Leadership Philosophy

I have had many conversations over the years about my leadership philosophy. I ground it first in who I am and what lens I experience the world through. I am an ENFP, (MBTI), an iS (DiSC), a Helper (Enneagram) and I lead Yellow and Green energy (Insights.) These are all heart centered/feeling based types so it is not unexpected that leading with the heart is at the center of my leadership philosophy. As Kouzes and Posner state in The Leadership Challenge, "The best-kept leadership secret may be love: love of product, love of service, love of customers and love of employees." This is at the heart (no pun intended) of my leadership philosophy. Over the course of my career I have had only a handful of leaders who demonstrated this type of leadership. For those that did, it was a fantastic experience working for them full of productivity, growth, learning, success and engagement.

The second piece component of my leadership philosophy is self-awareness and emotional intelligence. No one can be effective as a leader without a healthy does of self-awareness. A deep awareness of who you are, what motivates you, what fears you work to avoid, your towering strengths and your deep valleys. A self-aware leader has the strength and self-assurance to lead effectively. A leader who lacks self-awareness is a danger to themselves, their employees and the company. Hand in hand with self-awareness is emotional intelligence. The ability to not be "hijacked" by your emotions but to be constantly aware of your emotions and to remain focused and calm despite what is happening around and to you. I have seen leaders across this full spectrum from limited and no emotional intelligence to highly emotionally intelligent and the difference is stark.

If you can lead with the heart and are grounded in self-awareness and emotional intelligence then I believe you will be effective as a leader. You can draw on leadership tools and techniques such as competency models, leadership strategies such as Situational Leadership, performance management approaches, etc. but without self-awareness and a focus on the heart you will not succeed in the way I define success.

I have seen many leaders move to positions authority without these skills but it is arguable in my mind if they were ultimately "successful." Leaving people stressed, diminished, and angry do not qualify as successful leadership outcomes in my mind despite whatever financial and business success the individual leader might drive.

There are many, man other leadership qualities but I believe these are the key - at least they have been for me and I strive to remain grounded in them as I continue to develop my own leadership and I remain committed to them as I continue to seek leaders I want to work for.