3 Levels of Leadership by James Scouller

Over the past year, I have been learning and teaching using a leadership framework penned by James Scouller. I highly encourage those of you who yearn to be better leaders to read it.

Besides a practical definition of what leaders do, it describes in detail the very specific tasks and relationships leaders undertake, and categorizes them into 3 categories - Public (interactions and tasks with those you don't know well), Private (Interactions and Tasks with those who work directly for you) and finally Personal (your fears, values, courage, expertise, self-awareness, authenticity, i.e. It's all about you).

This short essay won't do justice to the 3 levels framework so I would encourage all of you to read it yourself.

Public concerns the cheerleading, communication, meetings, etc a leader does with everyone in his organization other than his or her immediate reports. Private concerns how the leader manages, leads and motivates his own team. Finally personal is your inner self and how it prevents you from achieving the presence all great leaders possess. It is the personal leadership aspect that I am most interested in and how to rewire a leader's inner self to improve his leadership.

This section of the book is not as well written as I think it can be. It is complex. It has to do with how your ego, fears about your own competence, your own unique personality - are you someone who wants to be liked or someone who yearns to be right? How do you balance between under and over-confidence, both extremes of which are bad. Leaders who have a strong personal leadership ability have balance - their yin and yang are finely tuned. They have a strong internal compass yet have very high self awareness. They focus on the greater good but have confidence on their abilities as they know what they are strong and weak at, and are very comfortable being who they are. Their egos are in check, so they do not succumb to false feedback or praise that can throw you off-course. They are authentic and have a strong sense of what is right and just. With these strengths as a foundation they find respect and trust wherever they go. They take challenge very well as they are always in pursuit of what is best for everyone not just for themselves. These leaders attract passionate followers which further enhances their credibility. They care for and develop their employees not because they have to but because they want to and seeing someone who works for them grow and blossom is the only reward they desire. They do not fear being fired for the right reasons.

These are the very rare breed of top leaders that we can say "have presence".

It is no wonder, that the highest peaks of leadership can be claimed by so few. But it should not stop all of us from yearning to become one, for this is the Jedi of leadership.