Self-authoring mind
Self organised around an internal system of values and standards the person has authored; others' expectations become inputs to weigh, not the definition of self.
What drives it
Allows independent judgement, direction-setting and unpopular decisions. The limit: the person is subject to their own system, defends it, and filters out data that would unsettle it.
How it shows
Work
Facing conflicting stakeholders, weighs them against their own strategy, decides and explains ("I hear you; we're doing X because of Y"). Criticism is assessed against their standards; critique of the framework itself tends to be filed as noise. Decisive and vision-led, with a risk of treating the organisation as an extension of their plan and hiring people who share the model.
Relationships
Can disagree with a partner without feeling the relationship is under threat; can be self-contained to a fault, leaving the partner feeling like an input.
Self
You catch yourself sorting feedback into "relevant to my plan" and "noise". Ask what would make you abandon your framework, and whether you have an answer.
What tells it apart
Dismissive-avoidant attachment: Dismissing people also look independent, but the independence is defensive and shows as avoiding need; self-authoring people can depend on others and still decide for themselves.
Grandiose narcissism: Narcissistic certainty needs admiration and turns to rage or contempt when challenged; self-authored certainty rests on stated reasons and can absorb a challenge.
A test
Present a well-argued challenge to their strategy: a self-authoring leader engages it against their criteria, a socialised one looks for whose approval to keep, a self-transforming one asks what the challenge shows about the criteria.
Questions to carry
- Faced with a well-argued challenge to their plan, what happens to the argument once they have heard it?
- Which piece of evidence have I waved away lately because it didn’t fit how I see things?
How strong the research is
weak. Measured with the Subject-Object Interview, which shows acceptable inter-rater reliability; research on validity and on how common each order is rests on a small number of small studies, many from Kegan's own circle.
Where it comes from
Robert Kegan, 1982 and 1994; labels from Kegan and Lisa Lahey, 2009; Subject-Object Interview, Lahey, Souvaine, Kegan, Goodman and Felix, 1988
On the family tree: Robert Kegan
Sources
- Robert Kegan, In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life (1994)
- Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey, Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization (2009)