teaching leadership

This past week I began teaching our first MBA course on leadership entitled Leading Self. This five-week, 1 credit course (The Concordia MBA has four different 1-credit leadership courses as a part of its curriculum) will help students begin to wrestle with the question "Who am I as a leader?" What a privilege it is to work with these 40 adults in the discovering of their leadership gifts, talents and passions. This first week focused on discovering one's strengths - and how those can be used in leadership. We laughed a lot as we were surprised at how accurate the Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment was in naming our strengths...and we laughed when some students thought that the identified stren gths were not what they thought they should be - but other classmates saw them clearly in each other. We contemplated how strengths can be used in combination for solving problems in our work and communities...and comtemplated what it might mean if we use our strengths as a manipulative force in others' lives. Over the next four weeks, the classes will go deeper into understanding their personal strengths and the strengths of others - and how they can be further utilized in leading people.

As I prepared for classes last week (and am now thinking about preparing for this coming week), the idea of how leadership is taught keeps crossing my mind. The combination of learning and experience is always powerful, so I have to keep in mind how I can help students relate what they read and think about to their day-to-day experiences. The other part of leadership development happens in what researchers refer to as "individual readiness" - that part of one's self in which they are willing to open up to assessment and critique of their leadership capabilities. As students reflect on their leadership and put on paper their individual thoughts about the subject (and about themselves), they are barring their souls to themselves and to others - a scary, yet powerful learning tool in this process.

So here are a few ideas on what I believe about "teaching leadership":

• lots of interaction - my job is to ask rich and powerful questions which cause the student to think and go deep into what they believe. As they answer these questions out loud, others receive more information that they can them process themselves about what they believe. I keep asking them WHY so they can go to the root of their thoughts.
• spirited debate - teaching leadership is not about learning more material, but about wondering how the material learned related to the individual. I love it when people disagree with what the author of a book says...or what the assessment shows...or what I have to say. Spirited debate makes the student defend outloud what they believe, which helps to make it more real and personal for them.
• reflection - thinking about what one reads - what they expereince - what they think about - and what others say is a critical part of the growth process in leadership development. Having students journal and do assignments that cause them to reflect is a critical part of the growth curve in developing one's leadership style.
• go with the flow - I taught two different groups of students this week, and while the topic was the same for both classes, the discussion went in entirely different directions. Following the lead of the students, I assist them in processing what they are thinking, helping them think through their thoughts and udeas using leadership lenses.
• energy - I play a lot of music in my classroom and have students move around. I have to be upbeat and moving to keep the energy going. While this has a little bit to do with being an evening class, it has more to do with modeling the energy needed for leadership. As I move among students, engage their thoughts, and keep the energy high, it is a reflection of what leaders do for their organizations and people they serve.
• deep questions - my role is to ask rich, deep, thoughtful questions so that students are "forced" to consider how they think about leadership and how they might lead in given situations. It is not my role to tell them what to do or how to act - it is my role to assist them in the process of discovering their authentic leadership style that will guide them as they lead and make decisions.

I am sure there will be more blogs on what happens in my classes over the next month - I consider myself a student as I approach these classes. Each class session last week provided for me an AHA moment in which my view of leadership was challenged. I am grateful for this opportunity and thankful for the 40 students who will teach me about myself and my leadership style during our journey together.

a decade of leading

On this last day of 2009, I have decided to do a little reflection on my own leadership, in hopes that it will help me (and others) put leadership development into perspective. It is hard to believe that for the most part, I have been in an executive leadership role for the past 10 years. Here is a short synopsis of my leadership journey over this decade...

