The Cornerstone Concept

The Cornerstone Concept addresses many issues crucial to leadership in today s organizations and indeed, in all of society. Some of these are: What is high level leadership? Why is it important? What is the scale of differentiation of self? How does one advance up the scale? What are guiding principles and how do we get them? Why is it important to work on one s family relationships? What is meant by taking a stand ? Can a leader help a floundering society to pull up ? The Cornerstone Concept will be of enormous value to leaders immersed in disturbed family situations, complex and chaotic organizations, and indeed, societal regression itself. The book is based primarily on one special concept of Bowen family system theory, differentiation of self, which Bowen regarded as the cornerstone concept. It takes its place with two other texts, Extraordinary Leadership Thinking Systems, Making a Difference and now well known The Eight Concepts of Bowen Theory, to complete a trio of leadership texts, that were developed over the course of teaching and directlng the Extraordinary Leadership Seminar. This seminar series began when Dr. Roberta Gilbert was asked by a major denomination to create a training opportunity that would enrich their clergy. Pastors and other leaders were running into problems that they were unprepared to handle; namely, the emotional side of organizations. To fill this crucial gap in leadership training, Dr. Gilbert designed the Extraordinary Leadership Seminar. Increasingly, leaders in other fields are also finding their way to the Extraordinary Leadership Seminar that she designed, based on Bowen family system theory. Dr. Gilbert s own leadership qualities, honed by her training and experience with Dr. Murray Bowen, as well as her years of experience in practice and with participants in the seminar, come through in the pages of this book. Her unusual ability to condense and clarify the concepts of Bowen theory shines forth in The Cornerstone Concept as it has in her other successful books.