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Scaling Leadership: Building Organizational Capability and Capacity to Create Outcomes that Matter Most
Transform Your Organization by Scaling Leadership
How do senior leaders, in their own words, describe the most effective leaders--the ones that get results, grow the business, enhance the culture and leave in their wake a trail of other really effective leaders? Conversely, how do senior leaders describe the kind of leader that undercuts the organization's capacity and capability to create its future? This book, based on groundbreaking research, shows how senior leaders describe and develop leadership that works, that does not, that scales, and that limits scale.
Is your leadership built for scale as you advance in today's volatile, uncertain, dynamic, and disruptive business environment? This context puts a premium on a very particular kind of leadership--High-Creative leadership capable of rapidly growing the organization while simultaneously transforming it into more agile, innovative, adaptive and engaging workplace. The research presented in this book suggests that senior leaders can describe the High-Creative leadership with surprising clarity. They also describe with equal precision the High-Reactive leadership that cancels itself out and seriously limits scale. Which type of leader are you?
You scale your leadership by increasing the multiple on your leadership in three ways. First, by developing the strengths that differentiate the most effective leaders from the strengths deployed by the most Reactive and ineffective leaders. And second, by increasing your leadership ratio--the ratio of most the effective strengths to the most damaging liabilities. Third, by developing High-Creative leaders all around you.
Scaling Leadership provides a proven framework for magnifying agile and scalable leadership in your organization. Scalable leadership drives forward-momentum by multiplying high-achieving leaders at scale so that growth, productivity and innovation increase exponentially. Creative leaders multiply their strengths beyond technical competence by leading in deep relationship, with radical humanity, passion and integrity.
Drawing upon decades of solid research and experience enhancing individual capability and collective leadership effectiveness with Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, the authors provide an innovative and efficient framework to help
Take stock of your own personal balance of leadership strengths and weaknesses Scale your leadership in deep relationship and high integrity Proliferate high-achievers throughout your organization's leadership system Identify ineffective leadership and course-correct quickly Transform your organization by transforming leadership Scaling Leadership is an invaluable tool for executives, managers, and leaders in business, academia, nonprofit organizations, and more. This innovative resource provides effective techniques, real-world examples, and expert guidance for organizations seeking to improve performance, align and execute strategies, and transform their business with scalable leadership capability.
How do senior leaders, in their own words, describe the most effective leaders--the ones that get results, grow the business, enhance the culture and leave in their wake a trail of other really effective leaders? Conversely, how do senior leaders describe the kind of leader that undercuts the organization's capacity and capability to create its future? This book, based on groundbreaking research, shows how senior leaders describe and develop leadership that works, that does not, that scales, and that limits scale.
Is your leadership built for scale as you advance in today's volatile, uncertain, dynamic, and disruptive business environment? This context puts a premium on a very particular kind of leadership--High-Creative leadership capable of rapidly growing the organization while simultaneously transforming it into more agile, innovative, adaptive and engaging workplace. The research presented in this book suggests that senior leaders can describe the High-Creative leadership with surprising clarity. They also describe with equal precision the High-Reactive leadership that cancels itself out and seriously limits scale. Which type of leader are you?
You scale your leadership by increasing the multiple on your leadership in three ways. First, by developing the strengths that differentiate the most effective leaders from the strengths deployed by the most Reactive and ineffective leaders. And second, by increasing your leadership ratio--the ratio of most the effective strengths to the most damaging liabilities. Third, by developing High-Creative leaders all around you.
Scaling Leadership provides a proven framework for magnifying agile and scalable leadership in your organization. Scalable leadership drives forward-momentum by multiplying high-achieving leaders at scale so that growth, productivity and innovation increase exponentially. Creative leaders multiply their strengths beyond technical competence by leading in deep relationship, with radical humanity, passion and integrity.
