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4 keys of genius leadership

By Philip Johncock

Overview

Courageous leaders are “actually real people doing real work,” says Dr. Kathlyn Hendricks, “in the real world. They have a tangible light from a connection to a larger purpose, which is what we would call working from your genius (italics mine).” Transformational leaders are genuine, authentic, deeply human, totally transparent, and real. They know how to listen deeply, are genuinely interested in others. They demonstrate a willingness to hear what’s true, and walk their talk. That is, they demonstrate, not just provide lip service to, deeper values like integrity and truthfulness. Inspirational leaders renew themselves in unique ways. Moreover, “every leader who I’m going to pay attention to is going to have a wild sense of humor,” adds Dr. Hendricks, Executive Director of the Hendricks Institute, world-renown relationship expert, and best-selling author.

Courageous followers, on the other hand as Ira Chaleff claims, create a climate where leaders’ strengths are magnified. They assume responsibility and serve leaders and the organization. They give voice to discomfort. Transformational followers are willing to stand up, to stand out, to risk rejection, and possibly, to initiate conflict in order to examine actions of the leader and group when appropriate. They play full out and participate in transformation of those around them. Inspirational followers lead from behind, breathing life into their leader’s vision, and even vision into their leader’s life. Just as leaders are accountable for actions of followers, so followers are accountable for their leaders. “Yes, I agree,” says Anna McGrath, Founder and CEO of WonderWorks, when asked about Chaleff’s claims. Additionally, McGrath points out that many people are searching for passion in their work, as well as ways to serve themselves and the planet, not just to serve leaders and organizations.

This paper focuses on courageous, transformational and inspirational leadership and followership. Here, I plan to investigate four themes of leadership and followership that emerged from two interviews: integrity, relationships, feedback, and loop of awareness. I call these the four keys to genius leadership and followership. Using data collected from two interviewees: Dr. Kathlyn Hendricks and Ms. Anna McGrath, I plan to analyze these four themes from the perspective of two amazing human beings who happen to be leaders and also trainers of leaders. I appreciate their openness to learning and willingness to share their wisdom and passion for transformative living.

Both were selected because they embody qualities of leaders who, as Robert Greenleaf claims, “enrich others by their presence” (Northouse 349). Both lead by example. They practice appreciative listening, empathy, and unconditional acceptance of others at work and home. I emphasize both at home and at work because as Dr. Hendricks points out, “I don’t really see any difference between personal and professional (lives). I aspire to lead an integrated life. For me, an integrated life is that I am the same person wherever I show up. I operate from the same principles whether I’m talking to the person at the grocery store or I’m on television talking to 10 million people.” Having known Dr. Hendricks and her husband Dr. Gay Hendricks for the last six years, I can vouch that both are ‘as real’ sitting in the airport as they are leading a seminar or speaking on the radio.

Key #1 - Integrity

Leading an integrated or ‘integral’ life is an example of one core value important to both interviewees: integrity. “I’ve worked with many leaders in business and some political leaders,” says Dr. Hendricks. “I’ve observed the social scene. We’ve long since moved beyond the place where people can say one thing and do another. The actual demonstration of values is what our society really needs. I think that what we’re seeing right now in the culture is the end game of hypocrisy (italics mine): people leading their lives in a different way than they actually preach about or speak about.” When asked what the one thing would be that she would recommend to leaders around integrity, Dr. Hendricks replied, “To demonstrate rather than to teach.”

To her, modeling integrity means “doing what I say I’m gonna do” (impeccable agreements) and “knowing myself enough that I can know what I’m feeling” (emotional presence) and then to “describe what I’m feeling in a way that people can understand” (authentic communication). Leading with integrity gives her a powerful position from which to collaborate and “draw other people into a path that benefits everyone.”

