LEAD.301.C1 Personal Leadership

Please don't generalize the answer ;(

Week 2 Discussion Forum

This week, our discussion forum will focus on purpose mastery. Leaders who have mastered this are clear about what is important to them, their values, and their purpose. You will find below the pre-work exercise this forum, which provides directions for identifying your values. Be sure to download that and do the exercise as pre-work for this forum. Also, be sure to watch my screencast on how to discern your purpose.

Also, in our course reserves, I have posted a short segment from the Anderson and Adams book I have mentioned, Mastering Leadership. I strongly encourage you to read it... It is only four pages. I also will post a short screencast.

Part 1: Your Values

In your initial post, share your individual values, definitions, and rank. Discuss to what extent you are living your values and challenges you have had living your values. You don't have to bare your soul; give us a flavor of some of your common struggles. It is hard to always live our values. If applicable, provide each other specific feedback on how you have seen each other's values show up in your interactions either in class or at work.

Here is an example of a person's values and how they came to be important to them. I encourage you to share your values in the form of a story. It is a very powerful way to communicate with others, and they are much more likely to remember what is important to you and why.

One of my long-time values is treating people with respect. I remember learning this from my father when I was very young. My father was a building contractor and had some people in our house doing some work. I noticed that he was being extremely nice to them, offering them food, coffee, etc. I was surprised because in my mind at the time... they were workers, and I wondered why he was being so nice. When they left, I asked him. I will never forget what he said... "By treating people well, they went out of their way to doooo aaaa really good job for me. It is important to treat people who work for you well." I never forgot that; it became an important value for me in my professional/leadership life. My value is treating people who work for me with respect and kindness. I have translated that into a leadership principle: To createee aaaa workplace environment that supports respect for others, I will treat others the way I want.

Part 2: Your Purpose

Share your thoughts on that and what you think your purpose is... if you are not clear, say that. How I articulate my purpose changes over time, so go with where you are now. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Here are some videos to spur your thinking.

Watch this video featuring Jim Kouzes.

https://youtu.be/VqAC44Vo9R8

This video by Brian Tracey is also good:

https://youtu.be/cjsbsnF_UUQ

Also, watch this video... this should provide food for thought!

https://youtu.be/MlLWTeApqIM

THE PRE-WORK EXERCISE

Personal Crucible, Leadership Values, Principles, Purpose and Self-Discovery

This assignment has several parts. We start with crucibles you likely uncovered in your life story. Then we use these to help inform your leadership values, your leadership principles, and reflections on how you like to work. We also work on your Leadership Purpose. The exercises in this document are all required input for our online Forum Discussion.

Adopted from:

Brown, Bren (2018).Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. New York: Random House.

George, B., McLean, Al, & Craig, N. (2015). The discover your true north fieldbook. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley

Drucker, P. F. (2005). Managing Oneself. Harvard Business Review, 83(1), 100-109

I. Your "Crucible" (George, McLean, Craig, 2015, pp. 47-55)

Crucibles are intense experiences that test us and force us to get to know who we really are. Examples from work include facing a really difficult challenge, getting passed over for a project or promotion, receiving hard to hear feedback, or being fired. Personal crucibles include relationship break-ups, divorce, or the death of a loved one. They can also include instances in which we really had to step up and succeeded-winning a game, leading for the first time, etc. Most importantly, they shape who we are.

Identify 3-5 personal crucibles ("events, relationships" or times in your life that had the greatest impact on you):

1. ________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

4. ________________________________________________________________

5. ________________________________________________________________

Put a star next to the one that you think most shaped you. If none, what are the patterns in those you listed?

Jot down an outline of the story of your crucible, and then share with your online team.

Then, discuss how you typically respond to times when you are tested. Do you let it get to you and get depressed or use them as learning opportunities? What do you learn? What lessons do you learn about life? What do you learn about yourself?

II. Your leadership values

The purpose of this exercise is to develop a solid and working definition of your values. Work through all parts of this exercise.

1. First, read through the list of values below. Quickly, highlight all of those that you believe are important leadership values. Add any values that are not listed here. Notice which ones you are actually living now(LN) and which ones are aspirational (A).

