This article explores the value for the organization of assessing leaders’ mental complexity using a measure of developmental stage known as the Subject–Object Interview. We first describe the existing literature that uses constructive-developmental theory to explore leadership, focusing particularly on Kegan’s theory of Adult Development. We then describe our application of this theory to participants in a leadership development fellowship at the World Economic Forum. As in many organizational leadership contexts, the program makes “mental demands” on its participants to be predominately at Kegan’s Self-Authoring stage of meaning making. Fellows’ successes and struggles related to their developmental stage, although the nature of these relationships was not always straightforward. This finding underscores the importance of utilizing a developmental assessment that can provide rich and nuanced data as a tool for a leader’s personal development, as well as for insight into leadership development programs and processes.
AvolioB. J. (2007). Promoting more integrative strategies for leadership theory-building. The American Psychologist, 62, 25-33; discussion, 43-7.
2.
AvolioB. J.HannahS. T. (2008). Developmental readiness: Accelerating leader development. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 60, 331-347.
3.
AvolioB. J.WalumbwaF. O.WeberT. J. (2009). Leadership: Current theories, research, and future directions. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 421-449.
4.
BassechesM. (1984). Dialectical thinking an adult development. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
5.
Baxter MagoldaM. B. (1992). Knowing and reasoning in college: Gender-related patterns in students’ intellectual development. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
6.
BelenkyM.ClinchyB.GoldbergerN.TaruleJ. (1986). Women’s ways of knowing: The development of self, mind, and voice. New York, NY: Basic Books.
7.
CommonsM.ArmonC.KohlbergL.RichardsA.GrotzerT.SinnottJ. (1990). Adult development 3: Models and methods in the study of adolescent and adult thought. New York, NY: Praeger.
8.
Cook-GreuterS. R. (1990). Maps for living: Ego-development stages from symbiosis to conscious universal embeddedness. In CommonsM. L.ArmonC.KohlbergL.RichardsF. A.GrotzerT. A.SinnottJ. D. (Eds.), Adult development: Vol. 2: Models and methods in the study of adolescent and adult through (pp. 79-104). New York, NY: Praeger.
9.
Cook-GreuterS. R. (1999). Postautonomous ego development: A study of its nature and measurement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
10.
DalozL. A. (1986). Effective teaching and mentoring: Realizing the transformational power of adult learning experiences. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
11.
DayD. V. (2000). Leadership development: A review in context. The Leaderhip Quarterly, 11, 581-613.
12.
DayD. V. (2011). Integrative perspectives on longitudinal investigations of leader development: From childhood through adulthood. The Leadership Quarterly, 22, 561-571.
13.
DayD. V.HarrisonM. M.HalpinS. M. (2009). An integrative approach to leader development: Connecting adult development, identity, and expertise. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
14.
EigelK. M. (1998). Leader effectiveness: A constructive-developmental view and investigation. Athens: University of Georgia.
15.
EigelK. M.KuhnertK. W. (2005). Authentic development: Leadership development level and executive effectiveness. In GardnerW. L.AvolioB. J.WalumbwaF. O. (Eds.), Authentic leadership theory and practice: Origins, effects and development (Vol. 3, pp. 357-385). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
16.
FischerK. W.PippS. L. (1984). Processes of cognitive development: Optimal level and skill acquisition. In SternbergR. J. (Ed.), Mechanisms of cognitive development (pp. 45-80). New York, NY: Freeman.
17.
FowlerJ. (1981). Stages of faith: The psychology of human development and the quest for meaning. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
18.
GilliganC. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
19.
HarrisL. S. (2005). An examination of executive leadership effectiveness using constructive developmental theory (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Georgia, Athens.
20.
HarrisL. S.KuhnertK. W. (2008). Looking through the lens of leadership: A constructive developmental approach. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 29, 47-67.
21.
HelsingD.HowellA.KeganR.LaheyL. (2008). Putting the “development” in professional development: Understanding and overturning educational leaders’ immunities to change. Harvard Educational Review, 78, 437-465.
22.
HelsingD.LaheyL. (2010). The evolving leader: When development yields transformation. In KramK.HallT.BunkerK. (Eds.), The missing ingredient for extraordinary leadership: Filling the gaps in senior executive development (pp. 69-94). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
23.
JoinerB.JosephsS. (2007). Leadership agility: Five levels of mastery for anticipating and initiating change. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley.
24.
JoyceM. E.AdamsW. C. (2010). Leadership competencies. In CoutoR. A. (Ed.), Political and civic leadership: A reference handbook (Vol. 2, pp. 875-885). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
25.
KeganR. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
26.
KeganR. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
27.
KeganR. (2001). Competencies as working epistemologies: Ways we want adults to know. In RychenD. S.SalganikL. H. (Eds.), Defining and selecting key competencies (pp. 192-204). Kirkland, WA: Hogrefe & Huber.
28.
KeganR. (2003). Hidden curriculum of adult life: An adult developmental perspective Stockholm lectures in educology (pp. 21-48). Stockholm, Sweden: Stockholm University Department of Education.
29.
KeganR.LaheyL. L. (2009). Immunity to change: How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
30.
KingP. M.KitchenerK. S. (1994). Developing reflective judgment: Understanding and promoting intellectual growth and critical thinking in adolescents and adults. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
31.
KohlbergL. (1981). The philosophy of moral development. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
32.
KomivesS. R.OwenJ. E.LongerbeamS. D.MainellaF. C.OsteenL. (2005). Developing a leadership identity: A grounded theory. Journal of College Student Development, 46, 593-611.
33.
LaheyL. L.SouvaineE.KeganR.GoodmanR.FelixS. (1988). A guide to the subject-object interview. Cambridge, MA: The Subject-Object Research Group.
34.
LoevingerJ. (1976). Ego development: Conceptions and theories. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
35.
LordR. G.HallR. J. (2005). Identity, deep structure and the development of leadership skill. The Leadership Quarterly, 16, 591-615.
36.
McCauleyC. D.DrathW. H.PalusC. J.O’ConnorP. M. G.BakerB. A. (2006). The use of constructive-developmental theory to advance the understanding of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 17, 634-653.
37.
PalusC. J.DrathW. H. (1995). Evolving leaders: A model for promoting leadership development in programs. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.
38.
PerryW. (1970). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A scheme. New York, NY: Holt, Reinhart & Winston.
39.
RiggioR. E. (2008). Leadership development: The current state and future expectations. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 60, 383-392.
40.
RookeD.TorbertW. R. (2005, April). Seven transformations of leadership. Harvard Business Review, 83(4), 66-76.
41.
TorbertB. (with Cook-Greuter, S., Fisher, D., Foldy, E., Gauthier, A., Keeley, K., Rooke, D., & Tran, M.). (2004). Action inquiry: The secret of timely and transforming leadership. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
42.
ValceaS.HamdaniM. R.BuckleyM. R.NovicevicM. M. (2011). Exploring the developmental potential of leader-follower interactions: A constructive-developmental approach. The Leadership Quarterly, 22, 604-615.
43.
Van VelsorE.DrathW. H. (2004). A lifelong developmental perspective on leader development. In McCauleyC. D.Van VelsorE. (Eds.), The center for creative leadership handbook of leadership development (pp. 383-414). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
