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My Personal Vision
Name
OBLD 641 Resonant Leadership: Leading Change
School
Professor
Date
Section One – Vision and Values
Leadership is fundamental for individuals to progress and achieve life’s objectives. Boyatzis (2011) states that influential leaders build relationships to avoid failures and capitalize on emerging opportunities by formulating an actionable vision. Leaders use relationships to acquire different experiences, synergize actions, and formulate a constructive vision to direct lifetime achievements. Leaders use positive relationships in life to create values and adopt life events to achieve more important goals (Boyatzis, 2011). I initiated my career as an aircraft maintainer in the United States Air Force. Military training and professional exposure built my values and shaped my decisions to create a life philosophy. I view my military experience as a foundation to construct my personality based on solid values and leadership philosophy that navigate my decisions in the long run.
Trust and honesty are the primary values that my vision reflects. According to Boyatzis (2009), influential leaders use emotional intelligence as a strategic tool to build trust and honest relationships with their subordinates. Leaders should exhibit emotional intelligence to open dialogues with people and maintain transparency in relationships. I practice trust and honesty to maintain the credibility of my personality and leadership role. Relationships with colleagues are only effective if mutual trust and honesty are communicated through emotional intelligence. As a result, I avoid overcommitting my colleagues, practice active listening to develop understanding, and make collective decisions to strengthen trust in relationships. Trust and honesty are the two fundamental pillars of leadership built by practicing emotional intelligence with people and inspiring them to achieve desired results.
Additionally, timely accountability is a fundamental philosophy of life to materialize justice and fairness as personal values. Leadership should define accountability with utmost transparency to maintain trust, promote fairness, and encourage justice in actions. Leaders must offer accountability in actions to manage a team to collective success. Accountability indicates if an individual is trustworthy to receive delegation from a leader, particularly for sensitive tasks. Leaders should avoid ignoring accountability while defining roles during team formation. Accountability keeps actions and team performance traceable and manageable for leaders in the long run (Cherniss et al., 2006). I practice accountability as a fundamental leadership principle to justify my actions fairly among team members.
Throughout my military service, accountability has been an integrated philosophy. I have always been aware of my actions since my accountability towards seniors is strict. Senior leadership rewards individuals taking timely accountability for actions through various awards and opportunities which lead to promotions. Subsequently, individuals with a non-serious attitude toward accountability experience strict actions from leadership to remain disciplined while serving in the military. As a result, accountability is integrated into my life’s philosophy to facilitate values of fairness and justification.
My life’s philosophy is treating my subordinates fairly, managing actions through communicated accountability, and building trusted relationships. My life’s vision is to lead by setting the best examples for my followers through rational actions. Vision is a significant notion for leaders to achieve life’s goals and become an inspiration for followers. Vision guides individuals’ actions to become an example for upcoming leaders. Leaders would remain incompetent in achieving objectives and retain positions by not defining a value-based vision. Successful leaders have a distinct philosophy to make vision actionable for stakeholders. In the long run, I navigate my actions through a justified vision and sustainable philosophy to create a distinction for my followers and team members.
Section Two – My Dream and Calling
Dreams and calling are the two fundamental components of a successful leader. Leaders with practical dreams are resonant and competent to achieve challenging objectives. By definition, resonant leaders can control the environment (McKee et al., 2008). Resonant leaders could use emotional intelligence to influence the actions of team members and create a notable difference in organizational culture. Fantasies and dreams identify resonant leaders that an average individual cannot aspire to in a routine thought process (Boyatzis & McKee, 2005). I believe there are resonant leadership traits in my personality as I exhibit dreams and emotional intelligence to inspire people in my surroundings.
My dream is to become a celebrated and sought-after leadership coach and witness my philosophies materialize. I dream of achieving a sustainable future for subordinates and myself by attaining impractical objectives for mass audiences. At times, I feel that my dreams segregate my leadership traits from others in my organization’s culture. I do my best to mindfulness and self-awareness while planning to achieve my lifelong dreams. I observe resonant leadership as contributing to achieving goals and creating a difference for my subordinates in the long run. Besides, I frequently integrate my vision and life’s philosophy to navigate my decisions and achieve my dreams effectively.
According to Taner and Aysen (2013), dreams are a distinguishing factor in resonant leaders. The research found that most leadership styles give hope to subordinates by committing results and probable transitions in the environment. However, resonant leaders share dreams to inspire subordinates, set accountabilities, and acquire desired results through collective efforts (Taner & Aysen, 2013). As stated above, my dream is to become a leadership coach and witness my life’s philosophy being materialized by different institutions to inspire upcoming talents.
