times a week, at whatever stage in the day seems to work best for you. You will start to see that anything is possible in this world and to understand your capacity for the creative: you will travel to exotic places, characters will crop up and jumble together, your mind imagines machines and tools, and all manner of events take place. Make sure you don’t fall asleep as you need to be wide awake but relaxed to use your active imagination. In conjunction with this, try to up your ability to remember your dreams. If and when you have mastered this, you can take the time to pop in to the dream world when you are awake. So far we have been concentrating on more passive action, but now it is time to discuss the active part of the work. You need to translate your unconscious material, which has now become conscious, into an external form. In other words, your ego is active! Work consciously with what has appeared from your unconscious, recognise the reality of material, and attempt to “activate it”. You can do this in various ways: by writing down or drawing the experience on paper; through music; through movement such as dance or theatrical expression; by designing or constructing the machine, house or whatever it was that came from

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4

your unconscious; or by carrying out whatever task the unconscious has proposed. To this end, it will serve you well to use your reflective journal, as discussed earlier in the book, to write down your experience of this and anything you learn. You might also consider recording all your dreams and fantasies. The dream factory produces images, feelings, and thoughts and mixes them together in various ways. This should be examined closely, not only to interpret their meaning, but first and foremost to examine the images, moods, and feelings that they evoke. Remember, dreams are closely linked to reality and are a means to process daily happenings, settle expressions of instinct, tackle problems, and come up with solutions.

Overall, you should be aware of clear symbols and images, strong feelings, and of what enhances intuition and heightens creative ability. You should try to sharpen these images by reflecting, being open to what you might learn, and endeavouring to remember it so that the creative experience and insight might be of use in day-to-day life. There is no need to spend too long on this and anyone used to this sort of work might find it very useful to spend just 10–15 minutes a day in this form of meditation.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What is active imagination? What should be avoided when it comes to the active imagination? How do you apply your active imagination to your life? How do you apply your active imagination to your work? How would you teach others to use their active imagination?

The irrational Higher thinking is at once speculative and progressive. It can include all the methods available to us to understand and reach conclusions, and although it is by its nature conscious and logical, it also makes use of unconscious insights and knowledge. Higher thinking does this by exploiting the mind’s irrational thought processes that sometimes rise to the surface or even take over. Allowing yourself to be overcome by the irrational has both pros and cons, depending on whether you are able to take advantage of this inherent quality of the mind or not. Problems arise when your irrational thinking generates involuntary thoughts, emotions and behaviour that you cannot control, and leads you to decline contributions from others or even push them away. The upside of the illogical is that it can lead to extraordinary levels of creativity, which is why it is the irrational part of the brain that we try to employ in creative thinking – and to stimulate ingenuity.

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Be careful when consciously accessing primary process thinking. You need to be in the right state of mind to be at once receptive and at the same time have enough distance to be able to exploit the creative power that you unleash. If your self-consciousness offers enough resistance, secondary process thinking will enable you to make creative use of primary process thinking. Your intuition as a leader develops when you start being able to read your own feelings, look at what is behind them through logical examination and when you start to take advantage of the mind’s creative symbols constructively. This is a creative process that enables you to make better decisions, as decisions made solely on the basis of secondary process thinking alone may lack empathy and imagination. For creative effort to translate into ingenuity, your creative energy needs to be activated and channelled. History’s greatest reflective practitioner – Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Hildegard of Bingen, Theresa of Avila, Albert Einstein, Salvador Dalí – kept journals in which they both wrote and drew (Figure 6.6). One characteristic of surreal artists was that they toyed with painting everything, unadulterated, that came to them from the depths of their unconscious. Writing, drawing, dance and other creative expression places the unfathomable material of primary process thinking in a conscious external form, thus activating this creative force. When unconscious matter is brought into an external form, the next thing is the active part of the task: the self is activated and an effort is made to purposefully shift from a passive view of what appears in the mind’s eye to an active undertaking. To access this exciting reality, you should make time to linger in the state between sleeping and waking. This is where anything can happen and where you manage to see any problems you face in a completely new light. Once you have mastered this, you can tap into primary process thinking whenever you like and will be more aware of what sharpens your insight and intensifies your creativity. The purpose of an active imagination is creative thinking, creative living, and individuation, which entails accepting what makes you special. At the same time, it is also a means of celebrating what it is that you have in common

Figure 6.6 Creative people often keep journals.

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with other people; the distinction of yourself in the context of the universal (Jung, 1962). By entering this discourse between the conscious and unconscious, whereby primary process thinking engages in a dialogue with secondary process thinking, you discover the diverse creativity within yourself. Some of this material has built up within you and comes from your daily experience. The mind has then linked things together, mixed things up, put them in order again, and played with them. However you look at it, consciousness is in many ways more limited than the unconscious and because it is always busy dealing with the demands of the environment, there is less room for creative disorder.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

What are the advantages of the illogical? How do you go about primary process thinking? How do you go about secondary process thinking? How do we capture the illogical?

Two methods from de Bono One of the most famous creative thinking experts is Maltese philosopher Edward de Bono. He believes that instead of looking at the brain as a computer, we should look at the mind’s activity as an environment in which it is possible to organise information into a pattern. The mind searches for patterns and tries to slot new information into them. New ideas may have a hard time finding accommodation because of the clash between old and new beliefs and goals and de Bono’s aim was to help the inspiration of new ideas without a conflict arising. Lateral thinking is a method of challenging accepted thinking patterns and rebuilding them (de Bono, 1970). Its opposite is vertical thinking, which is logical and linear and concerned with the relationship between cause and consequence. Lateral thinking, on the other hand, is more flexible and disposed to linking things together in unexpected or non-intuitive ways. For example: can studying ants help to solve traffic problems? What do an egg and a tree have in common? What can the behaviour of sheep teach us about leadership? De Bono has proposed a five-step process for how you might think through problems (Figure 6.7). He suggests identifying where you want to go to (TO), and then try to see what the situation is, what you know (LO, as in “Look”!). Then you look carefully at possibilities (PO), how you can create possible solutions, and then choose the most attractive solution (SO) and cultivate it. Finally, you act upon that choice (GO) to achieve the intended results (de Bono, 1972). This is somewhat depicted in Table 6.1. One of de Bono’s most famous techniques is dubbed six thinking hats and involves us wearing various “hats” that each symbolise a particular way of thinking. The order in which we put them on does not matter; the main

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Figure 6.7 De Bono suggests a five-step process to deal with problems.

Table 6.1 Edward de Bono’s approach to solve problems To Lo Po So Go

To where? Look! Possibilities? Solution? Go!

Where are you heading? Look carefully at the situation. Come up with a variety of possibilities. Choose the preferred solution. Do what needs to be done.

thing is that we wear them all. De Bono believes the technique is exhaustive and that its application helps ensure we look at all aspects of a matter (de Bono, 1985). Here is a brief overview of the six hats: ••

•• ••

The white hat stands for a white, blank page where all the information about the subject matter at hand can be put down in the form of facts. Wearing this hat our focus is on objective information, facts, and quantifiable data. We gather this information without, at this stage, evaluating. The red hat stands for blood and fire and is all about intuition, emotion, and passion. Here, we are only interested in our emotional response to something. How do I feel? What ignites within me? The yellow hat reminds us of sunshine and the optimism that we derive from its warmth. The subject matter is only considered in light of optimism and development – ideas are developed, solutions sought, hindrances overcome, and every possibility is looked into.

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••

••

••

The black hat is a symbol of strict investigative judgment. The subject matter is criticised from all angles, flaws identified in it, doubts raised about it and it is ripped apart, looking for any clues that it might not be credible. Although this requires a critical eye, with a focus on any defects in a project, wearing the black hat also demands a great deal of the rational, and takes a dim view of any sentimentality. What disagrees with that which is being maintained? What could go wrong? What does experience teach us? This is a logical attack on the subject matter and cold assessment of all its shortcomings; this attitude is negative by its nature but supported by arguments. The green hat refers to greenery, growth, healing, and the budding of spring. The subject is viewed from a new perspective and we try to find something completely new and creative about it: What will the effect be of thinking about this in an entirely new and fresh light? What else could be considered? What possibilities have not been explored? The blue hat is reminiscent of the blue sky and the Creator’s point of view. The subject is considered in its broader context and from the outside: How is this done? What’s the context? How does this relate to other projects? What processes are underway? The emphasis is placed on scope, processes, framework, control and keeping the group focused.

De Bono believes that we get the best, all-encompassing view by using all the hats to consider the subject.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What inspires ingenuity? How do you enable ingenuity? Who owns your ideas? What methods can you employ to stimulate your ingenuity? What methods can you employ to stimulate others’ ingenuity?

Various methods There are various ways you can work on your creative thinking skills and help others to do the same. Methods of encouraging unconventional thinking include: (1) positing alternative ideas; (2) challenging accepted beliefs; (3) taking time before dismissing ideas; (4) brainstorming; (5) turning the thought around 180 degrees and letting yourself consider its opposite; (6) zeroing in on the prevailing idea in the subject matter; (7) comparison or analogy, whereby you try to liken one thing with another; and (8) demanding a certain predetermined number of new ideas about a topic.

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Figure 6.8 The four dimensions of creativity.

An alternative approach to stimulating creative thinking is to think of it in terms of four different directions. This idea can be depicted graphically as the main points of the compass, as shown in Figure 6.8 (Jonasson, 2006). This image can be explained in the following way: (1) To the South we find methods of harnessing the creativity of individuals. This refers to primary process thinking, active imagination, meditation, creative themes in dreams, a systematic application of logic in creative purpose, and creative solitude. (2) Looking West, there are methods that use an individual’s human environment and its creative potential. These methods are based on having conversations with all kinds of people (children, teenagers, young adults, middle-aged adults and elderly people), holding formal interviews, brainstorming (and other creative methods) in groups, and making use of people’s collective intelligence. Collective intelligence is based on the idea that, faced with simple decision-making, common knowledge, and insight can add up to more than just the sum of each individual’s knowledge and insight. (3) In the East are the methods that use the natural environment’s creative potential. These are all the methods that make use of objects, tools, animals, or natural phenomena to stimulate the creative mind. (4) Finally, to the North, we find all the creative methods that are based on the individual’s sense of universality; symbols, rites, universal principles, and myths. You should use creativity techniques to innovate and to find alternatives and solutions. Some creative techniques are diverging techniques where you stimulate new thinking by diversifying and exploring; whereas others are converging techniques where you refine and choose the best possibilities. Diverging techniques such as mind mapping, brainwriting, free association,

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storyboarding, visualising, forced connections, shifting of perspectives, combining, and deployment of intuition can all be used. In the following, more analytic, converging stage, you examine possible solutions and their effect on the problem you want to solve. Examples of converging techniques are weighted selection (or evaluation matrix); pluses, potentials, and concerns (PPC); highlighting; force field analysis, etc. The most promising ideas are then refined, and the best solution picked. As a leader you should maintain both a holistic and contextual view to improve your decision-making. Holding multi-dimensional perspectives helps you to “zoom-in” and “zoom-out” on the situation at hand as needed and see them in their context. You should also put this in perspective to others for them to also see the bigger picture. The mind is full of good ideas that are just waiting to be sought, tapped, and realised. In order to seek them, however, you may need to shed your mind’s unwillingness to think in an unconventional way – but if successful, you will have opened the way to a boundless world of ingenuity. Ingenuity is not the only thing that characterises higher thinking. A leader’s higher thinking also demands a moral and practical sense. The next chapter looks in more detail at our moral sense and ethics, which is a discipline that focuses on human behaviour and living a happy life in a just society.

Exercises •• •• •• ••

How can you use your inner life to strengthen your creative thinking? How can you use your human environment to strengthen your creative thinking? How can you use your natural environment to strengthen your creative thinking? How can you use absolutes to strengthen your creative thinking?

References Bono, Edward de (1970). Lateral thinking. London: Ward Lock Education. Bono, Edward de (1972). Po: Beyond yes and no. London: Penguin Books. Bono, Edward de (1985). Six thinking hats. New York: Black Bay Books. Braun, E. & MacDonald, S. (1982). Revolution in miniature: The history and impact of semiconductor electronics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1988) Optimal experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper & Row. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1996). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper & Row. Ellis, Albert & Harper, Robert A. (1961). A guide to rational living. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

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Hannah, Barbara (1981). Encounters with the soul: Active imagination as developed by C.G. Jung. Santa Monica, CA: Sigo Press. Jonasson, H. I. (2006). “In a land of a living god: The healing imagination and the Icelandic heritage.” New York: Union Theological Seminary, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. Jung, C. G. (1962). Symbols of transformation: An analysis of the prelude to a case of schizophrenia (2. book, transl. R.F.C. Hull). New York: Harper & Brothers. Jung, C. G. & Chodorow, J. (1997). Jung on active imagination. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Martindale, C. & Dailey, A. (1996). “Creativity, primary process cognition and personality.” Personality and Individual Differences. 20 (4), April, 409–441. McLaughlin, J. T. (1978). “Primary and secondary process in the context of cerebral hemispheric specialization.” The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 47, 237–266.

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7 Ethical leadership

In the last chapter we talked about creativity and innovation; but ­sometimes creativity and innovation lead to bad results. Sometimes this is due to bad luck, sometimes it is due to ignorance and sometimes it just builds on bad intentions. Unfortunately, history shows that a leader’s ingenuity can have few bounds, but that is not to say it is possible to do everything that springs to mind irrespective of wider considerations. Actions taken have consequences and may violate important values and ideals. Any leader needs to have the kind of strong moral sense that enables ethical contemplation and decision-making. Project leadership is a commitment to get things done with integrity, reliability, and in accordance with your personal ethical values and principles. Sound ethical awareness leads to reliability, consistent decision-making, actions, and behaviour. Integrity and reliability are built on transparent consistency of values, emotions, and actions. Using ethical standards and moral principles as a basis for actions and decisions, and by taking responsibility for individual actions and decisions, you enable and promote confidence. Moral thinking can be defined as the ability to think ethically about moral quandaries, take moral responsibility for a position, and stick to it. In leadership, this helps ensure morally valid decision-making and conduct. Since decision-making is contextual, rather than focusing on the question “What should I do?” (which will vary according to the circumstances), it’s more useful to ask yourself “What kind of person do I want to be?”

Morals and ethics Morality is reflected in our behaviour and culture. It is part of what defines us and what shapes the industry, environment, and organisation within which we work. Morality is neither right nor wrong, it simply is, and nobody is without it (with the exception perhaps of those extreme individuals who have a sociopathic trait). Ethics is the theory of morality. Descriptive ethics describes morality as it manifests in individuals, groups, and society with a theory of the nature of morality; it answers and reflects on the question: What is morality?

