Focusing on the Self View (Part 2) Side of the HVP

Clifford G. Hurst, PhD shares a commentary regarding board member and axiologist, Sophie Coulthard's, lecture for the 2022 46th Annual Robert S. Hartman Institute Conference. He shares insight into the value of using Rho Scores and shares wisdom from the Dalai Lama regarding focus on the external world.


During her presentation for the 2022 Hartman Conference, Sophie Coulthard made an engaging and persuasive argument that, when briefing clients on their HVP scores, we ought to pay close attention to the Part 2, or Self View, scores. Although many of the cognitive patterns related to performance in the workplace show up in Part 1, she admonishes consultants to recognize that a person’s ability to grow in Part 1 can be stymied if that person’s growth is not backed up with strong part 2 scores.

I agree with Sophie. She then went on to point out the value of using Rho Scores (Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation Coefficient) as a high-level measure of balance or imbalance between Part 1 and Part 2 scores. Rho scores are a measure that I also find to be important. In her presentation, Sophie then brilliantly described a sketch she uses to make this point. She calls it the wedding cake metaphor. It’s wonderfully simple. View her recorded presentation to learn about it.

In the weeks since her presentation aired, I have been thinking a lot about Sophie’s explanation of Part 2 scores. Serendipitously, shortly after I viewed Sophie’s presentation, I began to read a book by Joel Levey and Michelle Levey, entitled Living Balance: A Mindful Guide for Thriving in a Complex World. The Foreword to their book was written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The words by the Dalai Lama jumped off the page at me. He writes:

Today there is an overemphasis on the external world. Science has rapidly extended our understanding of external phenomena, and technological advances have contributed to improved health and physical comfort. Yet even in the most developed countries we do not find a corresponding increase in peace and happiness; if anything, there is even greater anxiety and stress. Fear stimulates the need for terrifyingly destructive weapons systems, while greed gives rise to damage and pollution of the environment, putting the very existence of humanity at risk.

These trends are symptomatic of the dangers of pursuing external progress alone. What is missing is a corresponding inner development. To redeem the balance, our new frontier should be inner worlds, and not outer space. If the mind is explored with the same stringent scrutiny applied in other branches of science, it will certainly be of immense benefit not only to individuals but to society as a whole (p. xi).

Those are powerful words. And they are congruent with what Sophie Coulthard advocates. To the best of my understanding, they also are congruent with what Hartman himself wrote and taught as he developed the theory of formal axiology. It is a perspective much needed in the world today.

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