Being A Leader When You’re Not The Boss

Introduction

This course is about a topic that we often neglect in our careers and professional development. How do we lead when we are not the boss? As I was preparing for this, I came across a question that really struck me: “It's easy to poke holes in something, but can you build something better in its place?” It is easy to complain about an unreasonable boss, an annoying coworker, the department, a lack of resources, the schedule, old materials, new materials, or having to adapt to significant changes in a short period of time. We might be anxious about a difficult caseload or difficult parents of kids we are working with, or even the patients themselves. After you have vented and let it all out, then what? What are you going to do to build something better in its place? To me, this is where true leaders come in, even if you are not officially somebody's boss. If you are listening to this message, chances are you are not a boss. Even if you are responsible for leading a team, you probably still have a boss above you. You may not be a boss today, but you may have aspirations to become one.

Here is a great quote:

●     "Nothing so conclusively proves [a person's] ability to lead others as to what [they] do on a day-to-day basis to lead [themselves]."

This is from American business leader Thomas Watson. I modified the original quote to be more gender-inclusive. Take a few moments and consider your response to that. For me, this means constantly leveling up my emotional intelligence, taking good care of myself, and having healthy boundaries. This may resonate with you, or maybe you came up with other issues for yourself.

Be The Leader That You Would Follow

Are we the type of people that we would follow if it was somebody else? Like you, I am a lifelong learner. I have recently completed training on LinkedIn about creating conditions for others to thrive. The instructors said that leaders make others better as a result of their presence, and that betterment lasts even in their absence. As leaders, we have the ability to influence others and even when we are no longer there, that is still felt within the team. That is the kind of leader I strive to be with my college students, organizations that I do corporate training for, and in all other areas of my life. Let me ask you, who is the leader that you admire? Pause this video and think about it. Why do you admire this person and how have they influenced you? You could be thinking of someone in your family, a partner or spouse, someone in your organization, community leadership, or national or international levels of leadership. Strong leaders can be seen everywhere, and often the connection with people we admire is something about them that we see in ourselves. Think about those connections, too.

Power and Influence

Where do you think power and influence come from? You would probably say leadership because leaders have power and influence in our lives. But where does it come from? When I was teaching leadership classes, we would talk about all different kinds of power. One kind that I want to mention is called legitimate power. This is the belief that due to their title, a person has a formal right to make demands and expect others to be compliant to those demands. For example, the president, whether it be of an organization or a country. The title alone carries a lot of legitimate power. However, that power does not necessarily stand the test of time once that person is no longer in that position. We may be willing to comply because somebody is our boss, but you would most likely not follow them if they were not your boss. We know we are having a long-lasting impact in leadership under the kind of person we would follow, regardless of whether they were our direct supervisor or not. That is what we want to have for ourselves. We can have a strong and positive influence without legitimate power, a formal title, or any extensive experience. I am sure you can think of someone in your life who had no formal title, and yet they had a significant amount of influence and power over how you made decisions. I do not believe that title and power and influence are tied together. Position does not necessarily equal leadership. You do not have to be in charge to lead others well, but I believe you do need to care about the work you are doing, as well as uplifting others.

Five Points of Self Leadership

These are the five points on self-leadership:

Figure 1. Five points of self-leadership.

First is your relationship with your boss or bosses. Second is the relationship with the people or teams that you supervise. Next is the relationship with your clients, patients, or students. Then there are your peers, the people who are on the same level as you. These four areas are all tied together by one important connection: the relationship that you all have with yourselves. When it comes to leadership we can think about many areas, but we are going to focus on these five points. How do you lead when you think about these relationships? When it comes to the relationship with our bosses, there is a concept called managing up, or leading up. In fact, there's a book called Managing Up if you are interested or are having some problems with your boss. How well do you know your boss? Do you know what their goals and aspirations are for you, the job, or the department? Is there a level of respect between you? What is the relationship like in terms of what motivates your boss?

With your teams, we would call them subordinates, but I think it is not a nice word and I prefer to call them teams. In these circles where you have influence and authority, how well do you listen? Are you modeling the kind of leadership that you would like to see from your boss? If you are not getting that from the person who you report to, are you able to give that to the people that report to you? With our clients, they may be parents, patients, students, or families depending on what kind of work you do. What are those dynamics like? With our peers, are we investing in them in some way? How do we show up for our peers? In the relationship with yourself, what is your unique gift? I need to consider that as well. What are my unique gifts? What do I bring that other people do not? Have you become complacent in some areas? This could be a difficult question because if you are an experienced therapist, you want to make sure that you keep growing.

