The Olympus Project: Extra Materials

Thanks for your interest in exploring the leadership themes further.

There are two ideas I played with throughout the book: leadership maturity and power.

About Leadership Maturity

Leadership maturity is a concept from adult development theories that examines the development of the individual’s sense of self, the ego, in a leadership context. The theory is based on the work from various parallel developmental models such Spiral Dynamics - first Clare Graves, and then Don Beck and Chris Cowan, Ken Wilber, Bill Torbert. Leadership ego maturity theory has been much explored and written about by Susanne Cook-Greuter.

Core Concepts:

1. Vertical and Horizontal Development

   Vertical development alludes to the expansion of one’s worldview as it goes through various stages, each more complex and more inclusive than the previous one.

   Horizontal development refers to the capabilities and competencies at each particular stage.

   Human development includes both horizontal and vertical attitudes and aptitudes.

2. Ever increasing complexity

   Each stage of leadership maturity encompasses more complex and more inclusive ideas.

3. Transcend and include

   Each stage transcends the previous one. But we take all the capabilities and attitudes from the previous stages with us. In this way, our ability to respond to changing circumstances becomes more flexible and adaptive.

4. A swing between individual and collective

   Each stage has either an individual focus or a collective focus. We move from individual to collective and then back to individual as we go through the stages.

5. Limitations and downsides are catalysts for stage growth

   Each stage has important strengths, and each stage has limitations. When we discover these downsides, this is often the catalyst for growth to the next stage.

6. No, we can’t skip stages!

   Just like a toddler cannot skip going through being a teenager to become an adult, we cannot skip stages of leadership maturity.

7. Change takes time

   The research shows that it takes approximately five years to move through one stage, consolidate the action-logic, and be ready for the next stage. Life circumstances can catapult individuals to the next stage more quickly. Though this may mean going back to fully consolidate the attitudes and aptitudes of that ‘skimmed’ stage in order to be more effective as a leader.

8. Change is not always necessary

   People can be quite content, and capable, at any stage of leadership maturity, depending on their context. There may be no particular need to change. What we do need in order to go through vertical development:

   1. a. Need: circumstances dictate that our existing leadership maturity and action logic is not up to the challenge being presented to us. We fall short in dealing with the challenge. For example, someone who is at ‘expert’ stage of leadership maturity will find themselves out of depth when suddenly leading teams unless they start to think more about their colleagues as experts in their own right, and their role as leader now is to harness that expertise (and not just showcase their own expertise).

   2. b. Willingness: vertical development is HARD. It asks us to shift how we see the world, what we believe to be true, and how we thus act and operate in this new world. It can feel very destabilised! So, willingness to be a beginner again, to feel uncomfortable, is required to do the work of vertical development.

   3. c. Support: not necessary, but really helpful! Vertical change can be very hard. It’s useful to have someone who has been through the turbulence to help us navigate the new way of being and doing.

9. Vertical development and later stages are not necessarily ‘better’

   Just like a towering oak tree is not ‘better’ than an oak sapling, later stages are not ‘better’ than earlier stages. Each stage has an important and valuable function and contribution to the personal and social landscapes in which we find ourselves. What later stages DO offer: the ability to navigate more complexity, the capacity for greater ambiguity, and the inclination to greater integration of more complexity. At later stages, we tend to have a more inclusive and complex worldview. This may give us more flexibility.

10. Later stages do not mean more wisdom and happiness!

    It’s one thing to be able to see, appreciate, and understand complexity; it’s another thing altogether to take action from that stage. We can have a very astute ‘strategist’ or ‘magician’ stage thinker, who is unable to lead teams, because they have not honed the capabilities (horizontal development) of that stage or earlier stages. Likewise, later stages do not mean we are happier humans! That is work (opportunity?) for every stage.

11. Yes, you can regress!

    Life circumstances may mean a need to operate from an earlier stage of leadership maturity. If we suddenly find ourselves in a war zone for example, we may need to access our ‘opportunist’ stage in order to survive. We still have access to later stages, but we may need to operate from an earlier stage to suit the new context. The only exception to this is a medical deterioration of our bodies or minds which means a degenerative aspect to our cognitive functions.

Working with the Models

I am certified to coach people with the Leadership Maturity Framework, through the Institute of Developmental Coaching, and the Values Profiles through Complete-Coherence.

I find both these models and reports incredibly useful to help leaders and teams map their challenges and opportunities for growth. We can fine-tune training and development activities accordingly.

If you’re interested in seeing how this might work for you and your team, please email me! zoe@zoerouth.com

About Power

I wrote about power in People Stuff. It’s a fascinating topic! And much maligned. It’s a dangerous topic! Dacher Keltner has the best resource on power that I have read so far on how it affects individuals: The Power Paradox. Essentially his research shows that we are given power for our contributions to others. When we get it, it is incredibly energising! Our brain experiences huge dopamine surges. And what do we know about dopamine? It is incredibly addictive!

This is the paradox: when we get power, we find we want to keep it, and our focus on others switches to a focus on self. It also affects our ability to empathise. All this leads to poor behaviours - power traps: we become more impulsive, less empathetic, prone to hubris. This is how power corrupts!

In The Olympus Project, I wanted to explore how well-intentioned people might be affected by power, even with advanced leadership maturity. This dynamic will play out further in the sequel, working title ‘Olympus Bound’.