Putting the Pieces Together
Have you ever done a jigsaw puzzle with 1500 to 2000 pieces? It seems to take forever and in the midst of it I wonder if it will ever be finished. Pieces are all over a table and everything is disjointed. Then suddenly, the pieces start to fall into place. The picture becomes clearer and the building of it goes much faster. This week was such a time for me as I was reading, Rethinking Leadership: A Critique of Contemporary Theories, by Annabel Beerel, PhD. So many books that I have read on leadership pick a topic and make that their focus. How to impress your supervisor? Work long hours. How to write a strategic plan? Follow these steps. How to deal with employees? Follow these HR guidelines. While these may be simplistic examples of some of the topics, the reality is that there are a lot of books about leadership skills. Sure, skills are important and must be learned. However, some authors go to the very heart of leadership. As Simon Walker wrote, leadership is about who you are, not what you know or what skills you have. Leadership is about trust, and it is about power[1]. More than a compilation of a lot of knowledge or skills, there are basic character traits that leaders need to be effective and long lasting.
In Rethinking Leadership, Annabel Beerel used different techniques to highlight many aspects of leadership and the science behind them. For the purpose of this post, I am focusing on the importance of vertical rather than horizontal learning and how character is a vital part of who we are and thus, how we lead. Both of these seem to be in some way a part of many of the other chapters in the book.
Horizontal learning is traditional learning that helps a person develop skills such as how to listen attentively, technical skills, or any increase in a capability such as grant writing[2]. On the other hand, vertical learning is about growing as a person with a new purpose or understanding of who you are. More than simply becoming highly capable, it helps a person to have a better understanding who he is as a human being and build greater cognitive capacity[3]. That capacity helps a person transcend the boundaries of capabilities with better intellectual, emotional, and spiritual power[4].
There are many ways to look at character. In this post, space and time limit my focus to several key factors:
- Leadership is personal. If a leader does not have a healthy ego or leads by coercion; fear, negativity, and apathy will rise sooner or later.
- Leadership takes tenacity. Angela Duckworth spoke of tenacity in her book, Grit, where talent to skill takes effort and skill to achievement takes even more effort[5]. Hard work builds character along the way to achievement.
- A person with a mature ego is able to make decisions based on integrating facts from multiple perspectives rather than having her identity attached to a specific way of working[6].
As I was reading this book, two additional books drew my attention. The first was Mindset by Carol Dweck[7]. Someone interested in growing vertically would need a growth mindset in order to expend the energy to continue learning about herself. The other was our most recent read: Illuminaire by Karise Hutchinson[8]. While these authors had different approaches and research to guide their work, each was really talking about who the leader is; what is the character of the person in the role.
My NPO deals with helping women who want to advance their career to work in a leadership role in nonprofits. All professionals need knowledge and skills, no question. Yet, what will serve them when exhaustion sets in, differing ideas collide, personal egos loom large, and there is real work that has to be done? It is not their skills, but their ability to sift through the clutter, their courage to make difficult decisions, their grit to persevere, and especially their keen awareness of who they are as a child of God. Several authors have recently discussed the shadow side of leadership. When following Jesus is the ultimate goal, then modeling his perfect servant leadership becomes the gold standard. My jigsaw puzzle moment showed me that I can learn from each of these authors and synthesize it with my years of experiences that show how foibles and successes are more than just possibilities. They are life lessons that can assist women, helping lift them to the next level of their career. Ultimately, it is making me refine the content of my prototypes to focus less on capabilities and more on capacity of the women to learn and grow.
[1] Simon Walker, Leading out of Who You are: Discovering the Secret of Undefended Leadership (Carlisle, CA, Piquant Editions, Ltd. 2007), p.5.
[2] Annabel Beerel, A Critique of Contemporary Theories (New York, Routledge, 2021), 380.
[3] Beerel, p.20.
[4] Beerel, p.,371.
[5] Angela Duckworth, Grit: THE POWER of PASSION and PERSEVERANCE (new York, Scribner, 2016), 31.
[6] Beerel, p. 240.
[7] Carol Dweck, Mindset: Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential (New York, Random House Publishing, 2006).
[8] Karise Hutchinson, Illuminaire: Bringing Life & Light to Leaders across the World (Northern Ireland, Illuminaire Press, 2023).
About the Author
Diane Tuttle
One response to “Putting the Pieces Together”
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Thank you for your post, Diane,
Your essay highlights the importance of vertical learning and character in leadership. How has your personal journey of vertical learning and character development influenced your approach to leadership? Can you share any specific experiences or challenges where these aspects played a crucial role in shaping your leadership style?