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TALKING ABOUT LEADERSHIP: An Interview with Larry Stout on the Ideal Leadership Model [Part 1]

Larry, you keep talking about this Ideal Leadership Model of yours and how you want to use it all over the world.  What IS the Ideal Leadership Model?

It states that a leader is one who leads his or her organization forward in a positive direction.  The components of leadership are leadership conditions and leadership capital.  The conditions determine who gets to be a leader in the first place.  Basically, a person must be in the right place, at the right time, doing the right things, with the right people – to have an opportunity to lead.  How well they lead depends on their leadership capital; their philosophical orientation made up of their vision and values, their personal characteristics of wisdom and courage, and their interpersonal interaction of trust and voice.  

Doesn’t sound so unusual.  What exactly is so special about this leadership idea?

It is a comprehensive model.  It describes leadership wherever and whenever it is found, anywhere in the world.  Other theorists have speculated that leadership evolves or that there is no one-size-fits-all that can describe leadership.  The Ideal Leadership Model flies in the face of that and claims to be universal. 

How is that possible?  What makes you think you are right?

I have to start from the beginning.  Eight years ago when I first started examining leadership, I approached it scientifically.  In other words, I realized that any theory about leadership, if true, would have to be descriptive, prescriptive, and predictive.

Wait – put that in English.  What do you mean by “descriptive?”

A theory should accurately describe the phenomenon that it relates to.  What that means, in relation to leadership, is that a theory should be able to fully describe what makes a leader. 

Of course.  That is logical.  All leadership books describe leaders. 

There is a difference between describing leaders and having a descriptive model.  George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are both recognized as the two greatest American presidents, but they could not be more different in upbringing, styles, temperament, and almost everything else.  The Ideal Leadership Model explains how this is possible.

What do you mean by “prescriptive?”

It follows the descriptive part.  If we can understand something well enough to fully describe it, we should know how to fix what might be broken.  Prescriptive means that if adjustments are made by the leader in relation to the theory – they will be a more effective leader. 

How does that work in practice?

We conduct an Ideal Leadership Assessment, which measures the individual’s capital and conditions.  (This is the descriptive part.)  Based on the results, we coach them on areas that they need to improve.  (This is the prescriptive part.) 

But don’t other organizations do much the same thing?    

Not exactly.  Other organizations focus on the characteristics of leaders – things such as teambuilding, communication effectiveness, that sort of thing.  This is like describing a baseball player’s skills – running, hitting, fielding, etc.  The Ideal Leadership Model does this also, but with one important distinction.  We actually describe how to play the game!

Come again?

This is the key point.  The skills of baseball only make sense when they are in the context of understanding the game.  That is what has been missing so long with leadership theory.  No one has actually described what the “game” of leadership is.  This is why we claim Ideal Leadership is a universal model.  Baseball is baseball no matter where it is played, and leadership is leadership no matter where it is found. 

Wait a minute!  What about John Maxwell’s 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership?  Doesn’t that do the same thing you are talking about?

No, not really.  I have the highest regard for John Maxwell, but his Laws are not a model. He provides anecdotes to illustrate each of his laws, but it is questionable if these people are truly archetypes.  A common complaint among practitioners of leadership is that there are no specific tips on what readers can do during the next workday to help them become stronger leaders.  So Maxwell’s Laws are descriptive to a point, but not prescriptive.    

Maxwell is writing from a Christian perspective.  How is your model “Christian?” 

A Reformed Christian believes that all truth is God’s truth.  There are ten references in the Bible that God appoints leaders – even unbelieving ones!  We believe that the Ideal Leadership Model is simply the unveiling of how God uses leaders.  

Wow!  Does that explain what you mean by your last point about theory – “predictive.”  Are you saying that you can predict who will be leaders?

To a point, yes.  First, the conditions must be right. We help a person know when the time is ripe for them to lead.  Second, each of the six leadership capital competency areas has an embryo that grows before the person actually needs to use it.  We help identify these – hence we ‘predict’ who would be the best leaders.

An “embryo” of leadership?  Better explain that…

 Well, think about it. Some people seem to have vision and others don’t.  Some have courage and others don’t.  Where does that come from?  It has to come from somewhere. We have worked very hard at identifying those embryonic elements of each of the capital areas of vision, values, wisdom, courage, trust, and voice. 

Hummm…  It appears there is more to your model than first meets the eye.  Tell me more.