Thoughts, Actions, and Blindspots

Here is something for you to consider: an organization will never be its best if people cannot have open and honest conversations about the issues that matter. It is for us to first acknowledge these things and make ourselves aware, and then to be able to have conversations about these concepts with other people. It does not make sense for us to keep ideas to ourselves when we need to bring them to our teams and organizations. To do that, I want us to consider these five areas. Thinking about three principles, the acronym for you to remember is TAB. That stands for thoughts, actions, and blindspots. All of this influences the way that we show up for others and the way we lead.

Thoughts

Mindful self-leaders are always monitoring their own thoughts. This is key because we need to have self-awareness.

• These are the three areas within our thoughts:
  • Mindset
  • Self Esteem
  • Reputation

My first question is, do you have a mindset that is fixed or open? A fixed mindset believes that intelligence, creative ability, and talent are fixed at birth and cannot be significantly changed. On the other hand, a mindset of growth is about being open, curious, flexible, and youthful, no matter how old we are, as well as having what is called “rookie smarts.” I often equate open with growth. What kind of mindset do you fall into? In some areas, you may have a fixed mindset, while in others you are more open. When it comes to leadership abilities and potential in ourselves and others, what do we think? Do we have more of a fixed mindset, or can we take steps to have an open one? I want to reference Carol Dwek’s book called The New Psychology of Success and Liz Wiseman’s book called Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work. Those are some additional resources for you to check out if you are interested in more mindset material.

The second concept under thought is self-esteem, how we think about ourselves. Do you agree with the statement that we often treat others better than we treat ourselves? If you do, we want to explore why that is.

Here is the APA definition of self-esteem:

• “The degree to which the qualities and characteristics contained in one’s self-concept are perceived to be positive. It reflects a person’s physical self-image, view of his or her accomplishments and capabilities, and values and perceived success in living up to them, as well as the ways in which others view and respond to that person. The more positive the cumulative perception of these qualities and characteristics, the higher one’s self-esteem. A reasonably high degree of self- esteem is considered an important ingredient of mental health, whereas low self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness are common depressive symptoms.”

I have come up with one that is a lot shorter: self-esteem is my sense of my worth and value, and how much I like and appreciate myself. How much do you like and appreciate yourself, your work, and your contributions? These are important things for us to consider. I want to share this quote that I share with all of my students: "Your worth doesn't decrease because someone is unable to see your value." This is especially important for living in moments of rejection, which happens often throughout our lives. Remember that your worth does not decrease because someone is unable to see your value at that moment at that time.

There is an interesting concept from Jenika McDavitt, in which self-esteem is not a single, internal thermometer. It is not saying, “Today I'm on 98.6, I'm good.” That is not the way it works with self-esteem. Self-esteem is divided into areas, with the first one being global self-esteem. In general, how do we consider ourselves? The second area is tasked self-esteem, which is how we feel about ourselves regarding a certain task. This may be for you, looking at how you feel differently treating someone with one condition versus another. Maybe you are treating someone with a certain type of cerebral palsy, and in that task, you feel differently than when you are working with someone who has a lesser motor issue. While we have global self-esteem and task self-esteem, there is also situational self-esteem. This can vary depending on the situation we are in. For example, I feel differently about myself experiencing others in a small group setting compared to a large group setting. Again, think about these for you.

The third area of our thoughts is our reputation, which is the “estimation in which a person or thing is held, especially by the community or the public generally.” This is the dictionary definition.

Actions

The second area of the TAB concept is actions.

I want us to consider these points:

• Words
  • What we say
  • What we don’t say
• Behavior
  • What we do
  • What we choose not to do

With words it is not just about what we say, it is also what we do not say. I want us to think about those moments when we intentionally leave things unsaid. Sometimes we should do that, but other times we are staying quiet when we need to be speaking up. This concept is similar to behavior in terms of what we do, but also what we choose not to do. Here is something for you to consider: How do you use your words, and how do you behave in different situations with different people?

Blindspots

Figure 2. Johari Window.

The “B” in TAB is blind spots. I want to teach you about the concept called the Johari Window. Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham created this concept of self-awareness quadrants in 1955. This is something that has helped me in my own leadership growth. There are four quadrants that I want to teach you today. We have areas that are known to self and areas that are unknown to self, as well as areas that are known to others and unknown to others.

