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

Apollo 13: Leadership Analysis

 

TJ Transformation

So, since I'm apparently technology incompetent and can't get a slideshow to appear on my blog.. here is my "pretend slideshow" of what I feel transformational leadership looks like....

 

Both the Leaders (Youth Center Builders) and Followers (TJ children) are inspired by each other.  They motivate each other and influence others to give back to the community. 

Mr. Burns

Mr. James MacGregor Burns was born on August 3, 1918.  He was a scholar at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park.  Burns was also a Pulitzer Prize- winning Presidential Biographer and served as combat historian in the Pacific Theater.   In 1956 & 1971 he received the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his two “Roosevelt” books.  In 1997, he was the co-chair of the Salzburg Leadership Seminar in Salzburg, Austria.  His work has inspired leaders all over the world. 

Burns wrote the following books:

·         “Government by the People: The Dynamics of American National Government”

·         “Government by the People: The Dynamics of American State and Local Government”

·         “Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox”

·         “Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom”

·         “The American Experiment” Volume 3

·         “Leadership”

·         “The Three Roosevelts: Patrician Leaders Who Transformed America”

Burns defined Transformational Leadership in his books.  His book, “Leadership”, is considered the seminal work in the field of leadership studies.  He believed that Transformational Leadership “occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality." 

The Blind Side- A True Transformation

 

The Blind Side, as mentioned in one of my previous posts, truly represents a transformational leadership experience.  According to James McGregor Burns, Transformational Leadership is "The Process of engaging with others to create a connection that increases motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower." These video clips show how Michael Oher (follower) and Leigh Anne Tuohy (leader) engaged with each other to create a similar transformational leadership connection.  They may have had a "Mother-Son" relationship, but they still learned from each other and increased their morality and motivation as both a leader and a follower.  At the end of each clip, Leigh Anne's friend states, "Honey, you're changing that boy's life," and Leigh Anne replies back with, "No, he's changing mine."  This just shows how two people can come from two completely different areas of their lives and be transformed into better leaders and followers.  This movie is based on a true story that has inspired viewers everywhere to be better people. 

Blanchard's Model

This picture portrays Blanchard's views on the relationships between supportive and directive behavior in a leadership setting and competence and confidence in an individual.  As you can see, the four types of leadership styles are: DIRECTING, COACHING, SUPPORTING, & DELEGATING.  If you are:

High on the Directive end and Low on the supporting end = Director.
High on the Directive end and High on the supporting end = Coach.
Low on the Directive end and High on the supporting end = Supporter.
Low on the Directive end and Low on the supporting end = Delegater.

I feel as if my leadership style is similar to a Coach or Supporter.  Because I am a relationship-oriented leader, I have a high supporting end, and depending on the situation, I can be high or low on the task-oriented side. 

I can recall a specific incident in my life where one of my other past employers showed her Director skills.  When I first stared working at the job, she was very directive in the way she would tell me to do certain tasks.  As long as I got my work done, she was happy.  With this, however, she was never very supportive what was going on in my personal life.  Because of this leadership style, I never felt connected to her on any level.  Then one day, an emergency arose in my personal life and I had to come into work all shaken up.  I was too scared to ask my boss if I could go home because I didn't think she would be supportive enough.  After talking to my other co-workers, and receiving encouragement from them, I worked up the courage to talk to my manager.  It was at this point that I saw her move from the Directing side of the model to Coaching/Supporting side.  I feel that this situation "matched" the model for my manager in that it provided a good generalization of who she is in the workplace.  However, I felt that it was also "mismatched" in the sense that it gives a false idea of who she might really be.  She might naturally be a coach/supporter (high on the supporting scale) but in work situations, she came off as being someone that didn't care about her employees beyond the tasks they were to perform.

Contingency Theories Unveiled

After reading the wiki article on the Fiedler Contingency Model, I found myself disagreeing with his theory.  I immediately thought of one of my past employers when it asked to think of someone that you had worked least well with.  I could recall a specific situation where my manager was very upset with me for taking time off in the summer to attend a family wedding out of state.  I had previously mentioned it to him, but he, of course, didn't remember that incident.  After throwing a temper tantrum in front of my other co-workers and guests, he threw a binder on the floor in front of me and played the silent treatment game with me for the rest of the day.  Now, if you ask me... this doesn't seem like a place ANYONE would want to work at.  He is definitely my Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC).  After rating him on the scale,  I gave him a score of 17 out of 32.  Fiedler believed that people who are "indeed relationship motivated, tend to describe their least preferred coworkers in a more positive manner."  This was not true in my situation.  I know that I am a relationship motivated person, and I do not describe my LPC in a positive manner.  Because of this disagreement, I relate best with the critics' points of view.  After reading further, Fiedler explained the differences between a task-oriented leader, a blue-collar worker, and a relationship-oriented leader.  I saw myself relating best with "The Considerate" (Relationship-oriented) style of leadership, and I saw my previous manager as being task-oriented.  This might have been why we never really got along. 

