Leadership in times past has been almost exclusively a Middle/Upper or Late/Upper cultural function. And leadership relationships have been largely polar “top-down” leader/follower relationships.

Cultural Maturity predicts three kinds of changes, each of which we are seeing. We should find more people of other temperaments taking on leadership roles. We should find leadership relationship defined in more systemic/participatory terms. And we should more and more appreciate how decision’s that involve diverse creative input are most likely to be systemic conceived (in the sense decisions increasingly must be).

This means leaders need to be more knowledgeable about temperament differences and more adept in working with groups with temperament diversity. (This applies particularly to leaders with other than the traditional leadership temperaments because leadership will for them will present particular challenges.) It also means that all people involved in collective decision-making processes (and in a world of more participatory leadership that means everyone) need the sophistication of communications skills that can come only with a deep understanding of personality differences.

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