Drawing upon decades of solid research and experience enhancing individual capability and collective leadership effectiveness with Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, the authors provide an innovative and efficient framework to help
Take stock of your own personal balance of leadership strengths and weaknesses Scale your leadership in deep relationship and high integrity Proliferate high-achievers throughout your organization's leadership system Identify ineffective leadership and course-correct quickly Transform your organization by transforming leadership Scaling Leadership is an invaluable tool for executives, managers, and leaders in business, academia, nonprofit organizations, and more. This innovative resource provides effective techniques, real-world examples, and expert guidance for organizations seeking to improve performance, align and execute strategies, and transform their business with scalable leadership capability.
324 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 23, 2019
125 people are currently reading
668 people want to read
About the author
Bob Anderson
2 books17 followersRobert J. Anderson is the Founder and Chairman of The Leadership Circle and the Full Circle Group. Over the past 35 years, Bob has dedicated his career to exploring the intersections between leadership and mastery, competence and consciousness, spirituality and business.
Bob is the creator of The Leadership Circle Profile, an integrated and innovative leadership assessment tool. A culmination of years of research, The Leadership Circle Profile and its associated assessment tools are used by thousands of organizations around the world. The Leadership Circle and Full Circle Group earned first place in the Large Leadership Partner and Provider category of the HR.com 2015 Leadership 500 Excellence Awards. Bob is a true pioneer in the field of leadership development and research.
Throughout his career, Bob has worked with CEOs and leadership teams to help them improve their leadership effectiveness. He has also partnered with independent consultants and coaches around the world to help them master the skills of coaching and developing executives to achieve greater personal and organizational effectiveness. He now spends the majority of his time creating thought leadership works for consultants and practitioners to use with the mission of impacting global leadership through those dedicated to the craft. Bob's practical wisdom, humility, creativity, humor, and expertise provide a rare and transformative experience for the leaders, coaches, and consultants with whom he works.
Bob holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from John Carroll University and a Master's Degree in Organizational Development from Bowling Green State University. He serves as adjunct faculty for the Executive Education Center at the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business. There he assists diverse groups of leaders in navigating their own leadership transformations. In 2005, Bob received the Partner in Innovation faculty award. In 2015, Bob co-authored Mastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results (Wiley) with William A. Adams.
Bob and Kim, his wife of 32 years, make their home near Toledo, Ohio. The two enjoy traveling the globe for both work and play with their three adult children.
Bob is the creator of The Leadership Circle Profile, an integrated and innovative leadership assessment tool. A culmination of years of research, The Leadership Circle Profile and its associated assessment tools are used by thousands of organizations around the world. The Leadership Circle and Full Circle Group earned first place in the Large Leadership Partner and Provider category of the HR.com 2015 Leadership 500 Excellence Awards. Bob is a true pioneer in the field of leadership development and research.
Throughout his career, Bob has worked with CEOs and leadership teams to help them improve their leadership effectiveness. He has also partnered with independent consultants and coaches around the world to help them master the skills of coaching and developing executives to achieve greater personal and organizational effectiveness. He now spends the majority of his time creating thought leadership works for consultants and practitioners to use with the mission of impacting global leadership through those dedicated to the craft. Bob's practical wisdom, humility, creativity, humor, and expertise provide a rare and transformative experience for the leaders, coaches, and consultants with whom he works.
Bob holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from John Carroll University and a Master's Degree in Organizational Development from Bowling Green State University. He serves as adjunct faculty for the Executive Education Center at the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business. There he assists diverse groups of leaders in navigating their own leadership transformations. In 2005, Bob received the Partner in Innovation faculty award. In 2015, Bob co-authored Mastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results (Wiley) with William A. Adams.
Bob and Kim, his wife of 32 years, make their home near Toledo, Ohio. The two enjoy traveling the globe for both work and play with their three adult children.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 10, 2020
This is a hard book to review. I love and will use many of the concepts, but you have to slog through a ton of crap to get them. The first 2/3 of the book is used to take the reader through survey results that explain why their model of Reactive leaders and Creative leaders is valid. In an attempt to create clarity in a sea of different leadership models, Anderson wastes time trying to prove why his model is superior. I imagine most readers are like me and don't really care about the @%$ing survey - they're just looking for some valuable nuggets to improve leadership.
