Vertical Growth

2Why leaders struggle with walking their talk

‘There is no favourable wind for someone who does not know where they are going.’

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

When we introduce our clients to the Mindful Leader Matrix, we always start at the bottom right. In a leadership context, it begins with the simple question, ‘What is the talk you are trying to walk as a leader?’ In other words, what is most important to you to role model both as a human being and as a leader? What are your values, your code, the principles you want to lead by?

All leaders need to answer this most obvious question because it has such a deep connection to trust and credibility. In fact, research by James Kouzes and Barry Posner, the co-authors of my first book, concludes that leaders who can communicate their talk clearly are 66 per cent more trusted than those who can't. Fascinatingly, however, we have found it extremely rare for leaders to be able to answer this question.

We've always wondered why some people are clear about following virtuous leadership principles such as honesty, generosity, kindness and curiosity even under pressure, and some people aren't, and why some people take them seriously and some don't. Why do some people think they are acting from these virtues when they are not, and why are some people more honest with themselves than others. The obvious answer, of course, is that although they may be highly skilled and competent, incongruent leaders lack vertical growth.

Stages of human development ...