Malawi Love

Hi team!  My name is Kimi Phillips and I am your very own Flood Church’s Human Rights Initiative leader for this summer’s two week trip to Malawi.  I want to first off say, Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to meet with me today.  I am so honored and blessed to be a part of an initiative that is near and dear to my heart.  I can’t wait to serve the people of Malawi and teach them about human rights while growing in community with each other. 

Just a quick bio about my most recent leadership experiences:  After my freshmen year, I was baptized and decided to commit myself to being a servant of God and others from that day forward.  I wanted to care and love others, build relationships with my peers and future co-workers and employees, listen, facilitate, and encourage those around me and help fulfill other people’s goals and objectives.  I was determined to be a servant first, and leader second and I currently hold that same mentality.

The past couple years, I started volunteering at every place I could get my hands on.  I volunteered at a Tijuana Orphanage, served as the Connections Intern here at Flood, assisted with various community and non-profit events, and took on a handful of Hospitality related jobs.  I’ve worked with people of all types in restaurants, hotels, events, and other non-profits and have successfully managed to lead a team of 70 + volunteers on the Connections Team here and plan an entire silent auction from start to finish.  As a recent graduate from San Diego State University with a degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management, I am ready and excited to start my next big adventure and leadership opportunity.         

Now, I may not be some genius that knows everything about human rights, but I do know that, after my own personal experiences with human rights and seeing how such a traumatic experience can completely damage a person’s life, I now have a passion for justice and I will work hard to influence the hearts and minds of the people of Malawi.  I know that I am the youngest of the group, which could be a challenge for all of us, but I want you all to know that I will train and work just as hard as each one of you to prepare for this trip.  I’m excited to see what will happen and can’t wait to get started!

In my opinion, life and leadership is all about transformation and growth and I am so excited to hear all of your own personal stories and past experiences that brought you to where you are today.  I truly believe we were all brought together for a reason… to love and serve the people of Malawi.  My goal is not be some sort of higher authority to you; but to be a teammate, coach, role model, servant, and friend.  As Kenneth Hartley Blanchard once said, "The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority."  Throughout my life, I’ve had the privilege of meeting various individuals that have changed my life for the better and supported me through all of my ups and downs.  I just want you all to know that I am here for you.  You can reach me through phone or email or talk to me in person, which ever you prefer… but I promise to make you a priority. 

You know, one of my favorite movies is the Blindside.  I’m sure many of you have seen it, but for those that haven’t; it tells a story of transformation and love between a teenage boy named Michael, and his new adopted mother, Leigh Anne.  When Leigh Anne’s friend states, “Honey, you’re changing that boy’s life,” Leigh Anne replies back with, “No, he’s changing mine.”  That’s what I hope to achieve with all of you and with the people of Malawi.  TRANSFORMATION.  If we work together, serve together, and get to know each other beyond the typical leader vs. follower level, I know we can not only change each others’ lives, but change the lives of the people in Malawi, as well. 

I also believe that “personal leadership is the process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with them,” as Stephen Covey once stated.  As you can probably tell with everything I’ve just stated, the things I value most are: community, good will, hard work, justice, personal growth, and respect for others.  I strive to align my life to be congruent to those values and obtain my overall vision to serve others.   I know you all have your own values and beliefs, but if we all come together and create a common vision and core team values and use our own personal strengths to accomplish our goal, then I have no doubt in my mind that this trip will be life changing.   

I don’t expect everything to be perfect or to run smoothly, but I do expect each and every one of us to give 110% in everything we do.  I expect us to work together as a team and serve those around us.  “Believing in yourself and others to accomplish a common goal” is my leadership philosophy.  I believe in each and every one of you and I know we believe in the same goal… so now the question is, “Are we all in this together?!”… cuz I’d sure like to be.  Thanks for coming out today everyone.  Have a great day!

