Leadership Foundations in Research

My Distinctive Strengths Planning / Organization Hardworking Mature / Logical Personable Personal finance management Potential Strengths Creativity Asset management Strategic thinking / planning Enduring Dispositions Calm / level-headed in stressful situations Analytical Strong relationship skills My Liabilities Don’t get personally invested in jobs Don’t network Don’t ask for help Weaknesses I Want to Change Bad/no long-range career planning Indecisive Cynical about unknowns Hesitant to deviate from “the plan” Enduring Dispositions that Get in My Way Being overly averse to risk In developing my personal balance sheet, I quickly noted that, although I have the work ethic and drive to accomplish large tasks in my personal life, I often don’t put the same amount of effort or focus into my professional work or goals. I also don’t put myself “out there” in ways that could help me develop that skill. In examining my assets, I realized that I want to build my c

Thinking through this week’s assignments in the Becoming a Resonant Leader (McKee, 2008) workbook served to reinforce many recurring themes that I’ve been trying to explore deeper the past few weeks. I wouldn’t say there were many surprises along the way, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. During this semester, I’ve really felt like much of the value in these exercises come from patterns: The prompts ask a lot of similar questions but in different ways, which challenge us to dig deeper, and then to acknowledge when the same ideas continue to resurface. That repetition makes us pay closer attention, and then ask ourselves pointed questions — or at least I know it has for me. Taking a more focused look at what I really want out of life, at this particular time, when graduation is just three weeks away, has been powerful. It’s worked to highlight the specific importance of this moment, and of the decisions I make going forward. For me, many of those recurring themes centered on th

Looking at a dynamic like the one found on the 2004 men’s basketball Dream Team, it’s easy to see cracks in the group’s metaphorical foundation. The team was uber-talented — names like LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, etc. filled the roster. — but the players lacked synergy. Many of them were too young to even rent a car or buy alcohol. They had no history as teammates. “ Duncan and Iverson were chosen captains of the squad, (and) the two couldn't have been more different” (Maisonet, 2017). Much of the team’s dynamic, though, plays in direct contrast to the one found on the 2000 Olympic U.S. women’s soccer team. “ Of the 15 Women's World Cup veterans, 11 were on the team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1996 ” ( US Soccer, 2017 ). This team had history, synergy. The players understood their roles, and they had an experienced leader in April Heinrichs, a former player herself, and someone the other players could relate to as a peer. “Transformation at the group lev

I experienced a tipping point early in my graduate-study track. I was about three months into my MBAA program, and the stress was starting to get to me. My first term had been a foundations course, and it had gone fairly smoothly. In it, I was able to get back into the swing of schoolwork — the routine, the reading, the constant to-do list management — which was helpful, since I hadn’t taken a class in anything since college, about a decade ago. At this point, I was experiencing a Positive Emotional Attractor (PEA): I had gotten through my first term and on the way toward my master’s, which I envisioned opening up a variety of professional doors down the road. Things were good, promising — but then I hit my first real speed bump. I ratcheted up the intensity in Term 2, taking two classes instead of one on top of a full-time job and family. Obviously, that meant more of everything: lunchbreaks spent doing homework, weekends spent reading and writing — but the topic of one of m

Of the four primary Emotional Intelligence (EI) dimensions — self-awareness, self-management, empathy, and social skills (Big Think, 2012) — self-awareness and social skills apply most directly to my current skillset. Ever since I was little, I’ve always been capable in social situations but, maybe even to a more extreme degree, I’ve been hyper self-aware. The type to analyze every feeling and action, I’ve seen this ability as positive over the years, because of how much of an influence it has had in guiding my maturation. (It’s tough to be thoughtlessly immature when you question every one of your thoughts and actions.) But this ability has negative effects, as well, because it can redirect my focus away from other people — “If we are focused on ourselves … we don’t really, fully, notice the other” (Goleman, 2007) — sometimes making active empathy difficult. Or, it can lead to rumination that makes self-management harder to master. So, self-awareness has always been a strength.

Like a lot of young people, I had (and flaunted) an unearned sense of jadedness and cynicism in my earlier years. It wasn’t until I got a little older and experienced my first real struggles in life that I began to see things differently. I realized that, in order to pull myself out of ruts, I needed to be intentional, and that realization eventually carried over into every part of my life and outlook. It’s how I started to see and plan my career and personal goals. It became the foundation of a sort of personal philosophy: simply, to do things on purpose . It’s funny how simple yet powerful that idea can be. “Resonant leadership is common sense, but it is not common practice” (McKee, p. 43). When we start to do things on purpose, though — for real, thought-through reasons — instead of just doing them reactively or instinctively, we begin to feel more in control, and for me, far more positive. That positive tone has served me well over the years. At work, it’s been noticed —