I'm glad to say that the last 1/3 of the book does deliver! Some takeaways:
- Anderson points out that in most circumstances most of us don't find it difficult to justify our beliefs. Leadership is transformative personally because we get pushed to our limits and fail, which forces us to question our underlying beliefs about yourself.
- In a similar vein to the concept of locus of control, Anderson talks about how we move from being socialized (simply the result of our environment) to self-authoring (choosing and improving ourselves every day).
- There are generally three focuses that leaders have: Heart, Mind and Will. When under a lot of pressure, we tend to double down on our strength so much that it becomes a weakness.
1: Heart-focused leaders become complying.
2: Mind-focused leaders become protective.
3: Will-focused leaders become controlling
- In order to create transformation in yourself as a leader, you need to create Generative Tension. You do that by articulating a from-to:
1: Define your vision - what you want your team or organization to achieve
2: The kind of leadership required to deliver that vision.
What that does is highlight to yourself where you need to grow and give you the initial momentum.
I'm glad to say that the last 1/3 of the book does deliver! Some takeaways:
- Anderson points out that in most circumstances most of us don't find it difficult to justify our beliefs. Leadership is transformative personally because we get pushed to our limits and fail, which forces us to question our underlying beliefs about yourself.
- In a similar vein to the concept of locus of control, Anderson talks about how we move from being socialized (simply the result of our environment) to self-authoring (choosing and improving ourselves every day).
- There are generally three focuses that leaders have: Heart, Mind and Will. When under a lot of pressure, we tend to double down on our strength so much that it becomes a weakness.
1: Heart-focused leaders become complying.
2: Mind-focused leaders become protective.
3: Will-focused leaders become controlling
- In order to create transformation in yourself as a leader, you need to create Generative Tension. You do that by articulating a from-to:
1: Define your vision - what you want your team or organization to achieve
2: The kind of leadership required to deliver that vision.
What that does is highlight to yourself where you need to grow and give you the initial momentum.
May 18, 2019
Love the concept of generative tension
December 21, 2022
Listened to audiobook as a first, fast reading. A lot of good insights, connects to a leadership mode assessment. I intend to go through again with more deliberative reflection.
I’m sure not all aspects translate perfectly to every sector but general insights relate to human interactions in concert for organizational process working for desired outcomes. This involves personal awareness, humility to seek feedback, and courage to change.
I think “spirituality” in the book is more aligned with philosophy. Although I critique authors’ working assumptions about humans in some places, I don’t need to agree with all of their philosophy to glean from their observational insights.
I’m sure not all aspects translate perfectly to every sector but general insights relate to human interactions in concert for organizational process working for desired outcomes. This involves personal awareness, humility to seek feedback, and courage to change.
I think “spirituality” in the book is more aligned with philosophy. Although I critique authors’ working assumptions about humans in some places, I don’t need to agree with all of their philosophy to glean from their observational insights.
August 7, 2019
Fresh update of the author's original work Mastering Leadership
This book is certainly founded on their earlier work and tools outlined in "Mastering Leadership" and provides a fresh perspective on leadership today. Borrowing from their "reactive", "creative", and "integral" growth stages of leadership, Robert and Bill extend these models and highlight the common leadership theme that "leaders create leaders" in order to scale up a business. They also tie in the importance of servant leadership as an attribute of an "integral" leader.
They reference their own Leadership Circle Profile Self-Assessment tool (as shown in the attached figure). While interesting, this unabashed self-promotion of consulting tools could alienate readers. The authors also make reference to the VUCA business acronym, "Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity" introduced in 1985 by Warren Bennis and Nanus Burt in their book "Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge". VUCA was adopted for use as a tool by the US military and steadily gained traction in business leadership. While perhaps useful as a business tool, VUCA is a bit of a "crutch" as Harvard Business Review wrote in 2014 where leaders are likely to get more value from objective qualitative and quantitative measurements to affect and influence their strategy.
