Lead with 5H©

95% of our clients cite 5H© as the real secret of our success
Neuroscience Led Formula:

CorporateDNA’s proprietary 5H© Methodology is the neuroscience-led formula behind our proven results and global success. Over 10 years and across 26 countries, we have used the 5H© in all our programs, be it culture transformations, leadership development, building high performing teams, or executive coaching.

There are 5 clear lenses through which we approach developing the whole self in leadership – the Head, Heart, Hunch, Hands, and Habits – in other words, thinking, relating, sensing, doing, and applying.

The Head, Heart, and Hunch live in the Inner Game – the internal processes drive us to lead with purpose. The Hands and Habits exist in the Outer Game – the ways we translate our intent into action.

5H© was born from the core belief that to influence and succeed in a complex, matrixed, and fast-moving world, we need “whole leadership.” Traditional executive programs often develop skills that produce “partial leaders,” and can only be sustained in the short term. Our purpose is to go beyond and develop “whole leaders,” where all the learner’s faculties are engaged and integrated.

Unlike many learning experiences, which focus on imparting knowledge and expert best practices, DNA programs challenge participants to fully own their learning by making it real. They share real hopes and fears, practice new skills in front of peers, get immediate feedback and coaching from DNA coaches. Participants make courageous commitments to take 100% responsibility and are asked to show up with greater purpose and authentically.
Amy Yang, CEO
Levi Straus & Co., China

©2021- 5H is the sole copyright and IP of CorporateDNA Consulting. All rights reserved.

As part of developing the ‘Head’ faculty, we train a growth mindset in the client instilled through new beliefs, mindsets, thoughts, ideas and solutions.

We stretch and expand the rational mind to think beyond fixed boundaries of the known and the safe. We combine this with tried and tested methods of overcoming limiting beliefs and cognitive biases to release the best ideas and solutions. We help leaders unlearn their reliance on pure cognitive logic for decision making.

In our model, we expand the Heart to develop authenticity, trust, emotional resonance and connections, and psychological safety. Heart is also the seat of courage. The word courage comes from the French meaning, to give heart. Without courage, our leadership is latent, unseen and nothing more than unrealized potential. Leadership without courage is not leadership at all.

It is courage that puts leadership into play. Its presence in our lives empowers us as leaders; through bold visions, confronting big problems, staying the course when things get hard, challenging the status quo, Getting out of your own comfort zone, Making unpopular decisions, breaking with tradition, and telling the whole truth. The use and mastery of emotions build high engagement cultures, psychologically safe yet bold environments, where performance and passion release meaning. There is no other time in the world where we need the Heart in leadership more.

The Hunch is all about sensing and sense making. The pandemic has established the power of intuition like never before. We live in uncertain times where we are torn with polarities and paradoxes between right and wrong, long term and short term, results versus relationships. We are constantly anticipating what might be right or best. In needing to control our world, we don’t need fear to protect us – because we have a very powerful gift – the gift of hunch or intuition, that is potent, trustworthy, and impeccably attuned to our true path. All we need to do is learn to tune in to our intuition, release resistance, recognize the signs, and be brave to act on them

For Hands, the try-apply-try approach looks at the lessons that we learn after leaping into action through trial and error. Experiential learning is the bridge that connects theory into practice, and awareness into implementation. We bring a strong sense of shared accountability and commitment with the client to live their new leadership identity through tangible actions, choices and decisions.

No matter how our Head, Hunch, Heart, and Hands are, without Habits, they cannot embed and sustain.

Habits are our repetitive rituals, practices and self-sustaining commitments that embed long term success. When leaders are able to adopt new habits, it allows us to automate daily mental and behavioural activities at a subconscious level so we can free up energy to focus and perform.

The 5H© are highly interconnected and don’t live in separate compartments. Through the 5H©, we are able to illuminate different aspects in a single leadership ingredient:

Courage, a core leadership ingredient, cannot have a simple definition unless nuanced through the 5H©: for example, as a leader I may be better at “thinking brave,” which refers to Head-based courage, while you may excel at “acting brave,” which refers to Hands-based courage and taking decisive action. CorporateDNA believes we need different elements of coaching, to make the learning personal, relevant, and lasting.

The 5H© methodology  is an integrated ecosystem created with simplicity in mind. One cannot exist without the other. To be a better “thinker”, you must also be more aware as a “feeler”. To be a “do-er”, you must also be in tune as a “sensor”. These 5H© live in a symbiotic, interdependent loop that leads to whole leadership transformation. However, this transformation can only happen when the Hs connect. Clients love the 5H© methodology because it’s simple and practical, but nuanced and deep at the same time.

Through 5H©, translating intent into action is done by encouraging the learner to:
In our delivery, we bring the confidence of digitally sustainable tools, experiential learning, insightful coaching, accountability frameworks, multi-loop problem-solving, and feedback cycles in all of our programs to truly engage learners in their transformation.
Levi’s Greater China LT has shared such a special part of the journey with the DNA team… I am very impressed by your use of the 5H© and the progress you have led us to make. From a broken start, the turnaround has been beyond my expectations. While there is still a long way to go, it would have been impossible to get to where we are now without you! The new team is probably still a bud, but full of vitality and will surely grow very fast.
Amy Yang, Managing Director
Levi’s China
During Covid-19, GlaxoSmithKline adapted the 5H© framework to measure the progress of its high potentials within Emerging Markets
Rhea Leckie, Founder