In comparison to the first article on Fiedler's Contingency Theory where he believed that people were either task-oriented or relationship-oriented, the article "High Task-Low Relationship Management: Is It Right for Payroll?" suggests that a person can have a combination of both task-oriented leadership and relationship-oriented leadership.  This is, what I found to be, the main difference between the two articles.  The second article allows a person to be low in one area and high in the other.  They divided up the different areas into 4 categories or titles (Telling, Selling, Participating, & Delegating).  I relate to this article more because I think that depending on the situation I am in, I can be more task-oriented rather than relationship-oriented.  This is also true in the above story about my past manager.  He may have just acted out of anger in that particular situation, but he doesn't necessarily always act that way in his everyday life.  One main similarity between the two articles is that they both discuss the possibility of your leadership style differing depending on the situation you are in or the environment that you are surrounded by. 

Different People. Different Styles. Same World.

So, after reading through over half of the class's blogs, I've come to one conclusion....I am very unique.  I couldn't find a single person that had the same leadership style as me!  After reading Krystal's blog, I learned that she was inspired by Erin Bartle's compassion towards others.  DING, DING, DING... then it clicked.  I decided to take a look at Erin's blog, and sure enough.. we had two very similar PMAI archetypes (Lover and Caregiver).  Even after reading her famous quotes, I knew we had a lot in common.  Erin is all about compassion and making a difference in peoples' lives.  We can both fall into a trap of focusing on other peoples' needs before our own.  We both worry about other people and how they are feeling and try to fix whatever problems exist in those relationships.  She admires generous people, and so do I.  She also mentioned a movie called "Freedom Writers" and how it represented her leadership style.  I had totally forgotten about that movie until now.. and I remembered how much I loved the idea behind it all.  I loved Hillary Swank's encouragement and compassion towards her students.  She portrayed a truly admirable leader in the movie, and that's something I strive to be in my everyday life.   

Because I was only able to find one person that had a similar leadership style as me, it was very easy to find someone who had a different one.  After reading Rachael Harris's blog, I knew I wanted to write about our differences.  Rachael focuses more on trait-based leadership, whereas I focus more on relationship- based leadership.  I also learned that her PMAI archetypes were completely different from mine.  She is a Ruler, Jester, and Warrior; whereas I am a Lover, Destroyer, and Caregiver.  I found it funny how, despite all of our differences in leadership, we have never had a problem working on group projects together! 

Archetypes Exposed

After taking the PMAI, I discovered that my top 4 archetypes were: Lover, Destroyer, Caregiver, Seeker, and Magician.  My shadow archetype is Warrior.  I determined that there wasn’t a significant gap between my highest and lowest scores (28-17).  This helped me realize that I am a well-rounded individual.  I have pretty high scores in all areas of the archetypes.  I noticed that because I have Lover, Destroyer, and Seeker; I am more likely to help myself and others find ourselves and express our gifts.  Because I am categorized under these archetypes, I possess gifts such as: Commitment, Enthusiasm, Autonomy, Ambition, Identity, Community, Compassion, Generosity, Revolution, Metamorphosis, Catalytic, and Transformative. 

I find this assessment to be fairly accurate.  There have been times in my life where I have dealt with change and it has transformed my life for the better.  I show great compassion towards others and am in search of finding my own identity.  I love serving others and have ambitions to make changes in this world.  One quote that really stuck out to me under the “Lover” archetype was that I like and live in stories of “spiritual love in which the object is union with the divine as the Beloved.”  As a Christian serving at my Church, I thought this was really inspiring to know that my leadership qualities overlap with my religious beliefs.  As I had noted in one of my past blogs, I believe in standing up for what you believe in and fighting for what is right.  This quality is demonstrated in the “Destroyer” archetype because they “notice the injustice of a situation and try to figure out ways to remedy this unfairness, either through compensation or revolution.”  My “Caregiver” archetype has come into play in the past few years of my life as I am able to read people pretty well.  I can tell when someone is having a good or bad day and this quality will help me in my future career as a leader.  As a “Seeker”, I tend to strive to improve myself, everyday becoming more “me”.  I had also mentioned before how I admired leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr.  I thought it was interesting how he was an example of a “Magician” archetype, just like me! 

