Title The Three Levels of Leadership: How to Develop Your Leadership Presence, Knowhow and Skills
Author James Scouller
Publisher Management Books 2000 Ltd
ISBN 978 18525 2681 8
Usefulness 5/5
The central tenet of this excellent addition to the leadership discourse is that a leader’s job is to ensure leadership happens, and not to do all the leading themselves. This is critical: our desire for heroes (of either sex) and attachment to simple problem–solution behaviour are out-dated and unhelpful in today’s complex world.
An experienced coach, Scouller makes the case for distributed leadership, based on the core value of self-mastery and the principle of interdependence. He reminds us that we all lead differently at personal, private and public levels.
The most ambitious section of this book – packed with richness and wisdom – is the new model of the psyche Scouller offers. Underpinned by his study of Transpersonal psychology (which sees the spiritual as integral to our humanity) and drawing together ideas from positive psychology, cognitive-behavioural models, NLP, eastern thought and neuroscience, he proposes a model that places self-awareness, will and the imagination at the core of our being. From this, several levels of mind emanate, the whole infused with Love and Power.
This chapter deserves a book in itself, but don’t get stuck in its density – Scouller’s book is eminently practical, full of wit, guidance, techniques, research, case studies and notes.
Hetty Enzig is a senior consultant with PCI and a co-director of Be the Change in Business www.btcib.org
Coaching at Work, Volume 6, Issue 5