Where did you hide your power?
Leaders (and coaches) who use the Leadership Circle Profile tend to focus almost exclusively on the shift from Reactive to Creative. Such a shift can significantly improve leadership effectiveness, but this hyperfocus on reducing the Reactive often conceals a deeper development opportunity hiding in plain sight.
When I debrief an LCP, one of the first places I look is to see if some of the leader's Reactive scores are too low (yes, too low). When very low scores (under the 15th percentile) cluster in a specific area, it could indicate potential gifts trapped in the shadow.
In the Profile below, extremely low scores in Controlling and relatively low scores for Achieving hinted at the possibility that for this leader, holding, embodying, and using power was unacceptable - in any form.
During our debrief, this leader shared that she was the victim of bullying during her early school years. Home life was not much different, and she decided early that power is a corrupting force that, more often than not, was misused to keep people small.
Her capability, intellect, and strong relationships propelled her career. Along the way, she became a champion for diversity and inclusion. Her early life experiences fueled a commitment to ensuring everyone around her had a place, a voice, and belonged. She was a warrior for enabling power in others but could not accept it in herself.
BELONGING and DISTANCE stood as a counterbalance, and PERFECT was a constant reminder that she could never do (or be) enough for her teams.
The Unlocking Move in our conversation was a realization that Courageous Authenticity is where she paid the price. Reclaiming and integrating her power was the path forward and the only way she could leave the legacy she desired. It was finally worth the risk.
Often, our development path leads straight back to the territory we vowed never to revisit. Like in the Hero's Journey, the gold often lies within the cave guarded by our most feared dragons.
(Based on the actual leader profile with edits made to preserve confidentiality)