Modern Leadership Personas

KAHUNA

You have the same Modern Leadership Persona as Queen Elizabeth II, Sheryl Sandberg, Chrissy Teigen, Queen Latifah, Luvvie Ajayi (NY Times Best Selling Author), Steve Jobs, Kenneth C. Frazier (Merck), and Sylvia Acevedo (CEO Girl Scouts).

The Integrated KAHUNA: Command and control is the name of the game. This leads to being more directive rather than collaborating or entrusting others. This results in a lack of synergy and co-creation, which might lead you to feel that everything falls on your shoulders to be resolved. Typically, you aren’t happy when you must solve everything independently, and others are unhappy that they can’t contribute more fully. This imbalance can lead to rework, reactivity, and lack of creativity. As a result, you become highly reliant on the hierarchy to make decisions, causing disengaged employees and retention.

Winning and significance are essential; you typically find resourceful ways to meet this need. You may see others as competition. This perception must change for everyone to be seen for the value they naturally bring.

The Imbalanced KAHUNA: This imbalance may lead to the team feeling micromanaged or undermanaged. Either way, they are disconnected from their organizational purpose. They may not feel comfortable relaying important information, leading to distrust in the culture and an “everyone out for themselves” mentality. The team will be waiting for your instruction, yet profoundly wanting you to entrust them and move into more synergy and co-creation. If this imbalance isn’t checked, it can show up as the team blaming each other, lack of ownership, competition amongst each other, and an overall disintegration of the organization’s cohesion.

Imbalanced Team Impact: This imbalance may lead to the team feeling micromanaged or undermanaged. Either way, they are disconnected from their organizational purpose. They may not feel comfortable in relaying important information, leading to distrust in the culture and an “everyone out for themselves” mentality. The team will be waiting for your instruction, yet deeply wanting you to entrust them and move into more synergy and co-creation. If this imbalance isn’t checked, it can show up as the team blaming each other, lack of ownership, competition amongst each other, and an overall disintegration of the cohesion of the organization.

How to Cultivate Integration: 

1. Be courageous and ask how you’re impacting others.
2. Take 100% responsibility even when your impact isn’t what you intended.
3. Remember, the organizational vision and mission are more significant than anyone, including yourself.

Consider focusing more on self-leadership. This may mean forgiving yourself for past mistakes and allowing yourself to be okay when you don’t know the answers, or you are unable to meet the high standards you set. Acknowledge the part of you that may not always feel good enough.

You don’t have to prove yourself to others for them to know your power because your power comes from who you are being.

Build a connection with your team by being fully present and profoundly listening instead of trying to think of an answer when someone is speaking.

Use your senses to ground yourself in the present moment – sight, sound, touch, and smell. Make eye contact, put your phone away, and eliminate all distractions. Start by listening to your team’s wants, needs, and what they believe could improve.

Take time to develop your leadership presence and have the courage to be with your feelings and share them. In this way, you will experience more fulfillment and a more substantial positive impact. As you begin to trust yourself, you will trust others and begin to see the value of your team. As a result, others will want to follow you versus needing to follow you.

When you know the direction you want to go, ask powerful questions to determine how much knowledge and desire your team has to accomplish your goals. We suggest a more collaborative approach so that your team member(s) clearly understand their role and the expected outcomes. Synergy and co-creation will naturally result as you begin to entrust your team. Set checkpoints along the way so that you feel comfortable receiving the gifts and talents your team is ready to give!

CATALYZER

You have the same Modern Leadership Persona as Kenneth Chenault, Greta Thunberg, Naomi Wadler, Amanda Gorman (poet), Dolores Huerta (Latina Farm Workers Civil Rights Activist) Anthony Fauci, Tim Cook (CEO Apple), and Tsai Ing-wen (Taiwan’s President).

The Integrated CATALYZER: Devoted to your organization’s vision and mission, you thrive in optimizing systems, structures, and methods to lead the way to make the organization come alive and thrive. You create meaningful data and know when to trust your intuition and hunches.

Your expertise is your ability to create transformation. The organization sees its vision realized by pointing the best people to the roles needed for the organization to thrive and establishing clear outcomes. Loyalty and tradition are important, so you may only be open to innovation as it supports your organization.

Your team feels heard and trusts your leadership because you know when to be instructional, when to co-create when to entrust others by communicating goals, and when to evaluate Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and success measures.

The Imbalanced CATALYZER: Lack of flexibility, a tendency to have fixed thinking, and a one-dimensional perspective leave little room for new ideas or concepts. This imbalance sometimes leads to shutting down ideas other than what already exists. You may be used to doing things “old school,” holding a more rigid perspective on the organization. Although you are hyper-focused and committed to the mission and vision of the organization, others might only adapt to change if they receive direction from you. Your team may perceive you as aggressive by always defending the way the organization used to work to no end.

