from high VUCA to high SCSC (stability,
certainty, simplicity, and clarity). They
always choose high VUCA.
This is our leadership context. We all
know it, and we all know it is not going to
lessen but accelerate. The acceleration
of complexity makes a demand on
consciousness that it evolve. Most of us
are running an inner operating system
that is not as complex as the challenges
we face. The complexity of our context
requires Windows 10 and we are running
DOS.
Our inner game—the structure of our
internal meaning-making system, our
decision-making system, our level of self-
awareness and emotional intelligence,
our mental models, and the inner beliefs
and assumptions by which we define and
deploy ourselves moment to moment—is
not complex or mature enough to thrive
amid complexity. We are in over our head.
The very context in which we must lead
continually challenges us to evolve. If
we do not, we become increasingly less
relevant.
Meeting Limits To Scale
We recently met with a very successful
senior leader (John) in a large organiz ation
in Europe to debrief him on his Leadership
Circle Profile (a 360-degree assessment
that provides feedback on a leader’s
effectiveness and the Creative and
Reactive elements in his or her leadership).
John walked into the meeting and started
it by saying, “You’re not going to turn me
into one of those touchy-feely leaders.”
John had a very Reactive (Autocratic,
Arrogant, Critical) leadership profile. We
suggested that, despite all his success,
his leadership was capped out—it
had reached limits to scale. He did not
understand. We pointed out his low Work-
Life Balance score and asked, “How long
are you working each day?” What unfolded
was the story of a man who works
constantly. Work defines him, it makes
him feel valuable. He achieves a sense of
self-worth through work and being the
one who gets the results.
He is also passionate about what the
organization is up to, and he wants to
contribute all he can to its mission and
growth. As we talked, he came to the
realization that “more, harder, faster”
was no longer going to scale. In fact,
he was long past the point at which the
way he had achieved his success was
optimal. He was now in his own way and
canceling himself out. The limitations in
his leadership at scale were canceling
out his tremendous talent.
John is being challenged—by his very
success, by the organization’s choice for
rapid growth, and by the complexity of
the business environment—to develop
a more complex way of knowing and
leading. Complexity of mind is not a more
complicated, convoluted mind. It is the
elegant mind of mastery.
John needs a way to scale his genius.
Scale can only be achieved by developing
capacity and capability in others.
Effective leaders, at scale, develop
other leaders. John is now at the point
where this is a non-negotiable item.
John is facing his development gap. His
operating system has reached its limits
to scale, and he is challenged to grow
beyond it, to evolve it.
Compassionate Development
Let’s be clear. John is neither a
problem nor a problem to be solved.
There is nothing wrong with John or his
leadership. John is facing the inevitable.
He has succeeded to a level of scale, but
when combined with his organization’s
need for scale and the escalating
complexity of his context, this has put
him in over his head.
Success has a way of doing this.
Escalating complexity has a way of doing
this. We all—if we are succeeding—face
development gaps. There is no shame
in having them. They are the inevitable
consequence of leading successfully in
an increasingly complex world.
The inherent beauty in all this is that
leadership becomes a kind of spiritual
boot camp. The very pressure that
success, scale, and complexity bring is
a force for our own transformation and
evolution. It remains for us to make the
development agenda a priority.
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ABOUT
BOB ANDERSON
BOB ANDERSON has dedicated his
career to exploring the intersections
between leadership and personal
mastery, and between competence
and consciousness. The creator and
author of The Leadership Circle
Profile, an integrated and innovative
leadership assessment tool, Bob is a
true pioneer in the field of leadership
development and research. As the
founder of The Leadership Circle,
and co-founder of Full Circle Group,
Bob lends his expertise to developing
practitioners around the globe to
carry on the powerful work derived
from the tools and offerings these
two companies provide to leaders.
Bob has a master’s degree in
organizational development and a
bachelor’s in economics and business
administration. Bob and his wife of
30 years make their home in Toledo,
Ohio, and are the proud parents of
three successful adult children.
TheLeadershipCircle.com