At Arc Integrated, we believe that strategic thinking is not just a leadership skill, it’s a leadership capacity, one that evolves as we grow in awareness, responsibility, and scope. That’s why we’re thrilled to spotlight a recent feature on one of our own: Terry Poling, Partner at Arc Integrated and long-time expert in executive development. In his recent USA Today article, Terry shares a powerful model for understanding how strategic thinking develops across four distinct levels of leadership awareness.
If you’ve ever felt stuck solving the same problems or unsure of how to lead beyond the day-to-day, this model is for you. It helps leaders understand not just what to do next but how to expand their thinking in ways that create long-term, meaningful impact.
A Leader’s Journey Through Four Levels of Awareness
Linear Awareness
Terry’s framework outlines a natural progression leaders tend to follow as they develop greater strategic maturity. At the base is what he calls Linear Awareness, where leaders focus primarily on solving immediate problems using data and logic. This level works well for operational efficiency – it’s where many early managers and high-performing individuals start. But when challenges grow more complex, this lens can become too narrow.
Breakthrough Awareness
That’s when leaders shift into Breakthrough Awareness. Here, they begin to welcome ambiguity, think more adaptively, and explore multiple perspectives. This level is about loosening the grip on “what’s always worked” and opening up to new, creative ways of solving systemic issues. Leaders in this phase often find themselves asking deeper questions and feeling more comfortable sitting in the unknown.
Relational Awareness
Next comes Relational Awareness – a significant leap that brings attention to how people, systems, and culture all interact. This is where leadership becomes less about individual performance and more about how we influence and empower those around us. Leaders here are attuned not just to what’s happening within the organization, but how their own presence, behaviors, and mindset affect everyone around them.
Holistic Awareness
Finally, at the top of the model is Holistic Awareness. This is strategic leadership in its fullest form, when leaders can zoom out to see the entire organizational ecosystem and anticipate future implications. It’s about leading with foresight, values alignment, and systems thinking. Leaders operating at this level are not only solving problems, they’re designing futures.
From Theory to Application
What makes Terry’s model so valuable is its real-world utility. This isn’t a personality framework or abstract philosophy, it’s a roadmap. Leaders can reflect on which level they’re currently operating from and begin to stretch into the next. If you’re constantly reacting to daily fires, for example, the next move might be to pause and ask what larger patterns are driving those challenges. If you’re already thinking systemically, the opportunity could be to coach others into that same level of awareness.
At Arc Integrated, we’ve been using this model with clients in leadership coaching, off-site facilitation, and team development initiatives. It’s helped leaders get out of “problem-solver” mode and into “impact designer” thinking. Leading not just for today, but for what’s coming next.
A Strategic Leadership Model Backed by Real-World Experience
Terry brings more than three decades of experience to this work, having led transformational initiatives across industries and continents. What makes his approach so powerful is its foundation in both systems thinking and conscious awareness. He doesn’t just ask, “What’s the strategy?” he asks, “Who must I become to lead this strategy well?” That’s what elevates this model from helpful to transformative.
How to Advance Your Leadership with Strategic Awareness
If you’re curious where you fall in these four levels, we invite you to start exploring. One great place to begin is with our free Leadership Style Quiz, which will help you identify how your leadership tendencies are shaping your team’s productivity, performance, and culture.
And if you’re ready to go deeper into your own awareness and growth as a leader, schedule a call with us. We’d love to help you identify where you are in this journey and what it looks like to move forward intentionally and strategically.
Be well,
Michael
