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Discovering My Authentic Leadership

From the moment my mentors set up my company email address and added me to the on-going office Skype chat, I have been flooded with projects. Some of them are easy, like researching companies and opportunities for EasyBib.com. Others are more daunting, like setting up phone meetings with executives from other start-ups that EasyBib.com could potentially collaborate with. 

My day-to-day strategy at work is to stay calm and take the projects one at a time. Admittedly, I am more cautious and work more slowly on things that I do not have experience with. I have been living and breathing the advice I was given on my first day on the job: relax and get to know everyone in the office so you can always ask someone for help. Getting to know my colleagues is going to be essential to my development as an authentic leader. Not only will it let me incorporate others’ strengths and creativity in my work, it will add to my support group. 

Throughout my childhood, my parents were the only people whose advice I took seriously. They were my initial support group and I have added friends, teachers, and employers to that group as I have grown. All these people provide me with valuable feedback and suggestions for improvement, and adding more people will help me fill more gaps in my self-reflection. My support group gives me the confidence to accept that I will make mistakes and challenge myself to learn from them.

I have been embracing any opportunities that come my way confidently because I know that the process, whether the result is favorable or not, will teach me more about myself and will help me develop new skills. For example, my mentor is sponsoring me to go to a social media marketing event where I will have to mingle with executives from many different companies, professionally represent EasyBib.com, and discover ways for EasyBib.com to expand and improve. I have to take advantage of this opportunity despite my fear of introducing myself to successful professionals.

Reflecting on my internship has been easier than I thought it would be, and I know self-reflection will become a lifelong habit. Just talking to my parents at night and telling them about my day, the things I struggled with, and the moments I was proudest of forces me to extract more from this terrifying experience. After the difficult first few days, I am falling into a daily routine in which I surround work with things I enjoy, like swimming at night and having leisurely breakfasts in the morning. These are small steps to keeping me from cracking under the pressure of becoming the best intern EasyBib.com has ever seen while figuring out how to feed myself and stop ending up on the wrong side of the subway platform when I’m too tired to think.

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My Authentic Leadership

 I will not begin my internship until Monday so I don’t have a great sense of how my leadership will apply specifically to my SME placement yet.  However I feel that generally the way to develop authentic leadership is to continue to push yourself and see which roles you thrive in and which you don’t.  In my past experiences, I have learned most from committing myself to a project or responsibility even if it was not something I was completely comfortable with.  By leaving my comfort zone I was able to discover new capabilities and learn more about myself.  Being aware of my likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses is what will ultimately allow me to be authentic and successful.  However, when I commit to something I want to be sure I can carry it out, so I feel that smaller steps outside my comfort zone will lead to better results than huge risks.  This summer I am already out of my comfort zone in many ways living in a foreign, non-English speaking country.  Thus my awareness of the steps I can take to make myself feel more at ease and confident will be extremely important in allowing me to step out of my comfort zone professionally.  I will need to find a balance between immersing myself in French culture and the culture of the office and my personal habits and ways of working effectively.  Because I like to travel and to throw myself into new experiences, I think adapting to life in Paris will be less difficult because I already have the skills to adapt to new situations.  I will develop my authentic leadership through taking smaller risks and keeping in touch with people from home to maintain my comfort zone and support system.

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Finding my authentic leadership

Family is the most important part of my life, and my father has long been my greatest source of inspiration. Not to mention his love and devotion for my family, his life philosophies have really shaped who I am now. As I was born into a Christian family, teachings from the Bible have been the key components that set the atmosphere in my house. My father always believed in integrity, commitment, consistency, and understanding of others. These values all consolidated into his flawless work ethic, and I am very fortunate to have absorbed it from him.

As per integrity, I learned how to be authentic to others and to myself and remain consistent to whomever I may face. Moreover, one of my mostly hidden—well, I actually try hard to show others that I care about them—values is to love and treat others just the same way I wish to be treated by them. I am always very honest and direct, and I try to convey my feelings in the clearest manner to everyone. Just as my father does, I try to mingle integrity, consistency, and care. This mindset helps to preserve and develop my relationships with others and simultaneously leads to authentic leadership.

