It’s been a little quiet here lately. Behind the scenes, I’ve been bringing the ideas we’ve explored in this letter into something you can use.
Much of my research and writing has returned to a question:
What helps us use more of our human intelligence, and what gets in the way?
Over the past year, these questions have become more pressing as AI changes how we work. What does that ask of us as people? In my research and writing, I’ve explored how we think, how we relate to one another, and how the places we inhabit shape who we become.
Over the past few months, I’ve been turning that work into the Alive Leadership Assessment.
Alive helps leaders understand the deeply human skills they express and the human systems their teams experience.
It brings those two perspectives together so they can choose where to grow, make changes in their work, and return later to see what has changed.
This short film introduces the thinking behind Alive and what it means for leadership in the AI era.
The human skills include how a leader works with knowledge, explores possibilities, makes decisions amid uncertainty, and connects with other people. Alive focuses on six of these human skills.
Human systems shape the opportunities people have to use those skills. They include the spaces where people work, the practices that organize their day, and what the work culture encourages or discourages. Alive examines ten working conditions, bringing the leader’s perspective alongside their team’s experience.
The premise behind this assessment, and behind this newsletter, is that:
Human skills require human systems.
A leader can ask people to think more creatively, for example, while the working day leaves them little opportunity to try an idea. Alive helps a leader examine what they encourage alongside what the working day actually makes possible.
I am now working with leadership coaches and consultants, providing certification and resources to help them use Alive thoughtfully with their clients. The assessment is available as a self-assessment or a 360 with feedback from colleagues. Returning to the assessment after development provides a way to examine changes over time.
Comment below for a free Alive Leadership self-assessment and report.
As AI changes the work around us, I believe helping people exercise judgment, build relationships, and navigate uncertainty is an increasingly valuable contribution. I want Alive to help the people doing that work bring something distinctive and useful to their clients.
That also gives this newsletter a renewed focus:
how we develop the human skills to lead through uncertainty, and create the conditions for others to thrive.
I’ll continue sharing research, ideas, and conversations, with more attention to what you can do with them. You’ll find questions to explore with a leader, practices to try, and ways to understand whether something is changing. I’ll write especially with leadership coaches and consultants in mind, while keeping the conversation open to anyone interested in developing human skills and human systems in the AI era.
Thank you for being here as these ideas take shape. I’m looking forward to sharing what comes next.
James