LEADING DEEPLY: A HEROIC JOURNEY TOWARD WISDOM AND TRANSFORMATION RICHARD WARM A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Ph.D. in Leadership and Change Program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August, 2011 This is to certify that the dissertation entitled: LEADING DEEPLY: A HEROIC JOURNEY TOWARD WISDOM AND TRANSFORMATION prepared by Richard Warm is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership and Change. Approved by: Carolyn Kenny, Ph.D., Chair date Laura Morgan Roberts, Ph.D. , Committee Member date Jonathan Reams, Ph.D., Committee Member date Donna Ladkin, Ph.D., External Reader date Copyright 2011 Richard Warm All rights reserved Dedication I dedicate this work to my father, who even after I have studied leadership for 5 years, is still the best example and role model of a leader that I know. I miss you. And I dedicate this work to my mother, who probably does not realize that I am the writer (and cook) that I am today because of her. Thank you. Acknowledgments My very deepest gratitude goes to my teacher and guide, mentor and friend, Sword Made of Clouds, for always believing in me, always letting me at least try to do things my way, and knowing somehow everything would work out. It has been a great privilege working with you the past five years, Carolyn, and I probably would not be here without you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are the best!! Also my appreciation and respect goes to Laurien, Al, and the entire faculty. My experience in this program has been much more than I imagined it would be. I also want to thank Peter Vaill for his wisdom, his insight, and without whom I would never have heard about Antioch. It’s all your fault! I want to acknowledge what a great cohort we have, cohort 6. True, we’ve had our moments, but by and large everyone was supportive, always happy to see each other, and I really do miss the regular camaraderie. A very special thank you to my “gang” and all of the love and support over the years: PS, Martha, Karen, Cami, Paul G, Naomi, our adopted C7 member April, and my pen pal Normie. I love you all! A real special thank you to all of the librarians in my life. Honestly, I couldn’t have gotten here without you! Thanks to Deb and everyone who works in the Antioch system (especially the folks at We Deliver—you rock!), and Ritch at YSO who saved me on numerous occasions. I owe a major debt of gratitude to the wonderful librarians at the Cincinnati Public Library. As of today I have over 375 books checked out, and they have always been there to help me, with a big smile, even when I dragged in bag upon bag of books to check in and check back out. Also the librarians at UC-RWC, in particular Cheri, for all of your help with the constant in and outflow of pick-up-anywhere books. i Also I would like to thank my Wyoming friends who in many ways and on numerous occasions helped me in my thinking and my work. Special thanks to the SWOB guys, Stuart and Bill. I especially appreciate your playing the devil’s advocate. Bill, thank you for all of your support over the years and especially your thoughts on practice. Jim, voice of temptation, you were convincing. I also appreciate the years of friendship. And Mike, thank you for both your interest in my work and especially your graphic help at the last minute. Finally, of course, I need to thank my family. These past years have been challenging. These past months have been especially so. To my girls, Talia and Marisa, you kept me on my toes but when push came to shove, I knew I could count on you. To my boys, Adin and Noah, you two have been so patient and kind, never a bad word to say about your largely absentee father. I hope you all know how much you mean to me. Finally, to my greatest love, my wife, Lauren. You have more patience and grace than anyone I’ve ever known. I appreciate your support more than you could ever know. I will always love you. Thank you. ii Abstract This dissertation will explore leadership as a mytho-poetic transformational journey toward self-knowledge, authenticity, and ultimately wisdom; the power to make meaning and give something back to the world in which we live; and the necessity of transformation. I view leadership as a transformative process and a transformational responsibility. As leaders we must undergo our own transformation in order to lead change on a larger scale. The dissertation will be both philosophical and theoretical, exploring how the threads of the hero’s journey, transformation, wisdom, and leadership intertwine. It will also examine the role of education in this process. Education does not necessarily mean institutional learning as it is so often taken to mean. A broader understanding