INsight/ Practicing Leadership Virtuosity

Manila, 25 September 2026 — What becomes available in your leadership through practice?

Story

Most leaders have ways of communicating that come naturally.

In our Work In All Colors practice, leaders discover their preferred communication colors. They then deliberately practice communicating in all seven leadership languages. At first, unfamiliar languages require conscious effort. With repeated practice, they become increasingly available.

Eventually, the question changes from: Can I communicate in this language? to: What way of communicating fits this person and this situation?

Challenge

The same challenge applies more broadly to leadership.

We develop ways of coaching, giving feedback, asking questions, making decisions and taking different perspectives. Yet without practice, we can remain dependent on the ways of leading that already feel natural and have worked for us before.

The more ways we practice leading, the less we need to lead in one particular way.

Question

Practice expands our leadership repertoire. But having more ways of leading available is not the destination.

Leadership virtuosity develops as we become increasingly sensitive to the person, relationship and situation—and increasingly capable of drawing on our repertoire to respond with what fits.

Practice expands our leadership repertoire. Virtuosity is responding with what fits. What becomes available in your leadership through practice?

Concept illustration generated with AI