Developing a Philosophy of Leadership paper:

A leadership philosophy is the way we see ourselves as leaders. Your personal philosophy guides your decisions, actions, behaviors, and ways of thinking. Your current leadership philosophy (and you do have one even before you entered this major) is influenced by external and internal forces. We can change who

we are as leaders by simply changing our philosophy of leadership - but change takes effort; and to shift your perspectives in a meaningful way, you must first become aware of your authentic self. Leadership philosophies can and must continuously change as you grow to understand yourself within the context of leading.

This activity will help you begin to uncover your leadership philosophy, but you will never be 100% in control of your philosophy unless you seek feedback from those individuals within your sphere of influence. Discovering or finding your leadership philosophy means that you must explore and reflect upon your personal values, assumptions, attitudes, and beliefs about how to be an effective leader.

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

ones leadership is an excellent way to uncover assumptions.

Attitudes are the tendencies or orientations of your mind that reflect how you feel, react, or are pre-

disposed in regard to a person, a situation, or a thing. Leaders bring their attitudes into every work or

personal context that involves evaluating an individual or a situation. Effective leaders are keenly aware

of their attitudes and the impact these may have on everyone around them.

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 doesnt cross our minds that our beliefs may be prohibiting us.

Leadership Styles (studied a bit in this course, but much more deeply in OLS 25200, OLS 27400, and OLS 39000 classes in this major) are specific sets of beliefs that manifest themselves in the observable behaviors you exhibit when working with people, groups, or the tasks and activities required to achieve organizational success.

Your leadership philosophy should be a broad summary of everything you learned about yourself through this course and other self-assessment effort

You can use your outside leadership book that you will read for our in-class Leadership Book Club this semester as your 2nd resource.

Leadership Philosophy Paper Guidelines & Requirements

Purpose of paper:

To allow you the opportunity to,

Demonstrate your written communications skills by creating a concise formal and professionally written paper;

Demonstrate your ability and willingness to follow written instructions that require specific attention to detail and organizational guidelines (APA format);

Demonstrate the ability to reflect objectively on your personal beliefs and philosophy of what characteristics, knowledge, and skills are critical to be an effective organizational leader.

This paper describes the values, beliefs, and other core assumptions that contribute to my personal leadership styles and philosophy (Northouse, 2021).