Clarify Your Gifts, Values, and Purpose to Define Why You Get Up in the Morning and What You Want to Be Known For
“Leadership is a process of connecting to what matters, envisioning what could be and taking action to bring that vision to life. When you care about something enough to ask others to care about it with you and effectively collaborate with others to co-create a new future, then you are leading.” – Amanda Blake
What is your personal leadership philosophy?
At the 2019 AVMA Veterinary Leadership Conference, keynote speaker Drew Dudley challenged conference attendees with the question above and talked about the importance of “defining the things you want to define you.”
According to Dudley, individuals who can clearly articulate their personal leadership philosophy…
- Score 110% higher on overall leadership effectiveness.
- Are rated 140% more effective as leaders.
- Have teams that report higher levels of: team spirit, organizational pride, commitment to the organization, willingness to work hard, trust.
- Score 135% higher on measures of trust.
Leadership isn’t about power, accolades, or achieving predetermined levels of external performance. Instead, Dudley asserted, it’s about defining what values you are committed to and living in alignment with them. When you don’t know what to do in a situation, he said, ask yourself, “What would the person I want to be do in this situation?” Then do that.
It’s critically important to lead from a place of authenticity and intentionality.
“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.” – Warren Bennis
In search of self-awareness and authenticity, powerful questions are a good place to start. Through them, we are invited to consider and often reconsider what it is that underpins our attitudes and actions across many of the roles we find ourselves in and the opportunities we are presented with.
Two questions that can help spark this transformative journey are:
- What do I/we want to be known for? (A question of outcomes.)
- Who do I/we want to be known for? (A question of character.)
“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” – Woodrow Wilson
Session Topics
- Leading authentically and intentionally
- Developing and publically sharing a personal leadership brand statement
- Reflecting back on each person’s AdvanceVet experience…
- What worked well for you? What did you like best about the AdvanceVet learning experience?
- What would you change about the learning experience?
- What were the most important and/or useful things you learned?
- What’s changed for you? How are you different as a result of participating in AdvanceVet? What new behaviors have you tried and/or adopted?
- What impact have these changes had? On you? On other people? In your practice team?
- What’s next for you regarding your leadership development? What kind of support or resources do you need on your learning journey?
Pre-Work
- Watch Drew Dudley’s TEDx Toronto Video, “Everyday Leadership”
- Read Moments of Greatness: Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership by Robert E. Quinn
- Review Enlightened Rebel Leadership by Gifted Leaders,LLC
- Create a Personal Leadership Brand Statement
Related References/Resources
- How Leaders Build Trust at Work through Authenticity by Carley Hauck
- How to Let the True Leader Inside of You Shine by Melody Wilding
- Igniting Individual Purpose in Times of Crisis from the McKinsey Quarterly
- Servant Leadership by Jim Laub
- Tasha Eurich’s TEDx MileHigh Video, “Increase Your Self-awareness with One Simple Fix”
- The Humility Side of the Agile Enterprise by Jennifer Paylor
This AdvanceVET session is made possible by…
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