Regis Cebu Leadership Final Integration Paper by Leader Bryan Peter V. Evangelista

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bryan Evangelista <bryan.v.evang@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jan 17, 2016 at 9:12 PM
Subject: Regis Cebu Leadership Final Integration Paper by Leader Bryan Peter V. Evangelista
To: "profjorge.entrep.ateneoleader" <profjorge.entrep.ateneoleader@blogger.com>, Jorge Saguinsin <profjorge.entrep@gmail.com>, profjorge.entrep.jermits@blogger.com

Good evening Prof. Jorge, I'm worried that you have not been receiving my papers lately.  So for my final paper I am resending this to all your email addresses known to me.  hope you receive it in time po.

thank you sir.

Regis Cebu Leadership

Leader Bryan Peter V. Evangelista

Reflection Paper 3 – My Passion

As I prepare for this Final Integration Paper I was trying to look for a framework that encompasses the learnings I have acquired throughout this journey.  I would seem to be that the one thing that truly resonates in my mind is the Book on Heroic Leadership by Chris Lowney. It will attempt to fit all my learnings from the HBR readings, to the reflections papers and other assignments that taught me more about leadership than all the corporate course I've taken through out my career based on the 4 Pillars of Leadership.

From the description of the book one is easily intrigued by the possibilities of learning "the best practices from a 450 year-old company that changed the world".  But if you really reflect on it, almost all of what we've done throughout our leadership course goes through a process of self – awareness.

SELF–AWARENESS: To order ones life.

"Leaders thrive by understanding who they are and what they value, by becoming aware of unhealthy blind spots or weaknesses that can derail them, and by cultivating the habit of continuous self-reflection and learning – Heroic Ledership, C.Lowney"

Gaining inspiration from my defining moment, the process allowed me to go through self-discovery that helped me realize why I am where I am today and what I need to become as progress not just in career but in life.

I've been in the Insurance Industry since 1996.  It is my first job right after graduating and getting my diploma from the university.  I still find it amusing how I ended up in this career; but that's for another not more than 2 pages and not less than 1000 words reflection paper. I started with a local insurance company and now I'm with a multinational insurance company.  I rose through the ranks starting as a marketing assistant, promoted to training executive, then on to my first management role as agency development officer to my current position as Sales Director for Visayas.  My defining moment was my transition from being a Manager to the current work-in-progress-so-called Leader. 

With all humility, I believe that I was competent Agency Development Manager (ADM).  This position spanned 5 years, starting with the junior role of Agency Development Officer to eventually my promotion as Agency Development Manager.  In this role, I worked closely with our Distribution channel commonly known as Agencies.  I loved this position as I did nothing but execute plans and strategic initiatives set forth by my Regional Manager.  Coming from a training background, I was technically skilled/competent. I was good in networking and this helped me tremendously in doing collaboration work with other departments.  I had the respect of my peers, colleagues and even our Agencies as I considered them all as partners in the business.  This was a high point in my career as I was respected, well liked, and people sought me for advice and consultation. In 2009, with a new Executive Team in place, we had an reorganization.  Departments were stream lined.  My boss, the Regional Manager for Visayas and Mindanao was eased out and with the reorganization, the Sales Director position was created and I was promoted to this position.  This is where my lessons on leadership began.  As  a Sales Director, I know had the responsibility set the direction of Visayas. I now realign the whole territory to the new direction the company is taking and this was not taken in stride by Agency.

This was my defining moment in my career as my management and technical skills did not prepare me for my leadership role, or so I thought. From being one of the most productive territories in the company, the Visayas became a group of bickering and complaining agents and managers. I struggled and I'm still struggling but through the years I've learned a lot of soft skills important in leadership and one of them was the value of influence. 

I am far from the ideal leader, I am a work in progress. Through self-awareness I've realized that I need to accept that my role has changed and so does my kind or type of leadership.  The closest I could say that inspires me to become that kind of leader that my organization needs can be found in the HBR Reading on Level 5 Leadership – The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Rosolve by Jim Collings.  As articulated in the reading "Level 5 leaders blend the paradoxical combination of deep personal humility with intense professional will."