Imbalanced Team Impact: An imbalanced Catalyzer can create followers, not leaders, with the team feeling unsafe to bring ideas or innovation forward for fear of reaction or rejection, causing a breakdown in communication. The organization may have a high turnover rate because the team doesn’t feel seen or heard and cannot continue beyond the norm; this leads to team apathy and lost productivity due to a lack of inspiration and purpose. There needs to be more co-creation or synergy due to your steady nature and the breakdown in connection between you and the team.

How to Cultivate Integration: Take incremental steps to say yes to new ideas brought forward by others, seeing the value in perspectives different than your own. You may feel defensive and think these ideas are an attack on you. Learn to separate yourself from your work and remember that positive change keeps us relevant.

Be intentional by checking in with yourself before team presentations or group meetings to remind yourself to be curious. You may feel off-center with new concepts or innovation – find ways to ground yourself in the present moment with meditation and mindfulness. By bringing in these new ideas and concepts, your team will feel more valued, and you will begin to develop a connection with them beyond the instruction you provide. If you allow yourself to be with more ambiguity, your team will likely be more inspired to take more ownership of critical outcomes. As a result, your organization will benefit from more synergy and co-creation, and you will entrust your team as needed. The key will be to stay in your body, not only in your mind. An easy technique you can use is to tap into your senses, so your magnificent mind doesn’t sweep you away.

INNOVATOR

You have the same Modern Leadership Persona as Reed Hastings (Netflix), Barry Clifford (Underwater Archeologist), Emma Chamberlain (YouTube fashion innovator), Betty White, Dr. Ayanna Howard (Nutanix Future Robotics), and Melanie Perkins (Canva CEO).

The Integrated INNOVATOR:  Your genius is in change leadership – innovating and ideation-breaking barriers. Highly curious and creative, your out-of-the-box thinking inspires people.

Your commitment to “think big” readily serves the market and customers’ desires and expectations before they know what they want. The value of forming, structuring, and implementing systems may be knowing they are the key to your next creation.

When you’re grounded, you have the support of your team to keep the organization on track. When facing choices, your first instinct may be to choose the most interesting one, and you have enough self-management to consider what is best in the long run.

In a balanced way, you recognize that pressure from a business perspective is very real, and by being aware of the details and timing to execute effectively, you allow everyone to pioneer effectively together. You’re a curator of organizational experiences for people to remember that they are connected to a unique vision. Your team trusts your leadership because you know when to be instructional when to co-create, and when to entrust others with new ideas so that they become a reality.

The Imbalanced INNOVATOR: When experiencing an imbalance, as an INNOVATOR, you might find yourself in a constant state of creativity, moving from one project or company to the next and not finishing before moving on. Your nature may be considered immature, not taking things seriously or responsibly – staying in the world of creativity, wonder, and play. Systems, routine, and structure feel like a cage to you, which can result in you constantly creating things from scratch, leading to productivity, energy, and time leaks. Your first reaction to confrontation and challenges may seem impulsive or defensive.

Imbalanced Team Impact: Your team may need more specifics regarding their duties and responsibilities relating to details and timing of critical outcomes. They may feel ungrounded and overly reliant on you if you constantly move the target. They may see you as unpredictable and unreliable, resulting in a lack of trust and accountability. The team must work more effectively with clear priorities, roles, and processes. Due to your team needing more clarity, you are likely in a constant state of instruction, never fully entrusting your team, and thus, they need more synergy and may not be co-creating. The organization can only be scaled and run with you when you provide flexible structure and accountability.

How to Cultivate Integration: Your natural child-like wonder is a gift to your organization and this world. Curiosity is necessary to keep things fresh, fun, and relevant. There is a time for fun and business – learn the balance and how to integrate them so it feels natural. How can you have fun and still show up responsibly so people can count on you?

When you ground in structures and systems to stabilize your team and organization, you can channel your creativity within these structures and systems. When adding structure, you will not lose your freedom; you may, in fact, gain more freedom to create. Find the happy medium between form and flexibility so you feel free, as things may get boring quickly. Re-frame the illusion of losing your identity or being controlled and find ways to fly inside of this. The idea is to have consistency for your team and understand that they need this to feel safe and effective.

With structure, your team will feel safe and supported and, in turn, begin to help you even more so you can be free to work on your genius. You will start to see more synergy and co-creation, and you will feel capable of entrusting instead of just instructing. You will need to hire the right team around you so you can shine and be held accountable. Learn to take ownership where you can, and you will see your team will follow suit.

