Hi Prof Jorge,
Submitting you my Final Integrative Paper. Merry Christmas!
Regards,
MM Leadership_Leader Anna Choco
Final Integrative Paper – Personal Strategic Plan for Leadership
Ateneo Graduate School of Business
Introduction:
This final paper is an integration of all the reflection papers, discussions, debate, lectures, references, posts and articles on leadership and others. More than I need to reckon all the learning but to be able to diagram and re-assess myself where I am now, where am I going and how do I get there.
This Leadership class with Prof. Jorge and my beloved classmates helped me a lot in realizing a lot of things about authentic leadership. At first I cannot see clearly the need of doing such reflection papers on defining moments, movie synopsis, genogram, enneagram and others. Then now that I need to integrate all those, I am more than grateful that I took this subject ahead of any other subjects. My defining moments helped me realize how I've gone far from that time where I was living my life at the moment, the time where I don't have a clear direction of where I want to go, who I want to be and what should I need to do. And how far am I for the goals I set for myself. The genogram let me knew my roots, who really are my family, my bloodline, where did I got my leadership ability if any, and I am glad because I was able to bring back those memorable moments with my family since I was a child. The movie synopsis, where I was able to direct own life story, where I unexpectedly I was able to relate a movie to my own story, it was a challenge I was able to surmount and it felt fulfilling. All those learning leads you to authentic leadership which is all about being self aware, knowing your strengths, recognizing your limitations, expressing your emotions and weaknesses.
"Denial can be the greatest hurdle that leaders face in becoming self-aware" – by Bill George, Peter Sims, Andrew McLean and Diana Mayer.
Where Am I Now?
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§ I am currently working as a Senior Architect at DMCI Homes.
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§ I am currently living a non-perfect but a fulfilling peaceful life.
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- § I am a student; currently enrolled in MBA Middle Manager Program at
Ateneo Graduate School of Business and this is my first semester.
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Enneagram – Type 9 Peacemaker
Nines are accepting, trusting, and stable. They are usually creative, optimistic, and supportive, but can also be too willing to go along with others to keep the peace. They want everything to go smoothly and be without conflict, but they can also tend to be complacent, simplifying problems and minimizing anything upsetting. They typically have problems with inertia and stubbornness. At Their Best: indomitable and all embracing, they are able to bring people together and heal conflicts.
The problem with nines as well as with me is asserting myself against others. Most often than not, I usually give in to others idea just to keep the harmony. Since authentic leadership is about self-awareness, I should know myself better now, identify my strengths and make use of it, and weaknesses to be able to accept and defeat it. To be able to lead others, I should first know and manage myself and start to stand on my own principles and beliefs. Usually during office meetings, I seldom voice out my opinions and just agree on whatever I think is agreeable. Being an MBA student, and now self-aware thru leadership wisdom, I should start to engage myself mentally and emotionally on my entire endeavor and I may say that I am now on the process of it.
By the way, Joseph Campbell is also type 9, just saying J
Most of the leaders got type 3, which is The Achievers. Leader Richard got type 8 which is The Challenger, and Leader Erika got same as mine which is type 9.
Genogram – is not the typical family tree.
It is beyond knowing your relatives names but its roots. It is a deep understanding of your hereditary patterns that may have an influence on your current state of mind and career choices. As what Steve Jobs pointed out in his speech at Stanford University graduation rites, whereas he shared three stories of his life. He mentioned about connecting the dots, love and loss, and the third one is about death. First is connecting the dots where he stressed that we cannot connect the dots looking forward, but we can only connect the dots looking backwards. Whereas, he started tracing back his story since before his birth that he was a child of a young unwed graduate but keen on giving him with educated parents. Second is love and loss whereas he was thankful that he found what he really wants to do at a very young age. Because of his love for his work, he's worth a billion dollars before he reached 30. Loss, where the company that he started in their garage with just two people then up to 4000 people ejected him out of the company where he focused his entire adulthood was gone and left him devastated. Third is death, where he learned about his pancreatic cancer. "Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition because life is too short." Steve Jobs is true to say that. We must live our life the way we want it to be, do things we really wanted for us to be more successful and happy in life.