Each leader must make an introspective examination of their own strengths and weaknesses, focusing on the single most important change they can make to develop forward before they can focus on building their teams and leadership systems. In doing so, they form meaningful partnerships with their teams and make every effort to work transparently, learning openly from others. Feedback loops are a critical function of their formalized leadership systems and they work intentionally and with purpose.
Learning > Knowing
Empowering > Controlling
Despite the book's shortcomings, the content still holds significant value when used alongside other leadership resources.
This book is certainly founded on their earlier work and tools outlined in "Mastering Leadership" and provides a fresh perspective on leadership today. Borrowing from their "reactive", "creative", and "integral" growth stages of leadership, Robert and Bill extend these models and highlight the common leadership theme that "leaders create leaders" in order to scale up a business. They also tie in the importance of servant leadership as an attribute of an "integral" leader.
They reference their own Leadership Circle Profile Self-Assessment tool (as shown in the attached figure). While interesting, this unabashed self-promotion of consulting tools could alienate readers. The authors also make reference to the VUCA business acronym, "Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity" introduced in 1985 by Warren Bennis and Nanus Burt in their book "Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge". VUCA was adopted for use as a tool by the US military and steadily gained traction in business leadership. While perhaps useful as a business tool, VUCA is a bit of a "crutch" as Harvard Business Review wrote in 2014 where leaders are likely to get more value from objective qualitative and quantitative measurements to affect and influence their strategy.
Each leader must make an introspective examination of their own strengths and weaknesses, focusing on the single most important change they can make to develop forward before they can focus on building their teams and leadership systems. In doing so, they form meaningful partnerships with their teams and make every effort to work transparently, learning openly from others. Feedback loops are a critical function of their formalized leadership systems and they work intentionally and with purpose.
Learning > Knowing
Empowering > Controlling
Despite the book's shortcomings, the content still holds significant value when used alongside other leadership resources.
April 24, 2025
For anyone, leadership is a journey, not a destination. It’s more of an art than a series of steps to implement. We all break down as much as we build up. It helps to have intelligent partners to dialogue with, but those are often hard to come by. Good books certainly provide helpful sparring partners to hone one’s style. This book seeks to help leaders advance their personal leadership by advancing how they build leaders in their organization. It aims to move “reactive leadership” to “creative leadership” and “creative leadership” to “integral leadership.”
The authors studied and compared ineffective leaders with effective ones according to varying strengths reported by their co-workers. The biggest statistical difference lay in people skills. The effective leaders tended to create with more openness and vulnerability that ineffective leaders. They were much more relational. While that finding is not entirely surprising, it does identify a skill that we all can work on. They describe leaders who simply individually act on others’ feedback as reactive leaders and leaders who build with others as creative leaders. In turn, they describe leaders who integrate others’ creative leadership as integral leaders, the highest form of leadership.
Admittedly, the book focuses primarily on the reactive-versus-creative divide, not the creative-versus-integral step. They do so with data, which I welcome as a data scientist, but since I listened to the audiobook, I didn’t ponder the numerical details as much as I would have in the print version. They build their conceptual framework from their other book Mastering Leadership, which I added to my to-read list. In that book, they describe a group of qualities which their research shows to comprise effective leadership across any domain.
Generally, leadership books seek to inspire, and this book certainly fulfilled that goal. However, like many leadership books, it occasionally fell into repetitious patterns of inspiring words instead of leading with bold, innovative ideas. I appreciated the rigorous study to identify data-driven insights, but they need to do further work to expound on integral leadership. Still, reading this book was certainly worth my time, and I appreciated their in-depth exploration of “creative” and “reactive” styles. It’s a distinction I’ll use in my thought processes as I work and live.
The authors studied and compared ineffective leaders with effective ones according to varying strengths reported by their co-workers. The biggest statistical difference lay in people skills. The effective leaders tended to create with more openness and vulnerability that ineffective leaders. They were much more relational. While that finding is not entirely surprising, it does identify a skill that we all can work on. They describe leaders who simply individually act on others’ feedback as reactive leaders and leaders who build with others as creative leaders. In turn, they describe leaders who integrate others’ creative leadership as integral leaders, the highest form of leadership.