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What describes the morality of a particular person, group or society? Normative ethics is more concerned with what to do. It hence provides guidance on moral conduct with reference to theories of ethics and moral principles. This chapter deals, by and large, with normative ethics. Happiness, health, and success are terms that positively describe wellbeing and relate to the combined state of the personal and public life of a project leader. These terms are, of course, highly subjective and when people study variations among subgroups of people they see certain trends emerging. American psychologist Martin Seligman noticed that psychology most often revolves around identifying and investigating what is not right – pathological and abnormal/deviant behaviour – and is less inclined to look into what it is that makes people happy and satisfied. His book, Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life (Seligman, 1998), laid the foundation for what has been called positive psychology, and describes the conclusions of his research into what makes people happy. He finds our outlook on life and sense of morality to be of prominent importance and believes it is invariably better if we can achieve things by working hard and overcoming obstacles with a positive mindset. Some of his other findings are as follows: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Very poor people have an impaired predisposition to happiness, but once they have enough to get by on, they are happier – but the extent of happiness does not increase in proportion to the extent of wealth gained. Marriage or a steady relationship with another individual seems to increase people’s happiness. A good social life makes people happier. Women are more prone to depression but also capable of greater happiness than men. Religious people seem happier than people who do not pursue a spiritual life. Illness does not affect people’s happiness as much as one might expect. Climate has little effect on people’s happiness.

All in all, Seligman relates these factors as only having an 8–15% influence on our happiness. What affects happiness much more is your personality, as shaped by the virtues of your human cultural heritage: wisdom, knowledge, courage, love, humanity, endurance, justice, and spirituality. Genetics also plays a role in shaping personality, but we all have the ability to modify and develop our character in these eight directions. Instead of trying to overcome weaknesses, leaders should thus focus on nurturing their strengths in the spirit of positive psychology (Seligman, 1998; 2002). Moral conduct of one form or another is the basis of all social systems and lays the foundation for the social contract that both ensures people’s rights and imposes on them certain obligations and duties. Every society has its social protocols that are both explicit and implicit. Sometimes these obligations are written into regulations or laws, or into professional and ethical guidelines,

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but sometimes not, leading to the question of whether morality that is based only on rules is truly morality. Does it not take more than that? We believe so, and thus morality is defined here as an individual’s self-actualisation (or a group’s, organisation’s, or society’s self-actualisation) in relation to themselves, others, and their environment.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• ••

How would you define morality? How would you define ethics? Provide an example of positive ethics. Provide an example of normative ethics. What is a successful life? What is a just society?

Moral leadership When you hold leadership roles you have, to some extent, wider moral obligations than people in general. One way for you to contemplate leader’s morality is to consider which virtues would be most desirable in characterising them – a virtue being a trait of someone who performs their role well. Later in the chapter, we look more closely at so-called virtue ethics, but a good place to start a discussion of morality in leadership is by considering the example of reliability as a necessary leadership virtue. Reliability is the ability to stick to promises that you have made and be predictable in your conduct. This gives followers, colleagues, and stakeholders confidence in you, creating a sense of responsibility, strength, and security. Reliability thus increases the likelihood of goals being reached and is a source of inspiration and encouragement during projects. Reliability can be enhanced through a well-organised modus operandi, professional planning, and by maintaining good relations with everyone concerned. A thorough knowledge of the interests of all stakeholders and a wise assessment of them is essential. Reliability is best achieved through honest, sincere communication and by offering stakeholders the chance to take part in finding solutions, identifying and assessing risks and opportunities, and by identifying appropriate responses and measures. The leader is responsible for an agreement on a solution being reached, for the implementation of a solution and for providing feedback on the result. The reliable leader works welland ensures projects are completed on time, to a specific level of quality and within other benchmarks. Such a leader is cautious, loyal, respects trust, takes responsibility for project success, and defines sub-responsibilities. A reliable leader leads the team conscientiously and constructively, maintains discipline and good communication, and disseminates

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information as appropriate. If there is a meeting, for example, the reliable leader will have prepared well and be punctual, allowing for delays that may occur. If there is a need for public representation to defend or extend the interests of an enterprise, the reliable leader will step up to the plate and deliver the required message with conviction and to good effect. Ethical guidelines help leaders make decisions and deliver satisfactory results. They support personal and professional freedom but, depending on the nature of what it is on which you’re working, they can also restrict flexibility – sometimes advantageously. Indifference to professional and ethical rules can make conflict more likely with others; the team, stakeholders or even society as a whole. In a society governed by legislation, a certain minimum morality in abiding by laws and regulations is implied, and it is certainly one of the leader’s responsibilities to ensure adherence to/compliance with these rules. On the other hand, the leader should also be prepared to play a role in having a positive impact on reforming the laws and rules of society. Mahatma Gandhi, for example, spent much of his life agitating for legal reforms and on occasion organised mass disobedience to drive home opposition to unfair laws. The 1930 “Salt March” in opposition to imposed taxes by the British on salt production in India is a famous example of this. Contracts sometimes refer to moral standards for professional conduct or desirable behaviour. Ethical guidelines may have a legal basis, such as when they relate to compliance with laws or regulations, but they do not necessarily do so. When laws or regulations contain any moral ambiguities, it is the leader’s job as a responsible citizen to decide upon them and challenge others to have them amended. It has often been said and written, especially within business management theory, that morality is both socially and culturally conditioned and therefore it is difficult to generalise about moral conduct or to pin it down precisely. This is certainly true, but it should not serve as a pretext to avoid answering difficult moral questions when they arise. Moral norms exist that should apply in almost any situation. An example of this might be: “First, do no harm”. As a leader, you can get into trouble when your own moral sense clashes with that of your team, organisation or society. It may be that you have a strong moral compass but your work or your organisation is morally dubious, or it may be that your role involves a strong moral stance, yet you have no sense of moral obligation. If the first case applies, you need to know whether such a difference in values exists and work out whether you can accept it or not. If you stand by your moral principles, it is likely that people will look up to you as a role model in matters of morality. You set the standard and others abide by this. It must always be the general duty of people in leading roles to maintain recognised rules about professionalism and professional conduct. Leaders also need to be aware of the limitations of these rules and have a shaping influence on them. Many of the most serious crimes against humanity were committed by people in leadership positions who conformed to the rules, did what was prescribed, and felt obliged to act in this way.

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The economic crisis that shook the financial market in 2008 testifies to economic leaders’ lack of moral policy and lack of respect for moral standards. The global outcome has resulted in there being big winners and big losers; the former group consisting largely of powerful vested interests who have considerable insider knowledge, the means to rapidly enter and exit large deals, and the ear of policy makers. On the receiving end we have less sophisticated investors (including many pension funds) as well as some depositors who thought that financial regulators (and governments) were in control. In Iceland, at least, this was most definitely not the case. It would appear that large mistakes in the current environment can be covered with taxpayers’ money – a form of socialism for the wealthy, which is unjust and likely to lead to major resentment in the general population who have suffered disproportionately. The term moral hazard has been much talked about in relation to how the so-called “too big to fail” banks and other institutions have been shielded from the consequences of their actions, and this is a very real issue which cannot be ignored. Of course, this is also history repeating itself as speculative bubbles and their subsequent bursting have been experienced at least as far back as the “South Sea Bubble” in 1720. It is also worth pointing out that it is still considered a novelty for engineering and business schools to pay attention to the moral sense of their students, and courses dealing with ethics still have a difficult time attracting students in those fields. Interest is roused during an economic depression, but wanes again during the next boom when learning about moral conduct is deemed unnecessary, soft, not worth the effort, over-complicated and of little value. Failure to instil in students an interest in ethics has also been rationalised by arguing that moral sense is what good students inherit from their upbringing and so there is no need to include this on a university curriculum. The consequences of this, among other things, has been that when otherwise excellent students step out into society, they are confident that they are the sole proprietors of their education, that they have no particular responsibilities towards their community, no obligation to protect the rights and interests of anyone other than themselves – that it is every man or woman for himself or herself.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• •• ••

Provide an example of a good moral. Provide an example of a bad moral. Provide an example of a universal moral. Provide an example of an abstract moral. What professional and moral guidelines/codes are you governed by? Provide an example of when you followed a moral code, but this brought about bad consequences. Which leaders have demonstrated moral fortitude?

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•• •• ••

What characterised those leaders? What moral influence did those leaders have? On what did they build their moral strength?

Moral dilemmas Leaders often need to solve problems and address moral dilemmas. Some problems are of an ethical nature, others not, but what is the difference and how can a distinction be made between them? The simplest answer to this is that a moral dilemma is characterised by conflicting values. Or, even better, that for moral dilemmas, values straddle a seesaw (Figure 7.1). The pertinent values can be many and varied and won’t necessarily provide a solution to the dilemma. Values are, as we have already discussed, guiding ideals such as honesty, respect, love, profit, practicality, professionalism, dedication, and so on. Values can conflict, and it is not always the case that one can be given precedence over another. It is up to you as leader to create and maintain respect for good and desirable values, but it is equally your responsibility to identify moral dilemmas, open a dialogue about them between colleagues, and ultimately reach a satisfactory conclusion. If someone on your team is seen sliding down the slippery slope of moral ambiguity, you need to take action with understanding and compassion but also with resolve. For example, a salesperson on your team may be performing extremely well and greatly exceeding expectations but this may be because they have no moral sense and are willing to tell customers anything just to get a sale. This may not come back to bite the salesperson concerned as they may have moved on, having already received their compensation before the negative consequences of their actions become apparent. In dealing with more complex products (e.g. insurance products or second-hand cars), this type of activity can be more prevalent and problems only arise later such as when a claim for damages is rejected or a major fault appears that results in a total write-off of the goods in question. Contentious matters may need to be settled with the team, organisation, and/or a third party. Once an acceptable settlement is reached, it is up to the leader to take any necessary action and to ensure everyone is back on the same page and sticks to the settlement.

Figure 7.1 In moral dilemmas there are competing values.

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On the other hand, if an agreement cannot be reached, it is your job as a leader to handle the consequences. Whatever happens, it is worth jotting down in your leadership journal the knowledge gained from the experience and the lessons learned, so that you can tap into this knowledge in future. A project leader with a mature moral sense realises when moral dilemmas arise. You respect different opinions, work with integrity, and are amenable to both personal and professional ethical benchmarks. You honour contracts, do not misuse information or power, and comply with ethical and professional standards. You are clear, fair, at one with your team, appreciative of its performance, and you place its overall success above your own advancement. A project leader without a moral sense is unlikely to do anything significant towards resolving moral dilemmas. When noticing a moral dilemma, he or she is more likely to ignore it than do anything about it. Under the pressure to succeed, they may even reach compromises that are at odds with acceptable moral norms and which breach ethical and professional standards or otherwise fail their moral obligations. Project leaders lacking a moral sense are more likely to dishonour contracts, misuse information or power, and place personal gain above the interests they have a duty to serve and protect. They are also more likely to take all the credit for success and thus denigrate the contribution of others.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

Name three examples of problems that are not moral dilemmas. Name three examples of problems that are moral dilemmas. How can a leader demonstrate indifference towards moral dilemmas? What are the consequences if a leader is unclear about their moral accountability?

Values and moral ideals Everyone has certain values that they draw upon in their dealings with other people – colleagues, stakeholders, and society at large. Leaders need to respect general societal values and those associated with different cultures, as well as understand how diverse the values of different individuals can be. Trying to understand the life philosophy and ethical standards of others is also one of the surest ways to earn their respect. Since people’s values are so important to working in a team and being part of society, leaders should encourage others to express their life philosophy. The ability to identify the values of people, groups, organisations or society – and clearly define when different values are clashing – is an essential leadership skill. A leader with the ability to do this is better able to plan and execute tasks in a sensible manner. It is your own set of values that underpins your

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role as leader, and this makes it important for your team to know what your values are and see that you abide by them. You should also acquaint yourself with the values, beliefs, ethical standards, and interests of anyone who might influence your work. Your values are revealed in your attitudes, feelings, wishes, and needs. It is up to leaders to ensure that individuals enjoy their right to do their work within a moral framework consistent with their own values. The best way to ensure this is to have your team participate in decision-making and to set a good example when it comes to balancing your own interests and the interests of the whole. It is also your job to provide direct recognition of work well done, which contributes to staff motivation and ambition. A leader who fails to respect other people’s values and to notice their contribution lacks a moral sense. This is also true of leaders who restrict people’s freedom by laying excessive duties on them, not rewarding them appropriately, and by making decisions unilaterally. Following this discussion of values, it is time to discuss in more detail the ethical lessons a leader can apply to decision-making. There are many lessons and standards that can help you analyse moral dilemmas and make morally sound decisions. Here, we will look at lessons built on the notions of virtue, utility, duty, and rights.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

What do you understand virtue to be? What do you understand utility to be? What is a duty? What do you think constitutes a right?

Virtue-based ethics A virtue is a positive trait or quality deemed to be morally good. Consequently, a virtuous person performs their role well according to good moral principles. Virtue ethics traces its roots back to Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato, his student, and also to Aristotle, Plato’s student (see Aristotle, 1999). Virtue ethics emphasises the individual and asks about the consequences of an individual’s actions for that individual. If you are a leader who wishes to live and work according to virtuous ethical standards, you will constantly behave such that the consequences of your actions reflect your concept of virtue, and by that augment the positive feeling you have for yourself. If you keep behaving in this way, based on your concept of virtue, you will be happy in the long run. Virtue ethics is sometimes called character ethics because of its emphasis on individuals’ experiences of themselves. In other words, it is not situationdependent but related to your character, which is an enduring aspect of

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yourself. Rather than stopping to ask, “what should I do here?”, your character will naturally choose a course of action in most cases so that doing the right thing is second nature. If you aim to live a virtuous life, you want to be able to fall asleep each night and wake up each morning conscious of and happy about yourself. Aristotle defined virtuous conduct as the golden mean between two extremes and said that the individual should follow that path. Thus, courage is the golden mean between faint-heartedness and daredevilry, and frugality the golden mean between waste and stinginess (Figure 7.2). Aristotle would say that a virtuous leader should aim at the best possibility, at the good, beautiful, and true, and that this was characteristic of their conduct. But what is the good, beautiful, and true? The tendency, both now and in the past, has been to define quality of life with reference to wellbeing in the order of eating good food, drinking good drink, making love, prospering, or being wealthy. The good is also defined in relation to happiness that can be derived from aesthetic and cognitive activities, from political success, the pursuit of scientific endeavour, or by practising philosophy. Aristotle, on the other hand, takes a different approach, linking the good with happiness (gr. Eudaimonia) but in the Greek sense of the word this refers to health, development, and growth, rather than single moments of bliss. What is the purpose of a virtuous leader in society? Aristotle would say that all leaders should understand that they are a part of the great progress that is the combined effort of everyone in society, and that all human endeavours have a special purpose (telos) above and beyond the purpose of other living beings. He argues that man’s special purpose in the world cannot be merely to reproduce, feed, and grow, because the same can be said of plants; nor can it be to come to terms with our environment, because the same can be said of animals. According to Aristotle, the purpose of mankind, and what makes us special, must therefore be the ability to apply logic and reason. The purpose of human life and what makes you virtuous is that you apply your intelligence and direct it towards achieving good. A leader’s chief moral virtues should, according to Aristotle, be courage, self-control, and freedom, but your chief intellectual virtue should be your wisdom.

