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The Leadership Wheel

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The Leadership Wheel

Five Steps for Achieving Individual and Organizational Greatness

Palgrave Macmillan,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

The wheel of leadership has four spokes: teacher, nurturer, visionary and warrior. In the center is the sage.

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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

C. Clinton Sidle finds leadership lessons in psychologist Carl Jung's categorization of human personality into archetypes based on ancient mythological symbols and in Jung's belief that each person travels on a "heroic journey" through life. Sidle adapts these Jungian ideas and the symbol of the wheel to create a paradigm of business leadership that individuals, teams and organizations can use to reach their goals. Because he tries to fit so many concepts into his wheel, readers may feel after a while that they are spinning in circles. Nonetheless, the book is loaded with useful exercises and examples. Although Sidle's approach is esoteric, getAbstract recommends it to managers with a spiritual bent who want to develop their leadership qualities and discover a style that suits them.

Summary

The Epic Quest

The urge to push forward, seek and achieve is part of the human genetic heritage. It haunts human dreams, philosophies and myths. In fact, some say that everything that humans have achieved, from art to atrocity, springs from this ambition coupled with a deep sense of inadequacy.

To go out into the world, you must leave the comfort and security of your "home," psychologically speaking. To find your purpose, you must question everything. In the process, you locate your "basic goodness," from which all your cherished ideas come. When you trust yourself, you develop trust in the basic goodness of others. Leaders who have confidence in their beliefs and understand their motivations do not become bogged down in ego conflicts that distract them from their goals.

JetBlue's CEO David Neeleman worked with poor people in South America as a young missionary. "I really became incapable of thinking I was better than anyone else," he says of that time. He credits his company's success to his concern for others: When he treats JetBlue employees with respect, they, in turn, treat customers the same way.

Modern Management and the Ancient Wheel

Societies...

About the Author

C. Clinton Sidle directs the Roy H. Park Leadership Fellows Program at Cornell University, and consults on business strategy and leadership training.

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