My career journey educated me about coaching and mentoring as critical components to achieving my proposed dream. Coaching and mentoring allow a resonant leader to create desired resources and achieve lifelong dreams. According to Boyatzis et al. (2012), coaching and mentoring create compassion in leaders to practice emotional intelligence and inspire people to assist in achieving dreams. Coaching motivates subordinates towards proposed dreams by leaders and makes processes effective through accountability. Leaders can use coaching and mentoring to build a resource pool using the right inspirations for team members.
Coaching also empowers subordinates to make independent decisions, which is necessary to transform dreams into realities through practical actions. The components are inevitable from qualitative and quantitative perspectives to address routine callings by resonant leadership traits (Goleman, 2000). I have used coaching and mentoring to achieve my dreams throughout my career journey while controlling the environment through resonant leadership.
First, I have tried to remain a supportive leader throughout my time military thus far. I have connected with subordinates at different hierarchical levels, practiced emotional intelligence, and distributed empowerment through accountabilities. I use coaching as a roadmap for my subordinates to overcome emerging challenges and perform actions to reach collective achievements. Over the years, I have adopted different leadership styles based on situations to keep aspirations sustained among team members. As a result, my subordinates respected my proposed vision, and I have enjoyed the continuous support in practicing emotional intelligence, particularly during situational bottlenecks.
Additionally, I have been able to use coaching in specific roles to continue relationship-building and perform relevant actions to achieve successes for myself and those around me. For instance, I served two years as the Quality Assurance Inspector. The role generated frequent conflicts between those I was responsible for evaluating and myself. I wanted these members to achieve a pre-defined quality benchmarks for the organization. As a result, I used negotiation skills to initiate coaching activities whenever feasible. I negotiated by reinstating the quality benchmarks, exhibited active listening skills to understand the problems experienced by these Airmen in performing quality-oriented actions, and used emotional intelligence to establish trust. I offered coaching sessions to strengthen subordinates’ physiological and psychological conditions. I used resonant leadership skills to influence the environment and establish quality controls to achieve desired results. I believe I was able to successfully establish a sustainable relationship with individuals I oversaw.
The subordinates seemed to appreciate my participation as a resonant leader. I experienced partial achievement of my dream while serving as a leader to institute change in the organizational culture. As a result, I became a recognized leader while serving my role as a Quality Assurance Inspector.
My lifelong experience suggests that leaders should offer appropriate coaching opportunities to subordinates and strengthen relationships in the long run. Strong and trusted relationships with subordinates are necessary for leaders to achieve their dreams. Leaders could integrate a culture of continuous improvement in organizations by delivering coaching and mentoring to subordinates, leading to dream materialization in the long run. Leaders should practice emotional intelligence and create an actionable philosophy for people to continue inspiration. I intend to become a quality leader for my organization by maintaining trust and integrity with team members. As a result, I continue responding to my calling, aligning resonant leadership traits by practicing emotional intelligence, and acquiring desired results to fulfil my dreams.
Section Three – My Career and Life Aspirations
My career journey thus far has become a diversified experience. I initiated my career in the military and have sense became a respected leader within multiple organizations. I have had the opportunity to lead members from various cultural and ethnic diversities. As a result, I believe I developed strong communication skills and the ability to motivate and inspire people from diverse backgrounds. I began my career an aircraft maintainer, serving as Crew Chief, Quality Assurance Inspector, Aircraft Maintenance Production Superintendent, and now a Senior Enlisted Leader of a Field Training Detachment. However, my leadership calling, and unachieved dreams motivate me to continue with other corporate roles within the civilian sector once I retire. I aspire to adopt a different lifestyle and career picture to enjoy in the long run. Hence, I want to revise my career consideration, select an inspirational figure that reflects my dreams, and adopt a lifestyle to achieve the desired position by following the footsteps of successful leaders.
Ultimately, I dream of becoming an executive leadership coach and creating a firm in which I will employ other incredible leadership coaches of various expertise and backgrounds. According to Hackman and Wageman (2005), team coaching is a distinct ability that most leaders lack to sustain in the long run to achieve recognition. Fredrickson and Losada (2005) identified that successful leaders are competent in managing complex dynamics evolving in the business environment due to influences of external factors. Dynamics management allows leaders to build healthy relationships with their subordinates. Leaders could continue inspiring people with positive traits and control the environment through resonance (Fredrickson & Losada, 2005). Hence, I acknowledge the challenges emerging in the business environment and redirect my actions to materialize proposed visions and desired dreams while serving as a leader for those in executive roles.