All of these characteristics shape who I have been in the past, who I am today, and who I am going to be as a leader in the future.  I’ve learned a lot from this assessment and can’t wait to see these archetypes play a role in my daily life from now on. 

Archetypes Overall

For our assignment, we were to take the PMAI Assessment.  This assessment helps a person discover their own unique personality archetypes.  They break down each different archetype and determine which archetypes are your strongest and which are your weakest.  The stronger archetypes are generally exposed in your everyday life and define the stories you are living in.  They are a part of who you are as a person and what you believe in.  The weakest archetype is considered your shadow archetype in that it represents qualities that are generally repressed.  This archetype may also influence your unconscious behaviors, as well.  Although the characters within us are may be universal, each of us expresses them differently because we all have different styles, traits and mannerisms.

Each of the archetypes represents a personality trait you have experienced or will experience at some point in time in your life.  They help tell your life story.  If you think about it, everyone has their own unique story.  Each story has helped shape us into who we are today and who we will become in the future.  In relation to our leadership abilities, it gives us a better understanding as to what leadership characteristics we possess and which ones we need to work on to become successful leaders in our future careers.  For example, the book explains people in three different main categories.  Those who have archetypes such as: Innocent, Orphan, Caregiver, and Warrior will help you, others, and the species to survive.  Those who are a: Seeker, Lover, Destroyer, and Creator help you and others find yourselves and express your gifts.  Finally, those who possess qualities of a: Ruler, Magician, Sage, or Jester help you and others live authentically, making a positive contribution to the world while also experiencing personal fulfillment. 

Pros & Cons of Trait-Based Leadership Theories

There are many positive and negative views on trait-based leadership.  Some feel that establishing specific traits to define leadership can provide a clear direction of where leadership should be going.  It can give a person a foundation in their leadership journey and provide them with something to strive towards.  On the other hand, defining leadership through specific traits can keep a person "locked in" on only those certain traits and doesn't allow their unique leadership traits to come out.  It can hold someone back from their true leadership potential and put them down for not having all of those specific traits.  Some people feel that traits are obtained at birth and may be harder to learn than others if they don't already possess that specific quality.

Admirable Leadership Traits

Leaders of all types possess certain traits that make them stand out among other people.  According to "Leadership: do traits matter?" by Kirkpatrick and Locke, key leader traits include: drive (achievement, ambition, energy, tenacity, initiative), leadership motivation (personalized vs. socialized), honesty and integrity, self confidence (including emotional stability), cognitive ability, and knowledge of the business.   Although I agree that most of these are important traits to have in leaders, I do not feel that a leader needs all of these traits to be successful.

Of these traits, I admire DRIVE most of all.  If a leader is driven, they have the energy and motivation to accomplish anything.  They will take initiative to get a project started and are able to see the big picture.  They aren't satisfied until they have achieved their goal and will do whatever it takes to reach it.  Driven leaders are inspiring and encouraging to others.

Me, Myself, and Leadership

Up until recently I didn't know who I was as a leader, what qualities I admired in a leader, and what my leadership style was.  After finding some examples of what I thought leadership meant to me through movies, famous leaders, quotes, and articles, I came up with this: 
 
My strongest area of leadership is in relationships.
I want to be a leader people can trust. 
I want my followers to know they will be cared for. 
I admire those who stay true to their word and stand up for what they believe in.   
I believe leaders should be able to think outside the box and get things done.
I believe leaders should be encouraging, inspirational and influence change.
I believe leaders should be about their people and be willing to not only lead, but serve.
I value service in leadership and strive to serve others.
I value a leader with strong character and beliefs.
I value transformation.

I admire leaders such as: Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, and Susan B. Anthony.  Those who stand up for what they believe in and fight for what is right are leaders worth looking up to.  Will Smith in "The Pursuit of Happyness" and Sandra Bullock in "The Blindside" both acquire excellent leadership traits.  They believe in something and go for it and don't let anyone or anything stand in their way.  Peter F. Drucker once said, "Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things."  Kenneth Hartley Blanchard said that "The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority." It's important to remember that people can change other people's lives.