Mental Models on Becoming an Effective Leader | Jennifer Garvey Berger

Jennifer is the CEO of Cultivating Leadership. She blends deep theoretical knowledge with a driving quest for practical ways to make leaders’ lives better. She speaks about leadership and complexity, coaches executives and executive teams, and designs and teaches leadership programs.

In this episode, expect to learn the mental models of highly effective leaders, why imposter syndrome is a good thing, the importance of leadership in a complex world, why adult development theory is becoming more popular, how to deal with uncertainty, and much more…

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🎧 You can also listen directly to the episode on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

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⏱️ Timestamps

(00:00) Intro teaser—Imposter syndrome as a human experience

(01:25) Why does it mean to be a leader?

(03:44) Are leaders born or made?—developing leadership skills

(05:40) Developing emotional intelligence and leadership

(07:55) How adults continue to grow and develop self-awareness

(16:08) Three mental habits for growth and leadership

(22:50) Handling criticism and feedback as a leader

(31:13) Adapting to complexity and uncertainty

(41:39) Systems thinking in organizations

(48:39) Teaching leadership skills early and everywhere

(55:34) Advice for aspiring leaders and taking the next step

(59:31) Final thoughts on impostor syndrome and growth

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💡 Q&A: Conversation Highlights

Questions:

• What does it mean to be a leader?

• So, in reality, is being a true leader about elevating people around you to be the best they can be?

• How do you develop leadership qualities, and is there an innate predisposition to being a leader?

• What about emotional intelligence? Is that a key part of being a good leader?

• Can you explain what Adult Development Theory (ADT) is and how it interrelates with leadership?

• 🔒 What are some examples of mental habits that people can use to tap into their developmental framework?

• 🔒 How can leaders accept criticism and be open to different types of thinking?

• 🔒 How can leaders create conditions for feedback, especially with power differences?

• 🔒 What does it mean to be a leader who can adapt in a fast-changing world?

• 🔒 But how do you encourage people who are resistant to change?

• 🔒 How can leadership teams address systemic issues that hinder progress?

• 🔒 How do you know when you’re ready to take the next step to be a better person or leader?

• 🔒 Is there something to be said about imposter syndrome? Does everybody have it?

Barry: What does it mean to be a leader?

JGB: I think leadership and being a leader are somewhat different.

Anybody can exercise leadership. Being a leader is often like a position that means you have certain forms of responsibility. If we're talking about how you exercise leadership, I think it tends to be something about the outside context:

Can you march people to move in a direction fueled by some kind of purpose? But it also has to do with the internal condition of the people you're leading. To really call yourself a leader, you have to make those people better in some way.

Their experience of themselves, each other, and the purpose needs to actually elevate them in some ways so that they're doing things with you that they were not capable of doing without you.

Barry: So, in reality, is being a true leader about elevating people around you to be the best they can be?

JGB: Yes. It's not the same as people reporting to you or you're in charge of people — that's not what being a leader is.

What really being a leader is, is the notion of people elevating people around you to be the best that they can be, and then hopefully become future leaders themselves. So they can go off on their own and do whatever they need to do to become individuals who have improved themselves. The output is bigger than the input.

Barry: How do you develop leadership qualities, and is there an innate predisposition to being a leader?

JGB: This question of whether leaders are born or not is always on people's minds.

Of course, there are some innate qualities or capacities that people have that move them in a kind of leadership direction. A lot of the discourse on whether leaders are born comes from old monarchies and old systems of keeping powerful people in power, so I think a lot of it falls into that kind of bucket that we'd like to get rid of.

But there are, of course, people who have different qualities or characteristics that they're naturally gifted at. There are certain forms of leadership, like the capacity to take other people's perspectives, to understand what motivates them, to listen well—all of these things contribute to your ability to lead well. Every one of those things can be grown and, in fact, necessarily has to be grown.

One of the best leaders I've ever worked with was incredibly naturally talented, super smart, and self-aware. As his job responsibilities grew, he had to really push on the edge of his capabilities as a leader. I think all of us have to do that if we are leading something that's growing; we ourselves also have to be growing.

Barry: What about emotional intelligence? Is that a key part of being a good leader?

JGB: Being able to understand, respond to, and help shift your own emotions and the emotions of others is a profoundly important part of being a good leader.

Is some of that possibly innate? Some of it is innate, but a lot of it is developmental. A lot of it is about how we grow and change over time. You could see a really emotionally intelligent three-year-old, but that really emotionally intelligent three-year-old will not be exuding the same characteristics or qualities as an emotionally intelligent 43-year-old. You would not expect those two to be acting the same.

So, we can see that there is something you can see early, and it has to grow and develop over time. The question of how we are growing and developing over time becomes the core question.

Barry: Can you explain what Adult Development Theory (ADT) is and how it interrelates with leadership?

JGB: Child development theory is so well known, and it's so easy to follow. I had a baby my first year of graduate school, and I was studying adult development theory at that time. When I came into adult development theory, I had no idea that this happened; it was a mystery to me. Then I'm looking at this child, and I'm like, oh, it's so fast and easy to see the way she's growing and changing over time, whereas with adults, it's really hard.

You really have to know what you're looking for and understand what is growing and changing over time. But once you know what to look for, it is apparent. All of us have an adult development theory in us when we think, "Oh, that person is very mature," or "Wow, that 40-year-old is acting like a child," or "That person has a lot of wisdom," or even something you hear a lot in leadership circles like, "This person has a lot of gravitas."

Often, this means this person has developed in some way. We have a sense of it, but most of us don't have a grasp of the theory because the theory is kind of tricky.

Barry: What are some examples of mental habits that people can use to tap into their developmental framework?