WITHIN & THE LEADERSHIP HELIOSPIRAL

To effectively respond to the rapidly changing environment the appropriate leadership is needed, both in terms of breadth and in terms of depth. Breadth of leadership, to foresee and answer accurately the intellectual challenge of shaping the new organization. Depth of leadership, in terms of pushing leadership ability down into the organization, so that as much of the organization as possible is empowered.

The leadership model needed, therefore, must positively affect a range of leadership abilities, so that the very essence of able leadership is grappled with. Such faculties as thinking and analysis, communication – both with individuals and groups, management of teams, change management, so that the entire organization can be effectively mobilized, must be affected. Further, the leadership model must be repeatable and communicable so that the techniques therein can be learned at each subsequent rung in the organization. This is necessary so that the organization becomes as supple as possible to respond to the needs of the far more complex environment. The challenge of the model, therefore, is to become as scientific as possible, so that a definite process that can be understood and repeated becomes clear.

In Daniel Goldman’s article, ‘What Makes a Leader’ (HBR, December 1998), Emotional Intelligence was isolated as the most important factor in distinguishing leaders. Emotional Intelligence is defined as having five key components. These are self-awareness, which is the ability to recognize and understand moods, emotions, and drives; self-regulation, which is the ability to control and redirect disruptive impulses and moods; motivation; empathy; and social-skills.

The mystique behind leadership therefore, begins to be removed by uncovering a set of fundamental ‘skills’ which when mastered affect the process of leadership. While the components of Emotional Intelligence definitely move the understanding of leadership to a deeper and clearer level, in themselves they are not complete or fundamental enough to affect all the areas of leadership, as outlined above, which would definitively define a leader.


The model presented here, WITHIN, delves into this more fundamental level, so that a more complete number of core skills both in the ‘emotional’ and ‘thought’ areas can form the basis of leadership development.

Ten core groups and a total of twenty-two core skills are identified, which form the basis for all effective leadership behaviors. On the side of Thought, these groups are the following: Thought Basis, which comprises of Mental Quietude and Thought Dissociation; Internal Thought, which comprises of Ability to Grasp Internal Thought Stream, Ability to Grasp Internal Thought Patterns, Ability to Grasp Internal Thought Attitudes; Action of Will on Thought, which comprises of Willed Direction in Thought and Proactively Pushing Forward Selected Thought; Another Person’s Thought, which comprises of Ability to be Aware of Another Person’s Thought and Ability to Redirect Another’s Thought; and Group Thought, which comprises of Ability to Grasp External Flow of Thought and Ability to Redirect External Flow of Thought. Similarly, five core groups and eleven fundamental skills exist on the side of Emotion.

In and of themselves these core skills are of no use, unless it is shown that they have a definite impact on the leadership abilities as presented above. While this cannot be done exhaustively, examples can illustrate how these core skills are fundamental to effective leadership ability. Consider, for example, the area of Change Management, a fundamental leadership ability, required to effectively mobilize an organization. Change management itself, can be defined as a set of other fundamental leadership skills. Thus, change management can be defined as comprising of facilitation & coaching; creating the case for change; aligning, engaging and mobilizing leadership; aligning, engaging and mobilizing the organization; developing organizational support and momentum; and designing and managing the change process. Further, facilitation and coaching can itself be broken down into a fundamental set of leadership sub-skills. For illustration purposes, these could include ability to intervene well,; ability to synthesize, redirect and clarify discussions; ability to handle conflict; ability to redirect dysfunctional teams; and ability to engender enthusiasm.

Yet, to actually intervene well, a number of core skills are required. These include the prerequisites of Mental Quietude and Emotional Quietude so that the practitioner becomes receptive to the continuous internal and external thought and emotion movements within the group. Superimposed upon this receptive silence, the Ability to be Aware of Another’s Thought and the Ability to be Aware of Another’s Emotion are essential, so that the facilitator is able to know who in the group is experiencing what thought and emotion. This knowledge will give the facilitator an informed and precise means of action and intervention. Finally, the facilitator would require the Ability to Grasp External Thought Flow and the Ability to Grasp External Emotion Flow, which allow a precise following of the spontaneous and deliberate flow of thought and emotion which continually occurs within a group. The mastery of each of these core skills will create mastery over the ability to intervene well, which in turn will impact a leader’s ability to facilitate and coach, which in turn will impact a leader’s change management ability.

Similarly, in examining the leadership skill of analysis and thinking, say, it can be shown that mastery over six of the fundamental thought-related core skills will act ‘upward’ to influence mastery over thinking and analysis. To illustrate, analysis itself, can be thought of as comprising of five skills. These include ability to identify issues, ability to structure the problem, ability to conduct analysis, ability to draw conclusions, and ability to formulate recommendations. Looking at the ability to identify issues, for example, it is found that to do this well, first a basis of Mental Quietude and Emotional Quietude must exist, to create a clear and receptive silence, uncluttered by the usual internal noise that often accompanies the process of being. Furthermore, the Ability to Will a Direction in Thought must exist, so that in the clear and receptive silence a precise direction for the working of thought can be initiated. Lastly, the Ability to Grasp the Internal Thought Stream, Thought Patterns, and Thought Attitudes, must exist so that all issues that are created or arise internally are ‘captured’. Each of the three thought-grasping movements is different. Ability to Grasp Internal Thought Stream, is the grasping of pure and original thought that occurs. Ability to Grasp Internal Thought Patterns is the grasping of old patterns of thought that tends to occur automatically. The realization that thought may be following a certain pattern, brings a definite objectivity to bare, which in turn allows the continued creation of the purer thought-stream. Ability to Grasp Internal Thought Attitudes is the ability to grasp the attitude or energy that often accompanies thought or the process of thought. Oftentimes this energy or attitude may be one of inertia, or rashness or hurriedness, which tends to compromise the quality of the thought experienced, and consequently the identification of relevant issues. A thought attitude of calmness tends to allow thought to continue at its highest and purest stream.

