THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP Susan Conrad

PURPOSE This project required me to interview a person who I saw as a leader and gain their perspective on leadership. I selected my current supervisor for this interview. She has been with Marymount University for many years and has held both faculty and administration positions.

MARYMOUNT LEADER

LEADING TO MEET THE MISSION  Clear Expectations (Fullan p.55)  Valued to the individuals (Hahn, p91) “To feel that you are helpful, you are useful to society - this is happiness.”  Inform each person the importance of THEIR Role (Fullan p. 52, p. 118)  Flow of Knowledge (Fullan p.87)  Excel at Office Politics (Liane S.)

LEADERSHIP QUALITIES  Inspire Others (Fullan p.55)  Enthusiasm, Self-confidence, Optimism, Clarity of Mission (Fullan, p.41)  Ethics (Wheatley p.57)  Make Hard decisions (Machiavelli, Chapter 19)  Respect (Hahn p.73) “Leaders make people feel that even the most difficult problems can be tackled productively.” (Fullan p.7)

IT TAKES A TEAM  Recognizing Strengths and Weaknesses of your team “Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. When you can see only what’s wrong in another person, when you aren’t capable of seeing her good qualities, something is wrong with your perception….The solution to this is to look more deeply.” (Hahn p.122) “Leaders look at their people’s skills and figure out how to best use their talents to most benefit the mission.” (Liane Summerfield)

SELECTING THE TEAM  “I hire good people who want to move up and I give them opportunity to excel.” Liane Summerfield  “Remind people that they are part of a team for the greater good of the university.” Liane Summerfield

ELEMENTS FOR BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS “What separates effective leaders from ineffective leaders is how much they really care about the people they lead.” Fullan p. 55 Define Expectations Expect the Best Setting the example Recognizing individuals Celebrating  Feedback “Treat people with respect and be honest with feedback even if you are not sure it be favorably received.” Liane Summerfield

ROAD TO LEADERSHIP  Do Your Best / Mindfulness “Whatever you do, do it with your whole being.” (Hahn p. 42)  Mentors “The wise man should always follow the road that have been trodden by the great and imitate those who have excelled, so that if he cannot reach their perfection, he may at least acquire something of its savor.” (Prince p. 23)

CHALLENGES  Adapting and Preparing for Change “Transforming the culture- change things the way we do things around here…reculturing….one that activates and deepens moral purpose through collaborative work cultures that respect differences and constantly build and test knowledge against measurable results.” (Fullan p. 44) “I believe that people can change; You just need to teach a new way of behavior.” Liane Summerfield

BAD LEADERS “Bad leaders are pompous and full of themselves. Title is everything and they delegate all the work. You can’t trust them because they are so busy promoting themselves. They would throw the team under the bus if they were in jeopardy.” Liane Summerfield Conrad Comment: “It sounds like you (Liane) would not be supportive of the ways of The Prince.” Liane Comment: “Mostly true, however there are times when you have to make hard decisions like letting people go….and sometimes they come back to me and thanked me because people know when they aren’t performing.”

FINAL THOUGHTS “A leader has to be willing to do whatever it takes; nothing is beneath them.” Liane Summerfield

REFERENCES Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Hahn, T. N. (2007). The art of power. New York, NY: HarperCollins. Machiavelli, N. (2004). The prince. New York, NY: Pocket Books. Wheatley, M. J. (2006). Leadership and the new science. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.