International In-house Counsel Journal Vol. 3, No. 12, Summer 2010, 1 International In-house Counsel Journal ISSN 1754-0607 print/ISSN 1754-0607 online EVOLVING LAWYERS into LEADERS: „egotistic experts‟ to „integrative Leaders‟ … ROWAN GILLIES Leadership & Organisational Development Coach-Consultant & Trainer- Technologist, and Mediator & Solicitor “A Problem cannot be solved from the same level of Thinking that created it” Albert Einstein Health Warning : Dangerous Article This Article is Dangerous to You(r Lawyer-Ego). If You are: heavily-invested in Your current sense of „self‟, and don‟t wish to be subject to the inevitability of change, but rather to stay in Your mental & emotional „comfort zone‟, then PLEASE do NOT read further. If, on the other hand, You are: somewhat more creatively-curious & smilingly-adventurous, wish to „dance at the edge‟ of Your & the existing Leadership paradigm, and are open to experiencing egoic-discomfort & resistance (especially as a route to development), then read on, knowing nonetheless that Your perception of Yourself, Lawyers & Leadership will never be the same again… “The mind once expanded can never revert to its original dimensions” Oliver Wendell-Holmes
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International In-house Counsel Journal
Vol. 3, No. 12, Summer 2010, 1
International In-house Counsel Journal ISSN 1754-0607 print/ISSN 1754-0607 online
EVOLVING LAWYERS into LEADERS:
„egotistic experts‟ to „integrative Leaders‟ …
ROWAN GILLIES
Leadership & Organisational Development Coach-Consultant & Trainer-
Technologist, and Mediator & Solicitor
“A Problem cannot be solved from the same level of Thinking that created it”
Albert Einstein
Health Warning : Dangerous Article
This Article is Dangerous to You(r Lawyer-Ego).
If You are:
heavily-invested in Your current sense of „self‟, and
don‟t wish to be subject to the inevitability of change, but rather to stay in
Your mental & emotional „comfort zone‟,
then PLEASE do NOT read further.
If, on the other hand, You are:
somewhat more creatively-curious & smilingly-adventurous,
wish to „dance at the edge‟ of Your & the existing Leadership paradigm, and
are open to experiencing egoic-discomfort & resistance (especially as a route
to development),
then read on, knowing nonetheless that Your perception of Yourself, Lawyers &
Leadership will never be the same again…
“The mind once expanded can never revert to its original dimensions”
Oliver Wendell-Holmes
2 Rowan Gillies
ABSTRACT
This Article:
is based on the latest science & personal research in various fields (including
organisational development, etc), from various salubrious institutions (eg
Harvard, Oxford, HEC Paris, MIT, Pennsylvania, Chicago etc)
(playfully) provokes Lawyers, their egos & „pessimistic‟ disposition
questions whether Lawyers, as a class, have yet evolved to be true Leaders
points-out:
- that the potential for self-directed neural & psychological adult development
within the lifetime is now a recognised fact
- that „positivity‟ too is a critical component of such development
- that such 'development' is a reference to a 'vertical' development in cognitive-
based 'complexity', rather than mere 'horizontal' knowledge-accumulation based learning, - that university & business-based research shows that such 'complexity' development is what is needed to address the pressing Leadership issues of the day, and that the more 'complex' the Leader the more optimal the Leadership - that a technical expert approach to life & Leadership tends to slot into the lower-mid range of individual & Leadership development levels - that such vertical Leadership development may nonetheless be consciously cultivated - that such cultivation requires a very different approach to the conventional
'transmission' & knowledge-based approach to horizontal learning &training,
sets-out some basic aspects of such required approach for vertical development,
and
articulates that such development is needed if Lawyers & the Law are to fulfil
their potential role in the positive transformation & sustainability of our various
human systems
1. Introduction: Calling ALL Sceptics („FAKE‟ & „REAL‟) please…
Now, although (or maybe, because) this Article is based on cutting-edge research,
including from Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Pennsylvania, California etc, as well as personal
post-graduate research conducted by the Author at Oxford University (Said Business
School) & HEC (Paris), drawing from various fields, including those of adult
developmental & positive psychology, neuro-science, and organizational development…
…I am inviting, from the outset, all-round real, healthy scepticism as a basic premise.
And I know I WILL get „scepticism‟ from almost every reader.
Why?