Cebu Leadership Final Integrative Paper by Genevieve Ramos

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Genevieve Ramos <gerica_ramos@yahoo.com>
Date: 18 January 2016 at 14:54
Subject: Integrative Paper, version 4, ALL EMBEDDED, Genevieve Ramos
To: Gem Reuyan <gsreuyan@gmail.com>
Cc: Jon Aa Ramos <jramos@premierfamilybusiness.com>

 Introduction

The last 32 hours and more of studying, this class brought me to a lot of realization and great learning. Though I am not saying that applying all those learning and realization that I discovered is easy having those ideas will be my guide on my journey toward, discovering within me the truest leadership. On my way, a lot of tumbling blocks came but I succeeded and conquered. Many among them are very significant experiences; lessons I have learned which I believe would help me a lot in my journey towards achieving my highest purpose in this life. There were some points that I entertained giving up but that was just an option where God in his mercy and grace helped me fight those moments of struggles and difficulties. As it is, part and parcel of life purpose and lessons.

My experience especially in doing the teambuilding was redefining, I realized then that I can do more if only I have focused on it. For the longest time I was sitting in my comfort zone until that experience were unfolded to me, I was grateful for the opportunity to discover my strength and potential that I can able to do something more and even to the least likely I am.

This paper is very timely, doing this on the first month of the year would be very much helpful in planning on what I will do for the year and the next 5 – 10 years of my life that is aligned with my new discoveries. This is a very great opportunity for me in revisiting my personal vision and mission in life, in which I was even surprised that there is such thing as a "Personal strategic Plan" all I know is that strategic planning is for the business only, and not for personal. I am so fortunate to attend this class for many reasons, but I would like to highlight that for all my life I had been thinking of other people needs and wants and what's best for the company, never did I examine or listen to my personal needs and what really my inner self is telling me, this class gives me this opportunity to discover myself better, the things I want, and the things I wanted to pursue, and most importantly discovering my true happiness and purpose in life.

Regis Cebu Leadership – Leader Oliver Solijon – Final Integrative Paper

Regis Cebu Leadership – Leader Oliver Solijon – Final Integrative Paper

It can be said that leadership is the skill set for an individual to have an influence on a group of people, making this group work with enthusiasm in achieving common goals. It is defined as the ability to, manage, promote, take initiative, hold, motivate, encourage, and evaluate a group or team. In business management leadership is the exercise of executive activity in a project effectively and efficiently, whether personal or institutional management (within the organization's administrative process).

For the last eight weeks of the course, a lot of self-awareness was made. During the first session we were asked to define what leadership is. I volunteered and define it as a person who has strong willed to influence other people. For the record I was the first student who participated in the leadership class. Apart from that professor solicited ideas from other students in defining leadership.

The question on whether leaders are born, made or situational has been the topic of the debate during the first session. The group that defended the view that leaders are made, won the debate. I am so glad that I was part of that group. Although we won, in my own opinion leaders are a combination of the three- born, made and situational. The percentage for each may vary in every individual. Some may have strong innate leadership qualities and little amount of experience while others may have little inborn qualities while others are made because of their significant experiences.

According to Chris Lowney, author of the book Heroic Leadership, John Kotter has given the most concise definition of leadership.  Thus, he defines Leadership as establishing direction by developing a vision and strategies that will bring about changes needed to achieve that vision. It also means aligning people by imparting direction in words and deeds to all whose cooperation may be needed so as to influence the creation of teams and coalitions that will support the vision and strategies that will have to be carried out.

St. Ignatius style of teaching about leadership is that it is different from contemporary as well as the conventional style of leadership. St. Ignatius teaching about leadership differs in four ways; a) everbody is a leader and we are leading all the time, well or poor, b) leadership is from within and it is all about who I am as much as what I do, c) leadership is not an act, it is a way of living and d) leadership is an ongoing and continuous process.

