Given that organizational complexity continues to increase, leaders are looking for credible information, and a process that helps them become a better leader. Emerging leaders are faced with trying to be the best leader they can be while leading teams of people who think and act differently from them. To assist emerging leaders with their leadership, this study explores the literature and looks to highly respected and admired leaders for how they became the leader they are today. The purpose of this study was fourfold: first, to identify and describe first and second tier integral theory leaders from a sample of leader respondents from a U.S. Midwestern city; second, to describe how first and second tier integral theory leaders define leadership; third, to determine what second tier integral leaders see as leading to their becoming the leader they are today; and fourth, to identify the integral leader’s perspectives and advice that can be shared with emerging leaders. This study focused on the convergent space of three theories. The first theory is the field of adult development theory with transformational leadership, the constructive-developmental theories, and meaning making; the second is the field of integral theory with Wilber’s all quadrants, all levels (AQAL) theory, and first and second tier consciousness; and the last is the hero’s journey as described by Joseph Campbell, and the quest for truth. The (AQAL) framework was used in a mixed methods perspective to explore how people assessed as integral leaders defined leadership, developed into integral leaders, and how they can contribute to the growth of emerging leaders. This study was dual-phased: Phase 1 was a quantitative and qualitative survey completed by 624 leaders, and Phase 2 was a telephone interview with eight integral leaders. From the thematic analysis of all the data, four themes emerged: looking inward, looking outward, being a good leader and paying it forward by mentoring others. Implications for emerging leaders, leadership and change, and future research are discussed. This ETD is available in open access in OhioLink ETD, http://ohiolink.edu/Center and AURA http://aura.antioch.edu
