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1.1. ACES — a model for holistic leadership development and practice
In this vein, we propose that leadership development programs and initiatives may need to be holistic in their scope, explicitly addressing the Analytical, Conceptual, Emotional, and Spiritual (ACES) domains of leadership practice and development. Such leadership development programs can help ensure that corporate leaders will assume roles as stewards of scarce societal resources and architects of business organizations that under-gird secure civil society. The four distinct, yet interrelated, domains of holistic leadership development and practice are further delineated below:
• Analytical — Developing leaders who are adept at understanding and managing discrete complexity. Traditionally, this has indeed been the primary focus of both corporate leadership development and business school education programs. Analytically-skilled leaders understand and manage the individual “trees” in the “forest” quite well. For example, calculation of the break-even point for a new product development project requires a leader to employ strong analytical abilities.
• Conceptual — Developing leaders that are adept at both understanding and managing interrelated complexity and fostering creativity. Traditionally, this has been at most a tangential focus of both corporate leadership development and business school education programs. Leaders with strong conceptual skills understand and manage the “forest” within which the individual “trees” are growing. As an example, designing and managing a project plan for a new product development project requires a leader to demonstrate advanced conceptual skills.
• Emotional — Developing leaders who are attuned to emotional issues. Traditionally, this has not been a strong focus of either corporate leadership development or business school education programs. Highly attuned emotional
leaders are skilled at understanding and managing human emotion as an inevitable phenomenon in a corporate setting, and leveraging it as a source of energy and shaping influence on follower behavior. For example, aligning employees around an exciting vision for a new product development project team requires a leader to employ well- developed emotional skills.
• Spiritual — Developing enlightened leaders who recognize the value of spirituality. This last domain has also
traditionally not been a focus of either corporate leadership development or business school education programs. Spiritually enlightened leaders enable their followers to connect both individual tasks and the mission of the larger firm to deeply held moral and ethical values. As an example, a leader with advanced spiritual leadership skills openly considers and discusses the normative spiritual beliefs and values of the employees assigned to a biotech project team dealing with cloning technology. S/he also considers the greater moral implications for society as a whole.