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Developing a Philosophy of Leadership A leadership philosophy is the way we see ourselves as leaders. This philosophy guides our actions, our behaviors, and our thoughts. Our philosophies are influenced by external and internal forces. We can change who we are as leaders by simply changing our philosophy of leadership. Leadership philosophies can change as you grow to understand yourself within the context of leading. Creating or finding your leadership philosophy means that you must explore and reflect upon your personal values, assumptions, and beliefs about leadership. Personal values are qualities or characteristics that you value. You would rather leave an organization or step down as a leader than violate your values. Your values guide your intentions and they influence how you lead. When your personal values are clear and you are conscious of them, you create a solid foundation for leading. Assumptions are ideas that are assumed or believed to be true. As a leader it is important to understand what assumptions fuel your leadership thinking. Often leaders are not aware of the assumptions because they are operating from certain paradigms that will not allow them to see assumptions. Reflection into one’s leadership is an excellent way to uncover assumptions. Beliefs are ideas that we hold to be true; they shape our realities. If a leader believes that the only individuals in an organization that can make decisions is the management staff, then that belief will influence how the leader treats others. Beliefs can also be unconscious; they are for us a habitual way of thinking and acting that it doesn’t cross our minds that our beliefs may be prohibiting us. The following is an exercise to help you create, find, or define your personal philosophy of leadership. Exercise 1: Identifying Your Leadership Values From the list below, pick five core values that you feel describe and guide who you are as a leader. You may choose other values that are not on this list. Place them in the following chart and answer the questions in the matrix. Achievement Balance Creativity Integrity Activity Challenge Diverse perspectives Justice Advancement Change Duty Love Adventure Collaboration Economic security Loyalty Affiliation Community Friendship Personal Development Affluence Competency Health Recognition Authority Competition Humor Self-respect Autonomy Courage Harmony Wisdom Other values that you would like to include but are not on the list? © Copyright 2006 – Leadership Paradigms, Inc. – www.leadershipparadigms.com 1 Identifying Your Leadership Values VALUES Personal Definition of Values How do you envision these List your values here List here your definition of these values playing out in your values here leadership? 1. Creativity The use of the imagination or I frequently use creativity in my original ideas in the production of leadership roles as the Virginia a graphic or artistic work that Tech Student Government represents the individuals’ ideas Association (SGA) Hokie Effect or beliefs Director, Virginia Tech Alumni Association graphic designer, and Landscape Architecture student. Whether the creativity come through physical design or an innovative way of how to get my team(s) motivation to click. 2. Community Leading the feeling of friendship Since I have many leadership with others, as a result of sharing roles on campus, bringing the common attitudes, interests, and common theme of the university goals to each of my positions is essential. I do this by living the spirit of the eight pylons (Virginia Tech’s core values) at War Memorial Chapel - Brotherhood, Honor, Leadership, Sacrifice, Service, Loyalty, Duty, and Ut Prosim. 3. Humor The attribute of being funny, Anyone I work with will express entertaining or comic, especially how I have a large comedic side as expressed in literature or to my personality – and I use this speech to keep interest in tasks/goals within my teams on a daily basis here at Virginia Tech. Personally, I believe humor brings happiness to people, and productivity works on high levels when members of your team are at their happiest. 4. Personal Development Activities that improve awareness As a fifth year student here at and identity, develop talents and Virginia Tech, I feel as if I have a potential, build human capital and completely different personality facilitate employability, enhance as I did freshman year. Virginia the quality of life and contribute Tech made me go outside my to the realization of aspirations comfort zone using my skills, and overall improving self- talents, and dreams to go above awareness and beyond in the groups and organizations that I was fortunate enough to become a part of. Much of what I am involved with requires interviews and tasks that goes beyond what I was comfortable doing just four years ago. Because I was pushed, I am now an outgoing individual who is eager for new challenges on a daily basis. © Copyright 2006 – Leadership Paradigms, Inc. – www.leadershipparadigms.com 2 5. Adventure Engage in exciting and potential When you’ve spent five years at a dangerous activity, especially the university, going outside of your exploration of unknown territory comfort zone to discover new or fields of study/work possibilities and even fail is essential to becoming a stronger person. Exercise 2: Uncovering Your Leadership Assumptions Answer the following questions about leadership. By reflecting on these questions, you will find what assumptions are driving your leadership thinking. 