The first group work of which the class was divided into four was about being a bad boss. The group has to plan a crime reflecting a bad leader. In our group we presented the corrupt practices in the government wherein red tape is rampantly done. The group work presentation that we had is slowly showing the kind of leadership we have.

The learning agreement which was one of the first assignments provides an introduction of myself and analysis of my strength and weaknesses. It also lay out my five year plan, objectives in taking the course and my desired grade for the course. Basically the learning agreement was the start of my self-awareness wherein we were encouraged to disclose some things in my life.

In the book Heroic Leadership, C. Lowney also cited the Jesuits' enduring leadership secrets which are the four core pillars or principles namely: self awareness- understanding one's strengths, weaknesses, values and worldview; ingenuity- the ability to adapt and innovate amidst a changing world; love- engaging others with a positive and loving attitude, unleashing their full potential; and lastly heroism- energizing oneself and others with heroic ambition and a passion for excellence.

The four core pillars of the Jesuits, I believe are the reasons behind their enduring success and longevity as an organization. These same principles are still applicable in the modern times.

Regis Cebu Leadership - Leader Leonard Castañeda –Final Integrative Paper

Prof.,

Once again, let me thank you for the whole learning experience. Mabuhay kayo! Magis!  <well done, well thought of and researched.   Mana sa Nanay.  Tunay na scholar.  Saludo ako sa iyo.  Keep this up>

FINAL INTEGRATIVE PAPER

I.                    WHERE AM I NOW?

There are many ways to answer this, but all require a long, hard look at yourself, and as many people will attest, self-assessment can be difficult, and at times, painful. I just turned 41, meaning that based on the average lifespan of the Filipino male, adjusted for sedentary living and vices, more than half of my life is over. Going through several reflection papers, and collecting pictures for the AVP has made me realize and recall lot of things: decisions that were made, for good and for ill, memories that brought joy and pain, and past experiences that have shaped us, whether with our conscious effort and desire, or with influences that have led us without us being conscious about it. When I recall what my childhood dreams and ambitions were, I cannot help but shake my head with regret over how far from the mark my life has become. The truism that "failing to plan is planning to fail" is like an accusing refrain that plays in my mind even as I write these. To answer where I am, I will begin by taking into account who I am first.

From the enneagram

The enneagram test revealed that I had a 3x4 personality, that is, a combination between an achiever (type 3) and a designer/individualist (type 4).

Type 3's are described as  people who: "need to be validated in order to feel worthy; they pursue success and want to be admired. They are frequently hard working, competitive and are highly focused in the pursuit of their goals."

Indeed, many instances in my past have shown that when motivated enough, I manifest a competitive streak that pushes me to excel: this is most often shown in tests or competitions. But why is it then, that despite this drive, I have not driven myself hard enough to gain the success that I once craved for? Why have I not achieved they typical hallmarks of a successful person?

A big part of this has to do with the second component of my personality, and as I mentioned in my previous paper, "emotionally complex and highly sensitive. They long to be understood and appreciated for their authentic selves, but easily feel misunderstood and unappreciated... they  are often somewhat moody or temperamental.³"

The negative side of my type 4 personality probably caused me to lose both achievements by not being able to focus on sustaining success. I can be moody and erratic, and probably, my insecurities about being an illegitimate child, about being poor, and the glaring contrast between my lack and the relative abundance of my half-sisters, contributed much to this. There seems to be a constant tug of war between the two, and much to my regret, I realize that I could have sought to be understood and appreciated by others based on my accomplishments.

The alternate test showed a different result: this time, I was categorized as a probable challenger (type 8). Type 8's are described as: "essentially unwilling to be controlled, either by  others or by their circumstances; they fully intend to be masters of their fate. Eights are  strong willed, decisive, practical, tough minded and energetic. They also tend to be domineering; their unwillingness to be controlled by others frequently manifests in the need to control others instead."

Bringing them all together, I observed that the following phrase could sort of sum up how I saw myself: "I know what I am doing (type 3), and I need you to understand this (type 4). So now, knowing that, you can either follow my lead, or leave me alone (type 8)."

