Capstone Sa

In this space I share my leadership philosophy statement. In order to develop my leadership philosophy, I have taken the following steps:

 

I. Identification of core leadership values – In this step I identified and defined five values which I believe are the most important guides to my leadership action.

 

Education: I believe education is the moving power of all social change. Leadership education plays a key role in revealing people to themselves in the sense that it allows people to explore their potential, to be curious, and to improve themselves by knowing their flaws. I have witnesses the power of education in transforming realities, I have experienced the positive change caused by education in many communities and for this reason education is one of my leadership values.

 

Identity Awareness: Means knowing yourself, your values, and passions. The greatest gift I received as part of this leadership journey has been the knowledge of self I acquired. Being able to decipher my own signals and learning to explore the things that motivate me, the passions I carry in my heart, and transforming it all into action is really what makes self-knowledge an important leadership value to me. Leaders must be able to know themselves, the causes about which they are passionate, and to what extent they can sacrifice in order to guide others towards social change. Self-knowledge has opened up my horizons and it allowed me explore the leader I have been and to better shape the leader I plan on becoming which solidifies it as one of my core leadership values.

 

Passion: Refers to the causes which move one’s heart and mind to action. I have always known I enjoy leadership roles and that I am able to communicate my visions through action; however, being able to focus all of my energy into specific courses of action depends greatly on passion. Leaders know what is right and what is wrong based on their values, but they decide to act upon right and wrong, to a great deal, because of the causes they carry deep near their hearts. Passion is an essential leadership value to me because it motivates me to believe that social change is possible as well as it makes me feel like the work I do as a leader is important and can bring about change.

 

Service: Giving back to those and the places which have served and welcomed you. I have embraced many communities around the world as my home throughout my life this far and all places were different, had different needs, different people, and all moved my heart in different ways. Service is a very important leadership value to me because it solidifies the knowledge I acquire in the classroom into real life, social action. Service is the opportunity I have to thank and give back to the communities which have welcomed me as well as it is a chance for me to practice all the leadership knowledge I have accumulated throughout my journey as part of this minor.

 

Social Responsibility: The community is everyone’s responsibility, leaders’ and followers’. Social responsibility refers to the shared responsibility regarding the community’s faith and the importance of it. As a leader I emphasize the importance of this value by delegating tasks, sharing the work, and most importantly by reminding all members of the community of their duty to serve, give back, and to participate in the community. To me, social responsibility is extremely important because it starts with the little actions such as keeping trash in your car instead of throwing it out of the window or not honking the horn when you can avoid to do so, for example. Social responsibility speaks directly about one’s leadership style and ability and for this reason I incorporate this value into my core leadership values.

 

II. Acknowledgement of Leadership Assumptions – In this section I discuss some assumptions I have incurred in the definition of my core leadership values.

 

All people can and want to know themselves and are not afraid of doing so.

 

Identity awareness requires a great deal of self introspection which I assumed all people are comfortable doing. In reality, however, not all people are used to taking time to learn about themselves for a variety of reasons. Furthermore, by making this assumption, I disregard the fact that not everyone has a comfortable enough reality in which they can give themselves the luxury and privilege of focusing on themselves to the point where they can learn more about their abilities and flaws.

 

Direct action is the only way of serving the community

 

Some people may serve the community by donating money instead of time and others might help the community by not giving their technical advice on subjects with which they are not acquainted, for example. Because of my leadership style I assume that direct action is the most efficient way of serving the community, but I would like to acknowledge that there are many other ways in which one can serve the community.

 

Education and passion complement people into leaders

 

Proper leadership education in addition to passion can produce results that are able to profoundly change the reality of many communities. Those two elements make the base of the leader I am and, as such, are the main assumption I make throughout the development of my leadership philosophy.

 

III. This I believe – In this section I summarize my leadership beliefs as means of constructing a complex leadership philosophy which can be applied to a variety of contexts.

 

I believe education can profoundly change people and by doing so it motivates individuals to give back to the communities which he or she has embraced.

 

I believe leadership work requires passion to face challenges with honesty and courage.

 

I believe social responsibility is the first step towards active leadership.

 

I believe leaders must be continuous learners particularly in subjects which unveil them to themselves.

 

IV. My Leadership Philosophy Statement – The final craft of my leadership philosophy statement is constantly changing, but in this section I present my most up to date leadership philosophy.

 

I believe education has the transforming power intrinsic to social change.

 

I focus on causes about which I am passionate and I serve back communities which I have embraced as home, even if I have never physically lived there, at some point.

 

I strive to continuously learn more about myself because I believe this is the key to efficiency and efficacy in leadership.

 

I strongly believe in service and active social action because I enjoy seeing the changes I can produce.

 

 

I am a leader of the world, I serve with passion through my knowledge, and the dissemination of the transforming power of education is my main purpose in any leadership endeavor.