The Science of Leadership

A new book helps everyday leaders put the science of leadership into action every day to model, inspire, and empower others to perform at their best.

For more than two decades, my buddy Jeffrey Hull and his colleague Margaret Moore have gathered and translated science into coaching practice through books, articles, designing and delivering coach training and education, and coaching leaders. Therefore, I was really excited to hear about their new book The Science of Leadership: Nine Ways to Expand Your Impact!

The nine capacities they discuss in their book blend science translation, real-life case studies, practices, and self-coaching tools for everyday leaders, and coaches, to apply immediately. The nine capacities are conscious, authentic, agile, relational, positive, compassionate, shared, servant and transformational leadership.

Research made real.

1. How is The Science of Leadership different from other leadership books?

Typically, leadership researchers who write nonfiction books focus on studying one leadership topic like authentic leadership, or positive leadership, or humility in leadership, and they don’t extend their research to many other topics. Or leadership experts develop their own frameworks using only research that best supports their concepts.

In writing The Science of Leadership, we gathered hundreds of top studies and critiques published recently in the most respected journals (and these journal publications summarize 15,000+ studies and papers) on a wide variety of leadership topics and models. Aiming to create the simplest framework to support leaders at all levels, we captured and synthesized the breadth of leadership topics into nine capacities.

Backed by stories from our real-life coaching experiences, we take readers on a personal journey with us from exploring one's inner self to outer landscapes, such as a team, organization, or system. We hope the research findings will inspire executives and new leaders alike to learn how to expand their impact for themselves and for those they influence.

2. How has your extensive coaching experience shaped The Science of Leadership?

Leadership and coaching are two sides of the same coin, both focused on improving others’ performance and growth. In our professional lives, we've learned how to play both roles. While leadership is a more directive approach (setting the direction), coaching is a more facilitative approach (client sets the direction). With thousands of hours of coaching experience, we’ve become intimately familiar with the challenges leaders face today, pointing us toward leadership research findings that will resonate widely.

3. How do you define leadership?

Our goal is not to re-define leadership, but to share a recent and comprehensive definition from the research literature:

Leadership can be defined as the process whereby one or more people motivate one or more other people to contribute to the achievement of collective goals (of any form) by shaping beliefs, values, and understanding. Leadership is more about getting people to want to do things than about making them do them. Leadership is not a solo process but one that is grounded in relationships and connections between leaders and those they influence. The ultimate proof of leadership is not what leaders are like or do but what their followers do.

The book's roadmap allows everyday leaders (our readers) to improve their positive impact on the motivation, performance, and well-being of those they influence.

4. What is a ‘leadership shadow’? Why is this important to understand?

A leadership shadow is a leader’s darker side, contrasting with the sunny side of upbeat confidence, optimism, and inspiration. The shadow side shows up as overdrive (e.g. hubris, overconfidence, arrogance, work addiction) or underdrive (withdrawal, avoidance). These shadow states are fueled by discomfort of two general types - fear or anxiety (chaos) or anger or impatience (rigidity). The higher leaders rise, the further they can fall, which naturally generates a leader's shadow (e.g., worrying about risks that keep leaders up at night).

The first capacity we call “conscious leadership,” upon which all of the capacities in the book rests, starts by seeing yourself clearly and objectively. A leader’s journey towards more impact begins with an honest review of both strengths and shadows, as our real-life stories shows. Once you are aware of the shadow side of your reactions to the world, you can engage in practices to outgrow and integrate shadows, transforming them into positive states.

Through a mindful process (self-awareness, self-regulation, self-transcendence or integration), leaders can turn their shadows into strength and calm.

5. What is the “quiet ego?” Why are leadership researchers only now beginning to study it?

American psychologists Jack Bauer and Heidi Wayment recently defined the quiet ego: being mindful, emotionally intelligent, compassionate, and growth oriented, with a balanced state of concern for self and others. A leader with a quiet ego is a mature leader who has turned their ego noise into strength and wisdom.

A leader with a quiet ego is then skilled at self-transformation, which is the best foundation for being a transformational leader. One could say that leaders who are skilled at all nine capacities have earned a quiet ego. Today that’s a minority. This book may convince leaders that developing a quiet ego, or at least putting a noisy ego on a leash, is good for them and the world!

6. What role does authenticity play in leadership at all levels?

Many leaders we have coached struggle with the concept of “authenticity” because it has many meanings. “Do I really want to show my doubts and fears,” they wonder. Sometimes they focus on honesty or ethical behavior as the basis for authenticity – these are important but not enough.

There are two kinds of authenticity studied by researchers - being open and authentic about one’s own values and purpose as a leader, and second, understanding and caring equally about the values and purpose of followers. Together they produce a quiet ego - a balanced concern for what matters to oneself and others.

A review of many studies of authentic leadership showed that both are important but for different reasons. The first is good for the leader - being true to one's values is good for a leader's well-being. The latter is good for others and organizations: it is how authentic leaders improve the performance of others and organizations.

These research findings encourage leaders to first attune to their own higher values, and second to balance their self-interest by attuning to the values and purpose of followers. Then they can bring both sets of values into alignment.

