Leadership Archives – Integral Life

A Grand Strategy for the Transformation Age

Robb Smith — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 19:54:54 +0000

In this powerful second installment of Big Picture Mind, Robb Smith presents a sweeping yet grounded vision for the future of the integrative worldview — one that meets the historic demands of our moment and invites each of us into a shared project of planetary coherence.

This post was originally published on Integral Life.

Men, Meaning, and the Rise of the New Right

Keith Martin-Smith — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 19:36:05 +0000

The modern world is demanding more from men than ever before—strength and sensitivity, resilience and vulnerability, leadership and collaboration—yet many feel lost without clear role models or cultural support. This conversation explores the forces shaping modern masculinity, the allure of strongman archetypes, and the path toward a truly integrated, evolved form of masculinity that balances power with presence, agency with empathy, and tradition with transformation.

This post was originally published on Integral Life.

The Content/Structure Fallacy: The Common Mistake Most Integralists Make

David Arrell — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 01:02:07 +0000

David Arrell and Keith Martin-Smith explore one of the most important (and misunderstood) dynamics within integral theory: the content/structure fallacy. They explore how developmental structures—our deeper worldviews and ways of making sense—shape the content of our beliefs, but not always in straightforward or predictable ways. The conversation touches on how integral theory can help us navigate the nuances of individual growth, leadership, and social dynamics, especially when it comes to assessing the developmental depth of others. 

This post was originally published on Integral Life.

Transforming Law Enforcement: Integral Policing Roundtable

Chris Orrey — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 22:27:40 +0000

Josh Leonard hosts three leading experts in the field of integral policing to explore how applying big-picture, integrative frameworks could help address the complex challenges facing modern law enforcement.

This post was originally published on Integral Life.

IAM: Organizing Big Pictures For The Transformation Age

Robb Smith — Thu, 02 May 2024 19:03:57 +0000

Josh Leonard and Robb Smith discuss the founding and evolution of the Institute of Applied Metatheory (IAM). They explore the urgent need for an organization that networks and supports scholar-practitioners in applying integrative metatheory to complex 21st-century challenges. The conversation reflects on the integral movement's stages and challenges, societal shifts necessitating IAM's emergence, and the four foundational hypotheses underpinning its work.

This post was originally published on Integral Life.

Integral Diversity Maturity: Toward a Postconventional Understanding of Diversity Dynamics

Toni Gregory — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 18:54:52 +0000

This article outlines the authors’ ongoing study of diversity, focusing particularly on the AQAL model as a linchpin in an evolving theory of “diversity maturity.” Recognizing the limitations of non-integral approaches to understanding and negotiating diversity dynamics, the authors explain how an integral perspectives come to inform their postconventional understanding. The authors share their preliminary theory of the diversity maturity process in which the integral vision/theory that unites diversity, complexity, and creativity is the dynamic relationship among and between quadrants, levels, lines, states, and types. The article concludes with an agenda for further theoretical and empirical inquiry.

This post was originally published on Integral Life.

The Art of Integral Conversation: How to Have a Turquoise Dialectic

Dr. Keith Witt — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 19:23:56 +0000

Dr. Keith Witt and Corey deVos explore the concept of "turquoise dialectic" - a sophisticated form of integral discourse that emerges at the later stages of human development. Drawing upon their deep understanding of adult development and integral theory, they explore the feeling and transformative potential of the turquoise “we-space”, and how we might create the conditions for this type of conversation to unfold.

This post was originally published on Integral Life.

In Context: AI-Enhanced Strategies for Social Sector Evolution

Josh Leonard — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 00:27:31 +0000

Robb Smith is joined by Josh Leonard to explore together how IAM’s new AI-augmented mental model software, Context, can support Josh’s work as a social sector consultant, specifically in a project Josh is leading with the YMCA of San Francisco to revamp their leadership development program.

This post was originally published on Integral Life.

Buddhas in Blue: Enlightened Ways to Make Policing Work For Everyone

Ryan Johansen — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 19:42:29 +0000

In this moving, illuminating, and impassioned discussion, retired Police Lt. Chris Orrey and San Bruno Police Chief Ryan Johansen open our eyes as to the realities of policing in today’s world and offer solutions as to how the entire institution of police work could be transformed to become more effective and sustainable, both for police officers and for the communities they serve.

This post was originally published on Integral Life.

Diversity, Empathy, and Integration: Reframing and Reclaiming a Movement Toward Healing and Wholeness

Brad Kershner — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 03:39:00 +0000

Brad Kershner offers a deep and detailed criticism of standard DEI approaches (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), highlighting the complexities of ethnicity, race, and cultural evolution. He challenges prevailing educational metaphors grounded in the postmodern perspective, advocating for a more universal application of modern liberal values, and emphasizing the need for a nuanced understanding to forge a more genuine and generative path forward for social justice.

This post was originally published on Integral Life.