Six faces
Choices, Principles, Mental, Emotional, Physical, and Spiritual—each a developable domain of leadership practice.
The Super-Cube® Leadership Model
A multidimensional framework for developable leadership.
Six human-centric constructs form the faces of a cube. The individual—you—stands at the centre. Leadership capacity radiates outward from personal practice to organisational and network impact.
Choices
- Decision-making intelligence
- Moral values
- Judgement
- Risk-taking
Principles
- Ethical foundations
- Contextual awareness
- Situational judgement
- Governance
Mental
- Cognitive intelligence
- Strategic thinking
- Problem-solving
- Vision
- Knowledge application
Spiritual
- Purpose
- Meaning
- Faith
- Transcendence
- Spiritual intelligence
Emotional
- Emotional intelligence
- Empathy
- Social relationships
- Motivation
- Inspiration
Physical
- Physical health
- Energy management
- Fitness
- Nutrition
- Bodily resilience
Drag to rotateDrag to rotate · Shift+drag for spin · Choices top · Principles bottom
Definition & purpose
Built for complex environments—starting with the person.
The Super-Cube® Leadership Model is a multidimensional, human-centric leadership skills development framework. Its purpose is to build leadership capacity at individual, organisational, and network levels—enabling leaders to navigate distinctive business environments marked by growth, talent abundance alongside skills shortages, and institutional complexity.
Developed in 2020 by Craig Ross Muller as the core output of his Doctor of Business Administration thesis at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the model was empirically shaped within an African FMCG business-network and is among the first frameworks of its kind validated in that context.
Cubic structure
Geometry that teaches balance.
The cube is not decoration—it is a teaching tool. Six faces, one centre, continuous interdependence. Leadership begins with you, then expands through the people and systems you touch.
You at the centre
Personal agency is non-negotiable. Meaningful capacity cannot emerge without deliberate investment in the individual first.
Outward radiation
Growth begins personally, then extends to family, friends, colleagues, community, and wider society—and, in organisations, from one person to industry scale.
ChoicesPrinciplesMentalEmotionalPhysicalSpiritual
Expanding leadership circles
From you at the centre, outward.
The geometry of Super-Cube® is personal first: you develop the six faces. That capacity does not stay private—it radiates into the circles of life where leadership is actually lived.
1You
2Family
3Friends
4Colleagues
5Society
How leadership radiates
- 1
You
Centre
You stand at the centre of the cube. Personal leadership—agency, character, and deliberate practice—is the non-negotiable starting point.
- 2
Family
Closest circle
Leadership first shows up at home: trust, care, boundaries, and example. Those who know you best feel your six faces daily.
- 3
Friends
Chosen bonds
Peers and friends are where influence, loyalty, and courage are practised—without a job title. Your leadership circle expands through relationship.
- 4
Colleagues
Work & teams
Teams, organisations, and professional networks: decisions, principles, energy, and purpose scale into shared performance.
- 5
Society
Wider world
Community, industry, and the common good. Leadership that began with you becomes culture—networks, institutions, and impact beyond the self.
Philosophy
I–Thou: people as whole beings.
Super-Cube® is philosophically grounded in Martin Buber’s I–Thou philosophy, which emphasises mutual respect and encounters between equals who recognise each other’s psychological, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual attributes.
Leadership is framed as a process that values people as multidimensional “Thous” rather than objects—capable of leading and following in different contexts. This human-centric stance underpins every construct and every level of application.
Learning theory
How development actually happens.
Content
Knowledge, skills, understanding, values, and feelings—primarily cognitive foundations for each construct.
Incentive
Intrinsic motivation, interest, and emotional engagement that make growth stick.
Interaction
Social engagement across situational, institutional, and broader contextual layers—where practice becomes real.
Guided by Knud Illeris’s three-dimensional learning theory.
Theoretical foundations
Integrated leadership theories.
Super-Cube® synthesises established traditions into one multidimensional foundation suited to dynamic business networks.
Trait theory
Attributes that contribute to effective leadership
Relational theory
Leader–follower dynamics and mutual influence
Charismatic theory
Inspirational and visionary qualities
Evolutionary theory
Leadership as adaptive to environmental change
Entrepreneurial leadership
Innovation, opportunity, and calculated risk
Progressive application
Five levels of leadership capacity building.
The same six constructs scale—from a personal development plan to sector-wide programmes.
01
Individual
Personal development plans
Leaders engage in structured self-improvement with pre- and post-assessments across all six constructs. Deliberate practice begins with you at the centre of the cube.
02
Single Business
Leadership pipelines
Systematic talent development within one organisation—building consistent leadership capacity through construct-aligned interventions.
03
Business Group
Coordinated organisational scale
Coordinated leadership enhancement across a multi-entity group, aligning language, standards, and development pathways.
04
Supply Network
Alliance & value-chain capacity
Leadership development across interconnected entities—strengthening network-wide capacity and interdependencies in the value chain.
05
Industry
Sector-wide impact
A framework for broader adoption—addressing growth, skills gaps, and institutional complexity at industry scale.
Next step
Build leadership capacity from the centre outward.
Whether you are designing a personal development plan or a multi-level organisational programme, Super-Cube® provides a human-centric, evidence-informed path.