1. Toward the end of 2000, I was faced with the decision to go and work for a person whom I considered a leadership mentor - or lead an organization myself. I chose (after much handwringing) to lead an organization myself - Lutheran High North in Houston, TX. As Headmaster of the school, I was put in a position to grow the school and to make it a viable entity. I spent 4.5 years there (January 2001-July 2005), learning what it meant to be responsible for a large organization. The buck stopped with me - and I lost many nights of sleep thinking about the job. As I look back, I believe that the school expereinced growth and success during that time in a variety of areas.
2. Beginning in February of 2001, I began my doctoral program in organizational leadership through the University of Phoenix. I read, wrote, reflected on, and discussed leadership for two full years (before beginning the dissertation process) with a group of people whom I grew to love and adore. The depth of reading and writing (as well as the AMOUNT of reading and writing) led me to really understand and know what I believed about leadership and what I believed good leadership was. It was during these years of study that I was also learning what it meant to lead an organization - so the two went hand in hand. You want to grow as a leader?...read, write, reflect, and discuss leadership (intensely) WHILE you are actually leading. BTW, I finally finished the dissertation in August of 2007, receiving my degree that fall.
3. In Julyof 2005, I received the opportunity to change my position and go to Concordia University Texas to lead the College of Business. While this seemed like a step "back" in terms of leading an organization, I believed that I had the opportunity to train people in leadership through this position. Concordia's mission of "developing Christian leaders" so resonated with me that I saw this as a chance to make a larger impact for God's Kingdom by devloping others to be leaders. Over the course of these past four and a half years, I have been able to teach leadership to students, set up a culture where leadership is taught and practiced, serve as a mentor to others who desire to lead, write and talk about leadership to larger groups of people, and continue the process of learning about leadership myself.

What has all this done for me, in terms of my own leadership development? Here's a quick list:

• Understand how I best function as a leader
• Learn how to continue my growth as a leader
• Put myself in constant contact with leaders in multiple venues
• Write and speak about leadership at a continuing deeper level
• Mentor others in their own leadership development
• Develop a clearer understanding of how my faith and theology influences my leadership

Considering how I have grown in my own leadership development in the past ten years, the next ten should be quite a ride. There is still SO much to learn...there are still SO many ways to lead...there are still SO many leaders to talk with...there are still SO many students to influence...there are still SO many books to read...and there are still SO many opportunities of which I am unaware in which God can use what I have learned over the past decade to grow His Kingdom. How exciting is that? With the start of a new decade, I am ready for a wild ride of continued leadership development - and of leading!

the next question

I sat with a young man this week, discussing the field of ethics and values, especially as they 1) relate to business; and 2) are shaped by one's faith and theology. It was a wonderful conversation, going from books we are reading or have read, to ways of teaching ethics, to why one does the things they do - and that was what we decided should always be THE NEXT QUESTION.

It seems to me that the way we learn and develop - especially in our leadership roles - is to ponder the question of why we think, say and do the things we think, say and do. What is it that causes one to act in one way at one time - and another way at another time? What influences have been acting upon someone in any given circumstance to make them say those words that come out of thier mouth?What belief system (or other voices in one's head) directs the action for them to behave in a certain manner?

My freshmen students get a lot of this from me in the classroom - why do you think that is true? why did you choose that answer? what experience have you had that makes you think that way? But for me as a 50-year old adult, I have to face those questions in real life - NOT in a classroom. So what does that look like for me?

Over the past week, I have had multiple opportunities to ask this question of myself:

• as I listened to students complain, I had to ask myself why I was sympathetic with them at that point
• as I campaigned to get rid of an event on campus, I had to ask myself why I felt so strongly about this issue
• as I sat nervously answering someone else's questions about something I had done, I had to ask myself why I would feel that I had been right all along
• as I engaged in dialogue with a local enviromental activist at our Speaker Series, I had to ask myself why I was so attracted to his story
• as I argued against a recent policy that had been made, I had to ask myself why I was so angry and upset over that specific decision

And the list goes on and on. I believe that asking the WHY question does several things for me:

1. It helps me to clarify the main issue
2. It allows me to make a better judgement about the rightness or wrongness of my decision/feelings
3. It fuels (or dissolves) my decision to move forward on the issue
4. It puts my thoughts, actions and feelings into perspective
5. It helps me to better articulate my thoughts on the subject
6. It gives me reasons whether or not to pursue the issue or action to the next level

So start the habit of asking THE NEXT QUESTION...why do I think, say and act in the ways I do? It is in those answers that one can find their true selves and lead from their core being.