Final Integrative Paper
By Richard Tan
Ateneo Middle Management Program
Ateneo Graduate School of Business
Summary
The values I have learned in attending this program for the past 3 months are really insightful and critical in our journey to become better leaders in our own lives. Understanding and oneself as a pillar of the leadership program taught us the importance of reflection and understanding our authentic self. It guided us that leadership is not about imitation but finding the right balance of leadership style that will enable us to inspire and motivate action. The reading on J. Campbell, help us understand better that we are the heroes in our own lives. No one else can be that hero; all of us will be tested and created as unique leaders in our own life stories. Once we understood authentic leadership we went on to understand what type of leaders we are through the enneagram. This helped the class understand who they are, some like me got results similar to who I think I am but some did not. The activity pointed out that we need to sometimes take a further look into how we are so we have a real image of us. All these activities now lead to what shaped us and molded us as individuals this is where we then traced our family roots to understand that our traits may not all be created through experiences but may actually be a result of some leadership genes that runs in our blood. Then lastly to cap everything we created a video of our leadership journey life's passion and purpose so as to remind us of who we are, where we came from, and why do we exist as much as inspire people to join our call to arms.
As we end our leadership class I would like to thank my classmates for sharing their experiences with us without you this course would not have been as much fun and meaningful. Special thanks to Prof. Jorge for facilitating a good healthy learning environment for us all.
Lessons and Learning
Debate
Our class started our first meeting by having a debate. This is about whether leaders are born, made, or just called for by a situation. I luckily landed on the group which defended that leaders are made. This is how I believe most leaders except for a lucky few who have been born with leadership qualities. This was a nice experience each group defended their positions well. Arguments are debunked but at the end of the day it was a combination of everything. What I enjoyed most, more than the debate is that this activity gave me an example of each, this just showed how much people in my class read about this topic even before they joined the class after all the pursuit of becoming better leaders is part of the reason why we are all here in AGSB.
Authentic Leadership
Leadership is about motivating people and inspiring people. As we go through each and every journey of great leaders one thing stood out. They always worked towards a vision that is greater than them. In understanding authentic leadership we read about 4 major concepts.
Self Awareness that focuses on the understanding of a person on what his or her values are.
Ingenuity to adapt his leadership to the changing world
Love that helps connect a leader to the people around him to engage people
Heroism that pushes leaders to achieve great things.
These four concepts are the simple way Jesuits define leadership but at this very day these concepts are still relevant. I was moved by the part where in love was one of the four pillars. I am a critical person emotions have no room for my leadership style up until I met a really good people manager who now helps me run the business. He is different that he manages with love and taught me how to. No other book discusses leadership with love, this is the first time I actually see this. This just reinforces that leadership is not just about Aligning people, Motivating and Inspiring and Producing change as John Kotler states, but it is about growing people, nurturing people and giving them enough love and support that they may one day become great leaders in their own right.
Another concept I learned is leadership from within. The Jesuits believe everyone is a leader in their own right. That leadership is not an act but a way of living and the task of being a leader can never be completed. I just find this nothing short of inspiring. Imagine a world where people aspire, act, adapt and lead, continuously improving themselves. I believe this is possible as we learn how to enable people to become leaders everyone is born to be.
J Campbell
In this class we learned about the stages of a hero's journey.
1. Ordinary World
2. Call To Adventure
3. Refusal Of The Call
4. Meeting The Mentor
5. Crossing The Threshold
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
7. Approach To The Inmost Cave
8. Ordeal
9. Reward (Seizing The Sword)
10. The Road Back
11. Resurrection
12. Return With The Elixir
In this activity I have chosen the movie scent of a woman. This is a very moving movie where I can relate to. This movie teaches people about integrity. Integrity is a value that will always be tested as Al Pacino said during his speech "When the shit hits the fan some boys run and some boys stay, here is Charlie facing the fire and there is George hiding in big daddy's pocket." We face a lot of things in our lives where our values will be tested. Our stand will be tried whether we would bend and break or will it define us as learders. Strength of character is what differentiates a great leader from a good one. Early on I decided on what type of leader I will be and that is how it is going to be.
Bad Boss Plan a Crime
We presented various ways us leaders can use our skills. Leadership is about planning, motivating and execution. This is not morality where there is right or wrong. This inspired our group to plan and combine resources and carefully plan out a crime. This is both fun and eye opening. We have a lot of great leaders today, the question is what type of leaders are they, followed by the question what type of leader would we want to be s graduates of AGSB. This is where the value of nation building comes in. As leaders from the Ateneo Graduate School of Business there is a calling for us to become the leaders who will inspire the achievement of great good for our country. We are being trained as leaders not only good in making money but leaders who are good at helping to make Philippines a better place to live in.
Enneagram
I am a challenger. Despite the good things of being a good leader as a challenger I find that the downside is also true. Being a leader that drives people intensity can sometimes go up and the people get burned out or hurt by words. I have learned in this activity that each type of leadership has its own up and downs. It is up to each and every leader to capitalize on their strength while working to improve it's weaknesses.
Genogram
In this activity we are tasked to trace our roots. This is a journey of self discovery. I grew up not very close to my relatives having to find out certain details about them gave me the opportunity to understand who they are and where I got some of my traits. You get to hear great stories from family members specially the old ones. Tracing ones roots is an activity that will help connect a person to his inner being. This somehow helps define who you are and what your family represents in the society.
Conclusion
Engaging life through reflection on individual experiences shared across in a classroom environment expands the understanding of a student in leadership in people and leadership as a concept. This is critical in an individual's growth. I have learned that open sharing of thoughts and ideas creates opportunities to discuss subjects that may have different approaches or perspectives in it that a single person might miss. This experience will create a personal change in myself and my classmates now equipped with further understanding of what leadership is, armed with the understanding of our authentic self and natural strengths we weaknesses we will endeavor to put things into practice and paying it forward to enable more leaders in our respective fields.
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