Figure 7.2 Virtue-based ethics.

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Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• •• ••

What are the advantages of virtue ethics? What are the disadvantages of virtue ethics? What is a virtuous person? What is a virtuous leader? Which virtues characterise you? Which vices characterise you? Give examples of five virtues that are midway between two extremes. Name also the extremes.

Utility-based ethics The second ethical theory we consider is utility, which can be traced to Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873). Bentham and Mill both contributed significantly to the field of human rights and judicial reform. Utility can be defined as the augmented function, use, or satisfaction that people reap by doing or achieving something. A new car, if it is good and did not cost too much, makes most modern people happy. The car increases the wellbeing of its owner, who can use it to get from place to place and travel wherever they want. A new car also reduces emotional discomfort, such as the inferiority complex that may result from driving an old car or the indisposition of having to rely on public transport. Utilitarianism encourages the leader to make moral decisions based on utility (Figure 7.3). It is interested in the end result and the consequences of actions, like virtue ethics, but instead of focusing on the individual, it considers the masses. As a leader who lives by utilitarian principles, you would always try to behave in such a way that your conduct results in the most happiness for the most people in the long term. Happiness here is defined as the basis of our experience of utility, which entails increasing wellbeing and diminishing distress.

Figure 7.3 Utility-based ethics.

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Bentham believed that nature had provided two prevailing regulators for humanity: pleasure and its counterpart, suffering. He argued that a person perceives everything good as a sense of pleasure (or lack of pain), and everything bad as a sense of suffering (or lack of satisfaction). Right and wrong are only assigned meaning in relation to the utilitarian principle: If conduct increases pleasure and diminishes suffering, then it is right, but if it lessens pleasure and enhances suffering, then it is wrong (Bentham, 1789). To judge whether the consequences of actions or a project are good or bad, the leader should factor in the overall decrease or increase in the long-term pleasure and suffering of all interested parties. How much pleasure or suffering would the action cause? How long would the pleasure or suffering that the action would cause last? Would the action lead to any other derivative feelings that would ultimately affect satisfaction or suffering? In coming to a decision, you should also consider whether or not you are confident of your assessment of the future wellbeing of yourself, the team, or the organisation. If not, you need to seek the input of others to help you decide. John Stuart Mill based his ethics on the law of maximising happiness, which he also defined as wellbeing or as a lack of suffering or malaise (Mill, 1863). He showed how utility related to moral values such as justice and honesty. Instead of trying to calculate utility precisely – the more utility the greater the happiness, the less utility the more the distress – leaders should try to carry out their work with the general utilitarian principles in mind and try, by their actions, to increase the happiness of both individuals and society as a whole (Jonasson, 2008). This is difficult, however, when there is competition for limited resources. For example, through budget restrictions, medical administrators may be faced with the tough decision to either carry out expensive treatments for a small number of ill people, or a series of less expensive treatments for a larger number of ill people (though not quite as ill). Included in this overall decision is the fact that the latter larger group may become as ill as the former group if no intervention is taken. These types of decisions are replicated in many sectors in various different forms and require detailed consideration. Reducing the final decision to one based on well-worked reasons of utility can ease the emotional burden on the decisionmaker(s) although it is still often not easy to make a decision that you know will affect some people negatively and this can weigh heavily on someone for a long time after. Being transparent in the sense of having a clear rationale for decision-making, following through with this to the point of execution, showing empathy and being open in all communications is all that can be done in this instance.

Reflection points: •• ••

What do you believe is an advantage of utilitarian ethics? What do you believe is a disadvantage of utilitarian ethics?

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•• •• •• ••

What is utilitarian? What is a measure of happiness? What is the difference between prosperity and wellbeing? What is happiness?

Duty-based ethics The third ethical theory we consider is duty ethics. Your duty as a leader is what you are obliged to obey unconditionally. If the duty is absolute, you need to comply with it, irrespective of anything else. In this way, duty ethics disregards the consequences of actions or whether something good will come of the action on an ethical basis. Instead, it is about the requirement for you to do your duty. The emphasis is first and foremost on the rules of the game, not on the end result, much like a military leader has a duty to follow the rules of engagement (jus in bello), which are considered quite distinct in international law from the right to go to war in the first place (jus ad bellum). A leader who subscribes to duty ethics carefully defines the rules of play that shall apply, and then follows them unreservedly. Duty ethics is often traced back to Immanuel Kant, who proposed the theory of an absolute duty to moral law: the categorical imperative. According to Kant, it is not the result of an action or project that ethically justifies it, but the motivation that lies behind it. Our duty is to do what our roles demand on the basis of enlightened common sense, and to do so unconditionally (Figure 7.4). Kant phrased the categorical imperative as follows: “Act only according to that maxim that you want to become a universal law” (Kant, 1788). The maverick Kant had shown little interest in the workings of society until, in the wake of reading works by Jean Jacques Rousseau, he became interested in the universal value of all people. He believed it unfeasible that the leader’s interest should be in her or his wellbeing and the wellbeing of others, and for

Figure 7.4 Duty-based ethics.

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that to be considered the basis of morality. A free and healthy person should be governed by common sense, and as intelligent beings it should be possible to demand more rational decision-making from all people. Kant believed that reason demanded that you not make decisions based on personal gain or serving the best interests of your stakeholders, but only on the basis of universal laws. So, you are only a moral leader if you behave according to duty, for the sake of the duty. But if Kant is right, is there then no moral justification for actions based on principles other than duty? For example, would we be impressed by an engineering company that – when building a powerplant in sub-zero temperatures – heated its poorly insulated buildings used for low paid workers, only for the purpose of avoiding bad media coverage? Kant would say that it is never just to subject people to unbearable conditions, completely irrespective of the consequences. He believed that actions should not be determined on the basis of happiness, unlike virtue and utility ethics, nor on the basis of compassion or empathy. Only reason and the leader’s considered moral duty should guide the way ahead. Kant’s ethics are based on the difference between what he called the hypothetical imperative and the categorical imperative. A hypothetical imperative is one we must obey if we want to satisfy our desire, e.g. a project leader’s duty to complete a project to create profit, achieve success, or maintain their reputation. A categorical imperative, on the other hand, binds us irrespective of our desires because we are rational agents working under a universal sense of duty. For example, never telling a lie in duty ethics applies to all cases bar none. In more recent times, German philosopher Jürgen Habermas has expanded on Kantian ethics, introducing the theory of communicative rationalism whereby rationalism is located in structures of interpersonal linguistic communication. In association with fellow German philosopher Karl-Otto Apel, he is credited with originating modern discourse ethics that has this idea as its foundation to establish normative truths. Most recently, Habermas has recognised the importance and value of the foundational Judeo-Christian ethics of universal justice and love.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What are the benefits of duty ethics? What are the shortcomings of duty ethics? What duties do you have? Provide a few examples of imperatives that you have a duty to obey, irrespective of anything else. What are your primary duties as a leader?

Rights-based ethics Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and John Locke (1632–1704) are the key proponents of the theory of rights, the final ethical theory to be discussed here. Rights are the respect individuals, groups, animals, or natural phenomena are

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shown, irrespective of anything else. Rights incorporate both our own rights and the rights of others. Rights ethics is based on the concept of the social contract and its hypothesis is quite straightforward: For some time, and indeed still to this day in some places, the law of the fist had primacy in society. The strongest ruled and got their way (Hobbes, 1651). Gradually people came to conclude that this resulted in a less than ideal form of society, and the concept of a social contract emerged whereby each individual plays a particular role assigned by society. You have the right to your role and to enjoy what it has to offer. The fact that you accept your rights from society obliges you to respect other people’s rights, which are in general equitable. A leader who wishes to operate within the framework of rights ethics therefore endeavors to behave in such a way that the rights of others are best preserved (Figure 7.5). Rights theory is also based on the concept of natural law. John Locke believed that moral concepts did not come naturally to people. As a result, what little there is of innate moral conduct is only based on a sense of welfare. Experience shows that under normal circumstances people strive for wellbeing and try to avoid suffering – distress, illness, failure. On the other hand, Locke believed that people’s rights were natural (or God-given) and enjoyed by individuals who are cognitive, interdependent beings (Locke, 1689). Moral principles and values are thus a logical expression of rights that are given to all people and are found both in natural and divine laws. Moral demands need to be accompanied by power – in the form of rewards and punishment – that supports the will and prevents us from being driven away from the path that leads to our own welfare. Locke precluded the idea of basing morality on free will, with wellbeing as the premise for moral decision-making, and instead asserted that rights are what matters. Locke believed that society had risen up from its natural state with the support of the social contract (Locke, 1689). Primitive life in nature did not just involve living in wild conditions, but also meant that rights were decided by physical superiority and the crude application of force. But, even then, humans were cognitive beings and had a basic sense of freedom and ownership rights. To ensure such rights, we have evolved into a community, with the support of the social contract, and people have bound some of their rights to the power of a collective authority, especially to help safeguard them against any threats. Leaders who fail in their role of protecting the rights of other people will lose

Figure 7.5 Rights-based ethics.

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our trust and should step down. Locke is one of the founders of liberal politics and believed that morality could be implemented through a close analysis of moral concepts, moral discourse, defining moral reasoning and systematic, moral decision-making. In recent decades, the relevance of rights ethics has been reinforced as the rights of minorities, animals. and nature have been given increased attention. What has also become increasingly apparent as the global population grows and the world (metaphorically) shrinks is that the supposed rights of one group can infringe on the supposed rights of another group. This reality lies behind many common protracted disputes such as taxpayers versus social welfare recipients or two jurisdictions claiming their rights to a shared water source. As a leader navigating these contentious disputes, transparency is again key to reaching an acceptable compromise between the two (or more) opposing groups.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• •• ••

What are the advantages of rights ethics? What are the drawbacks of rights ethics? What are your rights? What rights do all people have? What rights do animals have? What rights does nature have? What are the leader’s rights?

The ethical leader This discussion of a selection of ethical theories would not be complete without looking at them all in context. So, how can leaders use the ethical theories briefly addressed above – and the many others that we have not discussed here – to make decisions concerning ethical matters? Should you consider a single theory each time as you see fit? Or should you always apply all of them? In short, if your aim is to analyse a moral dilemma, moral risk, or moral opportunity implicit in moral conduct, it is best to use them all (Figure 7.6). You might have noticed that all the ethical theories above are grounded in the moral theory of white European males. We believe that their contribution, despite their monogenic origin, is of great value when it comes to ethical decision-making. You could, however, go beyond them by getting acquainted with newer ethical theories built on a more diverse ground. Consider, for example, the feminist’s ethics of care that claims that moral action should be grounded on interpersonal relationships with care as a primary virtue. While virtue, utility, duty and right-based ethics focus on standards and impartiality, ethics of care focuses on the actual response to others and the question becomes “how to truly empathically respond to others?” (Gilligan, 1982; 2008). It also takes into consideration the cultural, social, racial, sexual, and economical context.

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Ethics of care states that we are interdependent on each other and that you should treat the people who are affected by the consequences of your choices in proportion to their vulnerability. You should carefully consider how to protect and promote the interests of all involved and be truly attentive, responsible, show competence, and be actually responsive (Tronto, 2005). Also, your primary duty becomes considering well, and protecting, the rights of people that are not able to defend themselves; we are all in this together (Figure 7.7).

Figure 7.6 Using all the theories to illuminate the issue at stake.

Figure 7.7 We are all in this together.

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Ethical leadership is also about sustainable future development. Sustainability means focusing on the long-term impact, social equity, environmental protection, and economically healthy results. The United Nations have published their 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2018) that aim to transform our world. The goals are: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

No poverty. Zero hunger. Good health and wellbeing. Quality education. Gender equality. Clean water and sanitation. Affordable and clean energy. Decent work and economic growth. Industry, innovation, and infrastructure. Reduced inequalities. Sustainable cities and communities. Responsible consumption and production. Climate action. Life below water. Life on land. Peace, justice and strong institutions. Partnership for the goals.

It often happens that different ethical theories lead to conflicting conclusions. In such cases, you will need to base the final decision on what your conscience tells you and justify it with ethical reasoning. The next chapter covers precisely the practice of thinking carefully, applying logic, and learning the art of critical thinking.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• •• •• ••

Propose a moral dilemma. What values are at stake? What conclusion would a virtue ethicist reach? What conclusion would a utilitarian ethicist reach? What conclusion would a duty ethicist reach? What conclusion would a rights ethicist reach? What conclusion do you reach?

References Aristotle (1999 [?]). Nicomachean ethics, trans. Terence Irwin, 2nd edition. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company.

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Bentham, Jeremy (1988 [1789]). Introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. New York: Prometheus Books. Gilligan, Carol (1982). In a different voice. Boston: Harvard University Press. Gilligan, Carol (2008). “Moral orientation and moral development” in Alison Bailey and Chris J. Cuomo (eds.), The Feminist Philosophy Reader. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Hobbes, Thomas (1996 [1651]). Leviathan, or the matter, forme, and power of a commonwealth, ecclesiastical and civil, ed. Richard Tuck. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jonasson (2008). “The relevance of ethical theory for ethical risk assessment in projects,” Values and Ethics in Project Management, IPMA Expert Seminar. Zurich, 14–16 February 2008. Kant, Immanuel (1996 [1788]). Groundwork on the metaphysics of morals in Mary Gregor (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lock, John (1689) [1960]). Two treatises of government, edited by Peter Laslett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mill, J. S. (1863 [1969]). Utilitarianism in J. M. Robson (ed.), J.S. Mill, Collected works, Vol. 10, University of University Press. Seligman, M. E. P. (1998). Learned optimism: How to change your mind and your life. New York: Pocket Books (Simon and Schuster). Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York: Free Press. Tronto, Joan C. (2005). “An ethic of care”, in Cudd, Ann E.; Andreasen, Robin O., Feminist theory: A philosophical anthology. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, pp. 251–263. UN (2018). https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

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8 Critical leadership

Creative thinking and moral sense in the context of leadership have been ­discussed in some detail in the preceding chapters and it is now time to discuss the third element of higher thinking: your logical sense. This refers to your ability to apply critical thinking, which is the product of logical and rational thinking and is strongly influenced by experience and knowledge. Also included in this context is common sense, which is knowledge that we may have through conscious lived experience or acquired unconsciously and upon which, at times, we act intuitively. Often when we are tasked with making a leadership decision, these different aspects of our overall thought process may be in conflict with one another. In this chapter we delve deeper into how we can work on our critical thinking ability to ensure that our thinking becomes more targeted and better able to resolve issues when our internal thought processes are conflicted.

