Edwin Friedman’s self-differentiation made simple
In my doctoral work back in 2008-2009, I spent time reading the concepts expressed by Edwin Friedman. Friedman was a family therapist and his counseling approach was heavily influenced by is known as family systems theory. Building on his work in the book
In my doctoral work back in 2008-2009, I spent time reading the concepts expressed by Edwin Friedman. Friedman was a family therapist and his counseling approach was heavily influenced by is known as family systems theory.
Building on his work in the book Generation to Generation, Friedman’s family posthumously published a collection of his writings in book called A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix. In it, his understanding of leaders as “self-differentiated or well-differentiated.”
Friedman illustrated good “self-differentiated” leadership by revealing it in many of the great Renaissance explorers. These explorers were leaders who had:
the capacity to separate oneself from surrounding emotional processes
the capacity to obtain clarity about one’s principles and vision
the willingness to be exposed and be vulnerable
the persistence to face inertial resistance
the self-regulation of emotions in the face of reactive sabotage
In the following video, the speaker explains self-differentiation in a way that is easy to understand.
Read more here: Systems Thinking