McGrath concurs. When asked about what she values most deeply both professionally and personally, she replied, “To me, integrity is the foundation, whether keeping my agreements, being authentic, or taking 100% responsibility. When I think about strong leaders, integrity is a non-negotiable skill. Some people are spoken about as strong leaders, but I would really challenge. If they don’t have integrity as their foundation, they’re not a leader that I would call strong or admire.”

Integrity even relates to social justice. McGrath defines social justice as the “distribution of power opportunity and resources to enhance peace, human security and social change.” She promotes social justice by her intention to “empower individuals and teams so that they can make conscious choice. If they can look at their present choices and decisions and then see if they really line up at their core, that really affects social justice in the long run. I think individuals really understand social justice, and it’s possible for companies to make enormous leaps.”

When asked for one suggestion for leaders around integrity, McGrath replied, “Honest communication. If you’re really being authentic with your employees and clients, using your authenticity instead of withholding, really partnering with your employees and clients, I think that’s the foundation.”

When asked to provide an example of a leader who demonstrates integrity rather than just teach, Dr. Hendricks pointed to three: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (current president of Liberia and Africa's first elected female head of state), Lynne Twist (author of The Soul of Money, co-founder of the Pachamama Alliance, and founding executive of The Hunger Project), and Paul Hawken (author of Blessed Unrest, environmentalist, and creator of wisereath.org, touted as the “first open-source network for global social change” [Wiser Earth]). Ellen is “demonstrating through her own personal integrity and empowerment of women and making radical changes in the ways their society and systems are organized; it is bringing them (Liberians) out of abject poverty and into the 21^st century.” Lynne “demonstrates transparency and deep vulnerability; she is incredibly open in her speaking and her presence in a way that inspires openness and connection, no matter where she shows up.” Paul is “one of the most transparent people I’ve ever encountered; he so shows up.”

Key #2 - Relationships

Books on transformational leadership tragically neglect relationship dynamics and the transformational power of building relationships on a foundation of integrity. For example, Kevin Cushman in The Courageous Follower devotes merely two sections – Balance through Relationships & Mature Relations – and less than four pages (22-25) to dynamics of healthy relationships. When I said that I didn’t see much attention in books on leadership on relationships, Dr. Hendricks agreed, “I don’t see that either.” She adds that she’s “never seen an issue in business that had anything to do with technology. The issues always have to do with relationship. When people focus on and resolve those, then the business works great.”

Having written many successful books on relationships – such as Conscious Loving, The Conscious Heart, Lasting Love, Spiritual Relationships - and having trained thousands of couples, Dr. Hendricks is in a unique position to contribute to any discussion on transformative leadership. Interestingly, part of her drive to pursue her current line of work came from her lifelong interest in “what happens to people in their bodies when they transform.” This started for her when she was four years old. “I realized that what people were actually doing was the communication, not what they said (italics mine). I started to get really fascinated with the nuances of nonverbal communication. I’ve been fascinated with that all of my life.”

She and her husband Gay have made many amazing discoveries over the years around how relationships can be transformational journeys. One technique they discovered that also has relevance for leaders and followers is called The Triangle Game. It is a version of the Karpman drama triangle, a human interaction model first described by Stephen Karpman. The Triangle Game says that habitually, people in social relationships tend to get stuck in one of three roles: victim, villain or hero. Chaleff calls these the “immature aspects of a leader’s personality” stemming largely from “early conditioning” (24). By playing out the drama, people discover the role(s) they are playing unconsciously and how to move into greater authenticity.

For McGrath, it was during one such Triangle Game when she came to realize how her “actions and behaviors affected all the others” around her. It was a key turning point in her leadership-followership understanding. She was a follower, yet in a leadership role for 400 people in her company. She felt that she was at the affect of other people, a particular low point in her job. What started out as a low point, though, shifted into a high point for her, a key “turning point” in her life, she says.

