Leadership

MGMT2127.04

Playing with Your Own Strengths

Maria Navarro Herráiz

May 2017. Boston College

 Leadership has been one of the most interesting courses I have taken throughout this

year and I am glad we have to make this retrospective effort to evaluate our leadership style

and wrap everything up. Despite being a senior member of the ELU1 Leadership School in

Spain, I have learned so many new concepts and insights in this class that I can’t wait to find

myself in a leadership position or situation to implement and share them.

For this paper, I have gathered feedback from my family and friends about my personal

strengths to try to identify my leadership style, my main fortitudes, and how to use them to

influence others. I have used that feedback together with some of the concepts we reviewed in

class to build a portrait of my “best-self”, with the objective of being aware of my strengths

and use them to become an effective leader.

As we have seen in class, we live in an age of unprecedented opportunity in which

ambitious, smart and hard workers have the opportunity to carve out their own place and rise

the top of their careers. However, this requires a deep understanding of oneself: our strengths

and weaknesses, our working style, our values, and our personality (Drucker, 2005). I am

amazed at how much this paper has helped me to get to know myself better and realize where

my strengths lie. I have discovered that my family and closest friends can recognize all the

different styles of leadership on me depending the situation, and their kind and beautiful

feedback words are something I will keep with me forever.

I want to start saying that –unexpectedly for me- most of my respondents coincided on

many of their responses. I often tend to think -and fear- that my behavior is not the same when

I am with different people, so I was very pleased to see that my most beloved ones were able

1
Escuela de Liderazgo Universitario ELU- Francisco de Vitoria University. Madrid, Spain.
http://elufv.com/default.aspx

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to identify similar patterns in me. This has given me confidence and self-esteem because one

of my biggest fears and insecurities is not having a clear self-image.

Everyone defined me as a hard-working and responsible person, strengths that I knew

it would come up because they are the most obvious and easy ones to recognize. It is true that

I have a strong desire to achieve and that this ambition keeps me focused, strong and motivated.

However, as we have learned in our articles, a relentlessly focus on tasks and goals can, over

time, damage performance (Fontaine, Malloy, & Spreier, 2006).

I have already experienced this situation and my father mentioned it on his feedback:

when I was a senior in high school, I became so obsessed with having great marks and

graduating with the highest honors that I neglected many relationships, especially my

relationship with him. This made me adopt a coercive leadership style at home (Goleman,

2000) and not to tolerate any criticism or disapproval because I was working as hard as I could

for what I considered what the most important thing in my life: my studies and my future. I felt

alone, like no one was able to help me nor to understand the vital importance of achieving my

goals at that time of my life. I had a lot of pressure and I vented it all at home, affecting my

family atmosphere and my relationships with my closest ones. Nevertheless, I have learned the

lesson, especially after our class discussions this semester (Fontaine, Malloy, & Spreier, 2006),

in which I learned the importance of recognizing my overactive drive to achieve and channel

it into new and less harsh behaviors and activities such as running or practicing yoga.

When referring to these episodes on his feedback email, my father truly surprised me:

even though I am not proud of my attitude at that period of my life, he only brings the positive

out. He remembers how proud he felt when he attended a meeting at my high school and

realized that everyone appreciated me. My professors congratulated him for being my father

and he understood that I wasn’t little anymore and that I was growing up, fighting to build my

own path and becoming the independent woman he always wanted me to become.

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 At this point, there was a general agreement on my respondents’ feedback on my

capacity to set myself very clear objectives, my persistence, and my strong desire for self-

improvement. Carolina -one of my best friends- told me she admired my capacity to remain

authentic, and both my parents congratulated me for being so faithful to myself. I was delighted

to realize that people perceived me as an authentic person because that is one of my biggest

purposes in live: to build a unique and inspiring personality for myself that can be attractive to

people.

