6 Stages of Leadership. New video on the Exa-Leadership Model

A brief video on the Exa-Leadership Model, the 6 Stages of Leadership, by the Italian Author and Consultant Dr. Daniele Trevisani, from the book “Semiotics for Leaders“, with English subtitles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdCn0_dwVWU

Transcript of the Lesson on Leadership, by Dr. Daniele Trevisani

held at the Master in Coaching & Counseling STEP, 2015

by www.danieletrevisani.com

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Well, let’s start with this second module of the morning

 

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Theme: Communication and Leadership

 

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Our Master Lecture on Leadership

 

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Leadership is a very broad and wide concept

 

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We can say that generally Leadership is the ability to “drive people” (but there are several ways in doing it)

 

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Some interpret Leadership in a way that we can call “Primal Leadership” mode (Level 1 of the Exa-Leadership Model)

 

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the “Leadership of the Leader of the Tribe” or Leader of the Pack

 

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The Alpha Male, or the Alpha Female

 

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That is to say: Who is stronger, leads

 

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In this modality, the position of Leader is acquired by fighting

 

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and is held and kept by fighting, since there is always someone that wants to get it, to grab it, to steal it, ok?

 

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I refer to this, in the HPM Model, as “Primal Leadership”

 

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Second modality of viewing Leadership is a Psychoenergetic Leadership (Level 2 of the Exa-Leadership Model)

 

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That is, the superiority of Mental Energies

 

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I like an example, Stephen Hawking, that is a leader in the field of Astrophysics

 

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one of several leaders, an incredibly charismatic person,

 

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he did incredible things,

 

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he revolutionized the world of Physics

 

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but he is paralyzed.

 

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We cannot talk in this case of a Primal Leadership,

 

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it’s not his body the source of inspiration for people, it’s his Mind

 

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and mainly his capacity to continue working

 

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in conditions in which 99.99% of other people would have quit

 

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and would have quit not only today, but tens of years ago.

 

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So, there is also a Leadership on the front of the Motivational Side.

 

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The capacity to motivate themselves and auto-motivate others.

 

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Than we have a third level of leadership, the Leadership of the Specialist (Level 3, Micro-Leadership Level in the Exa-Leadership Model)

 

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So, if we have on example a Surgical Operating Room within a Hospital

 

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you would see that in a Surgical Operating Room there is a specific time-frame that we can identify as “Leadership of the Anesthesiologist”,

 

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in other words, the best in the team in doing anesthesia, leads. He drives the action.

 

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Nobody can interfere with his decisions (on what to do and how to do his job as specialist)

 

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because he is THE specialist.

 

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Than, we’ll have a Leadership Phase of the Surgeon,

 

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than, when you return in your room, there will be a Leadership Phase of the Head Nurse, and so on.

 

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That is to say, the Third Level of Leadership is a Leadership Mode that is very focused on Micro-Skills, Micro-abilities (Leadership of the Specialist, Level 3 of the Exa-Leadership Model)…

 

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…you have a Micro-Skill, you can do some things better than others

 

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and you become the Leader, a Situational Leader, let’s call it this way.

 

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4th Level.

 

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Always referring to the HPM Model of Leadership

 

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… it is a “Leadership of the Big Picture” (the capacity to see the big picture)

 

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which is based on Macro-Skills (Level 4 of the Exa-Leadership Model)

 

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What I am saying, is that it could be the case of a CEO,

 

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who is not necessarily the best or most skilled of the company in the field of Marketing,

 

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he is also not the best in Administration, or as Buyer, and in Logistics,

 

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but he can coordinate all these Corporate Areas.

 

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He must have a good knowledge of the various organizational areas,

 

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without pretending to be the best in all of them.

 

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So he has the ability to “cover” several areas and to “supervise” them.

 

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This (Level 4 in the Exa-Leadership Model) is another and different Leadership modality, the capacity to “supervise” processes (Supervisory Leadership).

 

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For coaching and counseling, this is very interesting, since a coach and a counselor can really be “supervisors” of client’s processes,

 

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processes that the person can deal and bring ahead also together with other professionals,

 

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on example, lawyers, supposing that in a marital separation there might be the need of a specific legal skills in some stages of the process….