She had an insight that the way she behaves is related to her mindset - in the victim, villain or hero roles of the Triangle. She realized that as a victim and hero her options were limited regarding how she could act and relate to others. “I went back to my job at that point sitting at my desk having different conversations with different people. I realized I could see the thoughts going through my mind that could be victim thoughts, hero thoughts, and villain thoughts. It was a moment of listening to myself from a place of curiosity and wonder, and also from mild amusement. These (victim, villain or hero) thoughts were something that I had been doing for a lot of years. Doing my hero thing awarded me greatly from the companies I had worked at. That realization allowed me to change my story and how I reported to people and how they reported to me.” McGrath now spends her entire time (not just 10-20% like she used to) with people (not just budgets, spreadsheets and data collection). She focuses on career paths, barriers for people, and how they can shift.

When asked what advice she would give to leaders and followers interested in building transformational relationships, Dr. Hendricks said the number one piece of advice would be to “develop appreciative listening. That in combination with loop of awareness (described later) really gives people a deep experience of my presence (italics mine). That invites their genius. It invites their creativity and their own commitment to doing things differently.”

A second piece of advice is for leaders to develop a “willingness to hear what is true. A lot of people practice saying, ‘We’re going to get real here. I’m going to tell you what’s really happening.’ I’ve seen very few leaders who are actually willing to hear from the people who work with them what is true. If people will open to that – a willingness to hear – all of the solutions are really present. People are enormously creative when they are invited to be.”

Finally, as previously stated in the second paragraph, Chaleff claims that courageous followers serve leaders and the organization. Service is a strong value to both McGrath and Hendricks. While McGrath agrees with Chaleff, she is quick to point out the importance of followers serving themselves, first. “I really need to take care of myself to be valuable to my company.” She has clients, too, who work 60 and 80 hours a week. What does she suggest to them?

“One of the things I look at is what do they really want and then take steps in that direction. I take their situation of where they’re working and how many hours on their job right now. How is it helping them to better themselves for the future in whatever they plan on doing? When is it that they are going into a hero or victim persona where they are working a lot more than needed? Often, I’ve worked with someone who worked 80 hours and right next to them someone worked 40 hours. The 40-hour-a-week person believes that 40 is the number and the same with the 80-hour-a-week person.”

Both McGrath and Hendricks agree on the importance of serving the planet. Dr. Hendricks contributes to and volunteers for a variety of environmental groups, such as The Hunger Project, The Nature’s Conservancy that buys land to preserve, and the Pachamama Alliance that is “about opening up a whole new commitment for human beings and creating a new common purpose for our planet, that has to do with environmental sustainability and social justice, and a spiritually fulfilling presence on the planet.”

Key #3 – Feedback

Both McGrath and Hendricks are genius givers and receivers of feedback. When talking about involvement of leaders and followers in the transformation of others, McGrath thinks right away of “giving and receiving feedback, so that I’m not withholding things from them. I am better able to help them. Most people want to progress in their careers and do a great job. It doesn’t matter if you’re a CEO or a janitor. You just want to be appreciated for what you do and to participate in your company. Courageous followers for me would be people who actively engage in giving and receiving feedback.”

Is all feedback useful? According to McGrath, “yes, all feedback is useful. When it’s delivered in a skillful way, it allows people to be more open in a positive way. If it’s used in a sort of bruising way, often people shut down and want to reject the feedback. My way of using feedback is accepting whatever feedback the universe wants to give me. It might be verbal-feedback or result-feedback. It gives you lessons in life. Even drama is feedback. It comes back in all sorts of ways. The more that leaders and followers can allow feedback into their lives, the more they can use it to enhance their careers and personal relationships.”

What do you do when feedback is contentious or poorly delivered? “Often within companies,” continues McGrath, “there are policies and rules you’re meant to follow: what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable. Whatever feedback is being delivered is really valuable. I wouldn’t throw out the feedback because of how it’s delivered. It can be contentious because some people wrong the messenger to a certain degree. They throw the feedback out with the poor delivery system.”

