Leadership Foundations in Research

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 — ...

Brian - Calm / predictable - Thoughtful - Good conversationalist - Seemed interested in forming friendships with his workers - Never seemed concerned with politics/power - Collaborative - Decisions seemed based off of reasoning and what was best for the company - Workers seemed respected by and respectful of Brian, and even when times were tough, we seemed to rally together and work as a team Alana - Hyper / unpredictable - Reactive - Workers were “told” things more often than “asked” - It seemed hard for her to mix personal relationships with professional roles - Decisions seemed to be politically charged and/or based off of pressure from stakeholders - Delegator - Workers would roll their eyes after confrontations with her, and we learned to take new doctrines with a “grain a salt” Brian was a great leader. He was the managing editor at a newspaper I worked at about five years ago and, as far as I could tell...