Looking at Figure 2, the first quadrant is the open arena, which is our public persona. The second one is what is hidden, which is known to us, but unknown to others. We keep it hidden until someone proves to us that they are trustworthy. We do not walk into work and start telling them about our past and struggles because that would be inappropriate. When someone becomes a person of trust, there are certain things that we show to them. The next one is unknown, which is unknown to others and unknown to self. For example, five or six years ago, it had not crossed my mind to be teaching at a university. That was an unknown area for me that turned into a great, fulfilling opportunity. There are unknown potentials in all of us that we are not aware of, and can lead to wonderful things in our life, growth, and development.

The fourth area, the blind spot, is where I want us to focus. These are areas that are unknown to self but known to others. I am sure you can think of a person in your life whose blindspot is obvious to everybody else, and they are clueless about it. That is why it is called the blind spot. Since you know that you can see those in others, we have to realize that we have our own blindspots to consider. There is an article from Inc.com called The Top 10 Leadership Blind Spots, and 5 Ways to Turn Them Into Strengths. I am going to read a couple so you are aware of what some of these are. Number one is being afraid to ask for help. Number two is being insensitive to our own behavior towards other people. The third one is having an “I know” attitude. This is probably seated in the fear of being wrong. Another one is avoiding difficult conversations and conflict.

In order to consider these for ourselves, here are action steps for you to become more aware of your blindspots. This is not an easy task, but it is transformative when it comes from a place of growth and trust. The first step is to start having open conversations about your blindspots with trusted people. This has to be done with a person that has shown that they care about you and have your best interest at heart. It cannot be with somebody that you want to impress. The second step is remembering that it is not easy to work on ourselves and listen to other people tell us what we need to improve. Step three is to not defend yourself during these conversations and to not make excuses. If you do, people are not going to open up to you anymore. Do not defend yourself or people will shut down. If somebody says something that stings, you can say, “Thank you. I'm going to think about that and I appreciate your honesty and sharing.” Give yourself some time to think, then come back to the conversation and listen to what they have to say. That will change this for you. Questions that I find helpful in launching a conversation are, “What do you observe in me? How do I behave? When I am at my worst, what do you see in me?” Those are great questions to start a blind spot assessment for yourself. This will transform your work lives and your personal lives if you do it well. Just remember to do it with a person who has your back.

The Four Tendencies

Figure 3. The four tendencies.

This concept of The Four Tendencies is by Gretchen Rubin. Looking at Figure 3, they are named an upholder, a questioner, an obliger, and a rebel. She teaches us that we fall into one of these four categories when it comes to inner and outer expectations. Inner expectations are what we place on ourselves, such as going to the gym, accomplishing a task around the house, or learning a new skill. Outer expectations are placed on us by a boss, supervisor, or family member. An upholder meets both inner and outer expectations fairly easily. A questioner will meet inner expectations but resist outer expectations by asking questions, then turning them into inner expectations. An obliger will resist inner expectations but easily meet and often exceed outer expectations. If it is coming from somebody else it will get done, but if it is only for them it is at the bottom of the list. The rebel will resist both inner and outer expectations. By nature, they have a built-in resistance to it.

Let's now go a little deeper into these concepts.

According to Gretchen Rubin, here are the mottos for each tendency:

• Upholder: “Discipline is my freedom.”
• Questioner: “I’ll comply if you convince me why.”
• Obliger: “You can count on me and I’m counting on you to count on me.”
• Rebel: “You can’t make me and neither can I.”

An upholder loves deadlines, organization, and structure. Discipline makes them happy and helps them live freely, whereas other tendencies do not enjoy it and consider it restricting. For a questioner, it is natural that they ask a lot of questions. If you have people on your team who are questioners, they need that level of information in order to gain understanding. Once they do, they are more willing to comply with the request. An obliger needs other people to be motivated to move things forward. A rebel tends to resist any expectations.

Four Tendency Strategies

How do we work with different people who have these different tendencies? Here are some strategies. For an upholder, you have to remember that it is okay to question an expectation. It is okay to say, “I know I am being given this deadline, but does that really make sense? Is there some flexibility with that, because I'm overwhelmed with other things.” You do not want to be overly strict about those expectations. For a questioner, one of your goals will be to avoid analysis paralysis by consuming too much information. Instead, set some deadlines and limit the number of sources. You can think, “In five days, I'm going to make a decision and I'll only allow myself 12 sources of information.” Questioners love all the sources, but you do not want to get stuck and not move forward because there is too much information. Giving yourself deadlines and limiting the intake of information will be helpful.

