Each month, this column looks at leadership challenges involving one or more of four levels:

• (I) personal (me)
• (I:I) interpersonal (me and you)
• (I:X) managerial (my group or department or family)
• (I:X²) organizational (all groups or all departments or extended family)

Peter Vedro, noted "human systems architect" brings together his insights drawn from the fields of education, psychology, theater and business to help you better understand yourself, and others.

A few guiding principles

1. Like all "living" systems, these levels are holistic and integrated; change at one affects all—upward and downward, internally and externally.
2. If we want to make change, the best (the only) place to start is at the "me, myself, and I" level.
3. Although we can strive to influence others, we are left with the reality that we can only "change" ourselves.

Making a better you. Sometimes, amid all this new and fascinating technology, it's easy to lose sight of what's really important— people. Sometimes, before you can make a better web site, you need to make a better "you."

Finding North ­ Peter Vedro has created a group exercise that helps everyone realize that "everybody's 'north' is different." It's a fun, interesting, informative, and truly useful exercise that I experienced with a group he lead, and asked him to share with you. Try it, you'll like it.

Paying attention to mother (nature) - Anyone who has ever worked with a group of people has come to realize that organizations are not unlike the human body. We hope there's a "brain" in the group, but we know it's inevitable there will be an... no, I won't say it, but you know what I mean. Yet sometimes organizations can be so dysfunctional that the right hand doesn't know what the left hand doing, (and what's more, sometimes we don't want to know :) Peter Vedro explains how we can use the human body as a model as a prescription for effectiveness. As Mother Nature demonstrates, "interdependence" is the only answer!

What are "Human Dynamics" anyway? No matter how much technology we have, we all still have to work with other people. Depending on how you look at it, that's either good or bad or both. And sometimes, as annoying as technology can be, it can still be easier than working with other people!

In his latest "Leadership Lessons," Peter Vedro explains how "human systems architecture" can help us communicate more effectively by understanding the personality type of the people we are working with (including ourselves).