1. Lesson 3 What’s Your Leadership Philosophy?
New Leader 101
Lesson 3
What’s Your Leadership Philosophy?

2. What’s Your Leadership Philosophy?
To this point, you’ve worked on why you want to be a leader and what leadership means to you
The next step is to define your leadership philosophy—the underlying model you use to lead
This is important because it gives you the “what” and the “how” of the way you lead
As opposed to leading by the seat of your pants or “instinct”
You have a philosophy whether you know it or not
Better to be explicit about it so that you control it rather than the other way around

3. A Couple of Avenues of Approach
Pick a leader you admire and want to emulate
Colin Powell had his “Thirteen Rules of Leadership”
John Wooden had his “Rules to Live By”
Many others to choose from
Caveat: human beings are fallible so no one you pick will be the perfect exemplar
Pick a good model or models
Lots of study on leadership, especially over the past 100 years
Many different models, some better than others
I prefer to base my leadership philosophy on proven theories or models of leadership

4. A Partial List of Good Leadership Models
Servant Leadership, Robert Greenleaf
Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX)
Transformational Leadership, James MacGregor Burns
Level-5 Leadership, James Collins
Strengths-Based Leadership, Dr. Martin Seligman et al
Flexible Leadership, Gary Yukl
Three Levels of Leadership, James Scouller

5. Establish Your Own Leadership Philosophy
Your leadership journey is like one huge leadership laboratory—you’ll learn as you go
Your philosophy provides an anchor for you as you proceed on your journey
You’ll continue to refine your philosophy as you gain more experience as a leader
Be able to articulate your philosophy to others: They want to know!

6. Summary
Your leadership philosophy is the mental map that guides and directs the way you go about leading
It provides a touchstone for you and your team
You can emulate great leaders or adopt proven theories and models in order to establish your own
It’s important to continue to refine your philosophy as you continue on your leadership journey

7. Homework Answer the following questions:
What is your current leadership philosophy?
How did it develop?
What are the most important elements of your philosophy?
How well does your leadership philosophy match with your current role?
What are some things you can do to improve upon your leadership model?