For an obliger, the strategy is to have an accountability partner. The cool part of this is that obligers make great partners for other obligers. All that is required for an obliger is to find somebody that can say, “This is what I need to do and I need your help sticking to it. Check in with me from time to time and make sure that I'm sticking to what I'm saying.” That accountability will help move an obliger forward in meeting inner expectations because they tend to struggle the most with those. This can also happen if you are someone who works from home. If you find that your motivation has changed, you may fall into the obliger category. What you will need to do is find an accountability partner to help you meet your inner expectations. For a rebel, the strategy is to remember you have information, receive information, and have to understand what the possible consequences are. Also, remember that you have a choice. If you are working with a rebel, it is important to not pressure them because that will often make it worse. You can share information, explain the possible consequences, and let them make a decision, knowing what those consequences are.

Five Languages of Appreciation

The next topic of discussion is the "5 Languages of Appreciation" by Gary Chapman and Paul White. If you have ever heard of the "Five Love Languages,” that is the origin of this work, but the one we are going to talk about is more specific to the workplace. Here are the languages:

• Words of Affirmation
• Quality Time
• Acts of Service
• Gifts
• Physical Touch

Words of Affirmation

When it comes to words of affirmation, words have a strong meaning. It is not just about action speaking louder than words because words are also important. People who associate with words of affirmation need to hear the reasons why they are valued or appreciated. For example, an unsolicited compliment that you can give will be well-received by a person who speaks words of affirmation as their primary love language. You can send a note, text, or an email, or have an in-person conversation to express gratitude. These are beautiful strategies for a person who speaks words of affirmation. Also if they are okay with public acknowledgment, recognize them at a meeting, whether it is online or in-person. I would be floating on cloud nine if somebody praised me in front of others for a job well done. For others, that kind of spotlight does not help them feel good and actually makes them feel uncomfortable. We want to make sure that public recognition is going to be uplifting to them. That goes back to knowing your team. Additionally, harmful words can shatter the relationship. If you are able to give them praise for who they are and their contribution, they will feel highly valued.

Quality Time

The second one is quality time. We need you to be there with them, focused and present, not distracted on your cell phone. Quality time is about time that is focused on your goals as well as the relationship. For example, once the relationship is established, you can find time to go out and grab lunch or a coffee together, providing some kind of regularity with one-on-one meetings. This can be done in person or virtually.

Acts of Service

Acts of service refer to the people who enjoy experiencing help with things that are burdening them. The fact that you are willing to help them with something uplifts their spirits and will help them feel appreciated. For example, you can offer to help with a project when you know that they are feeling overwhelmed. You can offer to help them rehearse a presentation or give feedback if you know they have one coming up. “I’m checking in, is there some way that I can help you? When would be the best time to help you?” Different questions like this can let them know that you are there to help them and will be truly supportive to the relationship.

Gifts

The fourth language of appreciation is gifts. It is important to not mistake a person's desire for materialistic things because it is not about how much the gift is worth. It is more that you took the time to get or make something for this person to help them feel appreciated and valued. Even a small tangible thing can uplift somebody. Some ideas include making a small personalized gift or purchasing something. This should be something very unique to them. It can even be picking up a favorite drink or candy that you know they like. If you are crafty, this may come very easily to you. This is great to show that you are thinking about them and that you know what they enjoy.

Physical Touch

The fifth language of appreciation is physical touch. In the workplace, this is a little bit different. The authors have discouraged any kind of physical touch in the workplace to respect boundaries. I want to mention that therapists, especially in patient-family-therapist relationships, develop closer bonds because we see people pretty regularly. We often work with them long-term and I do not want to dismiss that when we hug, it is to express appreciation. Of course, it looks different in a romantic relationship than at work, but I thought it was important to mention it here as well. In the workplace, it is often that physical touch can be high-fives, fist bumps, handshakes, or hugs. With the person who speaks this language, that closeness provides meaning and appreciation to them. If a coworker’s language is physical touch, you can put your hand on their shoulder, look them in the eye and tell them about their job well done. It is important for us to keep these in mind.

Action Steps

Here are some action steps that are important for you to take. The first can be free online tests from the authors to determine which of the four tendencies you are. Another one tests the five love languages. Take the tests to determine which one you are, then you also want to have people in your life take these same tests. Acknowledge them, work on them, then compare notes. You want to be able to talk about these results together. It does not matter if you only know yourself. It is important to know ourselves, but we also need to be able to work within team dynamics. How does my way of being relate to my team, whether I am the leader or reporting to somebody else? How do those things play into each other? You want to make sure that you are having these conversations. This will help us understand other people and ourselves better. We will be able to communicate with people in terms of their motivation and in languages they will appreciate.

