Interview with Susan Trout
By Judy Jones
Susan, the publication of your second book, The Awakened Leader, coincides with the 25th Anniversary of IAS. At what point did you realize that your destiny lay in leading the Institute through its birth and evolution?
When I take a big picture view of my life, I see that my destiny clearly involves continuing my soul growth within a group setting. I believe we can psychologically and spiritually learn and grow at a faster more efficient pace when we become a member of a group that wants to do the same. I first saw the potential of growing within a group setting in the 60s and 70s in San Francisco, where I headed a university department and trained graduate clinicians in neuropsychology. Actually, when I moved to Washington, DC in 1980, I had no intention of remaining in the area. I saw my work at the attitudinal healing center as an interlude and in early 1986 made plans to enter a post-doctoral program at a southern university. Then, fate stepped in and re-directed my life. When Molly Whitehouse, the center’s director, died unexpectedly, the Board asked me to assume leadership. The moment the Board asked me to stay, I knew I was to do so. I recognized that their offer related to my personal destiny and to that of our organization. Now, twenty years later, I remain committed to joining with others that we may together evolve our philosophy and fulfill our destiny as a group.
When you wrote the first book, Born to Serve, did you plan on writing a trilogy?
My drive to write Born to Serve, a book about how service relates to the evolution of our soul, emerged out of my personal search to understand how one moves from viewing service as “doing something good” to “serving through God’s eyes.” Even though my life seemed to be about serving in the world, I was frustrated not to have some sort of roadmap that would help guide me in learning how to serve with pure intentions, that is, from a place of selfless service. While writing Born to Serve, I recognized that leadership is one of the major forms service can take in the world. One of the forms of service in my life has been leadership. I was as frustrated about not finding a roadmap for “leading through God’s eyes” as I was about not finding a roadmap for service. It was only when I was in the last months of writing Awakened Leader that I recognized I was writing a trilogy. Another step emerged, which was to take leadership to yet a deeper level, one that could be a template for the future. The third book is a roadmap for the next evolutionary step of leadership. This step is already emerging – it involves leading from the heart as well as the mind and from a synthesis of the masculine and feminine principles within our psyche. And, thankfully, leaders are already moving in this direction. I hope to interview them as representative models – leaders don’t all look the same nor lead the same on the outside. But, their inside is what matters in the context of the third book of the trilogy.
How do you see the books as fitting into the future evolution of IAS?
Only in hindsight did I see that my books helped direct the evolutionary stages of the Institute and keep us on purpose. The Institute’s evolution is a clear example of how the stages of service evolve. As an organization, we spent considerable time in the co-dependent world of the Wounded Healer Stage before we moved into doing our inner work of the Healing the Healer Stage. Only recently did we observe that we might have the potential to put our toe in the Selfless Action Stage. All of this is not easy for an organization or group of people to do. An organization such as the Institute is a co-created classroom for learning and growth. My books are evidence that, for now, I happen to be the scribe for our joint destiny. Others will follow.
What do you say to those who insist they are not leaders?
In the broadest sense, we are all leaders. We lead our own lives, deciding what we believe, where we live, what work we do, how we allocate our time, and so on. Leading a group is not the only way to express our leadership. Preparing our family for a vacation, arranging for the care of an elderly parent, seeing a problem and taking action to solve it are but a few examples of leadership.
In Born to Serve, you describe seven stages of soul development. Do you find that the majority of people attracted to IAS are in one or two particular stages?
Most service organizations are either in the activist stage, Missionary Attitude, or in the co-dependent stage, Wounded Healer. The majority of people who are drawn to IAS are ready to move out of the Wounded Healer stage. They are motivated to seriously begin their inner work and to discover their spiritual potential. Many of the active volunteers at the Institute are deep into the Healing the Healer Stage as they recognize personal boundary and shadow work is a priority if they want to serve the highest good of others. Those in this stage aspire to serve from a full vessel, that is, they want to learn how to balance care of self with care of others. To offer the best to those we serve, we need to be at our best.
You describe IAS as a holographic learning organization. Is there a simple way to explain what that means?
Holographic simply means that the totality of something can be seen from different perspectives. Therefore, in an organization such as ours, one can witness our philosophy and structure, regardless of what activity or program we engage in. For example, a different perspective of the Institute would be seen in the teenage program compared to a class on emotional healing or a facilitator training. There is a coherence in our philosophy, although the window through which one sees our philosophy would provide a slightly different perspective.
Sometimes I think that in order for someone to be a leader, there must be many more followers. Do you think that we are all leaders and followers to each other in the same way that we are all teachers and students to each other, or are there a few whose destiny it is to lead many?
I believe that eventually, in some lifetime or lifetimes, we are given the opportunity to learn how to lead. Because leadership is challenging and at times dangerous, we have to be ready to lead psychologically and spiritually. Leadership is a very difficult role to take on as so many competencies are needed. Discernment and intuition are essential. Any true leader recognizes that the “followers” make it possible for the leader to learn how to lead. In this way, the person learning how to lead is given a gift of opportunity for growth by the followers. Also true is that the goal of any true leader is to prepare and teach others to become leaders. When someone says to me they are not a leader, I say, “Okay, that’s fine, and the day will come when it will be time for you to learn. I hope I will be around to support you as you have supported me in learning this complex role!”
How has living on the third floor in this particular house impacted or affected your work and your writing?
When the Board invited me a couple of years ago to live in the apartment on the third floor, my stress level decreased dramatically. I receive considerable energetic support by being in a building that is so peaceful and uplifting. I can meditate, write, enjoy the garden, and bask in the sacred environment of the Institute any time of the day or night. I am much closer to living a personal and work life that is integrated and coherent.