I believe that a good leader is one who can integrate the group members as a whole and coordinate them harmoniously in one direction. A group as a whole is only possible when the leader gains trust from every member, and trust, in my opinion, can only be sought when the leader shows who he really is to the members. Honesty is the key to conveying his true self to others and increasing one’s authentic leadership.

This past week has been marvelous. I instantly realized that everybody I met in the office—my company’s president, chief medical officer, chief financial officer, and so many more—have all become my support team. I acknowledged that I come from a Mechanical Engineering background and that I may lack knowledge required in pharmaceutical industry. However, maybe because I was so honest about myself, everyone offered help. I am flooded with different projects to work on, but I always ask for help. I am trying to be as authentic as possible to anybody in the office; I give my most honest opinions during group meetings, seek help, and respect others. As a result, people treat me as more than just an intern. They really care about me and listen to my ideas. I feel I have successfully laid a cornerstone to be a non-positional, authentic leader at Medivation.

To further develop my authentic leadership in the next eight more weeks, I will try to show others that I really give my best effort on all my projects, treat others nicely, and maintain my true identity in all contexts. I will regularly have a moment to look back at myself and write short reflections on my progress to observe any improvement.

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Authentic Leadership Now and in the Future

My first week at IFRI has been a whirlwind of meeting people, setting up my space, figuring out my mentor’s expectations, and most importantly, learning a little something about energy policy, which I have absolutely no background in.  That has surprised everyone in my office, but when they ask me why I would choose to work in the energy department when I don’t know anything about it, I respond that I am looking forward to the challenge of learning everything I can about energy and integrating the things from other fields I already know.  

Not knowing anything about energy has given me a great opportunity to demonstrate leadership in my own way this week.  My office has been very quiet this week, because my mentor is often out at meetings or other engagements, and my other officemate is busy writing a paper and doesn’t keep regular hours, so it has been up to me to keep myself on task and get work done.  My goal for the summer is to produce a policy paper that will help my mentor write a paper she anticipates that she will write in the fall, so I spent the week taking advantage of all the resources we have to learn everything about renewable energy technology that I can.  In a way, it feels a lot like what I do at Rice, spending the majority of the day looking through books, newspaper articles, and government publications to get a sense of what I will be researching for the rest of the summer.

To me, this ability to work independently is a key part of leadership.  I do not mind that my mentor has not been there very much, because it gives me the opportunity to develop my self-motivational skills, which I know are extremely important, and which I know I have needed to work on.  I have tried to be an example of a dedicated, persevering worker and lead by not needing constant direction and supervision to keep on task.  If I can gain the trust of my coworkers in this respect, this summer will be a success for me.

My leadership style can be rather low-key, and I would often prefer to lead by example than anything else.  I have tried to keep this in mind this week, but I have also tried to actively take advantage of the time that my coworkers spend in the office to ask questions that will make me a productive leader and contributor this summer.  This has been something of a brainstorming week for the projects I’ll be working on and the ways in which I think I can make a lasting impact in my office.  I have been trying to apply the skills I have learned in previous internships, and I know I will be able to apply the things I learn to jobs in the future, even if what I do is in a completely unrelated field.  

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Discovering my Authentic Leadership

I believe I am who I am because I danced ballet growing up. When I was young, I competed in a competition five years in a row, and not once did I place. I trained year around for the annual competition, and each year I tried harder than the last. It was unfortunate that I never had the opportunity to attend finals, but what I did get was persistence unlike many twelve year-olds get to learn. I learned commitment and dedication and my senior year of high school that paid off when I walked away with the grand prize at another competition in Las Vegas. Looking back, failing so much made it easier to get up and today, I do not fear stepping up to a challenge. It is my ability to learn from my failures and take risks in order to pursue my passions that has made me the leader I am today.

 A large part of what I believe makes an authentic leader is their ability to stay true to what they love rather than what would make them more recognized or rewarded. I believe that is what has made me authentic is that I lead only in endeavors in which I have a passion and people I work with see that in me. That passion for dance has now been transformed into a passion for engineering design. I have an easy time becoming involved with projects like building wind turbines or a solar car, because of a passion I have for sustainable design and that is what has made those projects successful. But what I struggle with is maintaining balance. I was successful in dance, but at the expense of spending time with my family and friends. In college, I have thrown myself into so many exciting projects, but at the expense of having time to dance or volunteer like I did before. I believe that my leadership style easily makes those sacrifices, but to be as authentic as I can be, I must focus on remaining grounded.

As I get ready to begin my internship next week, I think about how I will be an authentic leader in the company. Growing up I have found that the environment in which it is easiest to be myself is one where I am constantly being challenged. I have no doubt that I will be challenged as I immerse myself in this new professional environment and culture. I look forward to finding those challenges that leave a lasting impact at Virgo Engineers and performing through those challenges authentically. Over the course of the next nine weeks I plan to challenge myself to create a network and support system within the company that will enable us to be as successful as we can be. I also will strive to achieve a balance in my daily life by finding time to exercise, keep in touch with family and friends as well as dedicate myself to exceeding expectation in the company.   

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Musings

Authenticity and self-awareness are not things to be considered only in regard to leadership. A knowledge of who you are and the strength to be that person at all times is something that makes someone a better person in all contexts, including leadership. You can’t let other people define your success or your ability or your circumstances or anything else; doing so limits your opportunities, and so one part of being an authentic person is making sure you are the one setting the goals and deciding how to measure your own success. Developing my own authentic leadership simply requires that I am honest. Honest with myself when I do self-reflect, honest with everyone around me, honest when I think about why I care. 

In my specific situation working in school administration, I will develop and grow my own authentic leadership voice and style by learning from those around me are doing. I watch and help, all the while critiquing and analyzing what every does, asking them the whys and hows at every opportunity I have. I observe to see what responses work best in all situations and which ones are contextually dependent. I am going to spend the summer learning how I can best fit into the structure of a school in whatever function and do the very best to forward the primary function of the school: to help educate and grow the kids. Every small decision I’m not sure about or disagree with, I file away either as a reminder to myself for later or to ask someone about when they get a chance. I will talk to teachers and to the administrators, the staff and students in order to figure out what kind of leader I will want to be for my school. 

So much of creating an effective school revolves around having effective, caring teachers who are fully supported in whatever they need to teach. At the end of the day, that is all that matters in a school; the focus in the students and the teachers are the ones whom the school should be built around. But how much administration do you need to give teachers the time and space to work most effectively? How many staff members do you need to keep the school functional? How should classes be divided up? How should teachers be trained and supported? These are all questions I want to use this summer to figure out. These aren’t questions that can be researched or scientifically studied. it depends on the teachers, the administration, and the school. It all depends on the people. 

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Discovering my Inner Leader

Looking back on the experiences that have shaped the person I’ve become, I would have to say that my family is the biggest reason I am where I am today and why I am determined to discover my full potential as a leader. The values of trusting God’s plans, hard work, putting others first, and staying true to myself are the values that I now realize are at the center of the reasons I want to become a better leader. They are the people I can count on to celebrate or cry with me, to praise my ideas or correct me when I’m totally wrong, and above all they help me to refocus my goals and remind me of why I’m doing what I’m doing in the first place. They are the best support system a leader could ask for.

My authentic leadership stems directly from the bond I share with my family.  Staying true to myself is perhaps the value I hold most dear when stepping into a leadership role, and I am by far a much better leader when I get to be myself and can openly express my values through the actions I take. When allowing my core values to guide me, I can stay motivated and passionate about the projects I’m working on and I can share that energy with those around me, allowing me to integrate my leadership persona into every area of my life. 

However, there are still times when my inner values are challenged and I have to pay a price for sticking to my beliefs. I believe these are the best moments to develop self-awareness and to understand who the real me is.  I think my self-awareness is best developed during times of stress, when I must make choices or sacrifices based on what I value most or what I want to achieve. And by examining the reasoning behind the decisions, I can fully see who I am at the core.

             As I begin my internship this week, I want to look for opportunities for self-awareness through challenges and situations outside of my comfort zone. I want to really examine the reasons I have for accepting my placement and see how those fit with my authentic self. Another aspect I need to examine is my extrinsic motivations. I still find myself measuring my success by other’s standards at times and it can leave me feeling sub-par. This summer I want to understand the definition of success for me personally and translate that into the actions I take as an authentic leader. 

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Authentic Leadership

            I have just completed my first week at the Institute for Sustainable Peace.  Since much of this week has comprised of observing and learning the basic functions of my organization, I have been provided plenty of time to think about my own authentic leadership and how I would like to develop myself within and beyond my organization this summer.  As discussed in the article for this week, one of the most important capabilities for leaders to develop is self-awareness.  I feel that refining my own sense of self-awareness is one of the most crucial steps to developing my authentic leadership in the future.  I believe one step toward this goal is to represent my mentor and my organization with confidence and professionalism.  For instance, on Wednesday I attended a day-long mediation.  I had no prior knowledge of the case and was only able to attend due to the gracious permission of the parties involved.  My mentor told me it was not necessary to wear a suit, but I did anyway.  I was able to speak with the other lawyers and defendants (some of whom went to Rice) a few times during breaks, and I feel that I did a good job of representing my organization with professionalism.  The other days I observed and attended meetings with my mentor, and on Thursday and Friday I started working on my first assignment. 

This personal time to observe has afforded me with time to also think about who I am and what I want to achieve during this summer.  I have started by assessing my relations with the other members and secretaries of the organization, as well as the members of the other non-profit that shares the office space with my organization.  I recall Deanna Fuehne’s advice to treat everyone in the organization with the utmost respect, regardless of the person’s position – to not think of myself as “above” anything.  Therefore, I have gone out of my way to introduce myself to people (some of whom work a floor below me).  I have also offered to take on additional work from other employees, especially since I have not been given many assignments yet.  Thursday and Friday my mentor was gone, and he entrusted me with several small research tasks.  I completed these tasks to the best of my ability, emailed him my work, and asked for feedback. 

Looking further into the future, I see this internship as not only a springboard for my development but also as a returning place for retrospection and self-awareness.  Since I am very young and inexperienced, I am provided the wonderful opportunity to think about my intrinsic goals and motivations, while not worrying about external goals (such as money, promotions, etc.)  I hope to develop an authentic self as I move into the future that can look back at this experience as an early cultivation of character and leadership. 

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Steps Forward

My family and several middle school teachers have influenced me in becoming a bioengineer eager to help others, but I am torn upon the method: between research and clinical practice. Fudge’s quote in the article, “The challenge is to understand ourselves well enough to discover where we can use our leadership gifts to serve others,” really struck home. I want to use my SME experience, as a chance to explore both, before making the critical choice – a step needed to choose a career that I am truly passionate about, while developing self-awareness as a leader.

My internship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering has opened up a new perspective – to do one side doesn’t mean forsaking the other. Today, I see Dr. Scher and his colleagues juggling the impossible: dual careers in research and practice, and serving as leaders in both fields. It has become clear that when the two are combined, amazing results can be accomplished – when patient needs guide clinical research, health technologies that best address people’s needs are developed.

So far, I’ve adapted quickly and learned new words that will impress the parents, like “ipilimumab” or “aminopeptidases”. Dr. Scher assigned a lot of reading, but it’s interesting, pointing to my propensity for research. On Friday, I saw my work ethic pay off:  I was lucky enough to make a little extra time for independent research on Dr. Scher’s other projects, allowing me to get involved with Dr. Scher on a new, very exciting project: on proteomics in cancer. If all goes well, and I really put in the time, I may have helped Dr. Scher’s group gather enough data to publish a paper by the end of the summer! 

Dr. Scher has been an incredible mentor and support over this past week. After I communicated my desire to explore, he not only enabled me to contribute to his research projects in cancer biomarkers, but also connected me with opportunities in the clinic, allowing me to experience research and practice in immunotherapy and prostate cancer, alongside premiere personnel in each area. What’s really impressed me is Dr. Scher’s leadership style: he’s very down-to-earth and largely disregards imposed limitations. If the FDA’s rules don’t make sense, he makes new ones. In this way, he’s pushed drugs through the translational pipeline in just 4 years, when it usually takes two decades, establishing himself as a leader in prostate cancer medicine. So far, in my research at Rice, I’ve been answering the questions. The skill that Dr. Scher and my P.I. at Rice have, that I plan to develop, is the ability to ASK the right questions, to come up with approaches no one has ever tried.

Today, I explore. By the end of the summer, I hope to have made the choice for a life in academia, medicine, or both, so that I may make career specific progress next year. In short, this summer will enable me to determine an authentic direction as a leader in bioengineering!

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Authenticity

I was able to meet Michael Skelly, the CEO of Clean Line Energy, on Friday. Once we met, he invited me to sit in on a meeting. When I asked him what the meeting was about, he said, “You’ll see. If you understand it, you have a future.”

Reflecting on that, along with other experiences from my first week, I thought about my life story and how I can be authentic. How can I frame my life story to take advantage of my authenticity? My dad was a contractor for the military, so we were always moving around from base to base. I feel like the experience definitely had an effect on me. If we were not moving during a given summer, one of my best friends was. The constantly changing environment undeniably caused me to develop a certain way—especially where building a support team is concerned. Long term friends were uncommon, so it was only my parents who were always there. I have become an independent person, but self-reflection has never been important to me.

But now, that has to change. I’m used to adjusting to new environments, so I can show my authenticity in developing all the new relationships I’ve made at work. However, I will need to seriously reflect on what I’m doing and whether or not it comes off as authentic. From what I’ve gleaned in the first week, everyone in the office is good friends, and personal relationships are just as important as professional ones. With that in mind, I’ll need to get out of the intern mindset. While I am there to work, the best way to do that will be as an all-around contributor rather than an amazing grunt. I need to establish trust as soon as possible, and I need to do this from an authentic position. I cannot be the intern who is there for the summer only to “develop as a person” or “explore my interests” (not to discount the importance of development). I can convey that I’m here to contribute and that I have the abilities to make a difference.

In a new situation, it is typically my style to soak up as much information as possible, find a niche (or niches), and steadily contribute. I’ve read a lot this week and sat in on many meetings, and my brain is dense with new information. Starting next week, I can begin to wring out my sponge of a brain, and begin making measureable contributions. As I develop my relationships with coworkers, I’ll work with them and find new niches. But in order to develop these relationships, I’ll need to continue my quest for authenticity. These weekly blog posts will help, but I’ll take additional initiative myself, specifically by keeping a decision journal. When enough decisions are made, I’ll have something to analyze my decision-making process and refine my authentic leadership.

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Week 1: Discovering Your Authentic Leadership

I haven’t started my internship yet, but this past week has definitely been full of leadership development. I’ve been working on my personal statement for medical school and the introspection and outlining of my aspirations has been really useful. As the article states, knowing what your motivations are is a key part of knowing yourself and how best to lead.  The article spoke of characteristics of authentic leaders that I already know, but a few of them really struck a chord with me. I’ve always tried to follow my intrinsic motivations when picking activities and classes, but I still have a need for the tangible gold star of extrinsic motivation to validate my choices. I understand that sometimes, this can be useful as a way of benchmarking success, but I feel I often do it to a fault. I need to keep this in mind when evaluating myself, especially during this summer where a lot of my free time will be spent on detailing my activities for applications.  The other characteristic that I realized I need to work on is maintaining and utilizing a support team. Much like Pottruck, when I become stressed I tend to lean on myself and become introverted. Obviously this isn’t healthy and to make the most of my internship and the summer, I’ll need to make sure I don’t do this too much. It’ll be tough juggling making the most of my internship and medical school apps, but that is precisely why I need to build and maintain strong relationships with my cohort. They’ll be the only ones who can truly understand what I’m going through and it’ll be up to me to use them and serve as a support as well.

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Embracing Authenticity

When I was 15 my family packed up and left the United States to live in Doha, Qatar where I stayed until I graduated from high school. Leaving my friends and home allowed me to grow in ways that I never expected. One such development was my self-awareness. I have always considered myself to be very self-aware and this awareness stems from moving overseas because life in a foreign culture forces you to be continuously conscious of every move you make. In addition, life in Qatar solidified my dependence on my family as a support group. As we went through the daily struggles and culture shock that accompany such a dramatic change in lifestyle, we naturally fell back on each other for support. Over time, these relationships have only grown and now I frequently talk with my parents when I fall on hard times. As I mature as an authentic leader, I must maintain self-awareness and surround myself who thrive in areas where I struggle. Specifically at Champion Fiberglass, I should be open to feedback and take every opportunity I can to learn from those more experienced than me. It will also be important for me to preserve my close family relationship for support in times of need. 

My life has always been motivated by improvement. Even when I complete a project, I often don’t consider my work to be done because I always seek ways to improve. This motivation drives all aspects of my life in sports, school, leadership development, or anything else. The value in this motivation will be immediately relevant at Champion this summer. It will provide me an opportunity to distinguish myself through my work by continuously learning and improving. I am a naturally shy person, but I realize now that to be an authentic leader I don’t have to change this, but accept it. Thus, the ability to distinguish myself through my actions is crucial to my development as an authentic leader because I can be a person who leads by example rather than the one who stands up in front of a crowd. 

Finally, the Discovering your Authentic Leadership article discussed the importance of integrating your social, family and work lives. This section really resonated with me because this is an area where I know I struggle. I have always kept the difference sections of my life distinctly separated, but this article really made me recognize the value in combining them. Therefore, in the first few weeks of my internship it will be important for me to develop more personal relationships with my coworkers so that I can begin to mix the different social categories of my life.

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Authentic Leadership

For me, attending a Title I high school where the vast majority of students don’t attend college shaped my personal values and career interests. Most of my classmates didn’t share my passion for learning, a passion that I think is a result of both of my parents being teachers. I hated my high school while I was there, but now that I’m removed from that environment, I’m incredibly grateful for the experience. It has made me thankful for the opportunities I’ve been given, and renewed my motivation for wanting to fix the education system so that every student has a fair shot at being successful.

My first week at the Department of Education hasn’t been what I expected. My mentor was gone for most of the week, so I haven’t gotten a chance to really sit down with her. This week was largely typical intern work; my office just finished up a national grant competition, so I had to print all of the applications out and organize them. I’m somewhat jealous reading about what other SME-ers are getting to do, but I tried to stay positive and made suggestions about how the post-application process could be smoother and more efficient. I think this paid off, because at the end of the week I was allowed to screen thirty applications and determine which schools would make it to the next level.

Self-awareness is another concept emphasized in this article. Before getting to DC, I reflected on my leadership style and my strengths and weaknesses. I know that it takes me a while to warm up to new situations, and I’m very aware that in large groups, I tend to sit back for a while before speaking up and sharing my opinion. I’ve tried to change these things on a personal and professional level since I’ve arrived. The first day of work I introduced myself to a girl in my dorm’s elevator, and it turned out that she’s working at a different office within the Department of Ed. It was so nice to have someone to chat with on the way to the metro, and since I’m not the type to reach out to others and initiate conversation, I was pretty proud of myself. At work, I had the chance to participate in a conference call meeting without my mentor. Instead of just introducing myself and sitting back to take notes, I raised some questions and made comments. I know that participating in a meeting this early will make it easier for me to contribute in the future.

I’m excited to see if this experience helps me decide whether a career at the federal level of education is right for me. Before getting here, I was convinced that DC was right for me, but I’ve already become somewhat disillusioned with the red tape and bureaucracy I’ve seen. Over the next eight weeks, I plan on reflecting on my values and motivations so that I can decide where to showcase my best version of authentic leadership in the future.

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*Insert generic title here*

First off, I hope all of you appreciate the irony of my title. Oh how witty I am. I digress. Starting with question 1 from the article, I think a few things in my early life really contributed to the leader I am today. I’m an only child, and I think growing up “alone” gave me a strong sense of who I am. When you have no siblings to interact with, a lot of your childhood is spent deep inside your own imagination. I think that time gave me an opportunity to develop an authentic personality. Being an only child also probably grew my ego a little too big and lead to some of my weaknesses as a leader, but I wouldn’t change my childhood for anything. The second huge factor in my early life that made me ME is the influence of my mom. That isn’t to say I didn’t have a great relationship with my dad as well, but my mom taught me the value of being open, accepting and sensitive to both my own emotions and those of everyone else. My sensitivity allowed me to read the feelings of people I interacted with, and quickly connect on a deep level. One of my favorite things to do is to talk about my insecurities and failures, because it makes me feel better, but also because I know it disarms those around me and facilitates an authentic, trusting relationship. 

Moving to the present, I’ll be completely honest: I haven’t really had much of a chance to exercise my leadership in my job quite yet. Washington is a very rigid and hierarchical place, so it’s pretty hard to shine. It’s also a hard place to be an authentic leader. There are just simply many things you cannot say and cannot do in many contexts, because of political implications. However, as I get more comfortable in my role, I intend to push boundaries. My goal for the next week is to communicate to my superiors in the office my love of writing, and that I think I can make an honest contribution with that skill. 

To continue to grow as an authentic leader this summer, I want to first be a good follower. I’ve met a few older interns in the office, and I think I can learn a lot from one especially. He’s become a mentor to me, not about the job, but about life in general. So for now I’ve just been listening and paying attention, and when he leaves in a few weeks, along with the other interns, I think I’ll be ready to step into the spotlight. To keep growing over the next year, I’m going to just look at everything I do in life as an opportunity to improve myself, and I’m going to ask people for honest feedback. Like a lot of the figures mentioned in the article, I sometimes have issues taking criticism. I’ll be working on that in the years to come… 

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Describing how to be yourself in 500 words or

The concept behind authentic leadership seems rather intuitive. If there were a specific method or formula that resulted in great leadership, then the number of leaders that we would see in today’s society would vastly exceed the current quantity. One of my favorite quotes comes from Irish author Oscar Wilde, and reads “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” It seems like a simple concept, but for some reason, our society has this desire to attempt to conform to some unidentified subset of standards deemed appropriate by no specific entity.

So if, then, the key is to realize that the best way to maximize the potential in oneself is simply to operate at the most efficient settings in our personality, I suppose it becomes our job to tweak the knobs and dials of our personalities to find the most productive settings with which we operate. So the question remains, how do I turn this dial to get rid of all the fuzzy radio waves, and pick up the sound of that sweet clear music? Perhaps I’ll be able to roll down the window as “Pour Some Sugar on Me” is blaring, and I am shouting right along.

Immediately, I should frame analyses of situations in a manner directed towards myself; “Denial can be the greatest hurdle that leaders face in becoming self-aware.” For instance, if I find myself on Facebook in the office at a time other than lunch, I should quickly be able to realize that I am doing something wrong, and that rationalization won’t solve the problem. Furthermore, as we discussed rather extensively in LEAD 150, it’s impossible to experiment with your capabilities if you simply remain inside of your comfort zone. To address this issue, I have agreed to help power through a series of business-oriented books that are supposed to give a current context to the popular tones of business books in today’s market, so General McChrystal can appropriately construct a relevant book that will debut early next year. To be blunt, I am a terrible and slow reader. I have no idea how to convey insights of the tones of the books that I will be reading, but I presume I will find a way.

As time progresses throughout the internship this summer, perhaps something simple I could do to change the scenario is switch to a different desk. This will change my daily contacts and conversations, and quite literally allow me to see things from a different perspective.

A year from now, I will have traveled to different places, completed completely new jobs, built relationships with students from across the nation, and presumably will have seen unpredictable changing circumstances. Honestly I feel that as college students, we don’t have the choice but to find ourselves in different circumstances continuously. It is simply incumbent upon us to draw our on conclusions from our reactions from the circumstances.

—Drew Travis

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Am I merely a product of my surroundings?

This week’s article about developing authentic leadership made a lot of sense to me on a deep level. My authentic self has been heavily influenced by my parents, of course, but also by my multi-cultural experiences and my spiritual beliefs. The point about being “integrated” is particularly relevant to me because I feel like it is something I need to work on. I do feel most authentic when I acknowledge all parts of myself, not just the “student” persona that I show in school, or the “family” persona that I show when I’m at home with my parents. To be an effective, authentic leader, I need to integrate all of the roles that I play in different situations, the different cultures that make up my identity, and the different degrees to which I observe my spiritual path. This will help me feel confident about my ability to be an effective leader under any circumstances, even if that means being a “star follower”. Of course, I will still use my surroundings to inform my decisions and actions, but starting NOW I can take steps toward achieving a more “integrated” self by striving to be more self-aware. As John Donahoe says in this week’s article, “The world can shape you if you let it. To have a sense of yourself as you live, you must make conscious choices.” I feel like I often fall into the easy pattern of letting my surroundings, or my friends, or my peers make decisions for me and define what I do, simply because that is easier than recognizing what I truly want/believe/am and acting accordingly. Having a strong support base is important too, as the article says, but it is not there to make decisions for me.

This past week, I have taken steps towards being an authentic leader. Though it may seem an insignificant example, I felt like my true self instead of merely a product of my surroundings when I made the difficult decision to go home and sleep before my flight to India, instead of spending more time with my high school friends back home. I had to remind myself that there is more to me than my fun-loving, high school self and that I could not afford to stay up all night before my 30-hour travel schedule.

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Authentic Leadership

        My authentic leadership stems from my love for people. I love talking to people, listening to people, learning about their life stories and their love stories, all of which I have done this week. ( Just incase you were wondering on the DISC scale almost all my points were in I). So far, some of my favorite moments of my internship have been having discussions with my coworkers about important issues ranging from clean air and water quality, pollution, or their personal stories. Not only have these discussions taught me more about environmental health, but they have allowed me to begin to develop relationships with people who share similar values. To some extent, I believe I am naturally a fairly authentic person because of my general interest and love for people. However, over the past week many of my coworkers have displayed their authentic leadership which I greatly admire. Although everyone I work with has completely different leadership styles and personalities, their authenticity and passion shows through and brings the entire team together. When Jeff, my mentor, talks about the movement towards healthy homes in Houston, his passion for New Living’s mission is clearly evident. Everyone who works at New Living views themselves as a community resource to inform the public about the benefits of a healthy home and the dangers associated with the built environment. Many times customers will call with tons of questions about toxins in the home with no intention of buying anything; however, everyone at New Living is happy to answer all their questions. Not only does this show how much they care, but it also displays their genuineness and authenticity. I really admire these qualities in all of my coworkers and hope to increase my own authenticity by emulating them. 

            In addition to what I learn from others, I believe there are certain ways in which I can further develop my authentic leadership. In particular I want to improve one of my weaknesses, which is my inconsistency. As I have become more self aware, I have realized that I am often inconsistent in various aspects of my life, which is something I want to change. In order to be authentic I want to act consistently in order to inspire confidence and trust in my leadership abilities. Being aware of my weakness is the first step to become an authentic leader. I will also need to take some time to think about my values, why they matter to me, and how my daily actions will reflect these values. It is my hope that working on this weakness will allow me to become an authentic future now and in the future.