Energy Leadership™ makes you a better leader and human

Have you ever had a moment where you learned something new and something just ‘clicked’? A moment where that ‘click’ defined a life before the ‘click’ and after the ‘click’? Well one of such moments was when I learned about the Energy Leadership™ system, designed by iPEC.

Before I learned about this system, I was aware that my thoughts influence my emotions and my behavior. My psychologist taught me this in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy during burnout 4 years ago. What I was not aware of, though, was that my thoughts and emotions followed very clear distinctive patterns, nor did I have any tools that I could use to change or shift those thoughts and emotions when they did not serve me. That all changed with Energy Leadership™.

Ever since I learned and integrated the learnings of this system, I have grown my own awareness and with that my ability to make conscious choices. I can now easily make distinctions between my ‘normal’ energy and my stress response in the moment, resulting in quicker shifts of unproductive to productive energy. I developed the ability to recognize patterns in other people too, resulting in more effectively communication and more meaningful relationships. In essence, just by increasing my awareness of my inner workings, I have reduced my levels of stress and increased my levels of fulfilment, happiness and success. Something I definitely think you deserve too!

It all starts with perception

Why does one person experience joy while another person boils in anger when looking at the exact same thing?

Interesting, isn’t it? It all starts with our perceptions, our filters. When I am wearing blue colored glasses, the world looks blue. When I wear pink colored glasses, the world looks pink. While this is more than obvious, we forget that we wear these internal filters all the time. Hence we may look at the exact same thing and experience something entirely different.

These filters are based on our life experiences and the influences of people and the world around us up to this point in our life. They are the basis of our belief system. In many cases, these filters help us achieve success. In other instances, they actually limit us and create tension or stress. Sounds familiar, anyone?

Instead of allowing these ‘negative’ perceptions to dictate our lives, the beauty is that we can change our perceptions or attitudes. By transforming our perceptions and with that our belief system, our energy starts working for us instead of against us. Getting familiar with and integrating this system will do exactly that.

Meet the seven levels of energy

Energy Leadership™ takes something as intangible as perception and makes it concrete. It categorizes our different types of perceptions into seven levels of energy, or seven levels of leadership. Each of those levels is characterized by a core thought, emotion and behavior. While the details of the experience of the level may be slightly different depending on the person, the essence of the experience is the same.

Before I dive into each level, I want to emphasize that no level is good or bad. Each of the levels has advantages and disadvantages, even when they may not seem very clear to you right now. They will become crystal clear as you work with the system over time and integrate it into your life.

Level 1: Victim
” I lose”
From this perspective, you feel as if the situation is out of your influence and control. You are a victim to outside influences. This perspective creates self criticism or doubt in your own abilities and brings up emotions such as fear, worry, overwhelm, doubt, guilt, embarrassment and powerlessness. People often report feeling stuck and feel as if life is happening to them instead of for them. Procrastination, avoidance and disengagement are common behaviors that indicate a victim perspective.

Level 2: Antagonist
”I win, you lose”
As opposed to blaming yourself (level 1), Level 2 energy is all about blaming others. Everything is viewed in a binary way: good or bad, right or wrong. You want to assure a win at all costs, and have a conflict perspective. This conflict lens may be pointed towards another being, but also towards a task. You may push forward to get sh*t done. While this may bring short-term results, this type of energy will drain you and those around you over the longer term (hello burnout). You tend to focus on problems, "what's wrong" or "broken" here. Emotions experienced here are anger, frustration, entitlement or scepticism.

Level 3: Rationalizer
”I win, but you can also win”
From this perspective, you take responsibility for your own thoughts, emotions and actions. You know what you think and feel is up to you, not others. The focus is on achieving and making the "best" of a situation. The difference with level 2 is that the other can also win, after securing your own. If you have a lot of level 3 energy, you are a master of rationalization. You motivate yourself and others by ways to cope, release, tolerate, compromise and explain away resentment, stress or disappointment. This energy level can feel like a breath of fresh air after level 1 and 2.

Level 4: Helper
”You win”
Your core thought is concern for others. It is the level of giving, caring, supporting and helping. The focus is on others to win and succeed. People with level 4 tend to be great problem solvers and love fixing things. You'll feel compassion, gratitude, trust and conditional love. From this perspective, you come from the heart space and make deep connections. It's important to remember that this level also includes nurturing oneself through "self-care".

Level 5: Collaborator
”We both win or we don’t play”
From level 5, you no longer perceive situations & people as good or bad, right or wrong. There is a sense of peace and confidence because every situation is viewed as an opportunity to learn. This level allows you to explore the purpose behind everything that happens. You are solution focused and perceive everything as a win-win and full of opportunity. You are excited by things that do not go as planned and accept others fully without trying to change them.

Level 6: Connector
”Everybody always wins”
From this lens, you approach situations with openness. There is a strong connection between everyone and everything as you see everyone as a part of yourself. You are empathetic and can feel without judgment. You live in a state of awe and wonder; life itself is an opportunity and all experiences are viewed as valuable. This is the place where intuition comes alive and you use it to create new and exciting innovations. The core emotion experienced is joy. Judgment is no longer present.

Level 7: Creator
”Winning and losing are illusions”
This is the highest level of energy, which is characterized by complete objective thinking, non-judgment and fearlessness. No human resonates here 100% of the time, but everyone can learn how to access it. From here, you access a "meta-view" through which you create, observe and experience life all at the same time. This "detached involvement" allows you to do your best work with clarity and vision without relying on any certain outcome. You have access to all other energy levels and use them without attachment.

We all have all seven types of perception within us

You may have recognized yourself in part if not all energy levels. Make no mistake though to view the levels as “I am level x”. Energy Leadership™ reveals a set of attitudes, not a set of distinct or fixed personalities like other systems do (e.g Myers-Briggs or Insights). This means that every single one of us experiences these seven levels of energy and our experience may change as quickly as from moment to moment. What is different between us is what our default energy levels are, how much time we spend in each of them and how we experience the levels specifically.

We all have a baseline of perspectives we start from, but that does not mean that our current energy determines our future. We have the power and ability to change our perspectives and attitudes in life so that we can experience less stress and more success, happiness and fulfilment.

Exploring what external and internal triggers influence the kind of energy you experience is crucial in your path to change your energy levels to levels that you desire to experience more of. Without awareness, there is no opportunity for change. With awareness, we have an opportunity to choose consciously what we want to experience.

An assessment today can help you become a better leader and human tomorrow

The Energy Leadership™ system is very rich in content and only gets richer the deeper your understanding becomes. The best way to start exploring how this system can help you become a better leader and human is to take an Energy Leadership Index Assessment, accompanied by a personal debrief session of your results. I will help you interpret what your default perspectives are, how that shows up in your life and what your personal growth areas are.

If this blog got you curious about Energy Leadership™, go ahead and book a discovery call to explore how we can work together to integrate this into your life!

This blog is based on my own interpretations of the Energy Leadership™ framework, developed by the founder of iPEC Bruce D. Schneider.