Imagine you and I were on a team and there are 15 of us in total. I want to show you all how much I appreciate you for an excellent job. I love coconut ice cream, so I bring coconut ice cream for everybody. Meanwhile, your favorite ice cream could be chocolate, somebody else's favorite could be mint chocolate chip, and then we have one person on our team who is lactose intolerant and cannot have ice cream at all. What would have been better for me to do to show my appreciation? It would have been better to find out each person’s favorite flavor. “Do you like ice cream? Can you eat ice cream, or is there something else you would prefer?” That means it will be more than me bringing what I like to the team. We will often do this because we mistakenly think that people like all the things that we like. That is simply not the case. We need to get to know other people and be able to give them what they like. This will add value to the relationships.

What I have experienced with people in my classes and teams is that when you apply these principles, you get to enjoy the relationships. Remember that high-performing teams are not conflict-free but are capable of dealing and managing conflict. None of this guarantees that we are going to never have any problems, but it gives us tools to understand and work through them. If you are dealing with a person who is an upholder on your team and you are more of a rebel, you can see how those two people can have very different perspectives. Imagine you are dealing with two questioners on a team and you are wondering why they are having such a hard time making decisions. While now armed with this information, you will be able to help them move forward. These concepts truly matter in exploring our own leadership. We want to share this amazing content with other people. I have created a list of references for you to check out what I have mentioned, but also some things that will help you take it a step further.

Summary

Let's recap what I have gone over today. First, we explored our relationships with ourselves, our bosses, teams, clients, and peers. Moving forward, it will be difficult to address all five of them at the same time. It will be hard to meet with everyone and ask them questions about thoughts, actions, and blindspots. What I suggest is that you pick one area and start with that. Be willing to go deep because if we only keep things surface-level, we are only going to get surface-level results. However, I do not think that the people who sign up for a course about leading are here for surface-level results. I think you are here because you are willing to go deep. You already have a sense that you are a leader without having that title. You know that you can influence other people, and you want to set the tone for an organization. Maybe you are in a place where things need to change, or you are in a new position. Maybe you recently graduated and are coming into a new team. Whatever those reasons are, these skills matter and can be directly applied to that. First, speak with one team member at a time. I think that is what will be the most valuable for you.

You moved into understanding who they are and you worked through the blindspot activity. Companies pay a lot of money to explore this kind of work. We do not need to be the CEO of a company to glean from this type of activity. If you are willing to ask others for input, the results will be worth it. People that I have helped in the past did begin to feel defensive, but they did what I suggested and said thank you. That conversation led to them reciprocating and asking the same questions, which strengthened that relationship. It is likely that you will see fruit from your labor come from these questions when you are willing to do this with others. You work through that first step and go on to exploring other areas. You can even bring this into your personal life. Some of you may have remote relationships, and this connection is even more important because you do not have a chance to see them face-to-face regularly. These concepts apply whether you are in a traditional face-to-face setting or in a remote team. Understanding the upholder, rebel, questioner, and obliger tendencies will be transformative for motivation and understanding the people on your team.

It has been my absolute pleasure talking about leadership. It makes a difference when it comes to investing in ourselves as leaders and being a positive, growth-minded influence on others. Thank you for your attention and I hope that it bears fruit for you in your professional and personal life. Thank you for participating and thinking through these concepts that are going to empower you to be a better leader, even if your title is not the boss.

Questions and Answers

Are there generational differences with this?

I do not subscribe to the concept that everybody who is of the same generation fits a particular mold. For example, my friend from high school and I were born in the same year but are completely different people, and I do not think it is fair to put us in the same category. I believe that there are some biases. There are a lot of shared experiences, and people who were born in the 1950s are going to experience life much differently than my eight-year-old nephew. I do understand the differences, but I think it is very important that we try and understand people’s motivations, tendencies, and love languages on an individual level. The book Rookie Smarts by Liz Wiseman addresses a lot of concepts when it comes to generations. You are going to walk into your job after you graduate and be the new kid on the block. You are going to be full of creativity, and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but one day you are going to be on the senior level with 30 years of professional experience. How do you want the young kid who just graduated to be treating you? The same question goes for the people who are at the top. When you were younger, do you remember what it was like to be new? I think the better question would be asking about the person you are working with. What are they about? What motivates them? How would they receive appreciation? How do they communicate? How can I invest in them? What are their unique gifts? That is how I approach those environments when it comes to different generations.