The Greeks It is a conventional Euro-centric tradition to trace the origins of critical thinking back to the ancient Greek philosophers. They frequently differed quite radically from each other in their views but, at the same time, shared a desire to discipline their thinking and use their intelligence and rationality as effectively as possible. They set a good example for leaders in how to focus your thinking and scrutinise whether you are using your intelligence wisely rather than feeling that events are in the hands of capricious and unfathomable gods. Thales of Miletia (c. 620–546 BC), for example, was a renowned and original critical thinker who had many interests that extended far beyond the generation of wealth and worldly possessions. On one occasion, he decided to put his critical thinking to the test by effectively buying an option related to the olive harvest several months in advance (at that time, success or otherwise in this would be attributed to divine forces). This secured him a monopoly position, which meant he should at least be partly successful when harvest time came. As it turned out, the harvest was good and he made a considerable amount of money through his call option although, as pointed out later by Aristotle, this financial gain was beside the point and of little interest to him personally.

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Figure 8.1 Be curious, ask, and check your assumptions!

On another occasion, the Greek philosopher Socrates is said to have seen an oracle in Delphi who told him he was the wisest man in the world. This surprised Socrates, because the one thing he knew for sure was that he did not know anything (Figure 8.1). His sense of ignorance is reflected in the ­so-called Socratic dialogue method which aims at assuming nothing, thoroughly testing the premise of everyone’s views and applying critical thinking to the information received. We’ve provided some guidance on the Socratic method in the following sections.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

What do you know about the ancient Greek philosophers? Whom do you know who thinks critically? What characterises their way of thinking? Posit an idea and then back it up with supporting arguments.

Socrates As far as we know, Socrates (470–399 BC) did not record his ideas in books and is known instead through the writings of his student Plato. In Plato’s writings, Socrates has conversations with various people with whom he discusses the validity of their views. Socrates was ultimately condemned to death for corrupting the youth of Athens. What he had actually done was incite people to think independently and critically. Such an endeavour can be highly political and frightening to the authorities. This is as true today as much as it was in ancient times. It is not always popular with everyone to have people thinking independently and encouraging critical questions about the premise of views

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and actions. Consider, for a moment, what the world would be like if families, businesses, institutions, and authorities constantly based their actions on critical thinking and common sense. According to Plato, the men (and they were all men) engaged in public arguments with Socrates were confident of the soundness of their views (Plato, 1997 [?]). They were trained orators and were even employed to take an opinion and then justify any chosen aspect of that opinion. Socrates was not a fan of this use of philosophy and endeavoured to trap his interlocutors in the logic of their own assumptions, arguments, deductions, declarations, and opinions. Ever since then you can find cases where those who use a wellreasoned argument come into conflict with those whose livelihood depends on ignorance and are shouted down by the supporters of the ignorant and or even by people paid to discredit the views, character, or motives of the person making the argument. Muddying the waters is a well-known tactic used by those in positions of influence who wish certain truths to remain hidden. Think of examples when interesting viewpoints in articles published online are immediately rubbished or otherwise distracted from in the subsequent comments section. Socrates’ contribution to history was to show the importance of thoroughly testing our opinions with reason and critical thinking. This application of thought does not come easily to all of us and it is not a given that education helps us in that regard, since there are many highly educated people who do not employ critical thinking. It is one thing to read and write well, but another to critically consider the material and provide answers that go beyond writing down what you think your supervisor would like to read. The fact is that everyone can learn critical thinking with the cultivation of particular techniques and with practice. Critical thinking is a fundamental ability for leaders and can greatly influence how comfortable you will be in your role. Thinking is a tool we use to find ways to realise our goals, and without it we would drift aimlessly in a sea of human impulse. It is also enjoyable and rewarding to think critically.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

What is critical thinking? What critical thinking methods are available? How can you learn to think critically? How can critical thinking be taught?

Intelligence Thinking is not the same as intelligence. Intelligence operates on many different levels and the classic notion of intelligence (that of high intelligence)

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which involves the ability to understand complex ideas and see logical patterns is not necessarily of the greatest value in decision-making. Individuals who are not considered especially intelligent can nevertheless be capable of thinking deeply and critically, and those who are very bright often end up trapped by their own intelligence – they jump to conclusions, fail to consider things carefully enough, and are unable to recognise the need to talk things through with other people. They are confined by their intelligence, cast the importance of emotions aside, and thereby ignore their inner selves. As it happens, your emotions are one of the most important aspects of your being. Connecting with them and reading them correctly is very important. Emotions and values are in many ways your guiding lights through life. Your values are derived from your feelings and reflect what suits you, what makes you feel happy and satisfied. Emotions help you actualise yourself on the basis of your values and thinking and reflection helps you live by those values. Thoughts and feelings are both extremely important and mutually interdependent. In an ideal world, leaders would consider ideas, opinions, and events from several perspectives and then apply critical thinking to the results. The leader would also be ethical and able to balance imagination, ingenuity, a moral sense, and a practical sense. In practice, however, many leaders often stick to the narrow idea that a certain single way of thinking is best. Some believe that only analytical, logical, and economic thinking helps. Some immerse themselves in planning, precision, and order. Others want to follow their feelings, interactions, and spiritual life, and others still want to see the whole, the beauty, and art. These four tendencies can both lead to creative collaboration and to disagreement. You may be able to draw on different ways of thinking, or you may need to enlist others to help you take these different perspectives into account when deciding what you or your team needs. All of these types of thinking are important. Swedish/American psychologist Daniel Goleman maintains that although practical knowledge in the form of intellectual intelligence, academic ability, and technical knowledge is useful for getting ahead in the workplace, it is emotional intelligence, expressed in the form of resolve, ingenuity, optimism, adaptability, and empathy that really determines how far people will go. Goleman defines 25 emotional intelligence competences which can be broken down into five main groups: (1) self-awareness of your own feelings and their importance in decision-making and at the same time faith in your ability to tackle problems; (2) self-regulation or the ability to live a conscious life and balance wellbeing with the achievement of goals, as well as manage to control emotions and recover from shock; (3) motivation or goal-setting and the ability to reorganise and reprioritise as required; (4) empathy or the skill to sense and understand how others feel and what they are thinking; and (5) social skills which consist of addressing close personal relations, networks, and political power (Goleman, 1995; 1998). So, it is emotional and social intelligence that enable you to make full use of your practical sense; the ability to employ your emotions and express them

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clearly and appropriately at exactly the right time. Somewhat related to this is the “Peter Principle”, which states that those in hierarchical organisations who are good in their existing role (in this context, due to their intellectual intelligence) get promoted to a higher level, even though the new role may require quite different skills and a different approach, with the result that everybody eventually reaches their level of incompetence in management at some stage or other. While this notion may seem fatalistic and superficial to some, it is nonetheless not uncommon that, despite having intelligence and a practical sense, some people can fail in their leadership role because of a lack of emotional and social intelligence. As mentioned previously in an earlier chapter, the skills that enable you to gain a leadership position are not necessarily those that are required once that position has been obtained. Emotional and social intelligence are discussed in more detail in our book on communication skills.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

How do leaders make the best use of their intelligence? What is intellectual intelligence? What is emotional intelligence? What is social intelligence?

Open-mindedness In order to facilitate alternative ideas and views, a leader needs to have an open mind and be able to lead and participate in a frank dialogue. To facilitate a discussion, you need to keep a cool, objective mind to weigh up the arguments and opinions, but also the ability to put information in its human context. You should be able to participate in and guide constructive discussions to enable people to reach a joint conclusion. Consultation of this kind can be defined as the ability to discuss, justify, listen to counter-arguments, and find solutions and compromises that the whole group supports. Dialogue provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and has the potential to lead to collective decisions that are based on logic, analysis, and mutual respect. Dialogue can also help dispel any differences of opinion about the matter at hand. If your argument is solid, you can lead others to change their minds, foster understanding between people with differing views, and even resolve conflicts. Dialogue challenges traditional solutions, especially conclusions based on prejudice. In dialogue, you analyse situations and their wider context, identify goals and options, listen to other people’s arguments and respect them when the issues are being discussed and decisions are being made. Discussions should be based on focusing arguments, considering different perspectives and analysing problems. It can also entail identifying

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solutions and measures, resolving disagreements, reaching agreements, and considering the consequences. Your ability to lead critical discussions rests on you being receptive to other people’s views and remaining fair in the way you exert your influence and power to make the final call. This skill involves leading discussions, getting feedback from others, and working effectively with any given assumptions, arguments, and views. It also centres on getting those less forthcoming to participate and on maintaining trust, consideration, and critical thinking within the group. If you manage to do this, you will convey a positive attitude, encourage constructive criticism, and sustain goodwill. By supporting open group discussion, you work towards reaching a consensus within the group. You evaluate the validity of arguments and argumentation, argue your point with precision, clarity and logic, and motivate the group. If you are a good leader, you will find the stamina to keep going until solutions are found and will make a point of involving everyone in decision-making. You are well prepared and informed, and able to lead an objective debate. If critical thinking is needed, and it almost always is, you are able to express your ideas, stop any individuals from dominating the discussion, and allow others to have a chance to express their ideas and views (Figure 8.2). Leaders who lack conversation skills force their own views on other people at the expense of those people’s views. Such leaders come across as unreasonable, are dismissive of other people’s ideas, avoid exchanging views, and assume they know better than anyone else. Their criticism is not constructive or fair, they are willingly insulting and use force in the face of opinions contrary to their own. They tend not to consult other people when making decisions, nor to explain their choices. These leaders do not keep people on the topic, are illogical, and readily tell stories – or let others tell stories – that lead the discussion off track. They forge ahead blindly, alone or along with

Figure 8.2 Allow others to express their ideas and views.

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others, without realising the importance of clearly justifying the rationale of their views and plans for their colleagues. When things really get bogged down or a dispute gets out of hand at a group meeting, a real leader will step up and remind everybody of why they are there and what needs to happen in order to reach an acceptable decision. They will also make the basis of the discussion clear and act if and when participants cross the line. In the 1957 film 12 Angry Men, directed by Sidney Lumet, Henry Fonda plays one of 12 jurors whose critical thinking and communication ability eventually wins out over the other 11 jurors who had originally reached an opposite verdict. The film depicts 12 very different but nonetheless believable character types and is well worth watching for those in leadership roles (or aspiring to them) to see how to conduct heated discussions and win over others with passionate and reasoned arguments.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

Which ideas do you have trouble being open-minded about? Name five ideas that you were opposed to until you managed to open your mind. How can you open your own mind? How can you open other people’s minds?

Idea What is a good idea? Is it an interesting idea? Is it a profitable idea or one that leads to something good happening? We are willing to judge ideas as good or bad, but is it even possible to say that an idea is good or bad? Philosophers and others whose work revolves around ideas seek to examine ideas, discuss and develop them through discussion and debate. While something may be widely touted as a good idea when first proposed, we should always try to use our critical thinking skills to tease out any reasons why this is not the case and end up with a strong and widely supported decision. Just as in the Sidney Lumet film, when we hear assured voices around the table giving opposing views to our own, it can make us think and look at things from a new perspective that may not have been apparent before. This also applies to someone who may be agreeing with your initial decision but whose tone and means of argument you find off-putting, thus making you doubt your original conviction. Plato believed in there being two worlds: (a) the physical or real world, which we perceive with our senses; and (b) an abstract world comprising eternally perfect “forms” or “ideas”. While we usually look in the real world for answers, we should instead look to the world of original ideas to find reliable answers. An example that Plato used was an everyday chair. He believed this to be an imperfect representation of a conceptually perfect “chair” located

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in another dimension, which is, in fact, more real as it is the ultimate reference point. He extended this analogy to more complex forms such as “horse” and we can also add in other various intangible ideas such as “practicality”, “justice”, “truth” and “beauty”. Plato searched for the truth by looking into the world of original thought and trying to use his intellect to perceive the precise nature of things. To summarise his conclusion: “Something is what it is, if, and only if, it is what it is in every conceivable world” (Kripke, 1980). By playing with a few basic terms in metaphysics and logic, we can see that the discussion can become rather arcane. Essentially this all revolves around the importance of defining the terms that we use when we discuss our views and the views of others, and the importance of knowing what we are talking about. The takeaway message here in terms of project management is that we should look at ideas from many different perspectives and ask ourselves many questions about things that we may otherwise think of as straightforward.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What is a chair? What is justice? What is beauty? What is truth? What is success?

Critical thinking A good leader wants what they say to be true. Critical thinking is the method employed to find what is most true (Figure 8.3). But it is not a simple matter. There are some things that are beyond doubt but there is also much that is never certain. As an example of something that is beyond

Figure 8.3 Critical thinking is a method to find out what is most true.

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doubt – on the basis of our discussion above – a chair is a chair and cannot be anything other than a chair. A predetermined or a priori truth, such as the statement that all bachelors are unmarried, automatically contains the truth within itself and often borders on tautology. But is anything absolutely beyond doubt? Is it wise to believe nothing unless it has utterly sufficient premises? How can you even be sure that men have been to the moon, for instance? French philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650) went so far as to consider whether his entire experience of reality was perhaps a deception and that there was no reality. Descartes concluded that although everything could conceivably be a delusion, it was at least certain that someone was thinking and so that person at least must exist, hence his famous line: “I think, therefore I am” (Descartes, 1637). He believed that this provided a concrete starting point and that he had found the fundamental basis of all knowledge from which people could now set about investigating everything else in the world. Reasoning is a way of forming a conviction about a particular view, with supporting arguments put forward for the purpose of convincing yourself and others. Not all arguments, on the other hand, carry the same weight, and reasoning also varies in how persuasive it is. Valid arguments support the deductions made, while invalid arguments do not. Valid reasoning shows that given assumptions support the deduction. Inductive reasoning begins with a series of facts that lead to the conclusion (if this … and this … then this). This can be seen in the following example: The water in the lake has been shown to be polluted by Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria … John ingested some water when he fell into the lake … John got sick shortly after … John’s symptoms match those of E. coli infections … Ergo, John has an E. coli infection … Deductive reasoning, on the other hand, begins with a general or universal statement and then comes down to a specific and targeted claim, for example: All leaders are clever John is a leader Consequently, John is clever. The field of logic looks at all the methods that can be used to draw correct and valid deductions from given premises. It helps people in leadership to judge the validity of opinions, arguments, and reasoning. In order to apply this kind of critical thinking, it is useful to know a thing or two about the thinking person’s toolbox. The method is useful when presenting a matter in speech or writing, when backing up your opinions, and discussing them with others.

