Co-Active Leadership, Second Edition: Five Ways to Lead

As leaders, how we are is as important as what we do. The second edition of this leadership classic, updated with new chapters, shows how to master the inner and outer work needed to build relationships that unleash the transformational creative potential in everyone.

We need to expand beyond top-down, one-dimensional leadership models and find alternatives that are more fluid and inclusive and that harness the possibility of many rather than relying on the power of one. This is exactly what Karen and Henry Kimsey-House provide in this groundbreaking book. Co-Active Leadership is a deeply collaborative approach, which is why the first of its five dimensions is leading from within: self-leadership. Leaders must be fully present and live lives of integrity, openheartedness, and self-awareness if they are to make the kind of conscious, creative choices Co-Active Leadership demands.

Each of the remaining four dimensions work together holistically. Depending on the situation, you may lead from the front, offering guidance and inspiration; from behind, supporting and encouraging others; from beside, partnering with and supporting other members of your team; or from the field, drawing on insights and wisdom available beyond the rational mind.

This edition includes two new chapters, one offering new ways to utilize the Co-Active Leadership Model and another that goes deeply into the Co-Active philosophy. Co-Active Leadership celebrates and honors different expressions of leadership. It invites all of us to share our expertise and allows collaborative solutions to emerge that would never have been possible otherwise.

From the Publisher

What Is Co-Active?

Leadership has no “finish line.” We are all on a lifelong leadership journey, and every person’s journey is unique to them. Co-Active is a contextual lens to experience this journey from different orientations.

As the pace of our lives has quickened, we have become increasingly action-oriented and results-driven. It seems expedient to dispense with all the “soft” stuff (being) and instead just push to “get the job done” (doing). Unfortunately, this leaves us feeling disconnected and desperate for meaning and belonging. We wind up with what we might call “the hamster wheel” experience of life, as we run around alone in circles, desperately trying to get things done, only to find ourselves right back where we started.

This is why it is so important to begin with the “Co.” Action arising from this place of being and receptivity is whole and integrated, rather than disconnected and driven. In order for us to experience life as whole, action must be grounded in being, in our sense of connection to a larger wholeness.

When the Co and the Active go together, the action of our life is nourishing and fulfilling.

– From Co-Active Leadership: Five Ways to Lead by Karen Kimsey-House and Henry Kimsey-House

Karen Kimsey-House

An early recognized luminary in the coaching profession, Karen co-founded CTI in 1992 with Laura Whitworth and her future husband, Henry. Together, they co-created the Co-Active philosophy of relationship that informs CTI’s world-renowned coaching and leadership programs. Karen is also the co-author of Co-Active Coaching and Co-Active Leadership. A successful entrepreneur, Karen founded and directed the Learning Annex San Francisco adult education program in 1986 and grew it into one of the most admired programs under the national Learning Annex brand. Karen received her MFA in Communications and Theater from Temple University in Philadelphia. Committed to pioneering Co-Activity in challenged environments and troubled populations, she continues to lead CTI workshops and is a dynamic keynote speaker around the world.

Henry Kimsey-House

One of the first professional coaches in the 1980s and the co-founder and lead designer of CTI’s provocative, experiential learning programs, Henry is also the co-author of Co-Active Coaching and Co-Active Leadership. An actor since age 9, Henry honed his insights into human emotion and the narrative process through classical theatrical training and years of stage, television, and film experience. With deep conviction that education should be driven by immersive, contextually based learning and not dry information dumps, Henry is committed to creating richly engaging and transformative learning environments where retention approaches 80% rather than the traditional 20%. He continues to develop new, innovative curriculum and collaborate with other dynamic thought leaders, and he is completing a book about transformative leadership.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 2nd edition (May 4, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 184 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1523091126
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1523091126
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.46 x 9 inches