Leadership 3
Well, as Lawyers, You are WELL-trained to be „sceptical‟…to be „pessimistic‟ (aka
„prudent‟)…and, it‟s no secret, the scientific research confirms it…
As Professor Martin Seligman, famed ex-President of the American
Psychological Association & founder of Positive Psychology, notes:
“Lawyers are trained to be aggressive, judgmental, intellectual, analytical and
emotionally detached. This produces predictable emotional consequences for
the legal practitioner: he or she will be depressed, anxious and angry a lot of
the time.”1
Indeed, in an analysis by John Hopkins University, of 103 occupations, only 3
of them showed statistically significant elevations of major depressive disorder,
and, You guessed it, Lawyers topped the list, suffering from depression at a rate
3.6 times higher than occupations generally.
And, “…by any measure, lawyers… are disproportionately unhappy and
unhealthy. And lawyers know it…”1
So, I am sure I WILL get „scepticism‟… HOWEVER as to whether it will be „REAL
scepticism‟ (ie balanced, all-round scepticism, including of Your OWN current views &
pre-dispositions etc), of this i am far less sure, indeed it seems prima facie unlikely…
So, as a hedge against Your likely „FAKE scepticism‟, I invite You (as You prepare-to-
read, actually read, & then reflect on Your reading of this Article) to be as consciously-
aware as You are cognitively able, of Your inherent predisposition to be unhealthily
sceptical by virtue:
of Your pessimistic Lawyer-ness (-see above)…AND
also just by virtue of Your being Human…because, as leading neuro-scientists
will tell You, our brain instinctively sees EVERY piece of data (other than an
infant baby and a beautiful person), as a „threat‟, and activates the old survival
1 MSeligman, „Authentic Happiness‟, 2002
4 Rowan Gillies
part of the brain, which reacts instinctively with a mal-adapted „flight, fight or
freeze‟ response. 2
AND, for You to also recognise that as You move-out from the illusory safe-
harbour of Your own mental „comfort zone‟, that You WILL feel
DISCOMFORT in Your thinking, feeling & sensing…AND that that such
discomfort is neurologically PERFECT, as it is highlighting that You are
actually physiologically growing new neural pathways in Your brain, which are
expanding Your overall resources & behavioural repertoire! 2
2 See miscellaneous neuro-science research; valuable references include David Rock, Dr. Dan
Siegel et.al.
Positive Response Positive Response Fight, Flight or
Freeze Response
„INFANT‟ „BEAUTIFUL PERSON‟ „OTHER‟
Leadership 5
2. A Superior “Splinter in the Mind”…
As Lawyers, a big part of our-selves knows that we are somewhat „superior‟… generally,
that is…and, specifically, to the other professions & trades…and, even to our clients.
We may not be able to articulate that sense of superiority very well, even to our-selves,
but it‟s there…sometimes just lurking in the closet, and sometimes coming boldly right-
out and letting deserving people (like family & juniors, and fellow-colleagues) know it…
And yet, despite that „knowing‟, sometimes, suddenly, we get that subterranean nagging,
a feel-ing that, despite all this superiority, somehow, well, we just aren‟t Leading our
Lives and our People (maybe, at home as well as at the office) as well, as effectively, as
we know we can…
Maybe it‟s like Morpheus in The Matrix movie, reminding Neo of that uncomfortable
feel-ing He gets that somehow there‟s something not quite right with His world…”the
splinter in the mind”…
Of course, yes, all of this is a projection…it happened to me. And, as i have long learnt
(much to my ego‟s disappointment), i am just not that special & unique, to be the only
one! ...
So, What do we do to become the Leaders we have the born potential to be?!...
3. Lawyer in Wonderland – through the Looking Glass(es)…
Well, let‟s hold-up some modern „mirrors‟…
3.1 Until recently in the West, some of the prevailing wisdom was as follows:
(a) That, neurologically, the brain was an inert & decaying lump of grey matter.
(b) And, developmentally, that adults do NOT cognitively develop in a real,
vertical sense :
Mental development/ complexity: The view thirty years ago
(Source: Prof. Bob Kegan, Harvard, Immunity to Change)
20 30 40 50 60 70 Age
[Figure 2: Age and Mental Complexity: The View thirty years ago]
Men
tal d
evel
opm
ent/
com
plex
ity
6 Rowan Gillies
In other words, that although, as we know, children vertically-develop over their
childhood, the recent view was that when we reach just beyond adolescence, our capacity
for development of mental complexity „flatlines‟.
Our mental grey-matter just stays as grey as it ever was!