7. Why is it important to distinguish between self-oriented, other-oriented, and system-oriented leadership?

Leadership is complex and even overwhelming because you are consciously leading at three levels simultaneously: yourself, others, and a system like a team or organization. The more experience you have as a leader, in larger and larger systems, the more capable you can become at leading at the system level. What you do to lead yourself and your direct reports travels out to the system level too. The book’s nine capacities all operate at all levels.

Ultimately, leaders recognize the potential positive (and negative) impact that their team, organization or system may have on the wider community–and world. By stepping back and working through the three levels, leaders can become aware of the downstream effects of their approaches and decisions and share the workload with others to affect their wider world in positive ways.

8. As individuals progress from being self-oriented to other-oriented to system-oriented leaders, what hurdles might they face?

A key hurdle leaders face is knowing when, why, and how to shift from I-oriented to We-oriented leadership when they step up to operate at a broader organization or system level. Our book outlines the research, processes, and practices that leaders at every level (not just the C-suite) can apply to expand their leadership and include the "We” in purpose-making, visioning, strategy-building, and execution.

Leading at the system level requires that you operate at a higher level, a higher orbit, for all capacities - you are more conscious, more compassionate, and better at strengthening and inspiring those who you don’t work with directly. A wide variety of experiences over time allow you to rise up to lead at a system level, although not everyone masters the complexity beyond direct relationships to large teams and organizations.

9. Why might some leaders struggle to move from an “I” to a “We” mindset?

The “We” mindset becomes easier with psychological growth and maturity because you are not so caught up in your own head with your own stresses and strains and ego needs. You have more mental and emotional bandwidth for others, the organization, and beyond. You can’t open your heart and mind to others if it’s chock-full of self-concerns. Under stress, it’s harder to shift to “We” and feel resonance and connection to the “We.” In burnout, our ability to be in a “We” mindset takes a big hit.

All this to say, the stronger, more resourced, and more peaceful you become, especially in turmoil, the easier it is to orient toward the “We.” With inner resources of self-awareness, balance, self-compassion, a quiet ego, and a strong sense of collaborative support (both within and outside the organization), leaders can better weather the storms of disruption and feel less isolated and alone. Building the inner capacities that we describe (research, stories, practices) in the first six chapters becomes a strong foundation for the shift to a “We” oriented mindset and actions in the seventh chapter on sharing leadership.

10. What is the “self-determination theory” (SDT) and how does it apply to leadership?

SDT is one of the most respected, empirically derived theories (bottom up - using the research findings to generate the theory structure over 40 years) in psychology today.

We address three of SDT’s six mini theories - one mini-theory describes three core psychological needs without which we all languish - 1. Autonomy and 2. Competence and 3. Relationships (that support autonomy and competence). We discuss how to meet these needs in the chapter on positive leadership.

The second mini theory focuses on the quality of motivation. High quality motivation is autonomous motivation (not imposed by others or social norms). It can sustain you and help you persist in the face of challenges. We discuss high quality autonomous motivation in authentic, positive, servant, and transformational leadership.

Autonomous motivation comes in two general forms - intrinsic (third mini-theory) where you do something because you love to do it for its own sake, like designing a new business process or analysis or developing an innovative solution.

The second form is meaning-based motivation where you might not enjoy the activity, but you are motivated by something important, something you value, that is meaningful, even if you don’t love doing it. You have meaning when what you value is fulfilled, like raising a happy child or building a respected company or inventing a life-improving technology.

When others press you to value what they value, it is vital that you ‘internalize’ the external pressure (others wanting to motivate you), and find your own reasons, your own motivation - what is important and valuable to you.

Combining both enjoyment AND meaning is the best internal motivation you can bring to yourself and others. It happens more when you have relationships that support your autonomy, high quality motivation, and competence.

11. What is “psychological capital,” and where does it come from?

Psychological capital comes from the field of positive psychology. It includes psychological resources that made it through the scientific gate - they are clearly defined, can be measured, and can be measurably improved through defined interventions.

We reorganized the researchers’ top four resources (HERO - hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism) into a new framework with five overlapping resources based upon our frontline coaching experience - agency (drives hope), competence (efficacy or confidence), positive emotions/experiences, optimism, and meaning (fulfilling one's values). All of these five support resilience which we cover in agile leadership because bouncing forward from adversity is an act of agility supported by psychological capital.

We focus on psychological capital and not “human capital” because we want to avoid the tendency to lump humans into economic categories of capital or resources. People have resources, they are not resources. We focus on leadership that attunes to the humanity in people and helps people develop psychological resources, elevating and expanding their potential.

12. What does it mean for leaders to move beyond empathy to compassion? What purpose does this serve?

Empathy involves recognizing, attuning, understanding, and sharing the cognitive and/or emotional experiences of others. Compassion builds upon empathy and goes a step further to engage, taking action to alleviate the suffering.

Compassion also stretches upward and outward to understanding human suffering as a shared, universal experience. It includes the strength to tolerate the discomfort and distress brought on by caring and action.

