SUMMARY
Chris Cowan’s Critiques
In the March 2005 issue of Spiral Dynamics® Newsletter, two articles appeared worthy of consideration by anyone interested in the application of integral theory and/or spiral dynamics to leadership. The critiques raise several points to be considered.
In “An SD Expert? Dozen Tell-Tale Signs of the Amateur” these concerns are expressed:
- Their Managing Director is “Red.” It is unlikely that true red would make it into the executive suite. In addition, expressive behavior that might be labeled boorish or autocratic can manifest from many levels, particularly if it is a choice.
- “A Student of Graves.” No living advocate of spiral dynamics was ever formally a student of Graves.
- Graves’ Colors. The colors associated with the levels of the spiral were a presentation choice not used by Graves.
- Clare Graves’ Spiral Dynamics. The name, spiral dynamics was created for the Beck and Cowan book by that name, not by Graves.
- Since I am Yellow…(or Turquoise or Coral). Such statements reflect an aspiration to higher awareness/consciousness and are a misunderstanding of the theory. The idea of second tier was overplayed in the book.
- The Graves Test. There is no such thing.
- Graves’ Memes (or vMemes). Amateurs confuse memes and vMemes.
- Blues Think Thus, Green’s Act Like That, Yellow Believes This… Accurate analysis is far more difficult than this “pop-the-color game” suggests.
- According to the Research. Most of Graves’ original research is lost. There is very little peer-reviewed research currently available.
- Claire Grave. Can’t even spell his first name right.
- SD and Graves as a New Age Theology. Spiral Dynamics is not a model of spiritual development. It relates to value systems and worldviews.
- Maclean’s Magazine Refers to Spiral Dynamics as “the theory that explains everything.” In 1967 it referred to Graves’ work as a theory that explains everything. This was never a reference to spiral dynamics or even a representation of Graves’ point of view.
“Premature Integral” is the second article. The use of the term integral is about one of two critical terms in development—integration and differentiation. In spiral dynamics the term integrative has been used as a synonym for “systemic-type” thinking. The article sites Sorokin’s use of the term circa 1912: “Sorokin created a philosophy that both fit Christian doctrine and ordered the chaos he saw in the world. It captured four aspects he saw in human psychology: geological unconscious, biological conscious, sociocultural conscious, and the supraconscious.” The implication is that integral approaches today are merely building on this idea.
Today the idea of integral thinking parallels the idea of integral as a stage of development. “It is an error to indiscriminately connect integral, Spiral Dynamics, second tier, spirituality, and consciousness as equivalent notions.” Graves’ theory “is not a measure of spirituality or enlightenment but a way to understand how one conceptualizes those things (and others.)” Each stage of development has its own way of integrating the whole. Thus, differentiation and integration occur at all levels. The article equates ways of integrating with being integral. Integration and differentiation are complementary processes.
But there are three parts to the process:
• Differentiation that takes things apart,
• Dimension that seeks to understand the parts and
• Integration puts them back together.
The article concludes:
“Premature integral sorts for connections and fusion, even before there is clarity about the component parts and what makes them unique.”