Regis Cebu Leadership Leader Dovie Sainz Final Integrative Paper

Regis Cebu Leadership

Leader Dovie M. Sainz

Final Integrative Paper

INTRODUCTION

When I first saw the Ateneo MBA school here in Cebu many years ago, I knew that one day I will definitely enroll and try to get my master's degree so that I can continue what I love to do most – teaching. I honestly thought that it would be easy to go through each course because of my age and experiences. I thought I just had to read a couple of books, submit necessary requirements and attend all the classes. I did not expect that my first MBA class could make a huge impact in my life.

I thought I already knew what I wanted in my life. I had it all planned before: I will graduate from college, work, get married, raise children and put up my own business before retirement age. I was doing all these and thinking that I'm on the right track. However, this Leadership class opened my eyes to the other areas in my life that I have overlooked or neglected. Everything I was doing or have done was for myself. I was not thinking about other people outside my close circle of family and friends.

Corporate Social Responsibility for me was limited to taking care of the people who worked for our company or the people we serve as clients. I would not even accept top management positions because I did not want to be responsible for the lives of many people. I was afraid that if I do not meet expectations, I could destroy the lives of many people and let them lose their jobs. Either I was too lazy or to scared to get out of my comfort zone.

This Leadership class helped me see that I have God-given potentials to lead people and make a change where change is necessary. I learned so many leadership ideas from class, team building activities, the book "Heroic Leadership and the reading assignments. I was also able to do some recollection and self-examinations through the reflection papers and written assignments.  I will try to use all of these as my compass as I try to navigate the next chapter of my life.

MM Leadership FIP by Leader Ferdinand Gabriel

Final  integrative  paper

Will my new leadership

knowledge be effective?

Ferdinand Gabriel

Ateneo Graduate School of Business

Middle Manager Program

Leadership Class 2015

Prof. Jorge Saguinsin(g)

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, it is the one that is most adaptable to change."

                                                                        Charles Darwin - Naturalist

Introduction

It has been a short but meaningful journey for the past four months in my Leadership subject here in Ateneo Graduate School of Business under Professor Jorge Saguinsing. The question now, did Mr Gabriel learn anything from the last four months?

If he did, what are those? Will he be far more effective leader than before? Will the new knowledge affect his existing leadership style as a Sales and Marketing consultant? Did he discovered something about himself that he never knew before? Let us try to find out…

 

Part - i

Before we begin with my Leadership adventure, let me tell you a short story of my life, for the sake of those who are not my classmate in this class.  I was born September 11, 1975, in a not so known hospital somewhere in Sampaloc, Manila. My Mom officially introduced me to this world around 10:00 in the morning. She said that, she never have seen a baby as white as me back then which I am not surprise today. So if you guys are wondering now, am I still white? Yes I am still white. Growing up as a kid, the little me always ask so many questions and my curiosity drives the people around me crazy. Until one day my Dad told me to read books titled "Encyclopaedia" which he said can be found at the library, because my family cannot afford to buy a set that is why I settled for the Library copies which I am quite happy because at the library there are tons of reading materials. Unfortunately, having limited attention span, my focus were diverted into Basketball and a lot more, some meaningful and some are stupid things. Guess when you're young you are really supposed to do stupid things. I went to Knox Bethel School and partially in Tenement Elementary School in my primary schooling days, then back to Knox Bethel High School in my secondary level, then to University of Santo Tomas where I took up my degree in Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management. And now, taking my Masters' degree at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business under Middle Manager program, to which I am proud of.