3.2 Well, the latest research is turning all that old paradigm knowledge on its head,
showing that this is NOT the case, and that something very different is actually
happening…:
(a) Firstly, the neuro-scientists have proved conclusively:
that the brain itself is not just a lump of inert or decaying grey matter,
but rather actually grows, like a forest, so-called “neuroplasticity”,
AND
that the brain grows according to how You think…so Your thinking
actually rewires Your brain…in the directions of those thoughts... 2
(b) Secondly, the positive psychologists have proved:
that , in addition to merely just feeling good & halting negativity,
“Positivity” itself actually changes how Your mind works and
transforms Your future; it “broadens & builds ”, by opening Your heart
& mind, making You more receptive & more creative (ie „broadens‟)
AND that then also “allows us to discover and build new skills, new
ties, new knowledge, and new ways of being” (ie „builds‟ physical,
psychological, intellectual, social resources)3, and
together, that Positivity lights-up, exercises & grows the newest, most-
advanced part of the brain, namely the „pre-frontal cortex‟
(c) Thirdly, leading developmental psychologists at Harvard & elsewhere are
seeing this sort of pattern, based on over 30 years of research..:
3 Prof Barbara Frederickson, „Positivity‟, 2009
Pre-frontal
cortex
Leadership 7
Trajectory & Distribution of levels of mental development/complexity in adults
(Source: Prof. Bob Kegan, Harvard, Immunity to Change)
What is this graph showing, then?
That adults DO in fact develop in mental complexity over their lifetimes,
That such development occurs in 3 distinct, chronological stages (ie from the
“Socialised” (pre-Personal), to the “Self-Authoring” (Personal), & then “Self-
Transforming” (trans-Personal) Mind stages)
That fewer & fewer adults move through to the higher stages of development
4. Complexity Imperative: (Old Paradigm) Leaders needing New (Paradigm)
Minds...
Well, SO WHAT?!...
Well, according also to Dr Otto Scharmer of MIT, “The mismatch between
[high] level...challenges on the one hand and predominantly [low]
Level...responses from the mainstream of our institutions points at a pervasive
leadership failure. Leadership failure is the key issue of our time.”
And Why would this be?....Well, to Harvard‟s Prof Bob Kegan, the complexity
of the World now exceeds the mental complexity levels of us humans, such that
“we are in over our heads”...and that accordingly what is required is a “new
capacity of mind... a quantum shift in individual mental complexity across the
board...adaptive challenges ...can only be met by transforming your mindset, by
advancing to a more sophisticated stage of mental development...‟ And so, a call
to develop our employees & leaders up the levels from the Socialised and Self-
Authoring Mind stages into the Self-Transforming Mind stage...
8 Rowan Gillies
This focus on development of selves is further echoed by the doyen „Doctor of
Flow‟, Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi of the University of Chicago, who
doesn‟t beat around the bush:
„...the fate of humanity...depends on the kind of selves we are able to create and
on the social forms that we succeed in building. Certainly there are many
momentous tasks looking ahead in these perilous times...But no task is more
essential…than finding a way to develop selves that will support evolution. On
this depend all the other positive consequences…‟
So, what of the basic characteristics of selves as they move-up the stages? Well,
with each higher stage of development the individual‟s cognitive capacity is
more „complex‟, ie His perspective-taking, maturity of ego, meaning-making
system etc is more advanced, more sophisticated than at the lower levels. More
„differentiated & integrated‟. Access to intuitive-knowing & „wisdom‟ and to „in
the zone‟-„flow‟-states is enhanced.
Specifically in a leadership context, ex-Harvard Bill Joiner & Stephen Josephs,
authors of Leadership Agility, summarise their own independent research as
follows:
„In a nutshell, here‟s what we learned: As you grow
from one stage to another, you develop a distinct set
of mental and emotional capacities that enable you
to respond more effectively to change and
complexity…leaders become more effective as they
grow into the more advanced stages, because, in
doing so, they become increasingly adept at
responding to the degree of change and complexity
that pervades today‟s workplace. In sum, the
research shows that, as leaders move from one stage
to another, the level of leadership agility increases.‟
5. Microscoping-in on each of the Stages of Individual/Leadership Development
And so, what do each of these Stages of Development look like?
Well, although the scope of this Article precludes me from delving into much detail, let‟s
at least have a brief closer look...
And the most user friendly approach would be through the use of a Quick Reference
Table, which shows each of Prof Bob Kegan‟s broad stages of „Socialised‟, „Self-
Authoring‟ & „Self-Transforming‟ Mind, further distilled into more specific Sub-Stages.
These Sub-Stages are derived from detailed ongoing research conducted by
aforementioned Dr Bill Joiner & Stephen Josephs, ex-Harvard Dr Susanne Cook-Greuter,
Boston‟s Professor Bill Torbert, and others in the field.
See the Quick Reference Table as an Annex to this Article.
Leadership 9
6. And where do Lawyers “rank” on this Stage-spectrum of
Individual/Leadership Development?
6.1 Well, what do You think? Especially having reviewed the basic Table above...
So, when looking at this Leadership spectrum, consider where would You place:
Lawyers, as a generic class of technical professionals?,