Type-2 Leadership
Ice Cream Cones, Outer Space, and Transformational Change
Several years ago I heard astronaut Scott Kelly talking about two types of fun: type-1 fun and type-2 fun.
Type-1 fun is immediate and short-lived. It’s a rollercoaster or an ice cream cone. It delights us, but the happiness from it comes on fast and fades just as quickly.
Type-2 fun is different. It takes more effort and may not be “fun” at the moment, but it brings us deep meaning and satisfaction, and years later we are able to look back and relive the joy we found after all of that work. (Think: hiking to the top of a mountain, graduating from college, and, yes, being an astronaut who gets to travel to space.)
This metaphor also captures the two types of leadership we see around us.
Type-1 leadership is flashy, exciting, and big. It is the type of leadership we see when a leader takes the stage in front of a group and delivers great news about a project outcome or celebrates a team win. Type-1 leadership has its place, but it is often doing what is easy, obvious, or superficial.
Just like type-1 fun, it comes and goes without meaningful impact. The outcomes it creates are short-lived and potentially destructive to the long-term success of a team or organization if type-1 leadership is all there is.
For the people around the leader, it can look and feel like leadership, but it doesn’t result in meaningful or lasting change. Beyond the flash and fun, we can see how it avoids difficult choices, conflict, and accountability.
Type-1 leadership also has a darker side. It can be leading from a place of fear, with the jolt and frenzy that comes from stirring panic, fear, and doubt. And it can be leadership motivated by organizational politics or self-interest, where the basic question the lead asks is, “what’s in it for me?”
Type-2 leadership, like type-2 fun, is very different. It means putting in real work to create lasting impact and change, on a personal and organizational level. It means doing the hard things that matter most and taking the actions that are difficult, thoughtful, and inclusive that others may be avoiding or putting off.
Creating an intentional focus on doing the hard things that matter most
In practice, they are very different forms of leadership.
Type-1 Leaders
Avoid difficult conversations
Struggle to set and hold clear boundaries
Feel strong judgment or resentment towards others
Fail to hold people accountable
Type-2 Leaders
See difficult conversations as part of individual and team growth
Set boundaries that foster trust and respect
Create teams that prioritize courage and inclusion
Offer accountability without judgment or resentment
On the organizational level, type-2 leadership may look like challenging the status quo: questioning policies, decisions, and norms that seem to harm people or are out of alignment with organizational values. This is the heavy leadership work of creating higher levels of accountability.
On a personal level, it means putting in the deep and vulnerable work of developing yourself and your relationships with others. It means being honest and addressing conflict with purpose, courage, and compassion. It is leading from possibility.
Why Type-2 Leadership
There is a clear need for type-2 leadership these days. Whether in response to transformations from the pandemic, or increasing calls for more psychological safety and trust within organizations, the answer is the same. We need leaders who are willing to face challenges head-on and navigate misunderstandings, conflict, and mutual accountability.
In my work with clients, I see a couple of broad patterns: more inclusion and more accountability. Clients come to me trying to address newly toxic cultures (where new leaders are abusive toward their teams and employees are leaving in droves). Or they have an underperforming or overstretched team member, and they need to hold them accountable for the work that isn’t getting done. Both situations are rife with feelings of interpersonal conflict and future difficult conversations.
For both of these patterns, leaders have opportunities to develop the purpose, courage, and connection they need to tackle these challenges head-on to create meaningful change, and in the process create more joy in their teams.
I’m also seeing more clients who have had a personal leadership setback, and they are trying to return to a place of confidence in their leadership and their contribution. For these leaders, the type-2 journey is one of recharging their sense of purpose and the courage to pursue it.
Type-2 leadership requires ongoing effort and development
It takes a clear sense of purpose, courage, and connection to lead teams through the uncertainty, fear, and doubt that define our current lives. And it takes ongoing development to nurture it and grow our ability to sustain type-2 leadership.
Sometimes we slip out of type-2 leadership and into type-1 leadership, but we don’t have to stay there.
When we get stuck in fear and struggle to step into type-2 leadership, that’s when we need help, and that is I am here for — I help individual leaders or teams build the courage, confidence, and compassion to do the hard things that matter most
There is a time and place to lean into type-1 leadership. When it is grounded in love and compassion, it is an ideal form of leadership for celebrating successes and the contributions of people on the team. It can amplify the meaning and satisfaction of type-2 leadership into a shared sense of connectedness and purpose in the here and now.
The best way to create a meaningful, sustainable impact as a leader is to face challenges with the purpose, courage, and compassion of type-2 leadership. Anything less than that will risk the superficial and temporary impact of type-1 leadership.