The structural frame is one of Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal’s four frames model of leadership and organizations. In this piece I delve deeper into the structural frame of leadership — what it entails, its assumptions, dimensions, examples, tensions, and what makes leaders effective in the structural aspect. These insights| Leading Sapiens
Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal’s four frames model of organizations and leadership is a versatile tool for managers. This article delves into the human resource frame of their 4-frame model — its assumptions, dimensions, examples, tensions, and what makes leaders effective in the human resource aspect. These insights come from| Leading Sapiens
Organizational life can be a confusing muddle, especially if you are trying to get better at playing the game. Take the leadership genre for example. You might come across books that cover any of the following: power, building better teams, culture, emotional intelligence, war and strategy, psychology, authentic leadership, biographies| Leading Sapiens
Why do some people thrive in complexity while others buckle under pressure? A key factor is the level of cognitive flexibility. In this piece, I examine what cognitive flexibility means, why it’s critical to leadership, and strategies for building it. A World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report ranked| Leading Sapiens
This is part II of a series on loosely coupled systems. Building on Karl Weick's notion of loose coupling introduced previously, I examine how leadership in these organizations differs from traditional command and control structures. Chinese appliance manufacturer Haier pioneered a radical organizational model called RenDanHeYi, which loosely translates to| Leading Sapiens
Project Aristotle was a multi-year research initiative by Google to understand what made teams effective. Some of its findings, psychological safety in particular, were counterintuitive. It changed how companies viewed teams and performance. Yet, a decade later, implementation remains challenging. I examine common challenges leaders face in applying psychological safety| Leading Sapiens
Understanding different types of power is crucial for effective leadership. Coercive power is a controversial yet sometimes necessary and effective tool. I delve into the nuances of coercive power, its applications, why leaders shouldn’t avoid it, and Elon Musk as an example of coercive leadership. What is Coercive Power| Leading Sapiens
Understanding and using power is key to effective leadership. The French-Raven model of power bases is a good primer on the different types of power. This post introduces this foundational framework of power and the 6 types: coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, referent, and information power. In 1959, social psychologists John| Leading Sapiens
Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal’s four frames model of organizations and leadership is a versatile tool for managers. In this article, I delve deeper into the political frame of their 4-frame model — its assumptions, dimensions, examples, tensions, and finally what makes leaders effective in the political aspect. These insights| Leading Sapiens
How can I be more trustworthy? How can I show up more authentically? Leaders at all levels grapple with this fundamental challenge of leadership. The answer lies in Aristotle's 2,000+ year old framework of ethos, logos, and pathos or what Harvard prof Frances Frei and Anne Morris call the| Leading Sapiens
Transitioning into leadership roles can be especially challenging for experts/specialists. The domains of competence framework explains why.| Leading Sapiens
Contradictions are rampant in organizations. Understanding the different types can give leaders leverage and prevent frustrations.| Leading Sapiens
Leaders have to master the basics of the human OS. We examine these core attributes that underlie all frameworks of human peak performance.| Leading Sapiens
The ladder of inference is a powerful tool to make better decisions by uncovering hidden mental models and understanding how we reach conclusions.| Leading Sapiens
Framing is a key skill to create psychological safety and improve performance. But most leaders are unaware or don't know how to get better at it.| Leading Sapiens
Leadership development is usually about positive abilities. Negative Capability is often forgotten but equally critical. What is it and what prevents it?| Leading Sapiens
Balancing the long term with the short term is an ongoing challenge for leaders. Peter Drucker addressed how to go about it in his writings.| Leading Sapiens
Leaders are often cautioned to watch their actions and behavior because it sets an example and gets replicated through the organization. Which begs the question: why do people copy leaders? The common explanations tend to be psychological. But it goes beyond simple carrot and stick notions from behaviorism. There's a| Leading Sapiens
Locus of control refers to how we view circumstances in terms of the amount of control we have over situations and the experiences that affect us. I look at locus of control specifically in the context of leadership and management: how locus of control impacts leadership performance, and how it| Leading Sapiens
Understanding systems thinking is a must for modern leaders. In Reading the Room, David Kantor outlines a list of leadership capacities based on systems thinking and structural dynamics. They are particularly useful as a reference for developing your own leadership philosophy, practice, and model. Some of the terms Kantor uses| Leading Sapiens
In The Fifth Discipline, there's a useful primer on systems thinking that I keep going back to. Senge calls it the laws of the fifth discipline, or in other words, laws of systems thinking. [1] Senge's ground-breaking book was published in the early 90s, and yet in the ensuing decades,| Leading Sapiens
Viktor Frankl, a concentration camp survivor and the founder of Logotherapy, is most known for his classic book Man’s Search for Meaning. The construct of meaning forms the core of his philosophy. He identified an important framework that’s not as widely known — his laws of dimensional ontology. Although| Leading Sapiens