By Rhonda Jaipaul-O’Garro

In attempting to articulate a personal leadership philosophy, my thoughts were shaped by principles outlined in several books and articles by leadership experts. Added to consideration is my consciousness of being part of a generation of “wonder women” who continue to shatter the glass ceiling and want to have both a successful career and a thriving family. As I put the final touches on my piece, the world received news of the passing of one of the greatest leaders of our time – Nelson Mandela, and so I also contemplated this icon’s leadership influence.

Given that my entire professional life has been spent in the higher education marketing and communications sector, I chose to interview subjects with a similar background to my own. They were all drawn from Arizona State University (ASU), from the fields of communications and marketing. As a female professional, it was also important to me to center my research on powerful, successful women leaders. I am deeply indebted to ASU’s Vice President of University Marketing, Ann Toca; Associate Vice President of Marketing & Strategic Communications, Terri Shafer and Director of Communications, Sharon Keeler, who took time out of their very demanding schedules to participate in this project. Attending the ASU Faculty Women’s Association Leadership Summit 2013 titled “Revisioning Leadership: Models for Leadership in Administration, Academics and Community” was also tremendously influential in shaping this thesis.  This year’s summit featured successful women faculty at various stages in their career and discussed the pathways and roadblocks to leadership, and thoughts on redefining leadership roles in modern day.

To guide me through the process of defining who I am as a leader, I relied heavily on the philosophy of Mike Figliuolo and his book One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership. Through a sequence of simple questions, One Piece of Paper helps its readers to create a living document that communicates their personal passions, values, goals and standards that define their personal leadership philosophy. For my interviews, I asked my subjects the same four questions that Figliuolo addresses in his book. He calls these the “four aspects of leadership.”

1. Leading yourself: What motivates you and what are your rules of personal conduct? What do you want the “future” to look like and stand for?
2. Leading the thinking: Where are you taking your organization and how will you innovate to drive change? What are your standards of performance for how you will safely get to your destination?
3. Leading your people: How can you lead a team as individuals rather than as faceless cogs in a machine?
4. Leading a balanced life: If you are burned out, you are worthless. How do you define and achieve equilibrium/balance between work and personal obligations?

I combined interviewees’ reflections on these four questions with insights from other readings and used them to shape my own leadership philosophy into seven main aspirations, which can be encapsulated as:

1. To create a 360° sphere of influence.
2. To discover my signature voice and leadership presence.
3. To become an authentic leader and lead with heart.
4. To avoid being a one-dimensional leader and entering a leadership comfort zone rut.
5. To lead a balanced life.
6. To win confidence.
7. To embrace and leverage my personality styles instead of trying to reject/suppress them.

Intrigued by Maxwell’s “Five Levels of Leadership,” I want to become a level 5 leader: one who people follow out of respect, because of who I am and what I represent.