Now you have a little background of my childhood days, let me tell you now, something about my professional (sometimes unprofessional, at some point) life. My first job was a Front Desk Officer at a small hotel somewhere in Ermita Manila called The Mabini Mansion Hotel under the, The Mansion Group of Hotels owned by Mr Ruben Tiu who happens to own also The Discovery chain of hotels and Sterling Bank. I stayed with them for almost seven years while transferring to other properties also, such as the Dakota Mansion. After that, I went to telecom industry, got hired by Globe Telecom as a Platinum Account Manager, which I stayed for four years. Then after that, went to Sun Cellular as a Corporate Account Manager which I stayed also for about four years. Then after that I signed a contract with St. Luke's Medical Centre as a Department Manager for Industry Relation and Special Project team where I met my Defining Moment adventure, which is plainly written in my Defining Moment Reflection Paper. My tenure with SLMC lasted only for a couple months and then went to another industry again, Logistics Industry. Logistics Business, for me is a very challenging yet lucrative industry that will require any leader a strong character and values to overcome the financial temptations that he or she will face on a daily basis. And now, I am a Sales and Marketing consultant for three different companies.

Looking at the previous paragraphs, those experiences from childhood to adulthood, if you try to connect the dots, will show that those experiences made me what I am now, a street smart person with a lot of battle scars all over the body, though it is not obvious but it's true. Am I proud of my past mistakes? Yes and no. Yes because it made me a better person not bitter a one, for now. No, because there are some mistakes I could have clearly avoided but did not. Nevertheless, those mistakes made a huge impact in my life and in my leadership skills. Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life) said, "We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it". And I strongly believe in that.

MM Leadership Final Integrative Paper by Leader Mel Flores

Hi Prof,

Here's my Final Integrative Paper – "My Life Plan". 

Begin with the end in mind.  At the start of the class, we were asked to prepare a learning agreement with the objectives in taking this course.  And I have listed five (5) objectives as follows:

1.    To enhance my competency and credibility as a leader, by acquiring, sharing and improving my knowledge in the technical aspects of leadership. 

2.    To evaluate my strengths and weaknesses as a leader to find ways to fully utilize strengths and complement weaknesses.

3.    To learn the common mistakes of leaders based on researches and discussions to avoid committing the same mistakes.

4.    To study and identify different leadership styles and to identify which pattern shall endeavor to take. 

5.    To understand the challenges facing a leader and to prepare to conquer these challenges.

 

After culminating the class on December 10, 2015, I could say I have achieved these objectives thanks to the (enduring but fulfilling) reflection papers, rich discussions with the other leaders and other activities (debate, teambuilding, bad boss role playing) facilitated by prof.  For me, my best take away from this subject was to realize that one should aspire to become not merely as a "leader" rather a "leader with a purpose".  Below are the various realizations and learnings which I assess can be utilized and greatly guide me in moving towards my pursuit to "live and lead with a purpose". 

WHERE AM I NOW?

Authentic Leadership Pillar 1:  Self-awareness

Leaders are born, made/transformed or situational debate.  The class commenced with a debate on whether leaders are born, made/transformed or arise on situations.  The class was divided into four groups, and I was among the moderators.  Personally, I always thought that leaders are made or transformed, because I believe that whomever we were born from, whatever the circumstances we were from, does not matter.  What matters is what we choose to become.  Because I have always believe that one's fate is within his own control.  But I was amazed at how the "born" group defended their position, and it gave some good insights.  They have laid down that all were born with a potential to become leader.  Then I have come to learn that there are people who are created or push to become leaders due to situations.  This activity was part of self-awareness, because it was important to recognize that our genes (family background), our own conscious decisions and to a large extent the situations that we are exposed to are important aspects that shape us to become leaders.  

MM Leadership Final Integrative Paper by Leader Erika Manrique

Hi Prof Jorge,

Below is my FIP. Thank you for the opportunity and learnings from our reflections and also from my fellow leaders.

I will truly miss you class.

Yours truly,
Erika Manrique

Final Integrative Paper

By: Erika Manrique

My journey into this class has been quite challenging. From the very first day (when we had the debate), I already knew it was going to be a very different experience for me. I can say that my level of exposure compared to my classmates was quite different. Most of them have worked for years in the corporate world, while I have just had a glimpse of it during my few years at Dell. Working in the family business has its pros and cons, one of the cons being confinement. Confinement in the sense that you have limited access to other people who you can learn from. I have felt a lot of times that I needed to get out of the box in order to gain new insights that could help grow myself, my relationships, and the business as well. This class has been very empowering and insightful because this is exactly what I gained from it.

