Dear Harriet,
Thanks for the recent overview of your experience in putting together
leadership programs for students, I am just doing the same for veterinary
students in Australia and have come to the same broad points of view. We
too will explore mountains and valleys both physically and metaphorically!
We are also adding on a community-based project as well for the students
to work out their leadership skills in the service of others.
Leadership definitions do help if they stimulate the participants to
explore what constitutes leadership for them in their life context. I
liked Doc's definition from Dance of Change in this regard, and I have
also used Kevin Cashman's neat definition from his book "Leadership from
the Inside Out."
Cashman writes: "Leadership is authentic self -expression that creates
value."
People always seem to spar with this view in a productive (value creating)
manner and can then be encouraged to think through their own life purpose
and direction. This is probably because we tend to endlessly revisit
notions of the personally authentic, and what constitutes "value creation"
as we grow and develop through different life stages.
On the action-orientated side of the leadership literature, I find Noel
Tichy's "The Leadership Engine" vey stimulating. Whether you agree with
him or not, this is a high energy book full of challenging ideas and
stories of challenging leaders.
Finally, as discussed on this list a few weeks ago, Howard Gardner's
leadership story perspective can tie it all together. Whether or not we
agree on definitions, effective leaders to seem to have compelling stories
to tell. Sometimes people just need some mentoring to get their story
straight...
Regards,
Philip
Philip Pogson
Leadership Development Strategy Consultant
Staff Development Branch
University of Technology Sydney NSW 2007
ph: +61 2 9514 2934
fax: +61 2 9514 2930
mobile: 0412 459156
"I always know a good idea when I hear it, because of the feeling of terror
that seizes me."
Ben Rick
CEO Lockhead
--Philip Pogson <ppogson@uts.EDU.AU>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>