Looking back and tracking back your family roots would bring out the very core of your persona. I may not be able to trace all since almost all of my elders departed already but still, you can see the traces of your personality and the way you do things. I feel that whatever persona you want to be, whatever learning you want to change or to achieve, it still boils down on how you perceive things. We can make use of our family history to improve whatever we want to develop. Our life and work experiences would guide us to achieve things that we would want to happen in the future. We could make amendments on things that we think needs improvement. Life is a continuous process, and we should be able to convey all those learning of the past to the future.
Realizing all those, I am now giving more weight to education as opposed to my parent's ideals, but would continue the wisdom that my parents taught me, to be helpful of others in need, to remain humble and to be resilient whatever challenges cross my path.
Life is a continuous process. I might need to do a series of changes but knowing that I was armed with the right perspective, continuously developing my competency, setting my focus on life's purpose, everything would be possible. I would continue to reflect on my life goals from time to time making sure that my progress is aligned with my objectives.
Side comments: Leader Leigh's bloodline highly speaks on her current advocacy and future plans, which is more on politics. So I can say that Leaders are born in the case of Atty. Leigh.
My Life Story, J. Campbell
With this part of our learning, we were asked to analyze a movie and relate it to our own lives. Be the director of our own life story. I chose the movie Heneral Luna as I find him admirable who showed authentic leadership, full of passion in his endeavor. General Antonio Luna was a born leader, a commander of the revolutionary army.
General Luna was a freedom fighter for the country but members of the elite would rather strike a deal with the United States. The infighting is fierce in the new cabinet but General Luna and his loyal men forge ahead even as his military decisions are met with resistance from soldiers who are loyal only to the President, which is Aguinaldo. Ultimately, it is the general's passion, quick temper and pride that brought him to his death in broad daylight. Like Gen. Luna, I am passionate with my work and sometimes forgetting that we are leading a bunch of people and not a bunch of robots. We need to be strict but compassionate as a leader, lead with your ability for mentorship and not by force. Leadership is not by position alone by your ability to inspire and motivate people. A leader would not be afraid to challenge the status quo by thinking innovatively. We should not be afraid to go against the tide but stand on what you believe in. Lead your people to accomplish their goals by removing barriers.
We can accomplish all these as it's up to us, which way we want to go, as we are the director of our own lives. Learn from our life story. Our journey to leadership begins with the story of our lives. Our life story provides the context for our experiences and through that, we can find the inspiration to make our impact in humanity.
My Strengths and Weaknesses
Emphatic, available, steady, reliable, too accommodating, harmonizing, calm, simple, accepting. These are some of the strength attributed to number nines.
My Weaknesses: Apathetic, forgetful, stubborn, unassertive and public speaking.
Public speaking is my biggest fear. As Prof Jorge is always saying, a leader should be able to deliver a good speech and this gives me a fright. Most often than not, every time I was called to do public speaking, I always feel nervous and stutter. I would like to make this my goal: to be confident and calm and be able to deliver a good speech in front of an audience.
Update: I was delighted when my Call to Arms speech was appreciated and acknowledged by the judges my classmates. It may not be a big thing for others, but for me, I was ecstatic! Never in my life I did such and was able to look calm even if I want to lose face while saying my piece. To Sir Jorge and my classmates, thank you for giving me the chance to make a speech in front on the class and appreciating what I contributed.
My Defining Moments
This is the first paper I did for this leadership class. Reflecting what happened in the past and learning that those where the defining moments of your life made a big change on you is really inspirational and an eye opener. Looking back, you will never realize that those low points of your life will be the product of a better you. That those moments will make you look back and appreciate what you have now in front of you. To be able to write and reflect back my past is really a great learning that I would like to continue to do once in a while for me to be able to re-assess my life and make sure that my path is on the right track to meet my objectives in life.