Similarly, mastery over each of the twenty-two fundamental core skills will act upward to finally create mastery over each of the other leadership abilities, such as those under the communication, and team management groups.

The dynamic that has just been described, is part of the ‘Leadership Heliospiral’. An explanation of this process is fundamental to appreciating fully the subtlety and depth of WITHIN. As described above, there is a continual interaction between Core Skills and Leadership Skills. Leadership skills can be thought of as comprising of a number of core skills. Core skills are essential for the development of leadership skills, and in beginning to focus the practitioner away from the constantly changing external environment, to the more leverage-able realities of the inner nature. Yet, the practice of a single iteration of this cycle is not enough to develop an awareness of the core skills, or to develop mastery in any leadership skill. A continual interaction like a cycle that ever repeats itself is required. With each successive iteration, core skills and leadership skills are developed to a higher degree of perfection. Further, as has just been mentioned, these fundamental skills are developed through focusing internally, rather than externally. The inner sun, the center within our being, is the direction of attention, in the development of any of the core skills. This entire dynamic has an internal heliocentric focus, proceeds like a spiral in its component interactions, and therefore is described as the Leadership Heliospiral.

If a process for leadership development were only dependant on learning from and in the external environment, as is often the case today, then all leadership development programs and consequently all leaders would be playing a game of eternal catch-up to become familiar with the constantly created and constantly evolving definitions and processes in different fields, instead of learning to create the kind of personal equilibrium in which dynamism can flourish effortlessly and spontaneously. WITHIN develops leaders by focusing on the internal, as opposed to only the external environment. Everything that a practitioner may create derives its power, insight, and force of being from within. Within are the processes of thought that distinguish the genius from the imbecile, and within are the processes of emotion that distinguish the dynamic man or woman of action from the laggard and the sloth. There must be therefore, a conscious development of the internal processes of thought and emotion, and a conscious development of whatever else may be responsible for the processes of thought and emotion, so that true effectiveness and true leadership may be achieved.

In this manner, a set of fundamental abilities regardless of environment are developed, which can then be quickly adapted and employed in any external situation.

To expect potential leaders to delve straight into the subtlety of the Leadership Heliospiral may be ambitious, though, especially if they have not had any prior exposure to regarding themselves as consisting of more than thoughts and emotions, or to regarding themselves in that manner at all. A front-end dynamic, therefore, Manifestation By Design, is what is first practiced. The purpose of Manifestation By Design is to build fundamental self-awareness and self-regulation ability.

During any given window of time a person may experience a number of different states. These states, for instance, may include both emotion-related and thought-related experiences such as ‘irritation’ with a colleague, ‘fear’ about a meeting, ‘urge’ for coffee, ‘confidence’ about an idea, ‘doubt’ about a work-related relationship, and a ‘brilliant idea’ about a proposal. In Manifestation By Design the first step is to become aware that these states exist.

The awareness allows the person to separate from the experience, so that the person realizes that he or she is other than the state. This separation gives one the power to work objectively on the various movements that are occurring within the being. One is able to step back as it were, and therefore hold back on what may normally have occurred. If this power of objectivity did not exist, then a process of automatic manifestation may have occurred, and the internal state of ‘irritation’ with a colleague may have been projected forward as ‘anger’ in dealing with the colleague, the internal state of ‘doubt’ about a relationship may have been projected forward as the action of insensitively dumping on the person at the next meeting, and the internal state of ‘fear’ about a meeting, projected forward as embarrassment at that meeting. Further, the internal states of ‘brilliance about an idea’ and ‘confidence’ about a thought may have been lost because of the intensity of the other internal states.

Clearly, if automatic manifestation is allowed, then any person could quite easily operate at a sub-standard level within an organizational context. If on the other hand, objectivity exists, and an awareness of the states operating in the being, then a conscious projection forward of desired states only, is far more likely. Manifestation By Design is this ability to project forward the positive states within the being, and ‘reprogram’ the other states such as ‘fear’, so that the behavior of ‘preparation’ takes place instead of the automatic outcome of possible failure and embarrassment. Within the context of WITHIN, the ‘reprogramming’ of undesired states can be achieved through internal heliocentric exercises. Naturally, a person practicing Manifestation By Design, will begin to operate at a higher state of excellence.

Manifestation By Design can be thought of as the door-opener or entry-point into the Leadership Heliospiral, or as the point of initiation of the Leadership Heliospiral. It is therefore, an integral part of the Leadership Heliospiral. It begins to open the practitioner to the subtleties and powerful leveragability of inner dynamics. Once this initial step inward has been taken, then the true and more powerful iterative action of the core skills – leadership skills spiral can begin to have a real effect, and the practitioner can begin to move towards true leadership ability.

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