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                     The Pennsylvania State University 
                        The Graduate School 
                        College of Medicine 
                              
                        Leadership Philosophy 
                  Final Integrative Public Health Leadership 
                              
                            By          
                              
                              
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
                      Hosam A Farag, MD, MSPH 
                      Penn State College of Medicine 
                   Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) Program 
                              
                              
                              
                              
                      Besty B. Aumiller, MEd, DEd 
               Assistant Professor, Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) Program 
                  Integrative Public Health Leadership (PHS 575) 
        
        
        
           PHILOSOPHY OF LEADERSHIP                                           2 
                                              
           Introduction 
                A leadership philosophy is a set of beliefs and principles that guides how we react to 
           people and situations. It is essential to have and understand our leadership. “If you are a leader, 
           you must have an ideology of leadership. Suppose you lack ideology and attempt to decide 
           everything on a case-by-case basis. In that case, you will never be capable of strong 
           leadership.” quoted Konosuke Matsushita (1987), the founder of Panasonic in Japan and a 
           great speaker on leadership and management. A solid leadership philosophy separates the real 
           leaders from the rest, makes our work environment less stressful and more productive, and 
           keeps us aligned with our core beliefs and values. 
            
           Leadership Philosophy inclusions and values 
                     Leadership occurs within the context of core values that guide our reactions and influence 
           how we lead. By identifying and living our core values, we lay the foundation for a grounded and 
           confident leadership approach. Successful leaders live by an open set of values consistent in 
           managing and dealing with people and situations. Nothing builds trust more than a leader who 
           lives by their values.  Not everyone may agree with your beliefs or how you put them into 
           practice, but you will garner trust and respect by leading via a consistent and core set of rules 
           and values. My leadership’s five core values are authenticity, adaptation, strategy, service, and 
           collaboration.  
            
           Authenticity  
                           Authentic leadership emerged in 2008 and is composed of four main components; 
           self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and relational 
           transparency, which are critical building blocks to establishing the leadership philosophy. 
           (Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wensing, & Peterson, 2008). Self-awareness is to understand 
            
           PHILOSOPHY OF LEADERSHIP                                           3 
           one’s own goals, motivations, strengths, weaknesses, emotions, and values through self-
           reflection. I appreciate the self-reflection exercises that I had through my leadership course. I 
           was able to dive inside myself and have a deep reflection on who am I? What kind of values do I 
           have? It was a great experience to share my self-reflections with an expert who gave me the 
           right advice and reflection. 
            
                            An internalized moral perspective is a self-regulatory process used by individuals to 
           guide decisions using their internal values and morals (Northouse, 2016; Walumbwa et al., 
           2008). A strong internalized moral perspective is likelier to make decisions easy to take and 
           align leaders' values. Relational transparency is defined as presenting yourself openly and 
           truthfully to others. Kernis (2003) found that relational transparency is a critical component of 
           authenticity as it requires one to be accurate, both good and bad, in front of others with whom 
           they are in close relationships. 
            
                      “Walk as you talk” and following the best practices by doing the right things in the right 
           way will leverage performance and positive results and create a trusting relationship. On the 
           other hand, leaders who don’t practice what they say break the trust relationship and cause a 
           loss of enthusiasm and goodwill among the staff. 
            
           Adaptation 
                A leader needs to adapt by self-correction and personal development. It is also 
           necessary to encourage others to adapt and thrive in a challenging environment by adopting 
           “Adaptive leadership” ( Jaynell Atmosfera, 2016). Adaptive leaders engage in activities that 
           mobilize, motivate, organize, orient, and focus the attention of others (Heifetz, 1994). So, it is 
           follower centered (Heifetz, 1994; Heifetz et al., 2009). This type of characteristic allows others to 
           explore and change their values. 
            
           PHILOSOPHY OF LEADERSHIP                                           4 
            
                     I want to share my favorite story for adaptive leadership, which still significantly impacts 
           my daily interactions. As an adjunct biology professor at Harrisburg Area Community College, I 
           always spend the first lecture talking about goals, inspiring my students, letting them recognize 
           themselves, and building trust and friendly relationships between them and me. After each 
           exam, I send an email to anyone who gets less than 65% or has a dramatic change in the 
           grade. The purpose is to reach out to my students to find the starfish that needs my extra care. 
           One day, I emailed a student whose grade was 48 %. As usual, I met my student and was 
           passionate; how may I make a difference in my student’s life? I welcomed her with a pleasant 
           smile and a friendly dialogue. I told her that I was here to help and support her. I discussed her 
           exam performance and asked, “Do you think my teaching style is different than your learning 
           style?” because it is manageable if this is the case. She suddenly cried and said, “professor, I 
           am stupid.  This is my performance since elementary school”. I tried to calm her down and 
           assure her.  
                      “Listen, dear; I believe you need to rethink again. Everyone has power, but you must 
           discover yourself and find your keys. People have different learning and comprehension style. 
           One may get the material first, but they don’t care how and why. It is a quick but superficial 
           process,” quoted by Hosam Farag (2017).               
            
                      “Another one may need to raise multiple questions to connect the dots and see the whole 
           picture. It is a slow process but deep thinking. Each type has its advantages, but both are good. 
           For example, if you have a slow and deep process, you must ask multiple questions in the 
           class. You may also need one-to-one tutoring.  Once they get the concept, this type of people 
           will have a deep understanding and be able to create and innovate. Let’s try to have a plan and 
           work together until the end of the semester. Let’s have 30 min one-to-one tutoring after every 
           class,” Said Hosam Farag (2017). The student agreed. I let her ask as many questions as