Other Activities, Articles on HBR and Special Reports on Leadership:
1. What Leaders Do by John P. Kotter, reported by Leader Cath Villanueva.
Whereas leaders are described as: they don't make plans, don't solve problems; they don't even organize people. What leaders really do is prepare organizations for change and help them cope as they struggle through it.
2. Management vs Leadership comparison by Leader Atty Leigh Abarquez
It was learned that Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their shared purpose. Management is the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling organizational resource. Good leaders motivate people by making the vision relevant to the particular group, supporting the employee with coaching, feedback, role-modelling and by recognising and rewarding success.
3. Effective Executive by Leader Richard Tan
An effective executive does not need to be a leader in the typical sense of the word. They ranged from extroverted to nearly reclusive, from easygoing to controlling, from generous to parsimonious. What made them all effective is that they followed the same eight practices: They asked, "What needs to be done?" and "What is right for the enterprise?" They developed action plans. They took responsibility for decisions and for communicating. They were focused on opportunities rather than problems.
Listen first, speak last. Effectiveness is a discipline. And, like every discipline, it can be learned and must be earned.
4. Tipping Point Leadership by Leader Gab
His example was Police Chief Bill Bratton who used tipping point leadership to make unarguable calls for change, concentrate resources on what really mattered, mobilize key players' commitment, and silence naysayers.
5. Steve Jobs; Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish by Leader Mel Flores
This is where the famous line "connecting the dots" came from. Steve Jobs' graduation speech at Stanford University made a lot of noise, as it was a very inspiring speech from a very successful man. A man who never graduated from college, a school drop out but his success was beyond imagination. For the full video and transcript of the his speech:
Heroic Leadership
by Chris Lowney
Magis-driven Heroic Leadership
Magis-driven leadership inevitably leads to heroism. Heroism begins with each person considering, internalizing, and shaping his or her mission. Whether one works within a large organization or alone, no mission is motivating until it is personal. A magis-driven leader is not content to go through the motions or settle for the status quo but is restlessly inclined to look for something more, something greater. Instead of wishing circumstances were different, magis-driven leaders either make them different or make the most of them. Instead of waiting for golden opportunities, they find the gold in the opportunities at hand.
Heroes lift themselves up and make themselves greater by pursuing something greater than their own self-interest. Our classic heroic role models often do so through extraordinary bravery at uniquely critical moments. But heroism is not limited to these rare and privileged opportunities. They are also heroes who demonstrate the courage, nobility, and greatness of heart to pursue a personal sense of magis, to keep themselves pointed toward goals that enhance them as people.
The Jesuits Four Core Leadership Pillars:
1. Self-Awareness – understanding your strengths, weaknesses, values and worldview.
2. Ingenuity – confidently innovate and adapt to a changing world.
3. Love – engage others with a positive attitude that unlocks their potential.
4. Heroism – energize yourself and others with heroic ambitions and a passion for excellence.
Unstructured Group Activity:
§ Taboo word game, headed by Leaders Alex, Mel and May. This is like pinoy henyo game in which you need to act for the other members to guess what word is that but there's a taboo word as a challenge.
§ Lion, Samson and Deliah game headed by Leaders Gab, Erika, Richard and Justin. In this game, you need to outguess the competing group according to lion, Samson and Delilah actions.
§ Things on bag and tell something about it game. Headed by Leaders Leigh, Maricon, Cat, and Maye. This game requires the player to describe the thing they've got in the bag and relate it to themselves.
§ Chismis Game headed by Leaders Jermitz, Ana, Rachel and Khris. In this game, there were two groups and each group would have a leader who will read a short story and will relay it to the other group member up to the last in the line. This is a test of memory and how you connect words to a complete story.
The activity was one of the funniest days we had in this leadership class. A night full of laughter and fun. Good job to all leaders!