1. Write down two stories of leadership. One story should describe a positive experience you’ve had with leadership and the second story should describe a time when you had a negative experience with leadership. Positive: Passionate about Hokie Effect I have peer leadership position of being the Hokie Effect Senior Director for the Virginia Tech Student Government Association. As the main fundraiser support for the Virginia Tech Student Government Association, I have the role of creating the t-shirt slogans and designs, working with the t-shirt manufacturer and Virginia Tech University Bookstores, and selling over 40,000 t-shirts annually for the Virginia Tech Football and Basketball programs working closely with the VT Athletic Department. I manage Hokie Effect social media pages and designs graphics for promotional purposes working with 3 other assistants. As a leader I have seen many successful ‘Effect’ football and basketball games that have been highlighted on ESPN and ABC television as the crowd, team uniforms, and field paint all match – showing my dedication to the program and the hard work that goes into pulling it off. Negative: Too committed/busy Often, as a leader in multiple organizations on campus, I am very busy which allows me not to commit as much time to a lot of activities as I should. To be considered a role model, I need to realize that relationships take time to build and grow to their potential. I just assume sometimes that new students into organizations catch on a lot faster than they actually do. I need to take the time to get to know the people that I am supposed to be a leader and role model to, and thrive off of the opportunity. I need to talk to them to find their strengths that can be brought to the team and their weaknesses that I can find a way to make up somehow. By learning new things that are important to my team's individuals, I can find out what their priorities are and how much they are going to contribute to the overall group goal. 2. In the space below, write down your definition of leadership. Leadership is about changing and motivating those that the leader is in charge of and/or guiding. Leadership skills are developed through action and practice over a certain period of time when aiming to reach and achieve a goal. Being open-minded through focus, confidence, passion, and patience while also being held accountable for the determination of the group is the key to short and long-term success. © Copyright 2006 – Leadership Paradigms, Inc. – www.leadershipparadigms.com 3 3. Using your definition of leadership, please elaborate how you first came to understand (or know) your leadership definition. Leadership comes through promoting and engaging in change. Creating change through student organizations and academics. I first discovered leadership during my time on the Class of 2016 Leadership Team as ring design member-at-large. My values are from my wide range of ring design experience include honesty, hard work, and discipline to get everything done in time and to perform my best. Having to step up as the one to take charge of the design and assign tasks held everyone accountable through determination was the key to short and long-term success to reaching our goals for Ring Premiere held for 3,000 members of the Class of 2016 in Burruss Hall with our friends and family. 4. Describe who are the individuals or organizations that influence your leadership definition. Joe Edens, our Virginia Tech SGA Advisor, influences my leadership in Hokie Effect and Laura Wedin, the Virginia Tech Alumni Association Student Programs Director, influenced my leadership in Ring Design. Joe influences my leadership because he treats his students more of a friend, so I feel really comfortable making my own decisions. Laura influences my leadership because she has 30 years of experience in the Ring Program, so I often asked her questions of what or how to do something to complete my tasks. For each of the questions in this section, ask yourself: 1. What were my assumptions? 2. What influenced my assumptions? 3. Would others (co-workers, friends, supervisors) see the situations I described differently? Exercise 3: Understanding Your Leadership Beliefs Answer the following questions about leadership beliefs. By reflecting on these questions, you will find what beliefs you hold about leadership. 1. Can people who have caused others harm be leaders, e.g. Adolph Hitler? Unfortunately, yes, people can still be leaders who cause harm to others. They were able to cause harm because they became a leader through power. Good leadership? No. Leadership? Yes. Adolph Hitler was able to impact the entire world as a leader, and had millions of followers and was able to have millions killed because of his rise to leadership powers based upon his actions and beliefs. 2. Should leaders have certain qualities to be able to lead? I believe that each individual has the opinion of what makes a leader able to lead. However, I believe that leaders must be open-minded through focus, confidence, passion, and patience while also being held accountable for the determination. 3. Who decides who leads? © Copyright 2006 – Leadership Paradigms, Inc. – www.leadershipparadigms.com 4
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