According to Joanna Barsh and Johanne Lavoie, “All companies need more leaders with skills to lead significant change in an uncertain, volatile, and fast-paced environment. Centered Leadership fits that requirement. Our approach helps leaders gain greater self-awareness and self-reflection. With those, comes greater choice of thought and action. Boldly, they step up and into their full leadership potential to make a profound difference in their organization, community, even the world.”

Based on 10 years of research and field-testing at Fortune 100 companies, Focused Leadership can be developed within five separate but related dimensions:

1. MEANING: Know what really matters to you as well as to others; a shared sense of purpose is the foundation of organizational performance.

2. FRAMING: Recognizing the real-world context, the frame of reference, within which we live and work.

3. CONNECTING: “Reciprocity is the currency of work relationships, but genuine trust building turns that transaction into much more.”

4. ENGAGING: My favorite example is a breakfast of ham and eggs. A hen was involved but a pig was engaged. We are most engaged when our words and deeds, our values and behavior, are in seamless alignment.

5. ENERGIZING: Tony Schwartz has much of value to say about fuel management. To become and remain healthy, individuals as well as organizations must have crystal clear priorities and then allocate resources accordingly.

“In practical terms, mastery of these five dimensions enables us to extend our range of choices and actions. Centered Leadership is as much about doing as it is about knowing and being.”

I highly recommend Centered Leadership: Leading with Purpose, Clarity, and Impact, published by Crown Business (March 2014).