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It is also useful in coming to a better understanding of other people’s views and in providing constructive criticism. A key aspect of counter-argument is spotting fallacies (i.e. aspects that undermine logical reasoning) in what the other is saying. Were you to take the time to go through the list of all possible fallacies that can come up in arguments you would see that there are literally hundreds of them. While those who work in the legal field may specialise in having a detailed knowledge of all of these possible fallacies, for the majority of us it is enough to be aware of the most common logical fallacies, which it must be said can be either intentional or unintentional. Classical ones include the red herring, where something is brought up in all earnestness that is unrelated to the argument in question. Others include: •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• ••

The broken-window fallacy: Where only one side of an outcome is highlighted and the other conveniently or mistakenly forgotten. Circular reasoning: In which the consequence of a phenomenon is claimed to be its root cause. Appeal to authority: Claiming something is true just because someone with authority says so. False equivalence: Comparing apples with oranges. Black-or-white fallacy: Stating that there are only two possibilities when there are actually more. Appeal to anecdotal evidence: Relying on one event or a small sample of events (that may not be truly representative) to illustrate something. Historical fallacy: Viewing historical events from our current perspective and with our current knowledge. Shifting the burden of proof: “I need not support my claim, you must prove me false”. Moving the goalposts: Changing the criteria for acceptance once one argument has been refuted. Post hoc ergo propter hoc: X happened, then Y happened, therefore Y must be caused by X. Cherry-picking: Highlighting certain information that supports one side of an argument. Missing the wood for the trees –Focusing on minor details and missing the big picture. Wishful thinking: Building arguments on imagined foundations whilst ignoring reality. Proof by verbosity (or by assertion): Being very vocal and repetitive so that others do not have the opportunity to make reasoned counter-arguments.

Logic is an extensive subject that offers many tools and methods to scrutinise the validity of opinions. Let’s introduce you to one of these methods which can be regarded as a tool for thinking people.

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Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

What is reasoning? What is an argument? Provide an example of valid reasoning. Provide an example of invalid reasoning.

WRAITEC As a leader you need to ensure you are making full use of your critical thinking abilities and common sense. To that end, we suggest the WRAITEC method, which we should call the thinking person’s tool. The acronym stands for the following: What, Reasons, Assumptions, Inference, Truth, Examples, and Counter examples. This concept originates from teaching philosophy as a way of developing thinking skills. ••

••

••

The What is all about defining what is being considered or is up for discussion. Key questions to ask are: What is being contemplated? What exactly is being discussed? What do the concepts being used mean? What is the scope of the matter up for discussion? When do we move the discussion from one focal point to another? Ask yourself or those around you: What does the concept mean? How do you define this? It is fundamental to remain focused on thinking and discussion and to define key terms to ensure that everyone taking part has the same understanding of what is being discussed. As an example, imagine the group is discussing the claim that “leaders are obsessed with loyalty”. The terms “leader”, “obsessed with” and “loyalty” need to be defined in that context. Reasons are used to demonstrate the validity of opinions in a convincing way. Key questions to ask are: What are the reasons for …? Are reasons for the views presented? Are they valid reasons? As a leader, you should back up your opinions with valid reasoning and demand your interlocutors provide their reasoning too. Valid reasons support a claim whereas invalid reasons do not. You can prompt people to support their claims with reasons by asking: Why do you say that? What supporting arguments can you provide? Arguments for or against a claim can be stated simply by saying “because …” For example: “Leaders are obsessed with loyalty, because all leaders I have known hate to waste their energy”. Is this a valid argument? Is it reasonable? Will it automatically apply to all leaders? Assumptions are what is believed to be inherent and used to build an opinion: Can I assume that …? What are we assuming here? What assumptions form the basis for our opinions? What assumptions are necessary? What assumptions are sufficient? What assumptions are clear? What assumptions are hidden? Is the authority to whom we are looking to provide answers really reliable?

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••

••

••

••

Inferences are all the conclusions that can be drawn from given assumptions: Can I infer … from …? What inferences or deductions can be drawn from such and such a premise? Have we found them all or can further inferences be made? How valid are the inferences we have made? Truth is evaluated by investigating whether a view stands up to a reality check: Is it true that …? Does the view stand up to the best knowledge at hand? Is this really true? Here, an opinion is considered in light of reality, general and scientific knowledge, the experience of witnesses and even emotion. Examples are descriptions or references to evidence or experience that support an opinion. What are examples of …? Is the opinion supported by examples? Does the example really support the opinion? Ideas not supported by examples are not to be believed. Counter examples are descriptions or references to evidence or experience that refutes the opinion: What are counter examples of …? What counter example(s) can be taken to refute the opinion? Does the counter example really refute the opinion?

You can use the thinking person’s tool in discussions or when you put forward your opinion in discussions or writing. The use of the acronym (WRAITEC) is simply a vehicle to help you remember all seven points, but you don’t need to apply them in this order when you use the tool – the points which prove most useful, and the order in which you employ each one, will depend on the context. Discussions and debates should not be seen as conflicts in which one party wins and the other loses, but rather as ways to form opinions, explore their validity, and reach conclusions. Inevitably disputes will arise, and these can become intense if the topic is one that people are sensitive and passionate about. Discussions rarely make headway when opposing parties do not listen to each other’s opinions. Leaders should always be capable of hearing other perspectives and, if not, they will have trouble taking part in a critical and rational discussion of ideas. Emotive opinions require you to listen well and endeavour to make it clear to the other party that you are trying your best to put yourself in their shoes. Active listening is listening attentively (Figure 8.4). It is your best way as a leader to get others to listen to you, and it is most effective when you listen actively prior to putting forward your own opinions. You can verify your understanding of other people’s words by rephrasing what they said and putting them in context. By putting active listening into practice, you let others feel that you can see their side of the matter. By getting them to confirm that you have understood correctly, you have earned your right to be heard. At that point you put forward your opinion and support it. If you have an opposing view, it is best to be as brief and objective as possible when you explain it. You can then try to identify what aspects all parties agree on and come up with some potential solutions. When the others have put forward their ideas for

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Figure 8.4 Active listening is a key to good dialogue.

a solution, you try to build on them by expressing your own suggestions and build a consensus view.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

Formulate an opinion and support it with valid reasons. Gather a group of people together and try to lead the discussion whereby the WRAITEC method is used to discuss the subject matter at hand. Put forward an opinion, provide reasoning for it, draw inferences based on it, identify what assumptions you are allowing, provide examples and counter examples, and present the consequence of the opinion. Does your opinion hold true based on this reasoning?

Mind and matter Leadership resourcefulness builds on your ability to apply various methods to define, analyse, prioritise, find alternatives, and deal with challenges. Resourcefulness is a key competence for success and it motivates the team. Conceptual and analytic techniques are also of utmost importance to deal with the information overflow that many projects and organisations face. Being able to extract, present, or report the right information in a timely manner is crucial for success. You also need conceptual thinking to define situations and strategies. As every leadership challenge is unique, a certain level of abstraction and conceptualisation is important. Conceptual thinking is to put things into perspective within a general context. Analytic techniques can be used to analyse situations, data, and trends that might impact your leadership mission. Complex problems or situations need to be analysed to

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find solutions and alternatives. You should have at your disposal a variety of methods for detecting problems, their causes, and measures to solve them. It is both an art and technique to extract relevant information and clearly report and present the data to the appropriate parties. We have recommended here that you maximise your potential as leader by projecting your inner life out to others in a rational manner. However, there are many things that can make us think and act irrationally and this is exactly why higher-order thinking is important for leaders. Early in the book, it was proposed that leadership involved leading followers towards a set goal. But there is more to it than that. A place and time are needed in which someone takes on a leadership role. Thus, the leader needs to come forward at the right time, adopt the right stance in relation to his or her followers, and then people are needed who want to follow that leader. There are therefore certain situations that call upon you to lead, and you need to wield the power granted to you by your followers. Your awareness of the fact that you have taken on a leadership role offered to you by your peers is bound to help you be a good leader; one who cares about the impact of your work practices on team culture. A community of inquiry was first defined by the American pragmatists C.S. Peirce and John Dewey as a method for knowledge formation and scientific inquiry (Peirce, 1877; Dewey, 1954; 1998). For our purpose, it is a group of people who strive to apply higher-order thinking (WRAITEC) and thus searches with the collective wisdom of the group for the best knowledge about whatever is up for discussion (Figure 8.5). If you master critical thinking and can employ it in conversation with others, you know that they are more likely to agree with your perspective if it is well supported. Building a stimulating, supporting, and open environment encourages others to share their knowledge and contribute their ideas, opinions, suggestions, and concerns. Openness towards the input of others and showing them that you care establishes trust and brings the knowledge and experience of others to the discussion. Working this way as a leader, you are unlikely to build your influence on slander, manipulation, arrogance, or violence. Instead, you are open to new possibilities and new knowledge, and you endeavour to cultivate your views and those of others.

Figure 8.5 Community of inquiry is a method to explore truths.

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As such a leader, you are transparent and know that you are part of a process that aims at having a positive effect on culture and society with deep feelings and disciplined thinking. You thereby share your views with others and your own consciousness no longer defines the nature or direction of the discussions. This makes you more able to take better care of those sublime values that should characterise leaders in all areas of civilised society.

Reflection points: •• •• ••

What gives leaders the authority to lead others? How can you communicate your thoughts to others? How do you communicate your feelings to others?

The soul It should be clear by now that we believe each and every person capable of becoming a skilled leader and taking on a leadership role. Some do so on a large scale, others on a smaller scale, but whether the leadership mission is prominent or not, you define yourself through your leadership roles. We discussed earlier how your self-image and self-awareness develop while you are growing up and that becomes the basis of how you experience yourself in relation to others. We have seen how constructive influences in life become good self-objects and how destructive influences can become bad self-objects. As stated earlier in the book, self-objects are what we psychologically absorb from our experience of other people’s experience of us and what the self uses to maintain itself. As a good leader, you should be conscious of this activity and seek to become a good and constructive self-object in the minds of your followers. This is our leadership theory in a nutshell: Leadership is the ability to have a constructive and inspirational effect on other people such that you have a constructive presence in the minds of your followers, whether they are conscious of this or not. In this context, it is useful to consider what the soul has to do with leadership. The soul is a concept that is often shunned by scientific psychology and by the sciences in general, probably given its subjectivity and the ostentatious way it is often used to account for the most unlikely phenomena of conscious life. We have already introduced the idea that one day, in a final and more scientific analysis, we will have reduced all our experiences down to clearly defined chemical processes, behaviour, and cognitive function. But in the meantime, the soul is a useful concept to capture the leader’s experience of inner life. It allows you to see your life not just in terms of things and actions, but as a spiritual reality, and helps explain that elusive creative energy and sense of fulfilment that drives you and that you strive to maintain.

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The Ancient Greeks regarded the soul – the anima – as the body’s kinetic energy that “animates” it. In death the soul would depart from the now motionless body for another place. The same idea can be found in many traditions. This may be seen as wishful thinking that allows us to explain the peculiar fact that one moment we are alive and fully conscious, and the next we are a dead, lifeless corpse. In some Semitic traditions this is explained by speaking of divine breath, blown into us to animate our bodies for a lifetime. Then there is the Hindu practice of breathing, considered the source of life’s energy, aimed at self-development and reaching a state of divine unity. You can see the soul as the organising principle that animates you while you are alive; it is the sustaining, life-giving function within you, that you perceive through your emotions, thoughts, and spiritual life. This concept is useful in a discussion of your spiritual life and your interaction with others, with the soul understood as that which sustains your consciousness and lends inner meaning to your leadership role. However, wholesome relations with the soul cannot be taken for granted and need constant cultivation. You are familiar with this in one way or another, either as a subtle, nagging feeling, or as a bolt of lightning that sparks your desire, motivates you and gives your life meaning. It is advisable to exercise caution in the presence of a soul as it can be both menacing and fascinating (Figure 8.6). Here, transparency is once more a useful concept, in this case elucidating the life of the unconscious that some fear and others doubt even exists. You might experience this as difficult to acknowledge for yourself the way you are, want to be or don’t want to be, or when feeling stuck in stagnated repetitive tendencies. When you, however, begin to explore the richness of your inner life, and take it seriously, it’s like realising that within you there is a whole other life that you can truly enjoy and be nourished by. When this happens, various things that used to mean a lot to you may lose their significance, while other things that didn’t seem to count before become crucial.

Figure 8.6 Experiencing the soul can be menacing and fascinating.

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There is a tendency to regard the inner life as unreliable and avoid dealing with it. This shows, for example, in the way we avoid discussing our inner life, emotions, longings, and desires. One of the most important things you can do as a leader, as far as this is concerned, is to admit the reality of your inner life – the life of the soul – in your work. The goal isn’t necessarily to expand your self-awareness or to make detectable behavioural changes, rather to find out who you really are, accept that, and adapt to the fact that this is who you want to be and then live according to it in a responsible way and in constructive relationships with others. The result is that you can increasingly enjoy the riches of the soul and be more receptive to the signals it sends – others benefiting from this with you in the process.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What is the difference between reality of thought and experience of the soul? How do you sense reality of the soul? When do you sense reality of the soul? What methods do you use to know your soul? What communicates your soul to you?

References Descartes, René (1998 [1637]). Discourse on method and meditations on philosophy. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. Dewey, John (1954). The public and its problem. Chicago: Swallow Press (original work published 1927). Dewey, John (1998). “Creative democracy: The task before us” in L. Hickman and T. Alexander (eds.), The essential Dewey, Volume I: Pragmatism, education, democracy (pp. 340–344). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Goleman, Daniel (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. Goleman, Daniel (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. Kripke, Saul (1980). Naming and necessity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Blackwell. Peirce, C.S. (1877). “The fixation of belief.” Wikisource. Retrieved online May 2018. Plato (1997 [?]). Plato: Complete works, Ed. John M. Cooper. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company.

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9 Project leadership and society

In the lead-up to this final chapter we have discussed the role of the leader and the importance of the self and the consciousness. The focus has been on the self-reflection, growth, and development of a leader as an individual. Given this, it is quite natural to ask yourself as a leader: should I be so self-preoccupied? What about other people? Is leadership only about self-examination and self-scrutiny? What is the relationship between my inner life, my followers, and society? Let’s address these questions now by discussing the purpose of your introspective efforts in the context of self-understanding and in leading your followers, other people, and society as a whole. We will use two key concepts – transparency and individuation – to explore this issue. We propose that transparency of the unconscious in your self-awareness is key to your development as an individual, to understanding those around you, to working with people and to performing the role of leader in a responsible manner.

Self-improvement A leader’s healthy endeavours towards self-improvement should aim for transparency and individuation. Transparency exists when there is a natural balance between consciousness and the unconscious such that the unconscious nourishes the consciousness rather than corrupts or weakens it as sometimes happens in nervous and mental disorders or when we maintain an ongoing façade. Transparency leads to individuation. This involves the consciousness recognising the self, which is you relishing what makes you unique as an individual whilst striving, at the same time, to weed out any undesirable attributes (Figure 9.1). Such transparency becomes apparent to others for whom trust depends on being able to see into a person’s heart and mind. If you are putting on an act, others may pick up on this consciously or unconsciously. Perhaps your unconscious body language is not in tune with the words you are using, in which case people will come to question your authenticity and your motivations. Ideas about individuation appear in the writings of Carl Jung (1957; 1962), Gilbert Simondon (2007), Bernard Stiegler (2004; 2009), Henri Bergson

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Figure 9.1 Individuation is being uniquely you.

