Sofia Mongillo's Personal Leadership Plan
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- Hi! I'm Sofia! Today I am going to share my perspective on leadership.
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- ...and at first, I thought leadership was about power and status...
- I have learned a lot about leadership in the last few months...
- ...this, however, is not always the case...
- ...this point started to truly make sense to me after learning about the Leader-Exchange Theory
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- The Leadership Exchange Theory states that leadership is not about authority, but it is about the quality of the relationship between the leader and group members.
- Leadership is not limited to a few people. It emerges through connection.
- Therefore, anyone has the potential to be a leader.
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- I will always remember the metaphor Professor Ladge gave in class...
- When considering a dog sled team, every dog leads in its own way, and the success of the team depends on every dog doing its part.
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- Leadership is a continual process of self discovery. True leadership is rooted in self-awareness, and the acknowledgement of imperfection. True leaders lead with the purpose to help others reach their full potential and set an example through change and difficult times.
- That being said, I now want to present to you my personal leadership philosophy:
- I want to explain how I came to each part of this definition.
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- My mom taught me that self-discovery and growth occurs at any stage of leadership.
- I had the opportunity to interview my mom this semester and learn about her leadership style.
- "Just the other year, I had to learn how to lead in the age of AI, something new to me."
- "I have been a doctor for 30 years, and I am still learning how to lead!"
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- As far as self-awareness, this semester I learned the power of reflection.
- And being a self aware leader means acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses, and understandthing that no one is perfect.
- Through reflection, I was able to uncover that sensemaking, something I once considered a strength, is actually an area in which I need growth.
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- Finally, the last part of my personal definition is inspired by one of my favorite leadership quotes.
- John Kotter says, “In a transformation, people can lose their sense of identity, feel overwhelmed, or become paralyzed by fear. Leaders must provide reassurance, guidance, and a sense of hope to help people move forward.”
- Change and challenges are inevitable, but a leader's responsibility is to provide support and set an example throughout turbulent times.
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- Kotter's quote resonates with me because one of the best leaders I know, my lacrosse coach, supported me through my knee injuries.
- They listened to my frustrations, helped me set realistic recovery goals, and showed belief in my ability to come back stronger to the sport of lacrosse.
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- Now, I want to dive deeper and explore some of the factors influencing my leadership.
- Values are the principles that influence one's behavior and significantly influence one's leadership style.
- In order to have an authentic voice as a leader, model the way, and set an example and earn trust, you must understand who you are and what you believe.
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- After much reflection, I have determined that my personal core values are empathy, gratitude, and excellence.
- First, I want to discuss why empathy is important to me.
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- Empathy fuels connection. Understanding the importance of others' perspectives and emotions allows me to connect with people personally.
- Empathy also enables others to act, not by just going to through the motions, but by enabling others to act in a meaningful way.
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- I recently reflected on learning about how miners who suppressed their emotions and just "toughed it out" were actually more likely to get injured on the job.
- Let me explain how empathy enables others to act effectively and meaningfully.
- When miners communicated their emotions and built trust with each other, the number of accidents on the job went down exponentially.
- This has stuck with me...
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- In a group I was in this semester, there was a similar dynamic...
- In the beginning, group members, including myself, were hiding that they were feeling confused and overwhelmed with the material.
- I remembered what I learned about empathy and trust, and decided to be open about my confusion. Others began admitting their concerns as well. This shift in emotional openness reduced the stress we were all trying to hide. Emotional vulnerability is not a weakness, it is a strength, and I plan on applying this in all aspects of my life.
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- Next, I want to talk about gratitude.
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- Gratitude helps to celebrate values and victories in the workplace.
- Expressions of gratitude improve well-being, motivate, and encourage collaboration.
- I experienced the positive effects of gratitude this summer when I was working as a camp counselor.
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- When I was helping one of my kids get in their car one day, they told me that they left their favorite toy in our classroom. The mother told me I did not have to get it, but I knew how important it was.
- I quickly ran back and brought the toy to the car. Afterwards, the mom said, "Thank you, Sofia"
- The fact that she made the act of gratitude personal by addressing me by my name stuck with me. Her personalized gratitude showed that she really cared and it truly had an impact.
- Afterwards, I felt more motivated to go above and beyond.
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- That is exactly how I want the people I work with to feel: motivated and inspired to do their best.
- Let's talk about my last value, excellence.
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- I am someone who has always had high standards for myself, whether that is for school, work, or sports.
- Excellence, to me, does not mean perfection, but instead means that I am always striving to be better and do my best.