We propose that compassion (the sixth capacity in the book) benefits from the first five capacities working together - conscious (see clearly), authentic (care), agile (flex), relational (help), and positive (strengthen).

A team in Toronto summarized research showing that empathy (sharing suffering) is more exhausting than compassion (doing something to alleviate suffering). Compassionate leadership, as it expands upon empathy and the five capacities that come before, serves as a pivotal shift in perspective – a broadening of horizons – as leaders move on their journey towards the more sophisticated “system-level” approaches of shared, servant and transformational leadership.

13. Burnout remains a key issue for workforces and leaders themselves. What role should leaders play in alleviating these symptoms for themselves and others?

First let’s talk about well-being. Well-being emerges from feeling well-supported by one’s psychological resources in life and work. Burnout happens when those resources are depleted and not replenished. We get our resources both from within ourselves and externally from others and our environments.

Resilience studies show we need internal and external resources together; they contribute roughly equal amounts to our resilience. Leaders then need to help with both - giving people support for internal resource-building and creating a culture, an environment that provides external nourishment.

Now let’s talk about what consumes well-being. Working with polarities (opposite forces) is central to leading and the focus of our chapter on agile leadership, but it uses up a lot of mental and emotional energy. Many leaders we coach are helping employees balance two opposities: stability and disruptive change, or productivity and creativity/innovation (which can be inefficient and awkward). To be sufficiently resourced to deal with today’s polarized situations, leaders need to help people cultivate both internal and external resources.

If leaders want people to live up to their full potential as both creative and productive contributors in tumultuous times, they need to create a culture that supports, even generates, human well-being– and avoids burnout.

14. What role does humility play in becoming a successful leader?

We explore humility in the chapter on servant leadership – servant leaders focus on supporting others to lead, aka leading from behind. They are humble stewards of their organizations and people.

Humility is defined by scientists as (a) viewing oneself accurately [conscious], (b) appreciating others’ strengths and contributions [positive], and (c) teachability, or openness to new ideas and feedback [agile].

To date, a large review of 100 research studies on humility in leadership suggests that humility doesn’t improve the leader’s performance but it does improve others’ performance. It’s worth cultivating humility because of its positive impact on others.

But not always. A new study (titled: "Not the time to be humble") shows that the value of humility for leaders is contextual. In low-stakes situations, humility is helpful to others, allowing them to shine. In high-stakes situations, followers prefer less humility and more out-in-front, confident, and directive leadership to get everyone safely through a rocky ride.

Each capacity, like serving others first and humility, has its value, place, optimal dose, and limitations.

15. What has been the greatest shift you’ve seen in leadership in the last five years? What do you attribute to causing this shift?

Five years ago when the pandemic started, we completed an Institute of Coaching study on the future of leadership and coaching. The study identified some key leadership trends including leaders prioritizing workforce well-being in order to get support for agile disruption and pivoting in strategy and operations. Leaders also shifted their values upward from self-enhancement and self-preservation to self-transcendence and benevolence.

Five years later, organizations vary widely on prioritizing well-being and benevolence as the fuel for peak performance, even though the workforce wants more balance, more purpose, and more participation in leadership processes. Some organizations have reverted back, some have brought some of the pandemic practices forward, some are forever transformed.

And while this focus on well-being is likely the biggest shift we’ve seen since the pandemic, it is also true that organizations–and leaders–are stretching to address emergence of virtual work, the rise of a multi-generational (five generations in one workplace) and multicultural (truly a networked globe) landscape. The fact is that being a leader is harder and more complex than ever before. BANI (brittle, anxious, nonlinear, incomprehensible) is the norm.

The new level of complexity leaders face means we need a diverse repertoire of science-based capacities which we can mix and match, adapting to meet each moment. Bringing this diversity to life in an easy-to-apply way–that is the goal of our book.

16. How should leaders navigate modern challenges such as the rise of AI or economic uncertainty?

Applying the nine leadership capacities is a good way to transform today’s challenges into strategies that generate new strengths. The most effective leaders are adept and flexible in adapting their response to accelerating change. They are agile in awareness, relating, resonating, sharing leadership, and leading transformation. All the while they model resilience and well-being, avoiding burnout.

Our book is arriving at an important and pivotal moment: the world needs good leaders more than ever before. The best leaders will recognize themselves in the research, which is validating.

We are bringing science to life in a way that helps everyday leaders feel supported and strengthened. Then they can bring the best of humanity to bear on these crucial and universal challenges.

17. What is one behavior or practice every leader, regardless of experience or role, should adopt immediately?

There is no one behavior or practice that a leader should choose above all else – to maximize the likelihood of positive results. It takes a combination of behaviors and practices to be effective in a particular context. All behaviors/practices have their time and place, and their optimal dose ranges from a little to a lot. In that way leaders are action researchers - conducting their own experiments in their own contexts, every day.

That said, our book starts with conscious leadership for a reason: all the development towards influencing others in a positive manner starts with knowing oneself, one’s strengths, one’s shadows, and then transforming one’s shadows into a quieter ego.

That leads us then to one practice that integrates all of them and turns us all into action researchers:

Pause to reflect, select, and flex to the optimal mix of capacities for this moment.