What is maturity?

We accelerate leadership maturity by broadening awareness and perspective and developing a more effective focus on others. 

Maturity is the expanding capacity to see ourselves, other people, and the systems around us from broader perspectives — and to integrate increasing complexity without defaulting automatically to the perspective we know best. This capacity can expand developmentally. Leaders can move from relying primarily on expertise and getting it right, toward a stronger focus on goals and team execution, and eventually toward a greater ability to question their own assumptions, hold competing perspectives, and integrate tensions across the system. The earlier capabilities do not disappear. They become incorporated into a broader way of seeing and leading. 

Increased Awareness

Seeing ourselves more clearly—our innate strengths, our patterns and assumptions, and the intended or unintentional impact on others

Broader Perspectives 

Broadening our leadership range, from how we see and respond to situations, to how we navigate complexity and conflict

Better Influence 

Moving beyond ourselves to understand what others need and how we can best contribute to something larger than ourselves

What we believe

While we try to hold our understanding loosely, we’ve come to accept the following perspectives…

  • A minimalist wooden desk with an open notebook, two glasses of water, some documents, a modern mushroom-shaped lamp, and a black cube-shaped shelf against a light wooden wall, illuminated by natural light from a window.

    Everyone has strengths. Strengths reveal how someone is naturally wired. These are the gifts people have that enable them to do things at excellence.

  • People making a contactless payment using a smartphone and a point-of-sale device in a cafe or restaurant.

    People’s innate strengths don’t change all that much. As leaders, one of our goals is to create the environment and support that enables people to use their natural strengths and perform at their best.

  • A young basketball player in a white jersey and yellow sneakers is mid-air, attempting a dunk on an indoor basketball hoop.

    It is transformational when someone sees and believes in your strengths.

  • Close-up of sparks flying outward in a shower of bright, orange streaks against a dark background.

    Because we are all wired differently, strengths come with friction. It is important to become aware when my strengths operate “in the basement.”

  • A woman and a man sitting at a coffee table in a bright room with large windows. The woman is smiling, taking notes in a notebook, while the man listens attentively.

    Leadership should be about building people up in pursuit of a greater purpose.

  • A compass and a stopwatch placed on top of a map with detailed street layouts.

    Maturity changes how we use our strengths.

  • View of Earth from the Moon's surface with the lunar horizon in the foreground.

    Maturity expands our capacity to see ourselves, other people, and the systems around us from broader perspectives and with increased granularity.

  • A person writing complex mathematical equations and scientific formulas on a large blackboard. The blackboard is filled with chalk drawings, including graphs, chemical structures, and mathematical expressions.

    As leaders, it’s important to see complexity without defaulting to the perspective we know best. Seeing the perspectives of others is required for building unity.

  • A runner in a black outfit is starting a race on a red track, positioned in a crouched stance at the starting line with their hands on the ground and toes on the starting blocks.

    Your growth in leadership maturity can be accelerated.

  • A group of young adults working on laptops together at a wooden table in a room with large windows and a modern chandelier.

    You can intentionally foster trust and collaboration within a team. Leaders can learn how to facilitate honest conversations where differences exist without fracturing unity.

  • Two people, a man with gray hair and a woman with brown hair, sit at a round table in a bright cafe, looking at a laptop screen together.

    Great cultures are built one manager at a time. Great leaders hire and develop great managers.

  • Silhouetted group of people standing on a rock formation and celebrating at sunset with a mountainous landscape in the background.

    As leaders mature and teams become more unified, organizations develop greater capacity to navigate complexity, execute effectively and create environments where people can do their very best work.

A selection of relevant articles

STOPPING TIME is a leadership phenomenon of presence and awareness. This ability allows leaders to transcend reaction and instead attend, clarify, and liberate for action. It allows leaders to break down reflection in the present moment and engage wi

STOPPING TIME is a leadership phenomenon of presence and awareness. This ability allows leaders to transcend reaction and instead attend, clarify, and liberate for action. It allows leaders to break down reflection in the present moment and engage with intentionality.

ENTERPRISE MINDSET is the ability to integrate multiple perspectives, navigate competing priorities, and make decisions that optimize the performance of the whole system over any single part. This expansion requires leaders to hold their expertise wi

ENTERPRISE MINDSET is the ability to integrate multiple perspectives, navigate competing priorities, and make decisions that optimize the performance of the whole system over any single part. This expansion requires leaders to hold their expertise without assuming that their perspective is complete; to remain accountable for their part while becoming responsible for the whole; and, at times, to support choices that may not optimize their own function but create greater value across the system.

MAKING THE CASE FOR A DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE by Susanne Cook-Greuter. The article introduces the concept of action logics as increasingly complex and flexible systems of meaning-making to the management field. It focuses on vertical transformation

MAKING THE CASE FOR A DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE by Susanne Cook-Greuter. The article introduces the concept of action logics as increasingly complex and flexible systems of meaning-making to the management field. It focuses on vertical transformation, developing leaders that more flexibly and successfully tailor their interactions to the differing needs of those they work with.

AUTHENTIC DEVELOPMENT: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT LEVEL AND EXECUTIVE EFFECTIVENESS by Keith Eigel and Karl Kuhnert. This research paper establishes a measurable relationship between maturity and leadership effectiveness.

AUTHENTIC DEVELOPMENT: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT LEVEL AND EXECUTIVE EFFECTIVENESS by Keith Eigel and Karl Kuhnert. This research paper establishes a measurable relationship between maturity and leadership effectiveness.

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE VALIDITY OF EGO DEVELOPMENT THEORY AND ITS MEASUREMENT by John Manners and Kevin Durkin. A review of the theory of maturity based on the body of research since Loevinger's theory of ego development.

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE VALIDITY OF EGO DEVELOPMENT THEORY AND ITS MEASUREMENT by John Manners and Kevin Durkin. A review of the theory of maturity based on the body of research since Loevinger's theory of ego development.