- My dad instilled this value in me. He taught me a lot of valuable lessons through sports. He always said that excellence is about how you prepare and bounce back. Now, as a leader, I hope to instill that same commitment in everything I do.
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- Now, I want to talk about some strength and development areas of my leadership plan. Let's start with strengths...
- From reading course materials this semester and participating in weekly reflections, I have identified goal-setting and adaptability as my main strengths.
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- I personally have always found setting short and long term goals to be extremely helpful in regards to my ability to motivate myself and others.
- Setting short term goals is proven to increase leadership effectiveness. Small steps towards forward progress can make or break a project or one's ability to achieve long-term goals.
- I have identified this as one of my strengths, as I find myself setting short term and long term goals in almost every aspect of my life.
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- I broke this long term goal into short term goals such as learning to walk, run, and jump again. I celebrated these small wins and I was able to stay motivated throughout my 9 month recovery.
- I put this strength to good use after my second knee surgery. My long term goal was to return to the sport of lacrosse.
- I plan on leveraging this strength by using it to help both myself and others stay focused and motivated when working toward complex or long-term goals.
- This approach will help myself and others feel less overwhelmed and it will maintain momentum. By modeling the way, I also hope to help others see the value of setting incremental goals.
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- I am able to stay flexible and composed when plans change or challenges arise. This summer at camp, I chose to view an unexpected change as an opportunity to be innovative, instead of a catastrophe.
- Secondly, I have identified adaptability as my other core strength.
- I’ve learned that being adaptable doesn’t mean abandoning structure, but being open to adjusting it when circumstances shift.
- One day, unexpected weather interfered with our weekly camp talent show. I quickly was able to brainstorm a way we could transition the show indoors while also keeping the kids entertained.
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- I plan on leveraging adaptability by approaching changes or unexpected situations with creativity and innovation.
- I now want to move onto my weaknesses. I am no where near perfecting my leadership approach, but two specific weaknesses that I have come to identify are risk taking and compartmentalization.
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- I often find myself overthinking or holding back from sharing ideas because I fear failure. Currently, this is affecting my leadership abilities as it limits my ability to grow, learn from experience, and reach my full potential.
- Though I understand the benefits of taking risks and stepping into the unknown, I am risk averse because I am often afraid of making mistakes.
- I believe my fear of taking risks stems from one of my personality traits, conscientiousness. This trait helps to make me detail-oriented and organized, but sometimes it leads to the behavior of me avoiding mistakes.
- This trait is not negative, but I am working on shifting the way it influences my behavior.
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- My second weakness, my ability to compartmentalize, has always made balancing work and other aspects of my life difficult.
- I often find that stress from work or school spills into my personal life. I have always struggled with ruminating on the past.
- This habit makes it difficult to be fully present and relax after school or work. I then end up feeling more mentally drained the next day.
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- I have been working on practicing mindfulness, and letting go of the frustrations of the past.
- One way I have been practicing this is by attending a yoga class once a week.
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- We have discussed my current leadership philosophy and some of my goals short term, which I think are all extremely valuable and relevant.
- I want to now briefly talk about how I envision myself as a leader in the future.
- More long term, I see myself as a present, emotionally intelligent, and empowering leader.
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- I do not want to lead by having all the answers or exemplifying perfection, I want to create a safe space where others can go.
- I aspire to be a leader who leads with compassion, and brings purpose to every position I hold.
- I want to show others that I am imperfect, but that does not mean I am ineffective.
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- I imagine that my leadership style will balance two of my strengths, organization and adaptability.
- This balance will allow me to continue to set clear goals while also adjusting to the evolving needs of others and the world.
- I want my impact to be felt. I specifically want it to be felt in the confidence of those around me. I want others to feel supported, challenged, and confident to lead themselves.
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- I will strive to...- regularly reflect on my leadership style and encourage feedback - prioritize psychological safety all environments- work on self-awareness and consider how my traits show up as behaviors - balance excellence and well-being, so I can thrive at work and in my personal life
- I want to act in an intention manner in order to be my ideal self in the future.
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- I recognize that throughout my leadership journey, there will be ups and downs. I do, however, aspire to lead with care, purpose, and strength to continue to better myself.
- There is no such thing as a perfect, complete leader.
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- We have talked a lot about leadership today. I hope this gave you a better understanding of both my short term leadership assessment as well as some of my long term goals.
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- I enjoyed reflecting on this semester and sharing what I have learned!
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- Thank you!
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