In search
for Heart Leadership
About leadership
Leaders wield considerable influence over the direction of society. Some companies have become unassailable powers with disproportionate power, and their choices have very long-term repercussions. A better understanding of leadership thus contributes to a reflection on the direction of humanity: addressing the major challenges of the 21st century requires understanding who leads the world and how.
Leadership is a phenomenon common to all social animals, including humans. It can be studied from a sociological perspective, but also from a biological one. Research on animal leadership distinguishes four functions of the leader (directing group movements, regulating external and internal conflicts, and foraging) which can also be described through the lens of human society.
- The leader guides the company and its employees in a direction.
- The leader participates in an economic battle in which his company interacts with its competitors, its financiers and its business partners.
- The leader has a management capacity: he manages the internal interactions within the organization.
- The leader secures the resources of his organization.
About Heart Leadership
From its inception, HLU conducted a literature review and interviewed experts to find elements for analyzing what the characteristics of heart-driven leadership might be.
Several approaches are possible:
- Psychometric tests carried out by practitioners for a general public (e.g. MBTI etc.) or developed by psychologists for specific needs (e.g., empathy quotient diagnosis, which notably allows for the identification of autism spectrum disorders).
- Descriptive approaches to personality traits, carried out particularly for the purposes of scientific publications (e.g., the dark factor)
- Tests created by independent experts (e.g., intuition diagnostics, etc.)
- Other diagnostic methods that allow for better self-knowledge (Kairios values perspectives)
- Approaches that draw on neuroscience and biology.
These different approaches have led to the creation of numerous freely accessible tests and questionnaires. We have selected a few that we find particularly relevant. They allow a leader to gain a better understanding of themselves and engage in introspection, bearing in mind that it is always preferable to have a debriefing session with an expert on the test in question.
Multidisciplinary Study on the Characteristics of Leadership
We also conduct in-depth monitoring across several disciplines (psychology, biology, neuroscience) in order to synthesize what research says on the following major questions:
- Does the leader have specific biological characteristics (beyond psychological traits)?
- Can a leader be socio-perceptive? What is a socio-perceptive leader?
- Are some types of leaders more likely than others to become contributory?
To learn more, discover our studies on the biology of leadership and the biology of intuition.
The Impact of Values on Leadership: A Guided Approach
One of the key findings of this exploratory research is that these diagnostic and evaluation processes reach their full potential when followed by a debriefing session with a specialist. Therefore, we have established a partnership with the Values Observatory, both to maximize the impact on participants in the “From Heart to Action” program and to inform our action research.
- Carine Dartiguepeyrou, co-founder of the observatory, PhD in political science, futurist, has written a summary and viewpoint on values-based leadership.
- Before each cohort of the From Heart to Action program, she assesses the value systems of each participant.
- According to the Kairios Values Perspective methodology
- She then conducts a debriefing of the results with each person.
- Based on this, Carine can analyze the value systems of each graduating class.
- These analyses constitute essential tools of the Journey, both for individual awareness and for the collective.
Here are some publications that caught our attention.
- Diller, S.J., Czibor, A., Szabó, Z.P. et al. (2021) The positive connection between dark triad traits and leadership levels in self- and other-ratings. Leadersh Educ Personal Interdiscip
- Hannah, S. T., Avolio, B. J. Walumbwa, F. O. 2011. Relationships between Authentic Leadership, Moral Courage, and Ethical and Pro-Social Behaviors, Business Ethics Quarterly
- Holt, Svetlana; Marques, Joan; Hu, Jianli; and Wood, Adam (2017) Cultivating Empathy: New Perspectives on Educating Business Leaders, The Journal of Values-Based Leadership
- Kenton Hyatt and Cheryl de Ciantis, What’s Important, Understanding and Working with Values Perspectives, Integral Publishers, 2014.
- Kenton Hyatt, Cheryl de Ciantis, Values Driven Leadership, Integral Leadership Review, 2012.
- Nofal, Ahmed Maged, Nicolaou, Nicos, Symeonidou, Noni and Shane, Scott (2018) Biology and management : a review, critique, and research agenda. Journal of Management.
- Sekerka, L.E., Bagozzi, Richard P. 2007. Moral courage in the workplace: moving to and from the desire and decision to act. Business Ethics: A European Review
- Van Vugt, M., & Grabo, A. E. (2015). The Many Faces of Leadership: An Evolutionary- Psychology Approach. Current Directions in Psychological Science.
- Van Vugt M, Hogan R, Kaiser RB. (2008) Leadership, followership, and evolution: some lessons from the past. Am Psychol.