CULTIVATOR

You have the same Modern Leadership Persona as Brené Brown; Ed Sheeran, Rosalind (Roz) Brewer CEO Walgreens, Paula Stone Williams (trans speaker/activist), Mike Kublin, and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

The Integrated CULTIVATOR: A model in self-awareness, you know how to spend your energy to create a winning culture. People often come to you for personal and professional advice because you are attuned to people’s feelings and know how to be there and listen without judgment. You don’t try to control or fix people. If you want a great customer or employee experience, you must first have a tremendous internal experience.

As a healthy CULTIVATOR, it is best for you to take time and align within yourself first; then, you align with your employees. This internal alignment, instead, helps you cultivate a winning culture. You naturally connect with people, and people love to work with you. You have a balance between heart and mind – feeling emotionally connected to everyone around you. Constantly being the student by realizing that the whole world is your teacher, your curiosity leads us all to learn.

You are open to learning from everyone, regardless of their position or level of authority. You can inspire everyone to attract and retain the best talent because you listen to what is being said and what is not being said.

As an expert in creating strong, diverse teams, you draw people to you because you believe in them regardless of their background, and you see the value that they provide.

You are inclusive and embrace diversity, seeing the value in everyone, even if they differ. The ability to remember details due to your observatory nature empowers your organization. Your team trusts your leadership because you know when to be instructional when to co-create, and when to entrust others with customer and employee experiences.

The Imbalanced CULTIVATOR: Lack of self-care might cause you to be swept away by your emotional experience, leading to cyclic thoughts, anxiety, or instability. Communication may be ineffective because you are constantly overwhelmed, leading to defensiveness, reactivity, or shutting down. An imbalance may lead to an inability to manage change effectively and lacking composure when others don’t share the same viewpoint. You may avoid conflict because the feelings that come with conflict are intense and unpleasant.

Imbalanced Team Impact: The team can sense that you have a bias because you may feel more emotionally connected to the people you have similarities with and who think like you. Knowing your limits is vital, and setting good boundaries would benefit you. Your triggers might include selfless impulses resulting in a lack of judgment and may create favorites, leading to jealousy and division in the team. This division can result in a lack of synergy and co-creation. The team may not know how to approach you with challenges or bad news, which may create a culture of blame, secrets, and stonewalling (hiding). When you hold people accountable, their leadership and respect for you strengthen.

How to Cultivate Integration:

1. Learn where you get and give the most energy.
2. Understand the difference between your feelings and the feelings of others. Be available to fully be with your emotional experience, being conscious of your surroundings so you can be present in the moment.
3. Learn to express your emotions in the moment or with someone you trust. Try meditation to build a stronger connection with your objective observer or Leader Within.
4. Take time to make decisions from both heart and mind, grounding yourself in your values and the values of your culture.

When you allow yourself to be with the wisdom of your feelings, the mystery of new or evolving ideas reveals itself, enriching your relationships and your work culture.

ACTIVATOR

You have the same Modern Leadership Persona as Malala Yousafzai (Educator), Gary Vaynerchuk, Mary Barra (GM), Carla Harris (Morgan Sanley), Satya Nadella (CEO Microsoft), Daymond John, and Myrna Soto (Chief Strategy and Trust Officer for Forcepoint).

The Integrated ACTIVATOR: A highly motivated and driven individual who doesn’t shy away from conflict or long-term thinking when the mission inspires you. You have the perfect balance between hustle and grace, knowing there is value in the doing and the being (rest, reflect, retool). You can expand time and money by reflecting alone or with people you trust.

Regardless of setbacks, you drive results and manage your performance to provide value for your organization. People see you as reliable and know that if you say you’re going to do something, they can count on you. You know how to work and play hard, allowing yourself to relax, rest, and enjoy the fruits of your endeavors.

Tactical and intentional, choosing to use your talent of moving the organization forward from a centered place, you know that acting without a well-thought-out plan creates waste. Your team trusts your leadership because you know when to be instructional when to co-create, or when to entrust others with goals and tasks.

The Imbalanced ACTIVATOR: All about the hustle and grind, you may find yourself acting for the sake of taking action, forgetting to check in with the relationships and resources around you. There may be a gap in knowing how to feel your feelings and relax, not seeing the value in stillness or anything other than going, doing, and moving forward. This imbalance leads to burnout, exhaustion, and less efficiency, which could be more sustainable. If this imbalance is unchecked, you may see a manifestation of a sickness or illness appear to force you to slow down. At the root of not slowing down is a lack of emotional intelligence, resulting in reactivity and high overwhelm. Always striving and holding yourself to high standards, your feelings of worth come only when work is to being done.