First, I intend to become an aspirational figure in the corporate world. I admire Jack Canfield, a successful corporate leader, celebrated author, and motivational speaker. Canfield has the competencies to inspire people through his lifelong principles and tips for success. Canfield believes that people should indulge in healthy practices and make actions a lifestyle to inspire others. Canfield’s visionary leadership made him a successful entrepreneur and figurehead for global audiences. He believes that individuals should continue assessing self-competencies and track environmental changes to keep skills relevant for the upcoming generation (Louzek, 2022). I acknowledge a change in lifestyle and revised milestones to ensure my career journey follows the footsteps of Canfield.
I will initiate change by improving my lifestyle. I aim to adopt a habit of reading and indulging in intellectual activities to become time relevant. I must improve my knowledge and expand my capacity to embrace change to become an accomplished leader like Canfield in the upcoming five years, prior to my retirement from the military. Besides, I will enrol in different leadership and communication programs to understand shifting corporate dynamics due to external environment evolution. I will acquire certifications and initiate training as a motivational speaker to communicate with a mass audience beyond my leadership role. The action plan would provide my proposed vision with an opportunity to materialize. I will also achieve my dream of becoming a leadership coach by interacting with relevant audiences and continuing inspiring behaviours in the long run.
Additionally, I will improve my social circle in the upcoming five years. This step requires professional networking activities to connect me with relevant industry figures like Canfield. I will use relevant platforms like LinkedIn and social media to build professional networking digitally. I will also pursue necessary certifications in corporate coaching and executive apprenticeship to make my skillset more relevant to the networks. At the very least, this action plan would assist my personal and professional development and provide the foundation to better take care of my subordinates.
According to Castrillon (2020), leaders should train their minds toward success. Leaders with dreams and ambitions must align actions by connecting with the right audiences to foster a psychological process toward success. Besides, successful leaders, such as Canfield, visualize dreams through suitable visions and write them down to mold the thinking process toward a relevant direction (Castrillon, 2020a). Hence, I will develop a habit of writing to align my thought process with my desired dream. I will record routine activities and efforts made to follow in the footsteps of Canfield for the next ten years. I will maintain a log, recording daily activities like enrolment in professional leadership programs, certification enrolments, and networking progresses made through social media. This habit would train my mind regularly toward success. Besides, I can track progress and mark milestones to achieve desired results by developing writing habits through journal logs in the next ten years.
In conclusion, career development, vision materialization, and professional networking are interdependent components. My lifelong journey depends on the philosophy of accountability, trust, and honesty. I will use the philosophy of self-accountability while aligning the action plan with the desired dream. I intend to become a successful leadership coach in the next ten years by acquiring professional certifications, developing healthy habits, and connecting with relevant professionals worldwide using social media platforms. I will develop and integrate the necessary habits into my lifestyle to remain distinct from my subordinates. I should continue using my coaching and negotiation skills to remain relevant within my organization. I expect complexities in my leadership journey due to rising competition and high self-investment demand to create a professional personality while aspiring to subordinate in the long run.
References
Boyatzis, R. & McKee, A. (2005). Resonant leadership: Renewing yourself and connecting with others through Mindfulness, Hope and Compassion, (5th ed.). Harvard Business Publishing.
Boyatzis, R. (2009). Competencies as a behavioural approach to emotional intelligence. Journal of Management Development, 28(9), 749-770. https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02621710910987647.
Boyatzis, R. (2011). Neuroscience and leadership: The promise of insights. Ivey Business Journal, 1-4. https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/neuroscience-and-leadership-the-promise-of-insights/
Boyatzis, R., Smith, M. L. & Beveridge, A. J. (2012). Coaching with compassion: Inspiring health, wellbeing, and development in organizations. The Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 49(2), 153-178. https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0021886312462236.
Castrillon, C. (2020). How to train your mind for success? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2020/08/30/how-to-train-your-mind-for-success/?sh=1a4b881833b6.
Castrillon, C. (2020a). This is how highly successful people achieve career goals. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2020/03/15/this-is-how-highly-successful-people-achieve-career-goals/?sh=4c6bbec678dd.
Cherniss, C., Extein, M., Goleman, D. & Weissberg, R. P. (2006). Emotional intelligence: What does the research really indicate? Educational Psychologist, 41(4), 239-245. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4104_4.
Fredrickson, B. L. & Losada, M. F. (2005) Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing. American Psychologist Association (APA), 60(7), 678-686. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.60.7.67008
Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership that gets results. Harvard Business Review (HBR).
Hackman, I. R. & Wageman, R. (2005). A theory of team coaching. Academy of Management Review, 30(2), 269-287. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2005.16387885
McKee, A., Boyatzis, R. & Johnston, F. (2008). Becoming a resonant leader, (8th ed.). Harvard Business Publishing.
Taner, B. & Aysen, B. (2013). The role of resonant leadership in organizations. European Scientific Journal, 9(19), [Published Online]. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2013.v9n19p%p.