My Personal Narrative Reflection

After creating my leadership theory model, and meeting with Lori (my professor) one-on-one about my leadership philosophy, I've come to one conclusion....I believe in SERVANT & TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP.  I'm a person who loves building relationships with others, serving those around me, and personally growing every day of my life.  At first, I had no idea what type of job title I wanted to portray in my personal narrative or "elevator" speech.  I don't have a job lined up after graduation, and I have no idea what I want to do with my life.  After talking to Lori, and asking myself, "What is the one thing I'm excited to do after graduation?", I had it.  I was going to be the leader of my Church's Malawi Human Rights Initiative Team this summer.  I am currently on the team and preparing to go, but I considered what it would be like to lead the team, as my friend Rachel is currently doing.  I'm in the process of writing my speech, so you'll all just have to wait and see what is to come when I present it in class. =)

My Leadership Theory Model

The past few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about Graduation, The “Real World”, Who I am, Where I want to go in life, Who I want to be, If I want to stay in the HTM industry, and What will really make me happy.  I’ve been trying so hard to figure out how I’m going to make it through this huge transition period and stressing out over little things, like homework and tests and group projects… when in reality, those are so small in comparison to how much I’ve already accomplished in my life, even just in the past 4 years at SDSU. 

I’ve had a song stuck in my head for the past few months now, and I decided to listen to it again today, this time really thinking about the message it was trying to portray.  I realized that it’s what I like to call, “My Defining Moment” song.  Before looking at my leadership theory model and seeing my whole journey, take a second and listen to this song… it will change the way you think about your life. 

Leadership is a process of new experiences that will provide you with the skills and opportunities necessary to aid in your transformation.  There will always be ups and downs, highs and lows, love and heartbreak, gains and losses…but the person you become as a result of all those things, makes you into your own unique leader.  Here is my journey…

When I was a child, I wasn't much of a leader.  If anything, I was a follower and depended on my parents.  When they got a divorce, my trait-based leadership qualities were very prominent.  I was a lover, destroyer, caregiver, seeker, and magician.  I had to be a leader for my family.  Then came high school where I joined the Pep Squad and became the co-captain and captain my Freshmen an Sophomore years.  This situational leadership taught me how to be a coach and not solely direct my team.  At 16, I got my first job in the restaurant industry.  This allowed me to take on my first big responsibility.  I learned the value of a dollar and got a good taste as to what the "real world" would be like in the future.  When high school graduation came around, I was accepted to SDSU and all my friends were accepted to UCSB.  I, of course, wasn't smart enough to go there like the rest of my AP friends.  This became my first real transitional leadership experience.  As I went through my first year of college, I had to be my own leader.  I had to live on my own, without my friends and family, in a new city and a new school.  After my freshmen year, I came home for the summer and decided to commit my life to Christ by getting baptized!  This threw my whole leadership experience for a loop.  I had to give up my entire life and put it in someone else's hands without having any control over anything anymore.. (still haven't fully mastered that concept, considering I like to have control over everything!) 

When starting my sophomore year of college, I decided to join the Connections Team at Flood Church.  It was an excellent way to get more leadership experience by taking on a volunteer staff position in the community.  This sparked my love or hospitality so I decided to switch my major from Interior Design to HTM.  I joined MESA and started a new job in San Diego at Extraordinary Desserts (again, continuing in the restaurant industry and getting my foot in the door in HTM).  This was a year when I was experiencing a Relational type of leadership role.  I was interacting with tons of people on a daily basis, and learned how to work with people of all types.  When I turned 20, I experienced a life-changing incident.  I was sexually abused.  That was the first time I ever felt like I had absolutely NO CONTROL over anything.  After that type of experience, it tends to spark a lot of emotions in a person. I started wanting to be a catalyst for change and take on leadership roles in places that I actually believed in.  (Hint: why my blog is all about believing)... any who, my Junior year, I needed an HTM internship, so I started working at the Grande Colonial Hotel.  Little did I know, this was going to be a huge transformational time of my life.  