Imbalanced Team Impact: The exhaustion and stress from this imbalance will likely bleed into your team’s communication. The high reactivity from the activator’s imbalance can lead to a breakdown in communication and increased conflict, with the team feeling afraid to ask questions or provide any input. You are highly influential and may create a culture of acting without the balance of self-care. This results in an exhausted and overworked team, needing more boundaries between home and work. The workplace may need more fun and joy, and you may feel disconnected from your team because of how busy you are. This lack of connection leads to you not entrusting your team, and, as a result, you will experience very little synergy and co-creation. Consider not evaluating your worth based on your work. Begin to see your worth and value beyond what you do, and your team will follow suit.

How to Cultivate Integration: Learn to balance being and doing. Take intentional time to reflect, rest, and relax, knowing that resting and being fulfilled in the mission is as valuable as doing. You may feel that you aren’t doing enough when you start to slow down, so remind yourself that you don’t have to do anything to be valuable.

Increase supportive behaviors within yourself and others. Deeply listen, be encouraging, and be patient. Trust that your team sees your value, understands your priorities, and “has your back.” As you start to see your value beyond taking action, you will begin to fully see the value of your team, allowing you to entrust them and allow for true synergy and co-creation to occur.

Enjoy the fruits of your hard work. What is the point of working so hard if you can’t enjoy it? Have fun, take a day off, do something spontaneous. Schedule a fun team bonding activity. Take time to connect with the people on your team. These activities (connection, rest, fun) lead you to precisely what you want to create – more productivity. Remember, the only person putting pressure on you is you. Learn to slow down. Meditate. Enjoy your life.

NURTURER

You have the same Modern Leadership Persona as Gabrielle Bernstein, Jacinda Ardern (New Zeland Prime Minister), The Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Mahatma Gandhi, Garry Ridge (WD-40), Cheryl Bachelder (Popeye’s LA Kitchen), and Andy Kaplan (Audible).

The Integrated NURTURER: You can easily connect with your internal and external customers because you are highly intuitive and can best serve others. You are altruistic and service-oriented but balanced with logic and reason, so you don’t get swept away by how you feel about something or someone, allowing you to make sound decisions. Often seen as caring and giving without compromising yourself, you lead from service and contribution, and your team is inspired to do the same. People naturally feel like they belong because of your nurturing nature and good boundaries.

As a caring, popular communicator, you create a personalized connection with others. You excel at creating a positive customer experience even in the B2B (Business to business) world. Today’s B2B clients feel they should be getting experiences like those in the B2C (Business to consumer) world and that the best leaders embody their customers’ line of site and values. You know that spending time on the front lines of your organization is good, not just to know your customer service representative or salesperson better but also to hear firsthand what clients are saying and to show you are in it for the long-term game.

Your team trusts your leadership because you know when to be instructional when to co-create, or when to entrust others. Others see you as a faithful people leader – you know where to spend your energy, and others are inspired to nurture themselves. Your gift is turning one-time buyers into long-term relationships.

The Imbalanced NURTURER: This imbalance moves from selflessness to self-sacrificing and over-giving. You may delegate and entrust too soon, trusting others, and then be upset that somebody didn’t meet your expectations. This imbalance creates a lack of boundaries, causing you to constantly feel overworked and taken advantage of by trying to help others. Know that you can communicate standards and boundaries with kindness, which will help empower your team to be even more effective. As an imbalanced NURTURER, you may act from service but at the expense of the bottom line and make decisions from a feeling of scarcity. Poor self-care habits lead to a work-life imbalance, and resentment will follow. This imbalance leads to fulfilling the needs of the organization first, with the needs of the self always last and downplaying your strengths and accomplishments.

Imbalanced Team Impact: Team members lack responsibility and ownership because they hesitate to hold others accountable. You may feel guilty because your staff is overworked and do many things alone. Often, you may even take on tasks previously delegated to others, which leads to stunted team development with no one ever entirely “leaving the nest.” The team expects this leader to instruct and assign tasks without genuine initiative, creating an unhealthy relationship. Ultimately, the team feels they need to be more trusted, resulting in a lack of synergy and co-creation—productivity and morale decrease, leading to high turnover rates and decreased retention.

How to Cultivate Integration: Be more confident within yourself and what is best for you and the organization. Learn to see when to be instructive, when to enroll, and when to entrust others. Explain clear roles and outcomes and check in with your team for understanding and ideas. If you’re concerned about setting boundaries, realize that a team held accountable is more committed to their work and the organization. You can speak about your team’s boundaries with kindness, which doesn’t have to lead to conflict. Reflecting helps you identify leaders on your team – who are best suited to tackle goals and outcomes. Use your intuition and remember you do not have to say yes to everyone, especially when that means saying no to yourself and your team.

Your team often enjoys spending time with you. So much so that you may need help distinguishing between being friends with someone and your professional expectations. Setting goals, outcomes, and key performance indicators or having written organizational roles and descriptions can keep things clear and deliberate. We suggest a more directive approach when your team member(s) come to you for support and resist the temptation to take work back on that you have delegated or instructed them to do.