Developing Your Personal Leadership Philosophy

In the popular series of warm-hearted essays entitled: Chicken Soup for the Soul, Dr. Charles Garfield tells the story of a young man working in a toll booth who develops a philosophy about how to turn that job into an exciting opportunity for personal growth and career development. The theory that this essay proposes is profound: it is possible to develop a philosophy that operates as a guiding principle, that will drive your character, consistency, and leadership capacity throughout your life, no matter what your position is or how much formal authority you have been given.

 

Leadership training usually involves a curriculum of courses that promote a variety of leadership outcomes like modeling the way; creating a shared vision; engaging others; providing coaching and feedback; achieving collective accountability; developing emotional intelligence; influencing without authority; understanding how to build collaborative, cohesive teams; and other aspects of transformational leadership. Deciding how to synthesize this training into a coherent, guiding set of principles is a very individual process. This session is all about giving participants the opportunity to develop a personal leadership philosophy that they will get to use moving forward.

Learning Outcomes

  • Create a leadership theory that will serve as a basis for actions and intentions moving forward.
  • Describe an intended attitude or mindset that will be used to influence others in positive ways so meaningful results can be achieved.
  • Define a set of guiding principles or beliefs that will keep the learner grounded and centered in how they will lead.
  • Engage in a coaching and commitments conversation with other session colleagues to share personal leadership philosophies with each other and encourage/support commitment to living out one’s personal philosophy moving forward.