The model
Leadership Identity Dimensions is built on the premise that leadership is not only what a person does, but from where leadership is sourced and how responsibility is carried.
The model provides language to notice how leadership identity is oriented, expressed, shaped, and sensed - without defining outcomes or prescribing direction.
A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL VIEW OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership identity is not singular or static.
The LID model approaches leadership as:
Multi-dimensional rather than categorical
Context-sensitive rather than fixed
Formed through experience rather than declared in advance
Rather than asking what kind of leader someone is, the model attends to how leadership is actually lived.
THE FOUR LEADERSHIP POLARITIES
The model is organized around four leadership polarities - fundamental forces that draw leadership identity into expression.
These polarities describe forces of expression.
Leadership identities emerge from how one or more polarities are held, emphasized, or combined.
In some cases, leadership identity is expressed primarily through a single polarity; in others, through the interaction of multiple polarities.
physical
How leadership moves into action, pace, energy, and engagement with the world.
This polarity reflects how leaders:
Take initiative
Engage execution and momentum
Act within real environments and constraints
Intellectual
How leadership engages thinking, analysis, understanding, and the interpretation of information.
This polarity reflects how leaders:
Analyze complexity
Work with ideas, frameworks, and data
Seek clarity through reasoning and logic
Form judgments based on evidence and understanding
emotional
How leadership engages relational awareness, empathy, and responsiveness.
This polarity reflects how leaders:
Sense emotional and relational dynamics
Respond to people with attunement and care
Navigate interpersonal tension and connection
Spiritual / Conscience
How leadership is shaped by values, conviction, and inner moral awareness.
This polarity reflects how leaders:
Discern what matters most
Make decisions guided by integrity and conscience
Act in alignment with deeply held principles
Each polarity can serve as a primary expression of leadership, while also remaining in relationship with the others.
LEADERSHIP IDENTITY DIMENSIONS
From the interaction of these leadership polarities emerge Leadership Identity Dimensions (LIDs).
Each LID represents a distinct, named configuration of leadership identity—a recognizable way leadership is organized and expressed over time.
The model includes 28 Leadership Identity Dimensions, each offering a different lens on how leadership may be lived.
The assessment does not ask participants to master or balance these dimensions. It offers language to notice which expressions are most present.
FIVE DOMAINS OF IDENTITY EXPLORATION
Within the Leadership Identity Dimensions, the framework accounts for identity across five domains of reflection.
Orientation
From where leadership is sourced, and how responsibility is naturally held and approached.
Expression
How leadership tends to show up in action and presence.
Tension
Where clarity and friction currently coexist.
Formation
How experience, responsibility, and conscience appear to have shaped leadership identity overtime.
Trajectory
Where you may already sense your leadership expression feeling active, unfinished, or inviting growth from its current expression.
These domains describe awareness. They do not declare direction.
DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF THE MODEL
The Leadership Identity Dimensions model is guided by several core principles:
Leadership identity is formed over time
Strength and tension often coexist
Context matters
Awareness precedes development
Reflection is more durable than instruction
The model mirrors what is present. It does not impose conclusions.
WHAT THE MODEL DOES NOT DO
The LID model does not:
Assign fixed types
Rank leaders or polarities
Predict future outcomes
Define stages or levels
Determine where someone should grow
Its purpose is not categorization, but clarity.
A MODEL HELD WITH RESTRAINT
The Leadership Identity Dimensions model is intentionally held with restraint.
Not every insight is surfaced.
Not every pattern is named.
This is by design.
Leadership identity deepens through reflection over time - not through speed, certainty, or comparison.
