Developing a Leadership Mission Statement_2

  AN EXERCISE IN DISCOVERING LEADERSHIP 

1. What are the personal qualities (traits) of effective leaders?

2. What competencies (skills) are required for effective leadership?

3. What actions do effective leaders take to lead their organization?

 FIVE STEPS TO SELF-DIRECTED LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

1. Have a model of leadership

2. Get feedback on that model

3. Evaluate the feedback

4. Make a plan

5. Work the plan

My personal definitions of leadership:

Woodrow Wilson Center Mission Statement

"...such a center, symbolizing and strengthening the fruitful relations between the world of learning and world of public affairs, would be a suitable memorial to the spirit of Woodrow Wilson...." (PL 90-637)

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars aims to unite the world of ideas to the world of policy by supporting pre-eminent scholarship and linking that scholarship to issues of concern to officials in Washington.

Congress established the Center in 1968 as the official, national memorial to President Wilson.  Unlike the physical monuments in the nation's capital, it is a living memorial whose work and scholarship commemorates "the ideals and concerns of Woodrow Wilson."  As both a distinguished scholar and national leader, President Wilson felt strongly that the scholar and the policymaker were "engaged in a common enterprise".  Today the Center takes seriously his views on the need to bridge the gap between the world of ideas and the world of policy, bringing them into creative contact, enriching the work of both, and enabling each to learn from the other.

Consistent with this mandate:

-The Center brings the highest quality thinkers to Washington D.C. for extended periods of time to pursue projects in a place and atmosphere in which they interact with the world of public affairs.

-The Center's outreach emphasizes contacts between scholars and public officials in Congress and the Executive Branch, and it extends their conversations worldwide through publishing, broadcasting, and Internet programs.

-The Center aims to be policy relevant.  It brings in broad-ranging scholars and leading thinkers whose work can illuminate the key public policy issues or identify overlooked or emerging issues.

-The Center provides a forum for research and discourse through a number of programs and projects, with a particular strength in international affairs, a reflection of President Wilson's strong advocacy of international understanding.

-The Center in nonpartisan. It is not an advocacy think tank developing specific policy recommendations, but a nonpartisan center for advanced study, a neutral forum for free and open, serious, and informed scholarship and discussion.

-The Center tries, in a city preoccupied with immediate policy concerns, to separate the important from the inconsequential, and to take a broader perspective to the issues, putting them into their larger context, taking the longer-term view.

The Wilson Center is an intellectually lively place.  It brings together influential thinkers and doers to engage in a dialogue on current and future public policy challenges, with the confident hope that through such discussions there will emerge better understanding and better policy.  Providing a bridge between the worlds of learning and public affairs, the Center is located in the Ronald Reagan Building in the heart of Washington D.C., a city that is at the center of the world of public affairs today.

 CLARIFYING YOUR ROLES & IDENTITY

Instructions: On the ten blank lines below write a different response to the question: "Who am I?" Write your responses in whatever way you think of yourself.  Your framework for thinking of yourself may be the roles you have in your life, the positive or negative qualities you have, your skills and attributes, etc.

 WHO AM I?

When you have completed the exercise, rank your "I am..." statements from 1 to 10, with I being the statement with which you identify most strongly.  Then, think of what you would be like if you had to systematically eliminate the lowest five statements.   Write a brief statement of who you would be and what you would look like to yourself with the lowest items removed.

 Step 3: Now from the above data, pick the top 5 and rank them in descending order of importance:

1. ________________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________________

4. ________________________________________________________________________

5. ________________________________________________________________________

 Step 4:  Finally for each of the top 5, write a personal definition of what that value means to you.  My top value, for example, is freedom, and my definition is "the freedom to explore both my inner and outer world so that I can grow to my fullest potential."

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Developing Personal Mission

• 1. List some personal characteristics you feel great about. These should be nouns.

Examples:

Technical expertise                             Energy                                     Courage

Strength                                              Enthusiasm                              Creativity

Sense of Humor                                  Insight                                     Patience

I have____________________________________

For me these characteristics were coach, facilitator, servant, challenger, and creativity.

• 2. List ways you successfully interact with people. These should be verbs.

Examples:

Teach                                                  Serve                                       Lead

Support                                                Inspire                                     Motivate

Collaborate                                         Produce                                   Plan

I ____________________________________ 

For me the key words were inspire, motivate, awaken, serve, and challenge.

• 3. Visualize what your perfect world looks like. What are the people doing and saying?

Write a description of a perfect world.

My perfect world ____________________________________

4. Combine two of your nouns, two of your verbs, and you definition of your perfect world.

My life purpose is ____________________________________

For me it was, "I use my coaching and facilitating skills to awaken everyone to their inherent basic goodness and inspire them to be that in the world."