(1910; 1911), and David Bohm (1998), among others. The process of individuation involves a completely conscious examination of what the unconscious shares with the consciousness, understanding this and making use of it, both for yourself and the benefit of others. People often describe their experience of this as if the “consciousness” transforms into the “whole-of-consciousness”. There is a broadening of horizons and expansion in the limits of our thinking and we perceive events and others around us in a new light. When it comes to discussing the unconscious, it is, by its very nature, difficult to get a firm grasp of the topic. The consciousness needs to have what it takes to put itself in touch with the unconscious. Earlier, we looked at how the unconscious finds expression in instincts and in a reality that is somehow beyond the realm of concepts, and which you perceive as the original, chaotic, mythical domain of your inner life if you are determined to do so. Experiencing this can be like taking part in an adventure – or even being part of an eternal myth cycle – and many adventures and myths owe their origins to a collective experience and an expression of the unconscious. Some of what the unconscious contains reflects your early life. Your childhood experiences shape your adult self and can both encourage and discourage your development and your potential to perform a leadership role. We can go further and say that, by paying attention to the life of the unconscious, leaders can, in a sense, draw on the experience bank of previous generations too. This comes from the notion that certain knowledge and tendencies exist within us that are the product of a long process of human development in which wisdom is passed down from generation to generation through some mechanism that is, as yet, not fully understood (Jung, 1954). These elements often appear unconsciously in what sociologist Émile Durkheim called the collective

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consciousness, but they underpin the prevailing attitudes and values that hold society together (Durkheim, 1893). A leader who enters a deep and intimate conversation with the unconscious is in the best position to make use of this collective fountain of wisdom. This is no mean task but has the potential to be very rewarding. The conversation needs to be open to all possibilities, you need to “let go” of the need to control for the time being and just see what happens. The self begins to emerge and speak to the consciousness in a dialogue that appears to progress naturally. If you are receptive to this, you will sense that the unconscious slowly becomes more and more transparent in the consciousness. As this happens, it is as though your ego loses its values as the centre of inner events and instead starts to use the unconscious as its frame of reference. Your selfawareness becomes more transparent and less laden with undesirable pretence and your personality becomes whole. Self-improvement that opens up this natural dialogue between consciousness and the unconscious can certainly lead you to realise how limited your prior beliefs and views were. It can also enable you to examine your attitudes, feelings, thoughts, and behaviour in a new light. These realisations can be painful while the network of old prejudices closes in and the way is still being paved for something new. If all goes well, you will get through this period and begin a new phase with a feeling of gratitude for the past, interest in the present, and expectation for the future. This is similar to what Danish philosopher Sören Kierkegaard called life in repeat (Kierkegaard, 2009 [1843]) and Buddhist thinkers call new consciousness, conscientiousness, or mindfulness (Rinpoche, 1994).

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What effect does it have when consciousness is not at the centre of everything? What does it mean to live in the moment? What is it like to experience repetition? How does childhood experience come through as an adult? How does humankind’s collective knowledge appear in your life as an individual?

Utility Modern Western society puts a heavy emphasis on individual (or familial) utility and success in ways that reflect the objectivist philosophy and rational self-interest. Long working hours in competitive environments associated with an expectation of high remuneration and the “survival of the fittest” provide the backdrop to many places of work. On the home front, we can experience

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all sorts of social pressure to “keep up with the Joneses”. A leader completely immersed in this sort of environment can easily forget to allow time to take care of those subjective tasks necessary for the maintenance of a healthy consciousness – and it is precisely this healthy consciousness that is essential if you are going to have a constructive effect on your environment. Neglecting this important task puts you at risk of running into serious trouble as there is a limit to how long it is possible to act as though your inner life – including the unconscious – does not matter or does not exist. We are developed beings and an important spiritual knowledge resides in each person’s unconscious – knowledge that the modern leader can exploit. We should remember that the best leaders of the past who had the biggest and most positive enduring influence on others, and on their society, did so because they also endeavoured to develop their consciousness and selfunderstanding as they developed their leadership role. A leader who wants to achieve real success through their efforts needs to make use of their unconscious knowledge. Tapping into our unconscious knowledge is done best by making it more transparent in the consciousness. This happens when you take the reality of the soul seriously, let it nourish the self and thus provide meaning within to the consciousness, thereby strengthening the self-image. A simpler way of phrasing this is to say that true leaders have “depth” to their personality that draws others around them and gives them the authority to lead. They can view things at such a deep level that circumstances do not deflect them to any great extent. A leader who takes no notice of this is more prone to anxiety, irritability, despair, and depression. Psychological depression can be defined as a condition whereby the ego fails to use the unconscious to maintain itself. In such cases it helps to ask: Why has the “self” dried up? Where is the energy going? What is using it up? Why is there a failure to use it for the maintenance and development of the self? Psychological depression is usually caused by a psychological issue taking up energy that the self and consciousness need. This might be a recollection, doubt, idea, feeling, traumatic memory, or unconscious desire for a life you have not led. Various kinds of neurosis can also develop when the consciousness is trying to do something that clashes with/goes against the unconscious, such as when someone strives for goals that contradict unconscious intentions (Figure 9.2). When you take on a leading role, you might need to make use of all the intra-personal resources you have and so transparency of the unconscious in the consciousness is necessary. This is challenging work, which does not really conclude until you reach the end of your life, but it is also a task that makes life worth living. If you are a leader who works constantly towards this, you will enjoy a well-nourished consciousness, largely free from anxiety. You can look back over your life with a sense of peace and satisfaction and make more out of life’s opportunities. You are independent and do not build your selfimage on what others think (e.g. number of social media followers and “likes” or the real-life equivalent) or from what you own and purchase (such as a fancy

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Figure 9.2 Goals contradicting unconscious intentions can create problems.

car or jewellery). You respect others and are better able to listen to and weigh up advice and take it seriously. Transparency is not self-evident, and people can fear the unconscious or doubt its existence. The danger with this is that those who fear it or doubt it may fail to register important unconscious signals and instead fall victim to its effects. Fears and doubts probably arise because the experience of primitive unconscious urges can threaten the self, consciousness, and self-image; it can also mean facing one’s ghosts – unacceptable inclinations, prejudices, mistakes, indignity, abuse, loss, and shattered dreams. Searching within yourself is time-consuming but if you take it upon yourself to do so you will be better able to enjoy the lucidity of the unconscious and the riches of the soul.

Reflection points: •• •• ••

How much time do you spend listening to your inner self? What method do you use to listen to your inner voice? What do these voices tell you?

Signals Leadership theory in the form of various kinds of practical psychology advises leaders to set goals. While such goal-setting clearly has advantages, it can also aggravate psychological problems. This happens when the goals you set yourself – towards changing your mind-set, changing your feelings, or other changes to your mental functioning – are not realised or your unconscious is not receptive to the change. Your inner life turns against the goals and begins to ruthlessly hammer away at the ego in protest. For example, you may have set a goal to remain in control and be lucid in media interviews but one bad

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public interview later and you are beating yourself up internally, vowing never to face a similar situation again. The most extreme manifestation of this could be paranoia, whereby intolerable goals lead to the feeling that the world is against you, and even that your life and limbs are threatened. In fact, it is the unconscious sending strong signals to the consciousness and depression can also arise when the consciousness has little power of resistance. There are certainly other explanations for paranoia, but this is one that is important to consider. A leader who has fallen prey to paranoia and depression is likely to inflict followers with these problems. Signals transferred from the unconscious to consciousness reflect the leader’s state of being at a deeper level. By interpreting them, you can access useful information about your condition. For the effect of upbringing or society, the signals are in the form of compromises, and hidden in psychological symbols that you need to decode in order to understand them fully. Signals from the unconscious to the conscious are also very personal. They are an intimate conversation between “me” to “me” and have more to do with the self than with your connection with others. It can be the case that the psychological influences, dreams, fantasies, and involuntary thoughts that enter this conversation are often not part of accepted norms in relations between people. While you experience something very personal in this inner dialogue, the nature of it nevertheless helps you boost your knowledge of others because the human motives, desires, needs, and unconscious inclinations are likely to be present in others also. This topic was partly covered in some detail in Chapter 4 where we discussed defence mechanisms of the self and how recognising them within ourselves helps us to understand others. Signals for necessary change sometimes come from external sources; from colleagues, friends, or even opponents. Signals can help you get back on the right track, if you have strayed, but they can also pose a threat to your selfimage. Often it does not take much to threaten self-image and a single rash word can damage it. If peer pressure is applied, it does not take long to influence an individual’s decision-making and there seems to be a tendency for us to adapt our views to the group or accept group decisions even when we know they are wrong. It takes strength and determination to stand up to a group, strength that needs to come from a healthy consciousness that, among other things, demands considerable transparency of the unconscious in consciousness. An imbalance between the conscious and unconscious leads the consciousness to lose touch with itself, and so you lose touch with your inner core that you need in order to be able to withstand external threats and menaces. Factions and power struggles are part and parcel of everything from politics to local charity organisations and there is generally a very small but very significant and vocal minority who thrive in such environments. One way for a leader to steer a middle path and make progress in times of conflict is to be aware of all the signals and noise around them but then largely ignore this and instead demonstrate a commitment to the raison d’etre of the enterprise in question. For example, you can decide to either put your own position or a

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particular motion up for a vote and clearly explain what is at stake (including any values if relevant) and let the issue be decided by popular opinion. This also needs to be conducted in the right way and everybody voting should be able to hear all the relevant facts surrounding an issue. Secret balloting should also be considered in more serious cases as it facilitates people in expressing their true opinions. Historical leaders who managed to cultivate an authoritarian leadership position gradually (but who had no business doing so) were masters at orchestrating the suppression of information, the shouting down and general smearing of opponents, and controlling the sway of opinion leading up to crucial votes in the earlier stages of their rise to power (when voting was still relevant).

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What is your experience of neurosis? How have you experienced a split in reality as others perceive it? When have your reactions been disproportionate to the circumstances that provoked them? What does your unconscious communicate to you from day to day? How do you react to signals from others that you find unsettling?

Vitality The unconscious can influence a leader like the ebb and flow of the tide, sometimes as a rewarding force that can be harnessed and, at other times, as a destructive force that shows no mercy. The unconscious is like a pool of lava that may suddenly break through the surface. Such an invasion of the unconscious into the conscious can both captivate and consume the self. A project leader who knows how to work through this has an advantage that can be used systematically to gain and maintain influence and use it constructively. A project leader who is unable to face these influences from their inner life can be stuck experiencing defence mechanisms of the self with reduced mental stability, stamina, and strength. Film productions are a good example of the type of projects where the vitality of the leader is critical. They often have large budgets and require many things to fall into place before even one scene is shot, let alone a whole film ready for screening. The director and/or producer invariably have to deal with a broad range of setbacks and there are notorious stories over the years of ultimately successful films that had a torrid development period. For example, the original Star Wars movie released in 1977 was a major gamble at the time and few believed it would amount to anything during its production. The amazing self-belief and drive of both the director George Lucas and the producer Gary Kurtz provided the necessary leadership vitality to overcome major obstacles such as an unprecedented rainstorm in Tunisia that destroyed the set and left the crew despondent. PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND SOCIETY 199

How the consciousness responds to the unconscious encroaching upon it determines a leader’s mental resilience. Your respect for your inner life enriches your leadership experience. Your maturity as a leader is based on your psychological ability to attend to your role in harmony with the unconscious, as you are at your best when the unconscious and conscious work together. In this context, each and every one of us needs to find our own way, but the journey requires us to be mature enough to look back through our personal history, scrutinise it, accept it and make peace with it, all the while dealing with the present. Your leadership skills will ultimately be judged according to how well you attend to your followers and projects, and these outcomes depend a lot on how you attend to yourself. If you do not delegate well, increasing instead your own workload in search of perfection, you are likely to experience burnout at some stage in the not too distant future and you will be judged poorly as a result of this. Your connection with your inner self concerns the people around you as much as it does you. Leaders who are in touch with themselves and enjoy good relations with others can, at the same time, exploit what is going on inside them and are better placed to make the most of what both other human beings and the nonhuman environment have to offer (Figure 9.3). It has been noted in this book that there are many ways in which to improve self-control. The same can be said of techniques designed to increase transparency between the unconscious and conscious that maintain a healthy balance in the inner life of a leader. All methods aimed at the latter have one thing in common: they encourage the individual to take it slowly, stay completely focused, scrutinise signals from the unconscious, and face new challenges. The leader’s self-improvement involves maintaining, improving, and developing the self. This entails undertaking a fully conscious examination of

Figure 9.3 Leaders need to be in touch with themselves.

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the unconscious and understanding its effect on your feelings, thoughts, and conduct, as well as on organisations and the community.

Reflection points: •• •• ••

How do you sense what is going on in the unconscious? How does it feel when your unconscious and consciousness work together? Why is it important to go slowly when working towards self-improvement?

Knowledge An underlying theme here is the idea that the unconscious contains knowledge and experience that can provide project leaders with better understanding, sensitivity, and intuition. Psychology has shown that your experiences, even from your first weeks and months of life, stay with you for your entire life. As a project leader, you carry around all that you have gained, adopted, and learned during your upbringing and formative years as emotional and intellectual baggage. You might, for example, have evolved approaches that were useful for you to gain support and popularity during your childhood and adolescence. These methods could still have the intended effect that they had back then – although conceivably not – when it comes to getting others to devote themselves to your cause. For this reason, we have argued that it is healthy for leaders to understand well the correlation between their inner life – feelings, attitudes, thoughts – and external reality. Then, when you have made a connection with your unconscious, and worked with it constructively, you are more likely to find yourself in a position to find solutions to life’s problems and live in harmony with your own urges and desires and with yourself and others. American psychologist Abraham Maslow saw the sense in studying those people who had best managed to reach their full potential and used the term self-actualisation to describe this process. Maslow’s psychology is humanistic, which means that the emphasis is on human endeavours and their potential. According to Maslow, what characterises you if you are a leader who has reached your self-actualisation goals is that you have dedicated yourself to something bigger than yourself. Your needs are reflected in values that have more to do with “being” than “doing”, such as beauty, truth, kindness, and simplicity (Maslow, 1971). According to Maslow, as a leader who has self-actualised, you: (1) dedicate yourself completely to your work; (2) understand that life is a choice between options that add to your development and options that dwindle your maturity; (3) believe in the reality of the self and have more trust in it than in external influences; (4) choose honesty and make decisions based thereon; (5) always strive to do your best; (6) have a real interest in understanding the defence mechanisms of the self and are more aware of how you use them; and (7) try to see the best in other people, understand and honour their sanctity. PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND SOCIETY 201

Maslow would have liked to see all leaders strive for self-actualisation, but he was also conscious of the reluctance to do this, which he called the Jonah complex. This is a reference to the biblical story of the prophet Jonah who did not have the courage to tackle his demanding leadership mission and feared his own greatness. The truth is that many of us not just fear our own weaknesses, but also our strengths, and this is both a blessing and curse of adulthood. On the other hand, it is a sign of healthy development when people can enjoy life and play like children.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

What methods do children use to influence others? What methods do adults use to influence others? What is self-actualisation? What is humanism?