Prado Farms Team Building
I learned a lot from this team building. This was not my first time to do a team building but this one is more meaningful, not just full of learning but fun! Hats off to the organizers of this team building, President Jermitz, Leader Cat, Leader Maye and Leader Richard. They unselfishly gave their best effort for all the leaders and the all the activities that gave a lot of wisdom.
First activity starts at Petron gasoline station in Marilao where each group were given a shopping list and a limited budget and whoever the quickest will win. Second is collating of baby pictures of each member, a test on creativity and resourcefulness. Third activity is Marshmallow game for planning and flexibility. We had some glitch on game rules but the organizers quickly resolved it and made a firm decision, true traits of leadership. Fourth game is Takeshi Castle where the objective is to destroy the headgear with tissue using water guns. This is a game of strategy offensively and defensively. The last activity was collection of coins whereas your people skills and persuasiveness will be tested.
Then there's the CTA speech of Leaders Maricon and Richard in front of not just the class but plus my team and friends, plus the families who joined the activity.
If sometimes you will hear Sir Jorge saying "kulang sa palaman", this team building is "punung puno ng palaman" J Learning and fun, check!
Class AVP
This is the last session of our leadership class with Prof. Jorge. Where everyone prepared her/his AVP and the whole class watched together. It was fun and inspiring watching our other classmates' presentations, how they were able to do it. Different themes, different reasons, different inspirations.
This is actually not my first time to do an AVP, but this one is quite special since this is a celebration, a thanksgiving for all the blessings that God gave me. All the good times and bad times, all the life experiences taught me to be tough but compassionate, confident but not arrogant and be contented to what life has to offer. Stop whining because we have thousands of reasons to be thankful and blessed every single day :)
To see my AVP, pls see link:
https://enythingcounts.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/life-is-a-never-ending-journey/
Where Am I Going? / My Five Year Plan and Goals
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§ I will be an effective contributor as a leader in this fast growing and constant changing world.
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§ I will be more comfortable to have a front facing role over the next year or two, and be more of a spoke person of the organization.
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§ I will be using my MBA knowledge in a more senior role maybe in 3-5 years. This could be in another field where I can contribute to better project development and business development where I could use my soon to be knowledge in financial planning.
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§ I will soon retire in a farm land where I will do my gardening J
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My Passion
Steve Jobs' felt lucky that at a very young age, he found what he love doing. And so do I. My passion happens to be my work, Architecture. You can do so much more if you LOVE what you are doing. I believe Architects can affect the quality of life of people. As Winston Churchill once emphasized that "we shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us". It means the buildings we live and work with have an impact on us and we need to manage them and be responsible on the use of the world's natural resources.
"If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose" – Bishop T.D. Jakes
I will continue to do continuous reflection of myself, thus authentic leadership. Be self-aware and continue to contemplate the WHY's of my action. Self-awareness is vital to be a good leader. It will help me get better, because it will remind me of how far or how good I am doing. I will try to make the right decisions to continue to motivate other people. I will continue to do great work knowing my past mistakes and knowing my blind spots and weaknesses.
Conclusion:
Like what Prof. Jorge shared recently, on Rafa Nadal's interview:
The tennis superstar was asked and said that "it is not about beating your opponent but about beating yourself." Hearing that from a superstar like Rafa Nadal, it was really humbling. Despite the championship quality he already has, he never stop improving and learning.
Never think that you already reached the peak of your success, because if we do, that would be the end of your learning. Continue to strive for learning, have some goals, dream big. Once you stop learning, you start dying.
This would end our leadership class and lectures, but my journey to leadership will not stop here. I will continue to learn more and persevere more to be a better version of myself in the coming years. This MBA journey has just started, and I intend to finish this til the end.
Leaving you some words of wisdom from Stephen Covey:
(The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)
"Begin with the End in Mind. Begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactive muscles to make things happen."
This is my Final Integrative Paper, thank you for Sir Jorge for sharing your authentic self with us, classmates for sharing your leadership journey, I learned a lot from all you guys!
Thank you for reading my final paper.
Yours truly,
Leader Anna Choco
