Well here we are, towards the end of another issue of ILR, not to mention another year! This year has certainly not been without its challenges, be they personal, related to Integral Leadership Review, or the world at large. It seems society has reached a transition point, and history is waiting to see in which direction we will collectively move. Will we, as modern humans, grow up, or will we die out; these are two ends of the existential fork in the road where we find ourselves.
With this release we continue to honor the life of Russ Volckmann, founder of Integral Leadership Review. I cannot think of a better way to honor Russ, than by sharing with him and the community, the impact that he and ILR have had on you and the world! This will be an ongoing section, so feel free to send us your own Letter to Russ.
An area of special interest to me is adult development, especially it’s intersection with organizational development. Indeed, this issue has focused heavily on these areas, and this release, which is short and sweet, will be no exception. To that end we have a leadership quote, three new feature articles, and a book review.
First, Bill Torbert discusses The Pragmatic Impact on Leaders & Organizations Of Interventions Based in the Collaborative Developmental Action Inquiry Approach, addressing the efficacy of Action Inquiry in generating leadership and organizational development, the ethical, ‘political,’ and other pragmatic issues when coaches, consultants, or leaders introduce Action Inquiry practices to an organization, and an appendix on the reliability of the GLP, the MAP, and related measures.
Then, Mark Bell introduces what he terms Juvenile Leadership, offering a theoretical understanding of the term and it’s distinction from toxic leadership. Critical and fundamental distinctions are presented between toxic leadership and the new juvenile leadership theory and several suggestions for future research in the area of juvenile leadership are presented.
Next, Rick Fenwick Jr., in Examining Empathy in Team Leader Practices: A Qualitative Case Study, examines the role of empathy used by team leaders with their coworkers. The results from the data collection found the following themes: reciprocation, offering supportive behaviors, better work culture, relationship building, increased team morale, increased involvement in running the business, recognition, determining factors for deciding to use empathy, and connection with coworkers.
And finally, Russell Fitzpatrick offers his thoughts on Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey’s An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization, published in Harvard Business Review Press (2016).