What are the questions that help initiate the blind spot conversation with others? What other questions do you use to achieve that conversation?

I have thought through a number of questions that can serve as guides. “When I have been at my best, what did you see in me in terms of my behavior? How do I speak? How do I act?” That is a nice way to launch the conversation because it is important to remember that you are not asking them to tell you about everything you do wrong. “When I am at my worst, how have I behaved? How have I spoken? How have I acted?” You can also ask about your behaviors or actions that you do not see, but the other person does. This is important because it is going to take a lot of your own emotional intelligence to work through these questions. “Are there things that I've done that are not helpful to our relationship or organization?” Depending on the nature of the relationship, you can ask that as well.

You do need to be specific in what you are asking for because it is not productive to just talk about the things you have done that are not helpful. We need to define the parameters so people can focus on answering accurately. A follow-up question is, “I hear what you are saying. How can I help make that better for us?” It is important to ask the person to make suggestions, and then you get to hear about the possibilities for growing that relationship or improving that circumstance. Hopefully, those give you some launching points. I am sure that if you spend a couple of minutes thinking about it you can come up with your own questions. Also, the blindspot conversation is not a one-time thing. It is like an oil change in your car because you need to do it regularly. We do not have to do it every three months but it is a habit that you want to get yourself into on a yearly basis. It is essential to focus on those relationships because we are human and other blindspots can develop over time. This is part of our humanity that we need to keep working on. It will get easier with time and when people know we are open to feedback. People want to hear how to improve, and we make it safe to be open and honest with each other. We are responsible for creating that environment.

Can you talk a little more about the three levels of self-esteem?

Yes, that is from the work of Jenika McDavitt. She has a blog with a lot of different psychological concepts for people who are creative. She talks about splitting self-esteem into three areas: global, situational, and task. The global area is a broad assessment of how we feel about ourselves, and most healthy adults have a good sense of self-esteem. The self-esteem concept is not just about feeling good in some instances and not others. That is why Jenika McDavitt broke it up into different concepts. Situational self-esteem is how we feel about ourselves in a particular situation. You may feel differently about yourself when speaking in public than you do treating your clients. Maybe both excite you but in different ways. With the specific task in occupational therapy, maybe you have a child with a condition that is particularly difficult for you to treat. For example, the daily activity of working with a child who is nonverbal and on the autism spectrum might be challenging for you. You may feel differently than when you are working with someone who has a motor impairment that you are seeing progress with.

References

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Chapman, G. D., & White, P. E. (2019). The 5 languages of appreciation in the workplace: Empowering organizations by encouraging people. Chicago: Northfield Publishing.

Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Ballantine Books.

Fine, G. A. (2008). Reputation. Contexts, 7(3):78-79. doi:10.1525/ctx.2008.7.3.78

Furtner, M., Tutzer, L., & Sachse, P. (2018). The mindful self-leader: Investigating the relationships between self-leadership and mindfulness. Social Behavior and Personality, 46(3):353-359. doi:10.2224/sbp.6521

Kirk, J., MacDonald, A., Lavender, P., Dean, J., & Rubin, G. (2017). Can treatment adherence be improved by using Rubin's Four Tendencies Framework to understand a patient's response to expectations. Biomed Hub, 2:1-12. doi: 10.1159/000480347

Levin, M. The top 10 leadership blind spots, and 5 ways to turn them into strengths. Retrieved from: https://www.inc.com/marissa-levin/the-top-10-leadership-blind-spots-and-5-ways-to-tu.html 

Luft, J. The Johari Window: A graphic model of awareness in interpersonal relations. Retrieved from: https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/fridayfellowship.site-ym.com/resource/collection/D1FD72B3-693E-4EE5-AB18-B1233BBE9C51/JohariWindow_JLuft.pdf

McDavitt, Jenika. (2015). What your junior high health textbook forgot to tell you about self-esteem. Retrieved from: https://psychologyforphotographers.com/creative-self-esteem-part-one

Rubin, G. (2018). The four tendencies: The indispensable personality profiles that reveal how to make your life better (and other people's lives better, too). London, England: Two Roads.

Wiggins, K. (2015). The whole idea of growth mindset is to say yes they can. (Stanford University psychology professor and writer Carol Dweck) (TES News) (Interview). (5152).

Wiseman, L. (2014). Rookie smarts: Why learning beats knowing in the new game of work. New York, NY: Harper Business, an imprint of HarperCollins.