Admittedly, the book focuses primarily on the reactive-versus-creative divide, not the creative-versus-integral step. They do so with data, which I welcome as a data scientist, but since I listened to the audiobook, I didn’t ponder the numerical details as much as I would have in the print version. They build their conceptual framework from their other book Mastering Leadership, which I added to my to-read list. In that book, they describe a group of qualities which their research shows to comprise effective leadership across any domain.
Generally, leadership books seek to inspire, and this book certainly fulfilled that goal. However, like many leadership books, it occasionally fell into repetitious patterns of inspiring words instead of leading with bold, innovative ideas. I appreciated the rigorous study to identify data-driven insights, but they need to do further work to expound on integral leadership. Still, reading this book was certainly worth my time, and I appreciated their in-depth exploration of “creative” and “reactive” styles. It’s a distinction I’ll use in my thought processes as I work and live.
Read
May 5, 2023A lot of data to read through to get to the point which I struggled with.
What I did take is:
Organisational Design and Self-Leadership are key to scaling. “Scale can only be achieved by developing capacity and capability in others.”
Key to change mean moving from knowing to learning and from controlling to empowering.
There are 3 movements to change are (1) become self-authored, (2) move from safety to purpose and (3) move from ambition to service.
I also found it interesting that the definitions are heart, head and will centred leadership matched the Hogan profile of moving against, away and towards when strengths are overplayed or reputation management slips. Using the words controlling, protecting, and complying to describe these behaviours resonated with me.
What I did take is:
Organisational Design and Self-Leadership are key to scaling. “Scale can only be achieved by developing capacity and capability in others.”
Key to change mean moving from knowing to learning and from controlling to empowering.
There are 3 movements to change are (1) become self-authored, (2) move from safety to purpose and (3) move from ambition to service.
I also found it interesting that the definitions are heart, head and will centred leadership matched the Hogan profile of moving against, away and towards when strengths are overplayed or reputation management slips. Using the words controlling, protecting, and complying to describe these behaviours resonated with me.
June 21, 2022
A sobering read on being the creative and scaling leadership that is much needed today's fast growing and massive scale economy.
As leaders to scale organizations, be productive, delivering result, having a vision are all table stakes. More are in demand with high priorities - creative leadership, deep relationship, radically human, systems awareness, purposeful achievement, generative tension. The goal is to develop the ability to thrive in environments of Stability, Certainty, Simplicity, and Clarity to the ones with volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.
A good read. Delightful and insightful.
Happy to have a free assessment at leadershipcircle.com
As leaders to scale organizations, be productive, delivering result, having a vision are all table stakes. More are in demand with high priorities - creative leadership, deep relationship, radically human, systems awareness, purposeful achievement, generative tension. The goal is to develop the ability to thrive in environments of Stability, Certainty, Simplicity, and Clarity to the ones with volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.
A good read. Delightful and insightful.
Happy to have a free assessment at leadershipcircle.com
December 17, 2020
Book 66 of 80 of 2020: probably one of the most compelling leadership books I’ve read in a very long time. Pulling from the best of the best, Anderson and Adams make the argument that creative leaders, over reactive leaders will be the determining factor of whether leadership is scaled across an organization. Simple, combining qualitative and quantitative measures, this book includes a free circle assessment with descriptors. I can’t wait to infuse the principles (and test) from this book into my work. **not for the faint of heart. 😁
Read
January 4, 2020Reactive -> Creative -> Integral (visionary, ask for help)
How?
- Creative Leadership: "open, honest, authentic, optimistic, generative, and innovative culture"
- Deep relationships
- Radically human: humility, vulnerability, and courage; knowing->learning, controlling->empowering
- Systems awareness: org structure and feedback
- Purposeful achievement: Tie to greater good
- Generative tension: Fix org problems
How?
