Strategist (Autonomous)

Systems thinking; integrates perspectives over time; holds paradox and interdependence. The self and its theories are taken as real things to understand, integrate and fulfil.

How it sounds

The tension between growth and stability is a polarity to manage; each needs the other over time.

My own role shapes how I see this, so I want to understand how it looks from each part of the system.

Signs in writing

• polarities held rather than solved
• systems, cycles, feedback loops, timescales of a lifetime or an organization
• self as part of the system being described
• integrates rather than chooses between views
• acknowledges own developmental limits
• seeks a coherent whole and the fulfilment of potential (own or others'); trusts that a good enough map can be built

Staying healthy at this stage

• find work that allows systemic influence
• keep relationships where you can be fully known

Growth edge

• notice the limits of maps and theories, including your own
• practice presence without an agenda
• see the ego's need for coherence as a construction

How to be heard at this stage

• show the larger pattern and time horizon
• invite co-inquiry
• acknowledge complexity honestly

The same altitude in other models

Mapped by altitude, not measured: models track different lines.

• Autonomous Loevinger
• Metasystematic Commons
• Conjunctive Fowler
• Self-authoring → Self-transforming Kegan
• Strategist Torbert
• Integrative / Systemic Spiral Dynamics
• Universal ethical principles Kohlberg
• Teal Wilber

Stage descriptions are paraphrased summaries for orientation, written for Worldview Lens; they are not the official scoring manuals. Example sentences were written to illustrate each stage.