David Cowan first began to explore this “holistic integration” in leadership in the 90s (Cowan, 1995) using the Native American medicine wheel to show how body, mind, heart and spirit play in to this concept. Cowan writes:
The framework of artistic leadership … is grounded on the Native American Medicine Wheel, with cardinal directions representing significant and integral regions of human potential, framed as spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental. In most technological societies, the two directions that historically have received the most attention are physical and mental. As evidence, note the extent to which schools and sports fill the lives of youth. A potential downside of such emphasis is that emotional and spiritual potentialities may remain relatively less developed. The so-called medicine inherent in the Medicine Wheel as a foundation for learning resides in its recognition of balance among all four dimensions (2005, p. 175).
Why does it matter that balance among the four intelligences is achieved? Citing Zohar (1997) and Fry (2003), Cowan argues that “spiritual potential increases along a developmental path and is integrally connected to the mind, body, and emotions” (2005, p. 6). Referring to the Native American medicine wheel, a model which also has developed independently in other cultures around the world (see image below), Cowan calls attention to the interrelationships and the need for holistic development.
(Cowan, 2005, p. 7)
“The relevance of interconnections among dimensions of human potentiality is increasingly apparent as we contemplate the possibility of spiritual forces manifesting through leadership behavior. Organizationally, isolating spirituality does not capture the real-world synergies that emerge when spirituality interacts with mental, physical, and emotional aspects of a situation” (p. 7). These “potentialities” have been described as energies as well. Yet increasingly they are being explored in leadership literature as “intelligences”. With reference to Gardner’s idea of multiple intelligences (1983) and Wilber’s lines of development (2006), spiritual intelligence (SQ) has become an important new developmental focus (since emotional intelligence) in the hope of elevating leadership development and as a wiser way to lead organizational transformation.
If we consider the four realms as intelligences, the medicine wheel may represent the most elegant and balanced depiction of the integral whole. Recently there has been increased research and new models attempting to depict this dynamic. Researcher Cindy Wigglesworth (2004) sees physical intelligence as the base of a pyramid, with SQ as the beacon at the top.
- Figure from Cynthia Wigglesworth
Emotional intelligence is “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions” (Salovey & Mayer, 1990, p. 189). EQ, which has been studied extensively, and is believed to positively affect leadership ability and life success, is shown in an active interaction with SQ. Spiritual intelligence, which is a concept that is difficult to define concisely, represents the guiding force of our lives—the big picture questions such as meaning and purpose. Spiritual intelligence demands that we understand our values and act them out, not just espouse them (Zohar, 2001). High levels of spiritual intelligence seem to be related to higher levels of consciousness (Wigglesworth, 2006).
Covey’s model (2004) is perhaps more integral and less hierarchical, while still giving authority to SQ:
Far from the “multiple intelligence theory” of Gardner, this represents a theory of “holistic intelligence” whose cultivation, leads to self-knowledge and, depending on how the intellectual knowledge is pursued, perhaps even wisdom. Self-knowledge thus is related to and affected by our physical selves, our minds, our emotions and that broader and more elusive realm of spiritual intelligence. What we are postulating here is that increased self-knowledge is the result of raising these four intelligences. And, we propose that accessing and developing all of these intelligences and integrating them on the journey towards wisdom, is a transformational journey that the leader must face in his or her leadership development.
During our months of dialogs, Rick Warm wrote an email stating:
“Coaching is about developing one’s SQ. Leadership is about using SQ. At least that is what I first thought. Then I began to look at it more holistically and ask why just SQ? So I began to revise the thought to coaching is about developing and integrating one’s PQ, IQ, EQ and SQ. It is about learning how to tap into the SQ ultimately. Leadership then is using those lessons. That is one more argument as to why wisdom is (at least partly) the integration of these holistic intelligences.”
In the next post, we’ll explain how to more powerfully connect the importance of the four holistic intelligences into training of the brain/mind in a leadership development context.
Paul R. Scheele and Rick Warm