Achievement

Adventure

Aesthetics

Affluence

Autonomy

Authority

Balance

Being the best

Belonging

Challenge

Change and variety

Close relationships

Collaboration

Community

Competence

Competition

Courage

Creativity

Decisiveness

Democracy

Economic security

Effectiveness

Efficiency

Ethical practice

Excellence

Excitement

Expertise

Fame

Faith and spirituality

Family

Fast-paced work

Financial gain

Freedom

Friendship

Growth

Happiness

Health

Helping other people

Helping society

Honesty

Humor

Independence

Influencing others

Inner harmony

Integrity

Intellectual status

Involvement

Knowledge

Leadership

Love

Loyalty

Making a difference

Meaningful work

Merit

Money

Order

Personal development

Physical fitness

Pleasure

Power

Privacy

Recognition

Reputation

Respect from others

Responsibility/accountability

Security

Stability

Status

Success

Time freedom

Truth

Vulnerability

Wealth

Wisdom

2. Next, shorten your list by choosing only thetop ten valuesthat are the most important to you. List your ten values below.

3. Think about your crucibles,when you were testedto your limits. What values got you through? Then briefly discuss what valuesyou ignoredas you were going through this difficult experience. Perhaps ignoring them even contributed to the crucible.

4. Now go back to questions 1 and 2 and identify which FIVE values must be on your list at all times. List them below with your own definition of what that value means for you. Then rank order them. Share with your online team. For example:

• Integrity: I do what I say I will do
• Learning: I believe that there is always more to learn and I am open to new ways of looking at things

Value Name	Definition of Each Value	Rank

5. How true have you stayed to these five important values in challenging times?

6. Now narrow this down to yourtop three values. Why did you choose these three? Were they ever threatened or challenged? How do these link to your identity, who you are? Writeee aaaamoment of truthwhen this value was formed. Share with a partner. (To help you ensure that you are indeed picking values that define you, that describe you at your best, and that you use to help you make your toughest decisions, consider a time when you were fully living these values. What specific behaviors -what you said, and did, supported that value? What specific behaviors might be outside of that value?)

7. How doOO yYYouRRr company's values align with your own leadership values? Are your strengths in aligned ment with your values? When have you had to resolve these differences? (Drucker's story about investment banking -he was good at it and yet was against his values)

III. Your Leadership Principles (Optional)

Your leadership principles are your values translated in to working practices that guide your behavior and clarify how you will lead in your workplace. Take each value and definition that you developed on page 3 and turn them in to a leadership principle that is actionable. What specific actions will you take to support each value?

Then rate each on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being, I am not putting this principle in to practice, 3=I am doing an average job, and 5=I am doing an excellent job of putting this in to practice.

See the sample below.

Value Name	Leadership Principle	Rating
Integrity	Tell the truth to others and operate within the law in all business concerns	4

*What has been difficult in putting these principles in to practice as a leader?

*What concrete steps can I take today to put my leadership principles in to practice?

III. What is your purpose

Use this space to write down notes.

Step 1:

1. When you were a child, what did you most love doing? Describe story and feelings.
2. What brought you the most joy and satisfaction when you were a teenager, especially when things were challenging?
3. What unique gift or talent did a parent, teacher, or mentor see in you?
4. If you didn't have to worry about money, or obligations of any kind, how would you spend your time?

Step 2:

My gifts: ___________________________________________________________________

My enduring passions: _______________________________________________________

Frustrations, wounds, regrets: _________________________________________________

Wants, needs, desires of others: _______________________________________________

Step 3: What's Really Important to you-Pairs or Trios-Will require a conversation

A Asks B: "If you could live more fully, more courageously, more authentically

than you do now, what would that be for you?"Or, What would be a stepping up for you?" This should require some risk.

Then A asks multiple times: Why is that important to you? B, let the answer emerge.

If a trio, C listens, observes, and takes notes.

Step 3: What are the patterns and threads? Draft Purpose Statement

My leadership purpose is: ___________________________________________________

1. How do you perform?

Drucker's article is worth reading carefully several times. We are covering most of the questions he asks in this class. In this section, reflect on the questions he asks about how do you work? Are you a reader or listener? Explain why. How do you learn? Do you work well with people or better as a loner? Do you work best as a subordinate, team member, or decision maker? Do you work well under stress or best in a structured environment? Do not just give one sentence answers. Give me examples. And then reflect on how your work experience until now has been or not been a good fit for you.

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