- Creative Leadership: "open, honest, authentic, optimistic, generative, and innovative culture"
- Deep relationships
- Radically human: humility, vulnerability, and courage; knowing->learning, controlling->empowering
- Systems awareness: org structure and feedback
- Purposeful achievement: Tie to greater good
- Generative tension: Fix org problems
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 10, 2020
It’s definitely not a “how to” book but one that makes the case continuous attention being needed to our own leadership capabilities and internal operating systems. It’s convicting - In that it challenges me to really consider what is getting in the way of my own ability to raise the ceiling on my own development and advancement. This will be re-read just like “Mastering Leadership” requires to be read and re-read.
April 27, 2020
This is the best leadership book I have ever read. It is written with great humility, consciousness, and wisdom. I feel the leadership the author himself by reading the book. What an experience!
As the authors rightly pointed out: leadership is a spiritual journey. I definitely finished the book convicted on the development gaps that I have, and will revisit this again.
As the authors rightly pointed out: leadership is a spiritual journey. I definitely finished the book convicted on the development gaps that I have, and will revisit this again.
September 10, 2020
...4 stars because I worked hard at understanding concepts written in BIG language. Communication is hard enough when engaging someone other than yourself. I prefer leadership books with not BIG words but language that is simple, non intimidating, putting everyone on same playing field. 4 stars just because the points were valid, reassuring, and it made me work at my vocabulary.
July 23, 2021
This is one of the most comprehensive, coherent, research-based approaches to leadership I've encountered. Years of work and thought went into this. I'll be adopting this book to use in multiple environments and will now be following the work of these authors.
July 5, 2020
I liked Mastering Leadership much better than Scaling Leadership. Did not find a lot of new ideas in Scaling Leadership.
May 18, 2022
Great book!
December 10, 2024
MBA 540 ✔️
May 24, 2025
Tough listen for audible. Lot of statistics so probably better to read with a hard copy
January 16, 2021
Highly recommend on leadership topic based on extensive and comprehensive research and real world examples. Thanks Milda for recommending.
March 18, 2025
What I like most about this book is how it took me on a journey through what it argues as "the three levels of leadership" that eventually form the spectrum of leadership. The first is where we all start: the reactive leader who is always on the defensive and constantly manages situations. Simple enough; we've all been there.
The book then dives deep into the second- and third levels, respectively. Creative leadership (second tier) is about having an open-mind, and develop people through innovation and the entertainment of new ideas.
It's the third tier, though, that we must all want to aspire for. It's Integral Leadership, which demands humility (acceptance of the 'forever unfinished-ness of things') and a spiritual-level of trust towards unseen forces, such as intuition.
It then proceeds to outline six 'conditions' in order for leaders to scale up their leadership. More importantly, for me at least, the book repeatedly calls for building strong relationships with the people we lead as leaders, as well as having a sense of purpose that everyone can rally around on.
Note: This was from my 2019 reading list, and the words are from my thoughts back then. Minor grammatical edits may have been applied.
The book then dives deep into the second- and third levels, respectively. Creative leadership (second tier) is about having an open-mind, and develop people through innovation and the entertainment of new ideas.
It's the third tier, though, that we must all want to aspire for. It's Integral Leadership, which demands humility (acceptance of the 'forever unfinished-ness of things') and a spiritual-level of trust towards unseen forces, such as intuition.
It then proceeds to outline six 'conditions' in order for leaders to scale up their leadership. More importantly, for me at least, the book repeatedly calls for building strong relationships with the people we lead as leaders, as well as having a sense of purpose that everyone can rally around on.
Note: This was from my 2019 reading list, and the words are from my thoughts back then. Minor grammatical edits may have been applied.
November 26, 2019
Started off strong, but lost me somewhere in the middle when it got a bit too data heavy. But, it was helpful to think about what types of leaderships skills I would need or should build (in myself and others) in order to take the organization I currently manage to the next level of impact.
February 9, 2019
Love it just as much as Mastering Leadership. Couldn’t put my highlighter down!
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews