Not to toot my own horn (but, to do exactly that) I’ve been told I have CEO qualities. Until now, I’ve always been flattered, but never understood what this meant. Now I think I know how to channel my inner CEO and exude my best leadership and teamwork characteristics so I can become a really wonderful boss one day.
This semester, I worked really hard with a group of five amazing girls on a public relations project called HOOKED: Tracking Heroin’s Hold on Arizona. Here’s a quick project promo video we created:
Throughout the project, I studied myself as a teammate and leader very carefully.
I realized my leadership style comes from the following sources: Experiences working for a wide variety of leaders, studies in the Humphrey Seminar at ASU, reading Creativity Inc., and my results in the true colors personality quiz.
Here’s a bulleted list of my takeaways from each (implementation style TBD):
From Creativity Inc:
- Hire people smarter than me
- Take research trips before big projects (like Disney+Pixar did before Brave)
- Don’t walk in to the room last – it frustrates people
- Proclaim a course as a leader, it is okay to correct yourself later on
- Do not cling to what used to work
- Challenge colleagues, but don’t act superior
- Meet employees where they live – get on their level and talk to them accordingly
- Invest in workers needs / diverse interests
- Embrace failure
- Talk about mistakes
From the Humphrey Seminar
- I was not born a leader. Instead, I was born with leadership qualities that I can strengthen
- You can’t categorize my style concretely, but it has most similarity to:
- Charismatic leadership
- A charismatic leader injects enthusiasm and inspiration into followers and can lead by being willing to perform actions that might not usually be willing to perform
- You do not always have to be right to be a leader
- Charismatic leadership
From my past work experience + bosses:
- Clarify deadlines and expectations with teammates and employees
- Lead by example
- Keep work professional. Also be a real person, not a machine
- Do not be passive aggressive
From the true colors personality quiz:
- I am an orange and gold
- Orange is witty, charming, spontaneous, consider life a game, impulsive, generous, impactful, optimistic, eager, bold, competitor
- Gold is loyal, dependable, prepared, punctual, stable, organized, caring, concerned
- Someone with an orange leadership style:
- Expects quick action
- Works in the here and now
- Performance oriented
- Flexible approach
- Welcomes change
- Expects people to make it fun
- Someone with a gold leadership style:
- Expects punctuality, order, loyalty
- Assumes “right” way to do things
- Seldom questions tradition
- Is rules oriented
- Detailed/thorough approach – threatened by change
- Prolonged time to initiate any change
- Expects people to “play their roles”
From all of these different learning sources, I see room for improvement, especially when it comes to accepting change. Also, I see one predominately common theme:
BE FUN. HAVE FUN. DO FUN THINGS. KEEP EMPLOYEES CREATIVE, OH AND HAPPY.
That will be the foundation of my leadership style. FUN.
Wish me luck!