Paradox A paradox is a statement that appears to contradict itself but might be true (or false). The paradox here is that sometimes focusing a microscope (a metaphor for one’s thoughts) inwards provides a clearer view of the big picture: often when you pay better attention to your inner life and have resolved most of those issues from the past that needed resolving, you also start to pay better attention to other people. This minimises your tendency to project onto others and you start to see them for who they are. There is also a paradox inherent in the way that our individual tendencies reflect collective tendencies, and enhanced self-knowledge thus leads to an increased ability to understand other people. Most people are familiar with this, for example, from their experience of love and the enriching coalescence with another human being that this creates; both parties sense in each other what is special, individual, and personal, but also what is in common. Psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is one of many in the field of psychology to address this important experience. Csikszentmihalyi’s notion of flow describes a condition that arises when an individual or group of people is completely focused on what they are doing, such that a sense of success, purpose, and motivation is created. To leaders who experience flow, it is as though everything is as good as it could be and that whatever they are trying to achieve will come to fruition. Flow requires: (1) clear goals; (2) concentration and undivided attention; (3) actions to merge together with consciousness; (4) direct answers; (5) demands to accord with ability; (6) a sense of control over tasks and situations; (7) worthy assignments; (8) captivation; and (9) becoming oblivious to temporal concerns (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988; 1990; 1996). It is also worth pointing out that the creative experience of

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flow can come about regardless of whether conduct is morally sound, and its value should be examined in light of both critical and ethical considerations. Children experience flow when at play, and adults through their coexistence, conversations, art, culture, and scientific and religious practice (Ulanov, 2000; 2004). The experience is a sense of being truly alive. Many people know this state of being as catharsis, but catharsis is an experience of instant transparency, influenced for example by a theatrical or musical work, creative play, or a successful and constructive therapy session.

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

When have you experienced flow? How can you support a state of flow in the team? When have you experienced catharsis? How can you help yourself experience catharsis in the future? How can you help others reach a state of catharsis?

Developmental alternatives You have many options when it comes to developing your personality, some of which we have described above. But you need to find a method that suits you. Many techniques for developing specific aspects of character can benefit your character as a whole. Thinkers and scholars are constantly coming up with theories and strategies of how to attain self-understanding and development. Most often these are repetitions of old ideas, because when it comes to spiritual development, self-help, and salvation, there is little under the sun that is new. Broadly speaking, self-improvement aims to define our self-identity by a process of integration and differentiation. Integration entails taking what is desirable and making it part of the self – integrating it into the consciousness. Differentiation is the complementary process of identifying and tossing overboard whatever is not desired in the consciousness. Both require you to define who you want to be and who you do not want to be. The trick is to embrace the desirable and shun the undesirable characteristics. Some of these self-improvements may be straightforward – it is quite easy to rid oneself of traits that are not deeply embedded. But be prepared for other traits to demand a greater effort and more targeted treatment. Development during adulthood involves processing the experiences of growing up and opening yourself up to the future and to other people (Figure 9.4). You make peace with those who raised you, other influential figures, and prior experiences. You decide whether you want to identify yourself through the effect of these influences, expand beyond them, or wipe your consciousness clean of them. Most of this process happens entirely unconsciously.

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Figure 9.4 Leaders need to be able to be in touch with others.

However, it is something that you can undertake consciously. This work can entail various kinds of meditation; sitting quietly, focusing all your attention – on one point, one word, or something else – and seeing what happens. You observe your thoughts and feelings, much like watching trains come and go at a busy station. Instead of hopping aboard, you stay put and concentrate fully and solely on observing as the thoughts and feelings approach the platform, come to a stop, and then move on. This development process is similar to the experience of an individual practising religion. He or she engages in spiritual exercises, strives to live a virtuous life, and/or uses psychological methods of self-discipline. There are many examples of people reaching a higher state of enlightenment through such meditation, such as the Buddha’s 49-day meditation under the Bodhi tree. The aim of such practice is to stay focused and not be distracted or led astray by whatever is invading your conscious thoughts. Clearly some kind of contemplation occurs, but you focus on your breath, a particular word, an image you have before you, or a mantra that you chant to reach something significant. You then scrutinise psychological representations, affections, thoughts, or feelings that arise and have distracted you. But you do not follow any of this up; you are a spectator and you simply observe. This may seem at first a rather passive undertaking but is in fact extremely active and demands fortitude because of the internal opposition to remaining

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still and quiet for a time that you are likely to feel. It is not unlikely that when memories start to surface, you will feel a resistance to digging around in the past and tracing experiences back in time to revisit joy, hardship, pain, and memory. But failing to examine your roots and your intentions can result in you becoming involved in projects that you think may make practical sense but are in fact only fulfilling a very personal need. In the social environment, this means that your awareness of who you were, are, and want to be relies solely on other people as a frame of reference. Experiencing the life of the unconscious and scrutinising what it contains means that you will gradually begin to see through yourself and understand that even your most naive desires are closely related to humanity’s most sublime purposes. Thus greed, lust, anger, and envy, for example, are no less indications of something important than joy, love, and hope. It is vital to acknowledge this for yourself and then address your emotions carefully and responsibly. With increasing maturity your fear of the unconscious diminishes, and you begin to understand better the signals coming from the unconscious. Many such signals are indications of something important that can open up new insights. In this way, the path to development runs from the consciousness down into the unconscious and then up again to the consciousness. The primitive is thus an indication of the richness of the soul. In order to enjoy spiritual wealth, however, you may need to surrender yourself to the possibility of something new and unconventional. Everyone can experience this because everyone has an unconscious side to them and the potential to access it (Ulanov, 2000; 2004).

Reflection points: •• •• •• •• ••

What meditation techniques have you tried? What does living in the moment entail? What makes you unique? What is individuation? What do you need to do to adopt a life of individuation?

The project leadership mission In light of all this, you may ask: Why should I put myself forward and take on a project leadership role? Does it accord with my concept of virtue? Does it pay? Is it my duty? Is it simply the “done thing”? Or is it because it can be so rewarding and important for my self-understanding, development, and maturity? At this point it seems appropriate to refer to one of the leaders in modern times – American entrepreneur, cartoonist, animator, and producer: Walt Disney (1901–1966). While, like all of us, he was not beyond criticism, he nevertheless embodied the sense of vitality and transparency that we have

PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND SOCIETY 205

been discussing in this book. Here are a handful of his more famous quotes that support this view: “Leadership means that a group, large or small, is willing to trust authority to a person who has shown judgement, wisdom, personal appeal and proven competence”. “Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion no matter where it is exercised. Usually it implies some risk – especially in new undertakings”. “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me”. “We don’t make movies to make money. We make money to make movies”. It was the case that Walt Disney had that unusual combination of boundless energy, clear long-term vision and belief, ability to spot and recognise talent in others and manage it, perseverance both in convincing others to give support and realising final goals, and a natural intuition as to what would really work in the end. He gathered together numerous highly talented individuals who often had contradictory personalities and styles. He deserves huge credit for being able to have them work together as a team to produce something that was far more than the sum of its parts. While he is not entirely responsible for the leadership aspect that lay behind all the famous work associated with him, he nonetheless set up and maintained the overall environment in which the talents of his young employees were fostered. The main creators were given the scope to express themselves and demonstrate and expand their abilities. It could also be said that many of these attributes were shared by Alex Ferguson, the football manager who led Manchester United for 27 years (1986–2013) and was an exceptional manager of individuals and their egos and talents, all for the greater good of the team, and whose track record speaks for itself in terms of results. If we stand back, we can see that a project leadership role is an interesting developmental opportunity and an exciting way to test our character. Project leadership places constant demands on you as an individual and repeatedly draws your attention to aspects of your personality that could do with some refining. Whoever takes on a leadership role in projects is thus, like a rough diamond, being smoothed and polished. The leader’s task involves working towards both integration and separation. Integration is to accept yourself; separation is to reject consciously and decisively those elements that you do not want to reside within you. The latter can be challenging because the self may feel threatened and go on the defensive. As explained in the preceding chapters, it can be difficult to break free from tendencies and mental attitudes that the self has been using as a prop to sustain itself for a long time. To make peace with your past – including the contribution of those who brought you up and other influential figures – the self may need to relive episodes from

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the past and feel their impact, before it will be possible for emotions, views, thinking, or behaviour to change. As a good leader, you pay attention to yourself and constantly work at improving yourself right from the outset. In order to be able to do this, your consciousness needs to be flexible enough to sift through the past, remain anchored in the present, and focus on the future with purpose and conviction. You manage this approach using whatever comes from your soul or innermost self, but also apply your ingenuity, moral sense, and practical knowledge. In other words, you work at promoting the fair, the true, and the perfect, fully aware that your contribution to society is unique and important. You should aim to be spicy – a “salt of the earth” – rather than let yourself become bland and dull. Our discussion has focused on both objective and subjective leadership skills. The emphasis has been on you respecting your feelings and thinking independently, all the while using the best available knowledge of project management. You thus need to apply your vision and goal setting to yourself and to your team in equal measure. This takes boldness, determination, and flexibility.

Reflection points: •• •• •• ••

Why should you take on a leading role? What is your experience of spiritual life? What does it mean for a leader to be the “salt of the earth”? What leader inspires you the most and why?

End of the road? We have come to the end of our journey. We began by discussing the importance of understanding objective and subjective leadership skills. In leadership theory, a distinction is sometimes made between soft and hard elements, as though “never the twain shall meet”. Soft elements concern people, society, morals, and the psyche, while hard elements revolve around technology, science, measurability, and business. Based on this division, the humanities and social sciences vision of leadership would be soft – concerning the subjective and everything that is difficult to pin down – and the leadership vision coming from engineering, the technological sciences, and economics would be hard – concerning cold, hard facts. Why should you pay any attention to your subjective, inner reality when you are setting out to influence and change the external reality? What has the economy of the mind to do with the global economy? What can you hope to find when you look inwards? Why should leadership primarily be about handling your emotions, attitudes, and thoughts – as this book proposes – and secondary about dealing with external reality? The answer to this lies in the fact that the history

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Figure 9.5 You are a leader that stands out in society.

of mankind is full of good advice from people who encouraged others to pursue self-understanding and advised their contemporaries to turn their attention inwards first – and then outwards. Sages from various times and cultures have pointed out that the path to development leads first into the inner world of the unconscious, emotions, and thoughts before heading out into society again. It is certainly useful to journey extensively in the outer world, to travel out to the furthest reaches to enrich your understanding, but not at the expense of getting to know your inner self and navigating your way through its dimensions (Figure 9.5). Your self contains your basic sense of who you are, and your self-awareness is one of the leader’s key tools to deal with others. You inevitably wrestle with yourself and consciousness as you take on this sensitive reality in others. It is vital for future leaders to have ample knowledge of the nature of this important phenomenon and the skill to work with it in themselves and others. Here we conclude our discussion of leadership skills with a particular emphasis on the leader’s self-understanding, maturity, and development. The path from theory to practice can be long and steep, but we hope that your experience of this book has inspired you to reflect on your current or future leadership role and encouraged you to take another look at your leadership style. It is now up to you to continue the journey towards truly transparent and inspiring leadership – to step forward and do your bit to make a happy life in a just society.

References Bergson, Henri (1910). Time and free will: An essay on the immediate data of consciousness. London: George Allen & Unwin.

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Bergson, Henri (1911). Creative evolution. New York: Henry Holt & Company. Bohm, David (1998). On creativity, Ed. Lee Nichol. London: Routledge. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1988). Optimal experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper & Row. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1996). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper & Row. Durkheim, Émile (1984 [1893]). The division of labour in society, transl. W. D. Halls. London: Macmillan. Jung, C. G. (1954). The development of personality, Volume 17 of the collected works of C. G. Jung, Transl. R. F. C. Hull. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press/Bollingen. Jung, C. G. (1957). The undiscovered self. New York: American Library. Jung, C. G. (1962). Symbols of transformation: An analysis of the prelude to a case of schizophrenia (book 2, transl. R. F. C. Hull). New York: Harper & Brothers. Kierkegaard, Sören (2009 [1843]). Repetition and philosophical crumbs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Maslow, Abraham (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York: Viking Press. Rinpoche, Sogyal (1994). The Tibetan book of living and dying. New York: HarperCollins. Simondon, Gilbert (2007). L’individuation psychique et collective, Bernard Stiegler. Paris: Aubier. Stiegler, Bernard (2004). La catastrophè du sensible; De la misère symbolique (book 1) and L’époque hyperindustrielle (book 2). Paris: Galilée. Stiegler, Bernard (2009). “The theater of individuation: Phase-shift and resolution in Simondon and Heidegger.” Parrhesia, 7, 46–57. Ulanov, Ann Belford (2000). The wisdom of the psyche. Einsiedeln, Switzerland: Daimon Verlag. Ulanov, Ann Belford (2004). Spiritual aspects of clinical work. Einsiedeln, Switzerland: Daimon Verlag.

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Index

Page numbers in bold refer to tables and italics to figures. 360°  evaluation 109 2008 financial crisis 7, 159 acting out 87 active entries 40 active imagination 143–45 active listening 186, 187 active rest 52 adaptation 19, 21, 51, 64–65, 84, 94, 105, 107, 178, 198 addiction 56 altered states of consciousness 71 altruistic behaviour 85 always right thinking 61 anger 6, 68, 83, 87, 90, 92, 100 anxiety 86–87, 89, 93; neurotic 84; real 84 Apel, Karl-Otto 167 archetypes 126 Aristotle 68, 163; De Anima 68 asceticism 93–94 assistance, and stress 62 attachment 81 authority 9–11, 14–16, 61, 169, 196 autocratic leadership 15 bad self-objects 52, 189 balance 63–64 “Banksy” 85 Baum, Herb, The Transparent Leader 20 Beck, Aaron T. 46 behaviour 46; changing 46, 47; reflections on 50 behavioural/cognitive modification 45 Bentham, Jeremy 164–65 Bergson, Henri 193 Big Five Factors 20, 21 blame thinking 60 Blaxter, Mildred Lillington 77

blocking 141–42 Bloom, Benjamin 133 bodily self 111–12 body-mind awareness 103 Bohm, David 194 Bowlby, John 81 bullying 62 bureaucratic leadership 15 burnout 59, 65, see also stress bystander apathy 88 Cartesian Dualism 68 Carveth, D. L. 119 catastrophising 60 categorical imperatives 166, 167 central nervous system 45–46 challenges, responses to 53 change others thinking 61 character ethics, see virtue ethics character psychology 46 Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (Peterson and Seligman) 52 character traits 20, 21 charismatic leadership 15 childhood 5, 6, 194, 201 children 3–4, 5; as examples 52, 56 Churchill, Winston 80 coaching 45–46, 133 cognitive-behavioural psychology 45–46, 62, 133 cognitive distortions 60–61 Coifman, K. G. 101 collective consciousness 194–95 common sense 134 communication 120–21 communities of inquiry 188, 189 complexes 101, 102, 121, 202

 211

compulsive behaviour 93 computational theory of mind 68–69 conceptual thinking 187–88 Cone-Farran, A. M. 70 conflict, and indifference 158 consciousness 46, 107, 122, 125, 194, 196, 198 consensus leadership 17 contingent leadership 19 control thinking 60 creative processes 140–41, 146 creative teamwork 138–40 creative techniques 150–51 creative thinking 131–32, 141, 143, 149–51 creativity 135–36, 139, 142, 145, 150 critical thinking 132, 177, 180, 182, 183, 188 Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly 135–36, 138, 202–03 cultural leadership 18 curiosity 176 De Anima (Aristotle) 68 De Bono, Edward 147, 148 death instincts 117 decision-making 118, 198; integrated 114–15 deductive reasoning 183 defence mechanisms: 82–84, 94–96, 118, 199; acting out 87; altruistic behaviour 85; asceticism 93–94; denial 47, 93; devaluation 89; displacement 92; fantasising 88–89; grandiosity 89–90; humour 84–85; identification 89; intellectualisation 86; intimacy 84; isolation of affect 86; projection 87–88; rationalisation 86; regression 86–87; repression 93, 100–101; somatisation 92, 101; splitting 91; sublimination 85; suppression 93; turning against yourself 90; undoing 92; withdrawal 87 democracy, and responsibility 4 democratic leadership 17–18 denial 47, 53, 93 depression 51–52, 56, 90, 196, 198 Descartes, René  68, 183 descriptive ethics 155–56 devaluation 89 dialectics of growth/development 9 dialogue 179–80 differentiation 203 discourse ethics 167 discussions 179, 180

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Disney, Walt 205–06 displacement 92 disputes/disagreements, and lack of insight 55–56 Domasio, Antonio 105 draughtsmen 57 dreams 126, 127, 128, 143–44; recording 124, 126, 145 Durkheim, Émile 194–95 duty-based ethics 166, 167 economical model of the mind 105, 116–20, 123 efficiency 37–38 ego 105, 112, 114, 117–18, 120, 195–98 eliminative materialists 103 Ellis, Albert 46, 132–33 emotional intelligence 19, 178–79 emotional repressors 101 emotional thinking 60 emotions 133, 178; development of 6 emotions/feelings 114–16 empathy 17, 21, 54, 66, 76, 88, 107, 109–10, 146, 165, 167, 169–70, 178 empowerment 102 energisation, see psychological energisation energy 100, 116, 121, 196 engineers 57 environmental leadership 19 Erikson, Erik, Identity and the Life Cycles 4, 5 eschatology 41 ethical guidelines 158 ethics 21, 155–56, 159, 170; of care 169–70; descriptive 155–56; discourse 167; rights based 167, 168; utility 164, 165; virtue 162, 163 ethics of care 169–70 evaluation, of your personal strategic plans 30, 31 exam preparation 53 examples, head chef 47–48 exhaustion 64 existentalism 78 external stimuli 113 fairness thinking 60 fallicies 184 familial self 111–12 fantasising 88–89 fantasy 135 fatigue 64 feelings/emotions 114–16

fellowship 52 Ferguson, Alex 206 filter thinking 60 firefighters 57–58 first mover advantage 137 flow theory 135, 202–03 focus, on situations 55 football (leadership examples) 12 formal power 9 forward planning 76 four dimensions of creativity 150 frame of mind 132 Frankl, Viktor, Man’s Search For Meaning 113 free will 168 Freud, Sigmund 105, 116–20, 128 Gandhi, Mahatma 94, 158 gap analysis 31, see also SWOT analysis Geiger, John 70 global label thinking 61 goal-setting 197–98 goals: defining 48; personal/professional 32, 33, 38 Goleman, Daniel 178 good self-objects 52, 189 grandiosity 89–90 Greek philosophers 175–76, 190 group mirroring 109–10 group therapy 109, 110 Groves, Andrew 141 guilt 118–19 Habermas, Jü rgen 167 habits 45–46, 50 happiness 156, 164–65 Harper, Robert A. 132–33 health 76–80; and leadership 75–76 healthy diets 51, 79 Hegel, George Wilhelm Friedrich 9 higher order thinking 132–35, 145–46 Hobbes, Thomas 167–68 honesty: and communication 62; self 50 human life-cycles 5, 6 human self-consciousness 5 humanitarian projects (leadership examples) 12 humour 62, 84–85 hypothetical imperatives 167 iceberg theory 107 id 105–06, 117–18, 120, 143–44 ideas 181–82 identification 89

Identity and the Life Cycles (Erikson) 4, 5 identity negotiation theories 82 imagination 11, 40–41, 89, 108, 126, 131, 135, 143, 144 implicit cognitive behaviour 67 Individual Competence Baseline (ICB4) 1 individuation 69, 146–47, 193, 194 inducive reasoning 183 ingenuity 133–37 inner calm, need for 113 inner life 113–14, 191, 200 inner worlds, and leadership 7 instincts 102, 106, 117–18 integration 203, 206 intellectualisation 86 intelligence 177–79 intensive journaling 40 internal conflict 68 internal stimulation 113, 114 International Project Management Association (IPMA, 2015) 1 interpersonal leadership 5 intimacy 67, 84–85 intrapersonal leadership 5 introversion 82 intuition 68 investment 116 irrational thinking 145–46 isolation of affect 86 Jacobs, John 7 James, William 45–46 Jonah complex 202 Jones, Jim 7, 120 journals 146, 161; leadership 49; personal/ professional 39–41, see also dreams jumping to conclusions 60 Jung, Carl G. 5, 6, 41, 69, 123–25, 127, 143–45, 193 Kandel, Eric 105 Kant, Immanuel 166–67 karate practitioners 57 Kierkegaard, Sö ren 195 The King’s Speech (2010) 121 Klein, Stanley 103 knowledge 201–02; questions about 54 Kristjansson, Kristjan 108; The Self and Its Emotions 104 laissez-faire leadership 14 lateral thinking 147 leaders: attributes of 120–21; defined 37; difficult 11; opponents of 81;

Index 213

and project management 53, see also leadership leadership: in 12 Angry Men 181; attributes of 107; defining 2–3, 10, 13; ethical 169–71; moral 157–59; need for support 13; and personal experiences 3–4; results-oriented nature of 35; thought 132; translational 132; understanding 1–2; vs. management 10–11 leadership development, paths towards 5 leadership journals 49 leadership mission 9–11 leadership resourcefulness 187 leadership roles 205–07 leadership skills 8 leadership styles 12–13, 21–22; controlling 14–16; participatory 16–18; situational 18–20; and teams 11; transparent 20, 21, 22, see also individual leadership styles leadership theory 19, 197–98 learned behaviour 6, 105 Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life (Seligman) 156 Liber Novus (Jung) 41 Locke, John 167–68 logic 183–84 logical sense 175 management: defining 11; vs. leadership 10–11 managerial leadership 14 manipulation, and leaders 119–20 Man’s Search For Meaning (Frankl) 113 Maslow, Abraham 201–02 measurable objectives 33, 34 meditation 52–53, 62, 204 meetings journals 40 mental exercise 51 mental health 77, 94, 122 Mental Health Foundation 122 milestones 49 Miletia 175 Mill, John Stuart 164–65 mind-body awareness 103 mind-body problem 68 mindfulness 62 missions 28, 29 Moore, Gordon 141 moral dilemmas 160–61 moral hazards 159 moral sense 134, 158, 161 moral thinking 155

214  I ndex

morale 76 morality 155–58 mountaineers 57 multiple intelligence 19 narcissism 7 Nastovic, I. 101 need for change, accepting 47 needs, addressing by leaders 66–67 negative thinking 68, 133 neuro-psychoanalysis 105 neuroplasticity 105 neuroscience 105 neuroscientists 99 neurotic anxiety 84 Noyce, Robert 139 object-relations theory 118–19 objective leadership factors 12 objectives, measurable 33, 34 obsessive-compulsive disorders 101 open-mindedness 179–81 overgeneralisation 60 Panksepp, Jaak 118 paradoxes 202–03 paranoia 198 passive-aggressiveness 90–91 people of faith 58 performance criteria 36 personal experiences, and leadership 3–4 personal insight 55–56 personal/professional journals 39–41 personal/professional tasks 34, 35, 36–38 personal strategic planning 25, 26, 27–32, 35 personalisation thinking 60 personas 112 Peterson, Chris 52 physical exercise 51 pianists 58 Plato 181–82 play 5, 52, 56, 202 positive psychology 45–46, 51–52, 133, 156 practical sense 134 primary process thinking 143, 146–47 private self 111–12 problem solving 53 problems, identifying 48 procrastination 55 project leadership 155, 205–07; overview 1 project management 53

project successes 35–36 projection 87–88 projective identification 88 psychological bullying 62 psychological conditions 119 psychological energisation 100, 102 psychological health 79 psychological treatment 82–83 questions/reflections 11, 96; about creativity 140, 145, 151; about stress 62, 65; about yourself 2, 32, 34, 67, 99, 103, 109, 112; on anxiety 84; authority 16; on balance 64; on changing behaviour 50; on consciousness 195, 201; creativity 140, 142, 145, 151; decision-making 114; defense mechanisms 85, 87, 90, 92, 94, 96; defining leadership 3; ego and id 120; on emotion 116; ethics 157, 164–67, 169, 171; on flow 203; Greek philosophers 176, 182; on health 76; on home/family 7; on identity 82, 108; individuation 205; influence 202; ingenuity 149; intelligence 179; on leaders 10, 11, 189, 207; leadership styles 16, 18, 20; meditation 205; morality 155–57, 159–61; openmindedness 181; personal strategic planning 26, 38–39; on reasoning 185; on self 108; self-control 54, 56, 71; self-management 54, 59, 123; on the soul 191; on symbols 125; on thoughts/ thinking 133, 135, 138, 147, 177; virtues 162, 164; WRAITEC 185–87; your leadership 13; on your mission 29; on your needs 67; your values 27; your vision 30; on yourself 103, 112, 197, 199 rational emotive therapy (RET) 132–33 rational self-interest 195–96 rationalisation 86 real anxiety 84 reality 117–18, 182–83 reasoning 183 reciprocity 9–10, 16 reducive materialists 103 regression 86–87 Reiterman, Tim 7 relations-oriented processes 63 relationship-oriented leadership 13 relaxation 63 reliability 157–58 repression 93, 100–01

respect 9–10; loss of 55 responding, vs. reacting 113 responsibility 157 rest 52, 65 return on investment 116–17 reward thinking 61 rights 168 rights-based ethics 167, 168 Rock, Arthur 139 role models 89, 158; seeking 8 Salt March 158 secondary process thinking 143, 146 secrecy 63 the self 103, 104, 105–09, 112, 115, 196, 199, 208; in others 109 self-actualisation 201–02 self-analysis 83 The Self and Its Emotions, (Kristjansson) 104 self-awareness 6, 189, 208 self-consciousness 122 self-control 46, 54–55; questions about 54, 56 self-enhancement 81 self-esteem 6–7, 111 self-expression 131 self-image 52, 81, 90, 93, 104, 108–12, 121, 189, 203 self-improvement 193–95, 200–01, 203–04 self-management 3, 46, 49, 51–54, 66, 120–23; questions about 59 self-objects 52 self-reflection 38, 45, 125; importance of 3 Self Traps: The Elusive Quest for Higher Self-Esteem (Swann) 81 self-verification theory 81 self-worth 6–7 Seligman, Martin 52; Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life 156 semi-conductors, development of 136–37 servant leadership 17 service leadership 17 Sevigny, James 70 Sevincer, A. T. 100 sexual instincts 117 Shackleton, Ernest 66, 70 shadows 125 “shoulds” thinking 60 signal anxiety 93 signals 197–98, 205

Index 215

Simondon, Gilbert 193 Simpson, Joe, Touching The Void 70 Sinason, M. D. A. 70 singers 58 situations, and leadership 45 six thinking hats 147, 148, 149 Skinner, B. F. 46 sleep 52, 102 SMART objectives 33 social capital 63 social self 111–12 Socrates 104, 176–77 solitude 52 Solms, M. 118 solutions, defining 48 somatisation 92, 101 soul 189, 190, 191, 196 spiritual journals 40–41 splitting 91 stages of development 5 stakeholders, leaders neglecting 37 stammering 121 Star Wars (1977) 199 Stiegler, Bernard 193 stress 59, 65, 100, 116; coping with 61–63; and good leadership 66–67; and productivity 61; questions about 62, 65; responses to 59, 60, see also burnout stress management 62, 85 stressors 29, 59, 61, 66, 100–102, 116 structural theory 105 structure 140–42 subconscious, see also the Unconscious sublimination 85 super-ego 117, 118, 119 support leadership 17 suppression 93 Swann, William Jr. 81; Self Traps: The Elusive Quest for Higher Self-Esteem 81 SWOT analysis 31 symbols 125, 145 Tallis, Raymond 103 task-oriented leadership 13 task-oriented processes 63 teams: health 75–76; morale of 76; needs of 66–67

216  I ndex

temporal bracketing 86 ten step method 47–50 tension, diffusing 62 Tesla, Nikola 101 The Transparent Leader (Baum) 20 thinking 134, 178 thinking hats 147–48, 148, 149 Third Man Factor 69–70 Thomas Aquinas 68–69 thought leadership 132, 134 Tillich, Paul 77–80 tiredness 64 Touching The Void (Simpson) 70 transactional leadership 15–16 transformational leadership 18 translational leadership 132 transparency 63, 165, 190, 196–97, 200; and journaling 39 transparent leadership 20, 21, 22 trauma, impacts of 6–7, 100 true self 112 turning against yourself 90 Ulanov, Ann Belford 20, 122 Ulanov, Barry 122 the Unconscious 67–71, 101, 121, 122, 125, 143–45, 194–96, 198–201, 205 undoing 92 unrealistic goals 38 utilitarianism 164 utility 195–97 utility ethics 164, 165 values 27, 51–52, 160–62 vertical thinking 147 virtue ethics 162, 163 virtues 51–52, 157 vision, determining 29, 30 vitality 199–201 voting 199 willpower 66–67 Winnicott, Donald 4 withdrawal 87 work/life balance 56 WRAITEC 185–88