of what education is and how it needs to serve us individually and as a society, particularly with the intention of developing wisdom and leadership (or wisdom in leadership) will be explored. The hero’s journey, the mytho-poetic journey toward authenticity and self-knowledge, is the golden thread that weaves itself throughout this dissertation. It is both the idea of developing leadership and wisdom as a journey (as opposed to a destination) and the idea that meaning and authenticity is ultimately what drives wisdom and leadership. These concepts manifest themselves in different ways throughout the chapters. In many ways this is a very unorthodox and unusual way to approach leadership. It asks for full engagement, participation, excellence, and mastery—a lifelong dedication. None of these concepts are new, but most of them are often unheeded or not practiced. It also focuses on the common good, an element that research in both wisdom and higher stages of consciousness share. The intent is to explore the transformational process inherent in becoming a leader and consequently leading transformation that ultimately makes the world a better place on a number of different levels—leading deeply. iii Leading deeply makes a difference through tapping into meaning and purpose. When our lives are about contribution and giving back, growth and wisdom, evolution and making the world in which we live and in which our children will live a better place, the experience of life becomes deeper, richer. Leading deeply connects us back to life, creates meaning, and helps us understand that what we are doing does matter. A leader is one who has gone through his or her own heroic and transformative journey, returning with a gift, and enabling others to do the same. The goal is development. It is directed toward growth, flourishing, higher levels of consciousness, and understanding. It is paradoxically rooted in tradition yet always embracing the change in which we live. Leading deeply takes us deeper to what is ultimately important for all of us. This electronic version of dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments i Abstract iii Table of Contents v List of Figures xvii List of Tables xix Chapter I: Introduction 1 Purpose 3 Development of Self 6 Multiple Bottom Lines 6 Position 8 Basic Assumptions 12 Organization of the Dissertation 14 Theoretical Dimensions 18 A Theoretical Dissertation 18 What is Theory? 19 Theory as Vision 21 Chapter II: The Hero’s Journey 28 Exploring Mythology 30 The Hero’s Journey 33 The Hero’s Journey to Wisdom 34 The Stages of the Journey 38 Stage I — Separation/Preparation 39 The Call 40 Supernatural Aid 41 Crossing of the First Threshold 41 The Belly of the Whale 42 Stage II — Initiation/Journey 42 The Road of Trials 43 Facing the Abyss 43 The Ultimate Boon 44 Stage III — Return 44 The Crossing of the Return Threshold. 45 Master of the Two Worlds 46 Freedom to Live 47 Heroes and Heroines 47 Chapter III: Leadership 52 Part I — Exploring Leadership 52 v Exploring Reciprocal Leadership Theories 54 Leadership and Transformation 54 Servant Leadership 58 Leadership as an Industrial Paradigm 60 Leadership as a Process 61 Authentic Leadership 62 Transcendent Leadership 65 Spiritual Leadership 65 Part II — Common Themes between Leadership and the Hero’s Journey 67 Authenticity 68 Self-Knowledge and the Inner Journey 69 Exploring Authenticity and Self-Knowledge in Light of the Hero’s Journey 73 Authenticity 73 The “Ought” Self 74 Gifts 74 Transformation and Gifts 75 Vocation, Callings, and Gifts 76 Vocation, Career, Job 78 Transformation versus Transcendence 80 Part III — Leadership and the Hero’s Journey 80 Leadership and Myth 81 Leadership as a Contemporary Hero’s Journey to Wisdom 83 The Heroic Journey to Leadership 85 Stage I — Separation/Preparation 85 The Call to Adventure 85 Supernatural Aid 86 Crossing of the First Threshold/the Belly of the Whale 86 The Preparation and Theory U 88 Stage II — Initiation/Journey 88 The Road of Trials 88 Facing the Abyss 89 The Ultimate Boon 89 The Journey and Theory U 90 Stage III — Return 91 The Crossing of the Return Threshold 91 Master of the Two Worlds 92 Freedom to Live 92 The Return and Theory U 93 Why Take The Journey? 93 Leadership Is the Return 94 vi Chapter IV: Wisdom 98 Exploring Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding 99 Studying Wisdom 102 What Is Wisdom? 103 Categorizing Wisdom 103 Early Psychological Categorization 105 Implicit and Explicit Wisdom Theories 106 Implicit-Theoretical Approaches 107 Explicit-Theoretical Approaches 110 The Berlin Wisdom Paradigm 114 Ardelt’s Three-Dimensional Wisdom Theory and Scale 119 Sternberg’s Balance Theory of Wisdom 121 Bassett’s Emergent Wisdom