"While reading this book you may think, 'Is this book about leadership, or is it about personal development?' It's about both". Kevin Cashman writes, "As much as we try to separate the leader from the person, the two are totally inseparable. Unfortunately, many people tend to split off the 'act of leadership' from the person. We tend to view leadership as an external event. We see it only as something people do. The view of this book is different. Leadership is not simply something we do. It comes from somewhere inside us. Leadership is a process, an intimate expression of who we are. It is our being in action. Our being, our personhood, says as much about us a leader as the act of leading itself. Paul Walsh, Chairman and CEO of Pillsbury, recently told me, 'The missing link in leadership development is growing the person to grow the leader'. As we grow, so shall we lead...As we learn to master our growth as a person, we will be on the path to mastery of Leadership from the Inside Out" (pp.18-19).
Within this framework, Kevin Cashman identifies seven pathways to mastery of Leadership from the Inside Out. He says that "These pathways to mastery are not stages of development arranged in a sequential or hierarchical order. Rather, they are an ongoing, interrelated growth process in which the pathways constantly are illuminating one another" (pp.28-29).
1. Personal Mastery / Leading Through Authentic Self-Expession: It is the onging commitment to unfolding and authenticaly expressing who we are.
Principles: Take total responsibility, practice personal mastery with others, bring beliefs to conscious awareness, develop awareness of character and persona, listen to feedback, consider finding a coaching process, and be flexible.
2. Purpose Mastery / Leading by Expressing Our Gifts to Create Value: It is the ongoing discovery of how we express our gifts to add life-enriching value to the world.
Principles: Focus on how to make a difference, get in touch with your values, act "on-purpose", be purposeful in all domains, encourage others to find purpose, seek the goal, learn from "failure", and be flexible.
3. Change Mastery / Leading in the Flow: It involves embracing the purposeful learning contained in the unending, creative flow of life.
Principles: Be open to learning, practice present-moment awareness, integrate immediate focus and broad awareness, trust yourself, develop resiliency through mental-emotional stretching, practice the change mastery shifts, and take the leap.
4. Interpersonal Mastery / Leading Through Synergy: It is the dynamic blending of personal power with synergy power to create value and contribution.
Principles: Build relationship bridges, balance personal power with synergy power and contribution power, build awareness of intention-perception gap, personal mastery and interpersonal mastery are intimately connected, become aware of your structure of interpretation, and practice the five touchstones (know yourself, listen, express, appreciate, serve) to authentic leadership.
5. Being Mastery / Leading Through Being: It is connecting with the silence and peace of the innermost depth of one's character to support more dynamism, effectiveness, and contribution.
Principles: Take your own journey into being, resolve life challenges by going to a deeper level, consider learning to mediate, and integrate more reflection into your life.
6. Balance Mastery / Leading by Centering Our Life: It is the dynamic centering of our life to build resilience and to enhance effectiveness and fulfillment.
Principles: Choose wisely, be on-purpose, rest and reflect more, exercise for enjoyment, simplify your life, and loosen up.
7. Action Mastery / Leading as a Whole Person: It is the ongoing commitment to creating value through enhanced authenticity and self-expression.
Principles: Seek the most essential first, approach growth and development as an integrated, lifelong process, take total responsibility, value consistency over intensity, set aside worry, doubts, and negativity, don't just walk the talk, become the talk, and build awareness through inside out journaling.
Finally, Kevin Cashman argues that "Certainly the principal purpose of Leadership from the Inside Out is to give people tools for personal growth and transformation leading to leadership growth and transformation. But its true potential contribution is more than that. Its purpose is more than just helping a bunch of seperate individuals to grow...Growth is fulfilling as it touches and enriches the lives of others" (p.203).
I highly recommend.