Then I turned 21, and well that's just a transitional period for anyone, right?  I took on the Connections Intern role at my church and received an event internship at Sundt Memorial Foundation.  Learning to multitask while having 2 jobs and going to school full time is an excellent skill to acquire.  While being a Connections Intern and working at a non-profit, I learned what it was like to be a servant leader.  Not getting paid, but still serving the community... THAT is what I want to do the rest of my life (but hopefully get paid).  Serving others is what makes me strong.  I took a strengths finders test and my top 5 strengths were: Empathy, Belief, Input, Consistency, and Discipline.... all perfect strengths to have if I want to be an event planner or work for a company I actually believe in.  This made me think about all my past experiences and consider working for a non-profit someday (completely changing my HTM mindset).  

And now here I am today, with college graduation right around the corner, as confused as ever about where I want to go in life. All I know is that I've been through a lot and every decision I've ever made has helped shape me into the Relational-Servant Leader that I am today.  I have truly experienced Transformational Leadership, and hope to continue this transformation the rest of my life.  I've been blessed with a mentor and a growth group of girls for the past few months.  We have helped aid in each others' transformations.  In the future I hope to continue my goal of being a true Servant Leader.  I want to have each one of the qualities necessary to fully serve others... I just want to be happy. (I know, I know.. cliche right? It's the truth!)

The End.  

Servant Leadership: Serving Employees, Customers, & the Community

Servant Leadership is a philosophy and practice of leadership that was originally defined by Robert Greenleaf in his essay, “The Servant As Leader.”  The concept of servant leadership stems from ancient history.  From the Tao Te Ching to the Christian New Testament, servant leadership has been passed down for many years.  The New Testament states, “But ye [shall] not [be] so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.”  Leaders aren't just meant to lead, but to serve others as well.  The chart below describes the differences between two different types of leadership. 

As you can see, servant leaders care more about their relationships with others in every area.  In order to be a servant leader, one needs the following qualities: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, growth and building community.  True service stems from a desire to give from the heart.  A servant-leader is a servant first and leader second.  They must have the natural feeling to want to serve before a conscious choice brings them to aspire to lead. On the other end of the spectrum, a person who is a leader first is usually power driven and likes to acquire material possessions.   

In a business setting, servant leaders achieve results for their organizations by giving priority attention to the needs of their colleagues and those they serve.  They are often considered humble stewards of their organization.  Servant leaders should constantly be asking themselves: Are the people I’m serving growing individually? Do they, while being served become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?  And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?

Greenleaf stated, “This is my thesis: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built.”  I truly believe that servant leadership is the way to a better society.  Just think, if one person cared for another, that person would then hopefully spread that love and service toward another person, and so on.  Now, some of you might be thinking that I only believe this because I am a Christian and I’m supposed to serve God and his people, but even if I wasn’t a Christian, I still firmly believe in giving back to your community and your peers.  Just imagine what the world would be like if we all put service first.  People wouldn’t be so caught up in the high-tech business world and always having to be the best and the most successful or most powerful.  Life would be so much better.  I feel like servant leadership is the leadership theory that best describes me and my relationship with others. 

“Leaders are learning that this kind of empowerment, which is what servant-leadership represents, is one of the key principles that, based on practice, not talk, will be the deciding point between an organization's enduring success or its eventual extinction.”
—Stephen Covey

Article:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.heroicjourney.com/graphics/page_graphics/servant_leader_traits.GIF&imgrefurl=http://www.heroicjourney.com/pages/orgtransformation/servantleadership.htm&usg=__ZymcO_bX3wRTqQ8BVj2RDeve6U0=&h=250&w=360&sz=15&hl=en&start=3&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=ck8Z1DtIF-lGOM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=121&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dservant%2Bleadership%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4GGLJ_enUS237US237%26tbm%3Disch&ei=voyfTcyBD4Hk0QHssuSUAw

Servant Leadership

so, my power went out last night at 8 PM...didn't come back on until 11 PM.  Tried to submit my servant leadership essay, and blogspot doesn't work.  Tried again in the morning... still won't post anything. Sorry guys!

Just a thought...

I came across this quote the other day and really liked it and wanted to share it with all of you =)

"Personal leadership is the process of keeping your vision and values before you and aligning your life to be congruent with them" –Stephen Covey

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