I am a little bit insecure and I often have trouble identifying my personality type and

my behavior patterns, so it has been a pleasant surprise to discover some evidence of my

authentic leadership (George, Sims, McLean, & Mayer, 2007). As I have a strong desire to

learn and improve, I am always looking for good references and inspiring examples of

leadership. This often leaves me with a disagreeable feeling of being an imitation and not

having enough personality. But thanks to the articles reviewed in class and to our

conversations, I have understood that learning from others’ experiences is not copying but

getting inspired to build my own and unique way to lead. Learning about different and inspiring

examples of leadership styles -such as the ones demonstrated by Ricardo Semler (Maddux,

2014) or Steve Jobs (Sutton, 2004)- can be very useful to build our own profile and avoid the

mistakes they committed or the traits we don’t like.

There is no way one can be successful by just copying or replicating existing leadership

styles. Regarding to Maxwell, trust is the foundation of effective leadership and only if we are

authentic and honest we develop trust. The more trust we develop, the stronger our

relationships become, and the better the relationships, the greater the potential for a leader to

gain permission to lead. As we have constantly repeated in class, “People only trust you when

you are genuine and authentic” (Maxwell, 2013).

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 Effective leaders do not present any universal characteristics, traits, skills, or styles that

led to their success. Rather, their leadership emerges from their personal and authentic life

stories. We are continually testing our strength through our experiences and constantly learning

who we are and which is our purpose in life: “discovering your authentic leadership requires

a commitment to developing yourself. […] you must devote yourself to a lifetime of realizing

your potential.” (George, Sims, McLean, & Mayer, 2007).

I truly think I am ready to make such commitment. I am responsible, persistent and

determined. And as my mother said, I have no problem to expose myself to others, to

demonstrate my passions and emotions, and to overcome my fears and embark myself on new

challenges and adventures.

Other characteristics of authentic leaders that all my respondents have recognized on

me are my strong values and my capacity to practice them consistently. I deeply appreciate

friendship and family, and I consider them the main basis of happiness. I absolutely adore my

family, my siblings are the most important persons in my life, and I am tremendously proud of

the amount of quality friendships I have built throughout my twenty-three years of life. It

honors me that my friends trust me, consider me a great listener, and enjoy my company.

Building relationships -as Maxwell says (Maxwell, 2013)- is the best way to influence

others, and I consider myself as a socially skilled girl that has a significant ability to make new

friends and open up to people. I perceive that, in general, people like me, show interest for my

life story and value my opinions and insights. As we have learned throughout the semester,

empathy and social skills concern a person’s ability to manage relationships with others and

moving people in the direction you desire (“friendliness with a purpose”), and I am quite

capable of finding common grounds with people of all kinds. I have had a lot of international

experiences that have opened my mind and made me appreciate and embrace diversity, and I

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have understood that “nothing important gets done alone” and that we always need a network

to rely on. (Goleman, What makes a leader?, 2004)

In relation to this, also believe that effective leaders need to be humble enough to

recognize their own vulnerability, weaknesses and limitations, and be confident and fair

enough to recognize their followers’ strengths and empower them to develop their own

potential. “Identifying and developing people compounds the positives of team work because

bringing the best in a person is often a catalyst for bringing out the best in the group”

(Maxwell, 2013).

Leadership, as we have learned in class, is the art of helping people go from who they

are thought to be to who they ought to be, and that requires a servant’s heart, a humble

personality, and superior skills. As Collins argues in his article, the key ingredient that allows

a company to become great is having a leader in whom personal humility and generosity blends

with intense professional will (Collins, 2005).

Another component of emotional intelligence that came out on my feedback responses

was my empathy and humanity. One of my aunts and some of my friends mentioned my

sensibility and my interest to get a first-hand experience with different social realities around

the world. Two years ago, I traveled to Bangladesh to work at Grameen Bank2 in Dacca, and

my global perspective and point of view changed forever. I understood that empathy is not

adopting other people’s emotions as my own and trying to please everyone, but thoughtfully

considering others’ feelings and viewpoints.

I have been very fortunate to travel to many different countries and continents, already

and I have a fair sense of what globalization looks like and many personal experiences of how

cross-cultural dialogue can easily lead to miscues and misunderstandings. Empathy is the most

effective skill I have developed to solve that kind of puzzling situations.

