From the Shoulders of Giants

It’s been said that we see further from the shoulders of giants. I first heard this phrase when talking with Paul Hersey, the creator of the Situational Leadership model, about one of his key influences, Carl Rogers. It is generally attributed to Sir Isaac Newton, but the earliest known use goes back nearly a millennium – to 1123 – when William of Conches wrote:

“The ancients had only the books they themselves wrote, but we have all their books and moreover all those which have been written from the beginning until our time… Hence we are… perched on the shoulders of a giant… we see more than the ancients, because our writings, modest as they are, are added to their great works.”

Putting aside the potential false modesty, what I like about this quote is that it captures the essence of academic writing and theory development. And in this spirit, I shall loosely organize my giants into four topical categories:

Personality theory and psychoanalysis
Humanistic psychology
Biology with an emphasis on neuroscience
Systems thinking

Personality Theory and Psychoanalysis

It would be hard to overstate the significance of Sigmund Freud’s discovery of psychoanalysis. From my own perspective, there would be no Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) without Freud, and my career would have had to be something else entirely. My research used the SDI to validate Freud’s seven libidinal types. Freud’s definition of human happiness was simply “love and work” and his phrase “where there is id, let there ego be” summed up his mission to make the unconscious become conscious. In other words, Freud saw human development as moving toward self-awareness and freedom, and away from being constrained by what we have repressed.

Other psychoanalysts, such as Karen Horney and Erich Fromm, advanced, altered, and built upon Freud’s ideas. Again connecting to my own experience, there would be no SDI without them, and insights from their work on neurosis (Horney’s concept of moving toward, against, or away from others) and productivity (Fromm’s views of productive and non-productive character types) helped me to expand on the way Elias Porter used those ideas in the earliest versions of the SDI.

Michael Maccoby was my closest personal mentor. We spoke regularly, co-authored articles and books, reviewed each other’s independent drafts, and facilitated leadership development programs together. Michael was personally trained as a psychoanalyst in Mexico by Erich Fromm, and it was a privilege to have Michael on my doctoral dissertation committee.

Humanistic Psychology

The person-centered approach to psychotherapy, introduced by Carl Rogers, gave us the first formal non-directive approach to creating a psychological environment conducive to human flourishing. Elias Porter was part of the team that developed those methods. As the custodian of Porter’s archives, it is especially important to me that his contributions are understood and recognized. Another member of that team, Tom Gordon, who introduced I-messages and active listening, told me that Porter had as much influence on Rogers as Rogers did on Porter.

The humanistic point of view is that nothing supersedes the human experience, which implies that we are capable of, and in fact responsible for, solving our own problems and directing our own development. The mission of the humanistic psychologist, coach, or facilitator, who applies these principles is to prompt the patient, client, or learner to consider. To become more self-aware. To become more aware of others. To make their own choices. To engage in life and become accountable for the results of their actions. To reach their potential and become the person that they are capable of being.

To these giants, I add other early voices consistent with humanist principles. Erik Ericson was one of the first to model the way we continue to develop as we age. Others, such as Abraham Maslow, and Henry Murray, gave us views of the individual processes that influence our perceptions, feelings, thoughts, and actions.

I could make a case that most of the psychoanalysts I mentioned also belong in this group of humanists, especially Erich Fromm, whose work on humanistic and authoritarian ethics still resonates today.

Biology with a Focus on Neuroscience

There is no psychology without biology. Consciousness arises from biological processes, and while the exact mechanisms may not yet be perfectly understood, neuroscientists such as Antonio Damasio have provided a view of the emergent self based on neural processes.

The reasons our brains work the way they do is the subject of the burgeoning field of evolutionary psychology, where innovators such as E.O. Wilson theorized that the concurrent forces of group and individual selection are the cause of the tension people feel between altruism and selfishness in the human personality. Pioneers like Jane Goodall and more recently Frans DeWaal showed us the roots of morality in primates, and confronted us with the notion that we may not be as unique and special as we think we are.

Endel Tulving introduced the idea that our personal past is anchored in our episodic memory system, which also is the basis for our view of the future because the episodic memory system runs simulations and projections about the future. Tulving’s work, along with many other researchers who advanced it led to my current definition of relationships: connections between people constructed from episodic memories of shared experiences, ongoing interactions, and expectations for the future. This science helped to demonstrate that relationship intelligence is not just conceptually different from general and emotional intelligence—it is biologically different.

Systems Thinking

My PhD is in Human and Organizational Systems, so one group of giants is the faculty at Fielding Graduate University. Systems are not simply things that are more than the sum of their parts—they are qualitatively different from their component parts. The essence of systems thinking is to consider things within their broader context, and how the elements of a system interact to serve a human purpose or a physical function. It is integrative thinking. Considering the whole person in the context of a team, organization, or culture. Considering the organization in its socio-economic environment. Considering changes and developmental efforts not in isolation, but as part of larger systems.

Systems thinkers, such as Russell Ackoff and Donella Meadows, give us the tools to analyze and address problems with their inherent complexity and ambiguity, and to avoid the tempting oversimplifications that all too often produce undesirable and unanticipated outcomes. There is a maxim in systems thinking: every system is perfectly designed to produce the results it is currently producing. That implies that if we want to see different results, we need to change the system.

With regard to human systems, Kurt Lewin’s famous equation B=f(P,E) pretty well sums it up. Behavior is a function of the person interacting with the environment. In order to understand behavior we need a rich understanding of the whole person, and a broad understanding of the environment, including the presence or absence of incentives or constraints. The puzzle with human systems is that while a group of people may agree on a purpose, each individual has a purpose of their own. This implies that to improve human systems we need to work on the way people connect to each other and how they find personal meaning in the system’s purpose.

Michael Maccoby’s systemic view of leadership highlights that leadership is not a defined set of qualities that can be applied to any situation or organization. Instead, leadership is a relationship that exists in a context. Leaders who are effective in one context cannot automatically rely on the same leadership behaviors when the context inevitably shifts and changes. Developing a clear philosophy of leadership can help to lead through change.

Conclusion

In summary, my work would be impossible without the foundations built by others. What I have been able to do with the SDI assessment and the development of individuals, teams, leaders, and organizations is because of the benefits of standing on the metaphorical shoulders of giants. In this spirit of academic integrity and continuous learning, my work then becomes part of the foundation for further advancement.

My hope, and intention, is that I have shared some of my values in a way that interests you. If I have succeeded, perhaps there is something we could do together. I’m interested in projects that are meaningful, challenging, and novel. The more complex and uncertain, the more we have the potential to surprise ourselves and co-create a system that will lead to the future we want.