Where I am now?

I have always admitted to myself that I am a work in continuous progress. My hunger for knowledge and natural curiosity has always steered me in the way of learning. I have always felt that my brain needs to be stimulated every now and then because I do not like feeling complacent and being in a constant routine. In managing our family business, there were times that I felt I did not have the capacity to do handle some things, which is why I have decided to start my MBA.  It was very timely that I started my mba with Leadership class as I feel it will prepare me for the journey ahead.

MM Leadership FIP by Leader May Roxas

Hi Prof,

I am submitting my Final Integrative Paper.

Thank you very much for everything that you shared to us in class.

Regards,

May Roxas

FINAL INTEGRATIVE PAPER

1.      INTRODUCTION

I had attended a number of leadership trainings in the past and what AGSB offered in this course was truly something unique. I remember I even had qualms about taking this class because I thought that I am not what can be called the leader – I am not an organizational leader nor a politician. Traditionally, it was my thinking that being a Project Manager requires leadership, but still I am not a functional manager nor do I have direct reports.

It is not easy for me to do the reflection papers nor the other write-ups, but in the past, I used to love writing. In my elementary and high-school days, I join essay writing contests. I was also a Features Editor in my college organization's newsletter. But things have changed since that time and now. I think it is because I have been in a line of work that is mainly technical and because I have outgrown this passion. Additionally, I believe it is always easier to talk about something else and to write about other topics than yourself, especially if you are trying to discover who you are. Nevertheless, I hope that this subject has created that spark again.

As the term progressed (writing did not really become a walk in the park), but I did learn a lot from the class activities and from my co-leaders. It was a very profound experience and the journey was well worth it.

MM Leadership Final Integrative paper of Leader Maye a. Gutierrz

                                                  FINAL INTEGRATIVE PAPER

                                                   Submitted by:  MM Leader Maye A. Gutierrez

On our first meeting, I remember Prof. Jorge asking us to make a brief introduction of ourselves to our classmates.  I had fun listening and knowing a bit about the other 15 leaders.  When it was my turn to speak, I described myself as a happy housewife, a cool mother of 4 and an ex- international flight attendant.  My introduction was "short, sweet and organic."  I remember Prof Jorge saying how impressed he is about housewives like me, who, in spite of our hectic rosters, still finds time to return to the Academe to pursue our passion for learning. (Thank you, Sir!  You don't know how much your words inspired me.)

 Like Goes, Ricci and Clavius, I also have a passion for learning, remaining open to new ideas and challenges.

"Leaders persevere not only out of pride, integrity, and commitment to their values.  They persevere because they are all at once trusting, optimistic, foolish and humble enough to hope and expect that the seeds of their efforts will blossom in times, ways, and places that they can neither predict nor control." (Heroic Leadership, Chris Lowney)

1.       WHERE AM I NOW?

"You can't connect the dots looking forward: you can only connect them looking backwards. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect you in your future."( Steve Jobs)

To know where I am now, it is important that I go back to our learning agreement to check if I had already moved forward..  As I reviewed my leadership agreement, I was reminded of what I wrote 4 months back. "My objective in taking his course is to learn the techniques of an effective leader-- a leader who has strong morals, unaffected by criticisms and stern.  I also said that I want to be a leader who contributes to the formation of the society.

MMLeadership FIP by Leader Arch Anna Choco

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?

§  I am currently working as a Senior Architect at DMCI Homes.

§  I am currently living a non-perfect but a fulfilling peaceful life.

§  I am a student; currently enrolled in MBA Middle Manager Program at         Ateneo Graduate School of Business and this is my first semester.

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:

https://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc

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

§  I will be an effective contributor as a leader in this fast growing and constant changing world.

§  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.

§  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.

§  I will soon retire in a farm land where I will do my gardening J

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

How Do I Get There?

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