,INTRODUCTION
THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY
It is a magical night—one of those rare December evenings when the cold and the warmth mix
just right to blanket everything with big, fluffy, crystalline flakes of snow. Everything looks so
perfect; everything feels so silent. As the snow deepens so does the silence in the atmosphere. I
could be viewing this mesmerizing winter scene from a chalet in Switzerland, but I’m not. I’m in
bumper-to-bumper traffic on a Minneapolis freeway, and oddly enough, I’m enjoying every
minute of it.
Being in a car at rush hour can be either a prison or a monastic retreat. It all depends on your
perspective. Does it really matter that I’m going to be late? Even though I could feel stressed, I
don’t. I could use this time to listen to messages and catch up on calls. Instead, I welcome the
opportunity to sit in the quiet, and to reflect. As I sink into a meditative state, I begin to think about
my day. And, what a day it was—a rich mixture of purpose, passion, emotion, and concentrated
learning.
Our coaching team finished guiding a senior executive of a major company through our Executive
to Leader Institute®. It was an intensive, rewarding three days. We helped the client master a career-
life-leadership plan by integrating a comprehensive look at his professional and personal life. In a
way, we helped him to step back and observe himself just as I was observing the snowfall—clearly,
objectively, and appreciatively. At the end of the last session he said, “You know, I’ve been
through all sorts of assessments, coaching, and development programs. This is the first time things
have really made sense to me. I’ve gotten pieces of the puzzle before, but never the whole picture.
I clearly understand where I’m at, where I’m headed, and what I need to do to really enhance my
effectiveness. What would my organization be like if a critical mass of leaders mastered the same
sense of personal conviction and clarity I have now?”
As the snow piles up, I’m feeling very fortunate. To help people connect to their purposeful
potential occasionally would be lucky. But, to coach thousands of leaders, teams, and organizations
for nearly 30 years and play a role in helping people and organizations to actualize their potential
is deeply rewarding. I’m feeling very blessed, when suddenly I snap out of my thoughtful state
and catch a glimpse of the clock. I’m an hour late! When the heck is this snow going to let up!
My good fortune goes beyond playing a role in the growth and development of leaders, teams, and
organizations. I’ve learned a great deal along the way. I’ve had the opportunity to peek into the
human dynamics supporting sustainable success, fulfillment, and effectiveness. I’ve learned also
that these principles are not reserved for a few exceptional leaders. They are fundamental insights
available to guide and to inspire us all.
Give me beauty in the inward soul; may the outward and inward man be at one.
—Socrates
,While reading this book you may think, “Is this book about leadership, or is it about personal
development?” It’s about both. As much as we try to separate the leader from the person, the two
are totally inseparable. Unfortunately, many people tend to split off the act of leadership from the
person, team, or organization. We tend to view leadership as an external event. We only see it as
something people do. The view of this book is different. Leadership is not simply something we
do. It comes from a deeper reality within us; it comes from our values, principles, life experiences,
and essence. Leadership is a process, an intimate expression of who we are. It is our whole person
in action. Corey Seitz, Vice President Global Talent Management for Johnson & Johnson, shared
this perspective with me: “The essence of leadership and executive development is growing the
whole person to grow the whole leader. This means helping key people to connect their core values
and core talents to their organization, to their customers, and to their lives. If leadership programs
do that, then sustainable performance can be achieved, for leaders and for the organizations they
serve.”
Anyone can lead, and there is no single chief executive officer: There is a problem of getting
used to the idea of no single chief, but the passage of time will allay that.
—Robert Greenleaf
We lead by virtue of who we are. Some people reading this book will make breakthroughs and then
lead their own lives more effectively. Others will develop themselves and passionately lead major
organizations to new heights. Whether we are at an early stage in our career, a mid-level manager,
or a senior executive, we are all CEOs of our own lives. The only difference is the domain of
influence. The process is the same; we lead from who we are. The leader and the person are one.
As we learn to master our growth as a person, we will be on the path to mastery of Leadership
from the Inside Out.
What does mastery of leadership mean to you? To many people it is mastery of something:
mastery of the skill to be a dynamic public speaker, mastery of strategic planning and
visioning, mastery of consistent achievements and results. Instead of being seen as an ongoing,
internal growth process, mastery is usually seen as mastery of something outside of ourselves.
When you think about it, it’s no wonder that our ideas about mastery and leadership tend to be
externalized. Our training, development, and educational systems focus on learning about things.
We learn what to think, not how to think. We learn what to do, not how to be. We learn what to
achieve, not how to achieve. We learn about things, not the nature of things. We tend to fill up the
container of knowledge but rarely consider comprehending it, expanding it, or using it more
effectively. In organizations, this external pattern continues. As leaders of organizations and
communities, we receive recognition for our external mastery. Our success is measured by the
degree to which we have mastered our external environment. Revenue, profit, new product
breakthroughs, cost savings, and market share are only some of the measures of our external
competencies. Few would question the value of achieving and measuring external results. That
isn’t the real issue. The core questions are: Where do the external results come from? Is focusing
on external achievement the sole source of greater accomplishment? Could it be that our single-
minded focus on external results is causing us to miss the underlying dynamics supporting
sustainable peak performance? Malcolm Forbes said, “Only a handful of companies understand
, that all successful business operations come down to three basic principles: People, Product, Profit.
Without TOP people, you cannot do much with the others.”
Our definitions of leadership also tend to be externalized. Most descriptions of leadership focus
on the outer manifestations of leadership (i.e., vision, innovation, results, drive, etc.), instead of
getting to the fundamental, essence of leadership itself. For years, many companies came to us
with their beautiful leadership models. One day I had a meeting with representatives from one of
these companies. When they walked into my office, I noticed that they were carrying an imposing,
massive document. They dropped it onto my desk with a thud. When I asked them what it was,
they said with obvious pride, “This is our leadership competency model.” A bit taken aback by its
size, I said, “Gee, it looks pretty big. How many competencies are in there?” With a knowing
confidence, they said, “Eighty-four.” Not sure how to respond to this, but wanting to provoke their
thinking, I asked, “Have you ever met one?” The certainty in their eyes disappeared. Their faces
twisted into puzzlement, and they asked, “What do you mean?” I explained. “In the whole history
of civilization have you ever met anyone who has all these qualities at all times in all
circumstances? In your organization have you ever met anyone with all these qualities?” They said
that they hadn’t, and I pressed further. “But you want everybody to have all 84 competencies all
the time, right?” We went back and forth like this until finally I made my point. Companies create
perfection myths about what they want or expect of leaders. Although aspiring to all those
competencies may be noble, it also would be unrealistic to find all of them embodied in a real
person.
The essence of leadership is not giving things or even providing visions. It is offering oneself
and one’s spirit.
—Lee Bolman and
Terrance Deal
We are not saying that we do not support competency models. In fact, we help companies globally
build leadership competency models directly correlated to their business strategies. But when
competency models are perfectionist, mythical, and unconnected to the business needs, they are
counterproductive.
As a result of seeing too many of these mythical competency models, we decided to step back and
look at the most effective clients that we had coached at LeaderSource over the last 30 years. After
reviewing thousands of personality assessments and 360° assessments, we challenged ourselves
with the question, “What is fundamental to the most effective, results-producing leaders that
supports their various competencies or styles?” Three patterns became clear:
1. Authenticity: Well-developed self-awareness that openly faces strengths, vulnerabilities, and
development challenges.
2. Influence: Meaningful communication that connects with people by reminding self and others
what is genuinely important.
