About me (Integral)

Theory

  • My BA is in Psychology. That was quite a long time ago really, and my studies began a life-long love of exploring how we make ourselves into what we are, how we develop in our lives.
  • My MA is in Consciousness Studies. I was at John F. Kennedy University in the mid-1990s, before there was anything much offered on Ken Wilber or Integral Theory. I studied his writings independently, with a few other students. I am very pleased to have introduced the chair of the School of Holistic Studies (now called the Integral Studies Department) to Ken Wilber one evening at a party in Marin. I think that meeting made a difference for both of them and for the University and students of Integral Theory and Practice.

Practice

  • I’ve worked nearly my whole life in IT. I began as a programmer, and over many years have tried my hand at project management, coding, testing, systems analysis, requirements analysis, business analysis and quality management. Most recently, as an internal consultant for Blackwell Publishing in Oxford (UK), I was responsible for improving IT engineering processes and project delivery performance.
  • While working for Blackwell Publishing, I attended the Leadership Development Framework training course, provided by Harthill Consulting. Once I learned to use the Leadership Development Framework (LDF) and the sentence completion test, I knew I wanted to do more of this work in my life, so I explored how I could do that.
  • An opportunity came for me to join Harthill as a scorer for their LDF profiles. Currently, I work with Bill Torbert, David Rooke, and Elaine Herdman-Barker on the LDF and feel honoured to be contributing to work that helps people to better understand themselves and the world they inhabit.
  • In 2006, Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons, a large American publisher. In 2008, my performance improvement position was made redundant. Opportunity? Or crisis?
    —Opportunity!
  • I was handed an unexpected chance to change professional tracks. In order to move toward work that would be of more benefit to others, I trained for and qualified as a personal performance coach. I like to think of my new role as a personal development coach.
  • In the summer of 2007, a good friend recommended Leadership Agility by Stephen Josephs and Bill Joiner as the best book he’d read in years. The authors use the same cognitive development framework that I’ve come to know and love, first through Wilber, then through Torbert and Harthill, and apply it to managers’ behaviours.
  • In 2008, Bill Joiner launched the Leadership Agility 360 (LA360) assessment instrument, based on the developmental framework and the research covered in his book. I jumped into that. I was on the first certification course in 2008, and am now certified to deliver the LA360.
  • So, my future involves the LDF (administering, scoring, writing commentary, research), which assesses cognitive leadership capacities, the LA360, which assesses observable leadership behaviours, and coaching. (Maybe consulting as well, because it’s very rewarding when I use my expertise in IT management to help IT organisations do their work better and for less.)