The Leadership Shadow by de Haan Erik;Kasozi Anthony;

Author:de Haan, Erik;Kasozi, Anthony;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1745918
Publisher: Kogan Page, Limited

Figure 7.6 The bright and shadow sides of the Brilliant Sceptic

Analysis

The Brilliant Sceptic can be recognized as the ‘paranoid’ personality adaptation and was also described by Ware (1983). In terms of working style her main drivers are ‘be perfect’ and ‘be strong’ (Kahler, 1975; and see Chapter 2).

Ways to begin to support this individual are usually through her ‘thinking’ styles: looking at the realism of her concerns and in some cases just pointing out to her that she is probably being paranoid. Her strong passion for true understanding stands in support of such reflection, so that just looking fearlessly at her anxieties and suspicions might be enough. On the other hand it is very likely that there will be some mistrust about such ‘coaching conversations’ as well, which might make her less forthcoming in sharing anxieties with you. In that case the veneer of Brilliant Sceptic stays in place and there is no real contact with her underlying issues. It is very important for the Brilliant Sceptic to find the setting for these conversations sufficiently safe and engaging, so that her paranoid fears and worries can be spoken about. When such a dialogue about her paranoid worries is possible, underlying ‘feelings’ will surface soon enough and this experience can teach her that it can be safe to show her feelings so that she can be less concerned. Her paranoid behaviour will then usually change soon enough because she has acquired some understanding about it. She will then be ready to think through why she always needs to be so mistrusting and sceptical.

The best approach towards the Brilliant Sceptic is therefore through her ‘thinking’ styles, thinking about the realism of her concerns and misgivings (which is her ‘open door’ in terms of Ware’s 1986 model); from there she may be open to ‘feeling’ and experiencing a greater safety than before (Ware’s ‘target door’). The third leadership domain, that of ‘behaving’, may be hardest to reach (Ware’s ‘trap door’).

With the help of one of her greatest strengths, alertness, we can think about how she may be getting into trouble. Her commitment to leave no stone unturned in her quest to acquire a full understanding of any issues or risks can easily make her overly suspicious. Loyal and acute alertness and frankness may thus descend into suspicion and spite. At this point the strength becomes a ‘pitfall’ and this executive goes into overdrive.

From the pitfall it is usually relatively easy to see the challenge, as it is the natural opposite of the pitfall. In this case the challenge would be to fully trust others and her environment. Another way of finding the challenge is to ask oneself what we find most irritating in other people. In the case of the Brilliant Sceptic this may be the sense of being gullible or protective of the trust of others, or perhaps of being naïve and over-trusting. When people are naïve and easily deceived she may give up on them or even on herself. This is

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