ME06c: Strength Training = Practices

Developing the Cognitive Muscles of Leadership

If you’ve been following the Maya Essays, you’ll know that much of her journey has been about learning to live inside complexity. Not escaping it, not pretending it isn’t there, but slowly building the capacity to hold more of it — for herself, her team, and her organisation.

Up to now, we’ve told that story through her experiences, her thresholds, and her evolving sense of self-in-role-in-system. But there’s another way to see the same journey — one that’s less about narrative and more about training.

Because what Maya is doing is not just surviving. She’s building. Slowly, deliberately, she’s strengthening the parts of herself that leadership demands. In Leadership, Rewritten, we call this the Leadership Gym.

The Muscles of Leadership

In the gym, strength isn’t built by watching someone else train. It isn’t built by reading about technique. Strength is built under the bar — through reps, sweat, and the slow, steady overload that teaches your body to do what once felt impossible.

Leadership works the same way. You don’t become strong enough for complexity by attending a two-day seminar or by repeating a single inspiring mantra. You become strong by practicing — over and over, until the moves of leadership become as natural as lifting your own arm.

That’s why Leadership, Rewritten treats Practices as strength training. They are the daily reps, the deliberate moves that build the muscles leaders actually need.

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Quadrants as Muscle Groups

In the Praxis Q Leadership Gym, the four quadrants are like the major muscle groups of the body. Skip one, and you end up lopsided. Overtrain one, and you risk injury. The goal is balance — a whole leadership body, strong across every plane of movement.

• Core = Adaptive Growth
  Every athlete knows: without a strong core, everything else wobbles. Adaptive Growth is leadership’s stabiliser. It’s what allows you to bend without breaking, to hold your centre when systems shift. The reps here are reflection, feedback integration, narrative awareness. Small moves, but foundational.

• Chest & Shoulders = Relational Influence
  These are the muscles of presence and reach. Chest and shoulders give you the ability to push, to hold, to embrace. Relational Influence is leadership’s upper body — your visible strength. The reps here are in listening, negotiating, boundary-setting, building trust. They are what make you feel big enough for the role you carry.

• Back = Strategic Fluency
  The back is the body’s posterior chain: not as visible in the mirror, but it does most of the heavy lifting. Strategic Fluency is the leadership back — the ability to carry systemic weight, to frame complexity so others can move with you. The reps here are systems mapping, scenario planning, sensemaking. Strong backs carry organisations forward.

• Legs = Disciplined Delivery
  Everyone knows leg day. It’s not glamorous, but if you skip it, you collapse. Legs are what let you move power into action. Disciplined Delivery is leadership’s foundation: the capacity to execute, to hold commitments, to turn vision into real movement. The reps here are disciplined planning, reliable follow-through, and performance under pressure.

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Maya in the Gym

When Maya first stepped into leadership, she relied on charisma. Big speeches, lots of chest-and-shoulders energy. It worked — until it didn’t.

When strategy shifted, her core buckled. When crises hit, her back wasn’t strong enough to carry the load. When deadlines mounted, her legs weren’t trained to keep the team moving.

It was only when she began doing the reps — daily reflection for core, systems framing for back, disciplined routines for legs, and deliberate trust-building for chest and shoulders — that she felt her leadership body coming into balance.

What once felt like strain began to feel like movement.

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Strength Is Repetition, Not Inspiration

The problem with most leadership development is that it sells inspiration. But inspiration is a single lift — impressive, but fleeting. Strength is built in the boring, consistent reps leaders almost never celebrate.

Practices are those reps. They are the barbell, the dumbbells, the push-ups of leadership. Over time, they add up. They make you strong enough to carry complexity without snapping.

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Reflection Prompts

• Which of your leadership “muscles” is strongest? Which one do you avoid training?

• Where do you find yourself skipping “leg day” — neglecting the unglamorous but essential reps?

• What’s one daily practice that could be your “core workout” — small, repeatable, and stabilising?

• How might you train for balance, not just bulk?

Takeaway: Strength in leadership doesn’t come from charisma or insight. It comes from balanced training across your whole leadership body — core, chest, back, and legs — until the moves become muscle memory.

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Mini-Diagnostic: Your Leadership Muscle Strength

Think of your leadership body. Which muscles are strong, and which need more training? Rate yourself on each “muscle group” below, from 1 (underdeveloped/weak) to 5 (strong/reliable).

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Core = Adaptive Growth

The stabiliser. Reflection, self-awareness, ability to learn and reset.

• I actively reflect on my leadership experiences.

• I can stay grounded when things shift suddenly.

• I treat feedback as training, not as threat.
  Score: 1–5

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Chest & Shoulders = Relational Influence

The visible presence. Trust, reach, ability to hold or push in relationships.

• I can set boundaries without alienating people.

• I listen deeply and shift my stance when needed.

• Others feel my presence adds weight in difficult moments.
  Score: 1–5

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Back = Strategic Fluency

The heavy lifter. Carrying systemic weight, framing meaning and coherence.

• I can make sense of complexity for others.

• I connect immediate challenges to longer-term strategy.

• I spot patterns that others miss.
  Score: 1–5

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Legs = Disciplined Delivery

The foundation. Execution, reliability, turning vision into movement.

• I follow through on commitments consistently.

• I help teams translate vision into concrete action.

• When pressure is high, I still deliver.
  Score: 1–5

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Your Strength Profile

• Mostly 4–5s → You have a balanced leadership body. Keep training across all groups.

• High in some, low in others → You’re strong but lopsided. What muscle are you neglecting?

• Mostly 1–2s → You’re early in your training. Start with small reps in one area and build momentum.

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Reflection Prompt

What’s your next “workout”?

• Core workout: 5 minutes of reflection after a meeting.

• Chest & Shoulders workout: Ask a colleague what you’re missing.

• Back workout: Frame the bigger picture in your next presentation.

• Leg workout: Deliver one small promise on time, no matter what.

👉 Remember: Leadership muscle is built in reps, not in a single lift.

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Conclusion

Strength, of course, is just the beginning. Muscles matter, but without stamina, they burn out. Without flexibility, they snap. Without integration, they pull in different directions.

That’s why the Leadership Gym has four dimensions.

• Strength = Practices (Muscles) — the daily reps that build reliable capacity.

• Endurance = Thresholds (Lungs & Heart) — the stamina to last inside difficulty.

• Flexibility = Rituals (Joints & Connective Tissue) — the range and recovery that keep leaders supple.

• Whole-Body = Estates (Nervous System & Coordination) — the integration that makes movement possible.

Over the next three Maya chapters, we’ll explore each of these dimensions in turn: endurance, agility, and whole-body balance. Together, they’ll show that leadership isn’t a seminar or a speech — it’s training for complexity.