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

0:00:08.360,0:00:12.960

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

 

0:00:13.340,0:00:17.680

Theme: Communication and Leadership

 

0:00:17.680,0:00:20.480

Our Master Lecture on Leadership

 

0:00:20.840,0:00:24.400

Leadership is a very broad and wide concept

 

0:00:24.400,0:00:29.340

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

 

0:00:29.340,0:00:39.320

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

 

0:00:39.760,0:00:42.680

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

 

0:00:42.900,0:00:45.920

The Alpha Male, or the Alpha Female

 

0:00:45.940,0:00:49.460

That is to say: Who is stronger, leads

 

0:00:49.460,0:00:52.160

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

 

0:00:52.160,0:00:56.800

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

 

0:00:56.800,0:01:00.560

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

 

0:01:01.560,0:01:06.440

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

 

0:01:06.920,0:01:09.880

That is, the superiority of Mental Energies

 

0:01:11.900,0:01:17.540

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

 

0:01:17.780,0:01:22.820

one of several leaders, an incredibly charismatic person,

 

0:01:22.820,0:01:24.580

he did incredible things,

 

0:01:24.580,0:01:27.220

he revolutionized the world of Physics

 

0:01:27.220,0:01:29.360

but he is paralyzed.

 

0:01:29.360,0:01:32.720

We cannot talk in this case of a Primal Leadership,

 

0:01:32.720,0:01:37.280

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

 

0:01:37.840,0:01:42.080

and mainly his capacity to continue working

 

0:01:42.080,0:01:46.160

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

 

0:01:46.160,0:01:49.840

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

 

0:01:49.840,0:01:54.560

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

 

0:01:54.560,0:01:58.800

The capacity to motivate themselves and auto-motivate others.

 

0:01:59.540,0:02:04.500

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

 

0:02:04.500,0:02:09.000

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

 

0:02:09.000,0:02:16.000

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

 

0:02:16.000,0:02:20.000

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

 

0:02:20.000,0:02:21.500

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

 

0:02:21.500,0:02:24.060

because he is THE specialist.

 

0:02:24.060,0:02:30.180

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

 

0:02:30.260,0:02:36.300

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

 

0:02:36.920,0:02:41.560

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)…

 

0:02:41.580,0:02:45.600

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

 

0:02:45.900,0:02:50.500

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

 

0:02:51.200,0:02:52.420

4th Level.

 

0:02:52.420,0:02:55.620

Always referring to the HPM Model of Leadership

 

0:02:55.740,0:02:59.320

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

 

0:03:00.320,0:03:03.340

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

 

0:03:03.340,0:03:09.480

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

 

0:03:09.480,0:03:14.020

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

 

0:03:14.200,0:03:17.540

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

 

0:03:17.760,0:03:19.960

but he can coordinate all these Corporate Areas.

 

0:03:20.180,0:03:24.580

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

 

0:03:24.700,0:03:28.820

without pretending to be the best in all of them.

 

0:03:30.000,0:03:35.160

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

 

0:03:35.160,0:03:41.800

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

 

0:03:41.800,0:03:51.080

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

 

0:03:51.080,0:03:54.260

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

 

0:03:54.880,0:04:01.880

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….

 

0:04:02.240,0:04:07.740

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

 

0:04:07.920,0:04:18.360

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

 

0:04:18.380,0:04:27.740

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

 

0:04:28.020,0:04:31.380

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

 

0:04:32.540,0:04:38.260

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

 

0:04:38.260,0:04:40.740

the list of things that have do be done

 

0:04:41.580,0:04:45.640

So, a person that transforms a dream

 

0:04:45.840,0:04:48.880

into a project and into a “To Do List”

 

0:04:48.880,0:04:51.440

defining “Who” “Does What” and “When”

 

0:04:53.620,0:05:01.000

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

 

0:05:01.580,0:05:07.920

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

 

0:05:08.180,0:05:12.600

and in assigning tasks, delegation and responsibilities

 

0:05:12.640,0:05:17.680

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

 

0:05:18.720,0:05:28.140

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

 

0:05:28.140,0:05:32.860

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

 

0:05:33.100,0:05:39.320

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

 

0:05:39.720,0:05:46.440

I can cite as examples Gandhi, Buddha,

 

0:05:46.900,0:05:53.900

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

 

0:05:54.560,0:05:58.880

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

 

0:05:58.960,0:06:02.440

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

 

0:06:02.480,0:06:07.920

So, Spiritual Leaders are those in which we recognize values

 

0:06:07.920,0:06:13.280

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

 

0:06:13.380,0:06:16.020

those values inspire us in improving us

 

0:06:16.020,0:06:22.340

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

 

0:06:22.340,0:06:24.340

This is a Spiritual Leadership

 

0:06:24.740,0:06:26.840

and now you imagine

 

0:06:27.360,0:06:31.000

That these 6 Leadership Levels

 

0:06:31.080,0:06:33.980

can be singularly present

 

0:06:33.980,0:06:39.660

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

 

0:06:39.660,0:06:44.140

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

 

0:06:44.140,0:06:48.620

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

 

0:06:48.620,0:06:59.740

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)

 

0:06:59.780,0:07:03.700

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

 

0:07:04.000,0:07:08.400

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

 

0:07:08.400,0:07:14.480

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

 

0:07:14.480,0:07:21.480

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)

 

0:07:21.480,0:07:23.240

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

 

0:07:23.240,0:07:32.440

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)

 

0:07:32.820,0:07:38.220

If we observe a Master in Martial Arts,

 

0:07:38.480,0:07:47.340

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

 

0:07:47.540,0:07:51.320

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

 

0:07:51.740,0:07:55.520

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

 

0:07:55.960,0:07:59.360

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

 

0:07:59.680,0:08:04.320

the Master adopts a Self Perception of Primal Leader

 

0:08:04.340,0:08:08.340

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

 

0:08:08.340,0:08:12.500

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

 

0:08:12.500,0:08:19.500

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

 

0:08:19.500,0:08:23.100

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

 

0:08:23.100,0:08:29.980

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

 

0:08:29.980,0:08:32.280

conducted by means of meditation session, reflective activities,

 

0:08:32.380,0:08:35.840

acting as Counselor and as Coach in helping his students

 

0:08:35.840,0:08:39.680

very probably without any need to demonstrate his skills

 

0:08:39.680,0:08:46.680

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

 

0:08:46.680,0:08:55.340

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

 

0:08:55.340,0:08:59.460

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

 

0:08:59.460,0:09:03.380

and this is the really most profound meaning of Leadership

Copyright by Dr. Daniele Trevisani www.danieletrevisani.com