2
Grameen Bank oficial site http://www.grameen.com

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 One more strength that has come out and that is another component of emotional

intelligence is my self- regulation (Goleman, 2004). My mother - who I think is the person

that best knows me-, emphasized the maturity I have shown since I was a little girl, my self-

management ability, my independence, and my capacity to control my own feelings and

channel them in useful ways. Self-regulation is extremely important for leaders because only

the people who are in control of their own feelings and impulses can create an environment of

trust and fairness in which productivity and high performance are maximized. Also, in this

frenetic and fluctuating business world we live in, only the people that have mastered their

emotions are able to adapt and deal with ambiguity and change. People who can manage their

emotions are able to move forward, overcome adversity and see the opportunity on the

unexpected, not letting their impulses and emotions rule their behavior.

After reading my respondents’ anecdotes about my capacity to embrace change and roll

with it, I have been able to recognize on me a big propensity for reflection and thoughtfulness,

a considerable ability to express my own feelings, and a great comfort with ambiguity and

change. As a matter of fact, I often feel the need of exposing myself to the unknown and I

definitely find certain pleasure on pushing myself out of my comfort zones (as I did in the ropes

course!). My desire to travel, to learn, and to discover unfamiliar places and turn them into a

home -along with my capacity live away from my family and friends and still maintain healthy

long-distance relationships-, are a proof of my self-sufficiency, self-government, and

determination.

As we have learned throughout the course, the leader’s self-regulation and self-

awareness capabilities are key to create an empowering working climate in which information

sharing, trust, healthy risking and learning flourishes (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2001).

The leader’s moods and its attendant behaviors are the most important elements affecting

bottom-performance, so it is important that I continue working on my inner life’s management

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capabilities to become an inspirational and inclusive leader that uses emotional intelligence to

create an energizing work environment that empowers everyone around me: “If a leader’s

mood and accompanying behaviors are indeed such potent drivers of business success, then a

leader’s premier task is emotional leadership. A leader needs to make sure that not only is he

regularly in an optimistic, authentic, high energy mood but also that, through his chosen

actions, his followers feel and act that way, too.” (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, Primal

Leadership, 2001)

In conclusion, I have discovered that that I am sensitive of the impact I have on others

and that I have a great capacity to adapt my leadership style to get the best results in different

situations. I use my emotional intelligence to connect with people, to understand them, and to

create energizing working climates that help me and my teams achieve our objectives

(Goleman, 2000). I have learnt that leadership is influencing people (Cialdini, 2001) , and that

I will only master the art of persuasion if I have a deep understanding of my inner life, my

motives and my values. Finally, I have realized that people have a much more positive opinion

of me than I do, so from now I will focus more on my strengths, trying to place myself where

I can make the great contribution.

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 References

• Carli, & Eagly. (2007). Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership. Harvard Business

Review.

• Cialdini. (2001). Harnessing the Science of Persuasion. Harvard Business Review.

• Livingston. (2003). Pygmalion in management. Harvard Business Review.

• Collins. (2005). Level Five Leadership. Harvard Business Review.

• Babcock, L. G. (2003). Nice Girls don't Ask. Harvard Business Review.

• Drucker. (2005). Managing Oneself. Harvard Business Review.

• Fontaine, Malloy, & Spreier. (2006). Leadership that Runs Amok. Harvard Business

Review.

• George, Sims, McLean, & Mayer. (2007). Discovering your Authentic Leadership.

Harvard Business Review.

• Goleman. (2000). Leadership that Gets Results . Harvard Business Review.

• Goleman. (2004). What makes a leader? Harvard Business Review.

• Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee. (2001). Primal Leadership. Harvard Business Review.

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Review.

• Kilduff, & Galinski. (2013). Be seen as a Leader. Harvard Business Review.

• Maddux. (2014, April). Ricardo Semler: A Revolutionary Model of Leadership.

Harvard Business School Case Study Coursepack.

• Maxwell. (2013). The 5 Levels of Leadership. New York: Center Street.

• Pin. (2012). Leadership Under Pressure: Comunication is Key. Harvard Business

Review.

• Roberts. (2005). How to Play your strenths . Harvard Business Review.

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 • Sutton. (2004). The Story of Steve Jobs: An inspiration or a cautionary Tale. Cio

Insight.

• Tannen. (1995). The Power of Talk: Who gets heard and Why. Harvard Business

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