McGrath has a specific technique that is particularly valuable for followers interested in giving difficult feedback, such as voicing discomfort and possibly initiating conflict. “One of the greatest skills is being able to breathe while conflict happens. If I’m going to speak up about something, I would rehearse how I would say it. Now, I put more focus on being able to breathe and move and saying whatever pops up. Being calm is much better than using the perfect words. Putting attention on breathing and movement instead of fear and letting the other person go off on whatever they say in anger. A great dialogue can happen instead of just triggering each other and getting nothing solved.” In essence, breathe and feel your fear instead of running from it.

Key #4 - Loop of Awareness

Dr. Hendricks recently trained leaders of the Pachamama Alliance, a non-profit that encourages protection of the Earth's rainforests and the indigenous people who live there. Part of the training she provided consisted of “how to use loop of awareness … so that they could be present to their true leadership but also evoke leadership.”

What is loop of awareness? To Dr. Hendricks, it is the “best feedback and presencing tool that I know of. You get feedback right away. If I say something to a group and then I actually give my attention to them to see how they are receiving that, I’ll get feedback right away (i.e., whether they understood, whether it looks like somebody got lost, whether somebody’s frowning). I might want to stop and ask if some clarification is needed.”

Dr. Hendricks defines the skill of loop of awareness (LOA) as the ability to “be aware of myself and give my attention to another person or another group and return my attention to myself and allow that attention to flow freely by choice. Rather than having my attention be captured by my efforts to try to be included or thinking that someone else has a better idea or there’s not enough space for me, those typical kinds of issues that come up in business are all attentional issues (italics mine). They are places where people do not experience freedom in their awareness.

McGrath agrees that LOA is an important and beneficial skill for leaders and followers. She defines LOA as “being actively able to take my attention and put it on myself and then take my attention and put it out on another person or another place. Looping my awareness back and forth at will, as opposed to getting my attention caught somewhere inside me or externally.” It is a skill that “has totally changed how I interact with people.”

Dr. Hendricks continues, “when I was sharing with this group of leaders from Pachamama who really came from all over the world (i.e., Australia, Europe, Japan), they were thrilled to actually have a skill that they recognized immediately as an inherent skill that they have not been able to articulate. Immediately, they got the value of being able to renew their own awareness and vitality to be able to be more present and what leads out of that.”

Some of the ways in which LOA makes a difference to the bottom-line is “people become a lot more efficient,” “they change faster,” “it promotes synergy at the leadership level,” and it creates a “web of consciousness that is quite tangible.” “People participate in and move quite quickly.”

LOA even addresses social justice because it “includes and not excludes. It’s an inclusive process. It’s a facing kind of process rather than an avoiding process. It brings in whatever is occurring so that the energy of that, even if it’s that someone is angry or disagrees with someone else. By including that with LOA, the energy gets liberated and can be used much more freely rather than getting into a conflict that only has an us-and-them kind of an outcome.”

LOA is a “very respectful process, also. People notice right away that they are being attended to. That level of respectfulness enrolls people in collaborating without any kind of verbal enlisting, like ‘Let’s get on board with this’, which is what a lot of people do while they are simultaneously trying to run a power scam on the people they are trying to enroll.”

References

Chaleff, I. (2003). The courageous follower: Standing up to and for our leaders, (2^nd ed.). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

Hendricks, G., & Hendricks K. (2004). Lasting love: The 5 secrets of growing a vital, conscious relationship. Emmaus, PA: Rodel Inc. pp. 181-184.

Northouse, P. G. (2007). Leadership: Theory and practice, (4^th ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Pachamama Alliance, (2007). The Pachamama Alliance two-fold mission. Retrieved September 13, 2007 from http://www.pachamama.org/content/view/2/4/

Wiser Earth, (2007). Paul Hawken and the natural capital institute announce the launch of wiser earth ( www.wiserearth.org ), the first open-source network for global social change. Retrieved September 13, 2007 from http://www.wiserearth.org/article/e9e5f8a5f8ed1d4dd749667fad9265d9

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