 

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… or processes that the person brings ahead with medical doctors, with other professional roles,

 

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always keeping in mind that someone has to maintain a “helicopter view” of the whole process that the person is trying to carry out

 

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And now, the 5th. The Fifth modality of looking at leadership is the Leadership of Project Management, the “Leadership of Projectuality”

 

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What does it mean to be “Leader in Projectuality”?

 

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It means to be that person that is able to transform an idea into a “To Do List”

 

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the list of things that have do be done

 

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So, a person that transforms a dream

 

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into a project and into a “To Do List”

 

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defining “Who” “Does What” and “When”

 

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There are people that are extremely able in intervening inside an idea or a project

 

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they might not bring any real creativity, but are able to set times, methods, procedures

 

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and in assigning tasks, delegation and responsibilities

 

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This is a Projectuality Leadership (5th Level in the Exa Leadership Model)

 

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This applies to any field. On example in a kitchen, a Project Leadership becomes the ability to know what ingredients are needed and when to use them

 

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and very likely the dish or recipe might have been decided by others. Project leadership has nothing to do with “generating” ideas but in getting things done

 

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Than we have the Sixth and higher Level of Leadership (Level 6 in the Exa-Leadership Model): “Spiritual Leadership”

 

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I can cite as examples Gandhi, Buddha,

 

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I could quote any person that someone can consider to be a “Charismatic Leader” for the value that he/she expresses

 

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for the “Values” and not for his/her physical power or physical strength,

 

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and not for a capacity in Project Management, but for the Values.

 

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So, Spiritual Leaders are those in which we recognize values

 

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we recognize ourselves in those values, we nourish ourselves with those values

 

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those values inspire us in improving us

 

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they inspire us in growing again, in changing the world, or in leaving a better human race behind us

 

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This is a Spiritual Leadership

 

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and now you imagine

 

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That these 6 Leadership Levels

 

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can be singularly present

 

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on example, in having a Leader that has one specific strong trait among 6 highlighted (and might be weak on others)

 

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and with that single strong trait, he will be able to do great things

 

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or a Leader that has 2 strong traits, or 3 strong traits, or even more, up to 6

 

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so we have a view of Leadership Styles based on the analysis of which typical “strong trait” a leader is using (within the Exa-Leadership Model)

 

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so, if we look at Leader (among political Leaders) as Putin

 

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you will see a Primal Leadership in action, a “bodily leadership”

 

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expressed in the “walking style”, in the way to stare or look at the counterparts in the eyes, an almost “challenging mode”

 

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a “Leadership of the Fighter” (ps. Putin is also a Judo Black Belt and his Martial past and history made an imprinting into his bodily style)

 

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than. you will see in him also other Leadership levels in action, but this is a very typical case of Primal Leadership Style

 

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If we went to analyze e.g. Gandhi, we could not talk about a form of Primal Leadership (Level 1), but instead of a Spiritual Leadership (Level 6)

 

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If we observe a Master in Martial Arts,

 

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we will very often see a leader in the Macro Skills (level 4) that are needed

 

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and hopefully also in the Projectuality (Level 5), in the Skills that are needed to be able to take an athlete

 

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and make him improve along the areas in which he has gaps and needs to improve

 

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Clearly, however, if in a (Martial Arts) Gym happens that

 

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the Master adopts a Self Perception of Primal Leader

 

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that will mean that the Master will beat everybody in the Gym

 

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he will attempt to show his power and his territory by “kicking everybody’s ass”

 

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as the Alpha Monkey does within a tribe of Monkeys, where he – each now and then – attacks those who pass too close,

 

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just to show that he is the Alpha Male and Leader of the Tribe

 

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In another (Martial Arts) Gym, we could instead have someone who uses a Spiritual Leadership (level 6)

 

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conducted by means of meditation session, reflective activities,

 

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acting as Counselor and as Coach in helping his students

 

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very probably without any need to demonstrate his skills

 

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and even having much lower bodily skills of his students, it does not matter since his Leadership is on the Spiritual Side, not on the Body Side, he is the “Spiritual Glue” of his group

 

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So leadership has a lot to do with the ability to let a group become what that grup might become

 

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or in helping a person in growing, achieving his/her Personal Development and improve him/herself

 

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and this is the really most profound meaning of Leadership

Copyright by Dr. Daniele Trevisani www.danieletrevisani.com