Leadership Philosophy

Born or Made?

What is a leader? How do you become one? So many questions. So many answers - it's hard to pick just one.

To be fair, I don't think there is a right answer. I will say that I believe leaders are made. Just as much as Olympians have to practice day and night to become a world-renowned athlete, I strongly believe that individuals have to expose themselves to different opportunities to practice to become a great leader. To further that, I don't believe that one becomes a great leader and stays a great leader. Leadership is an art. And with art, it differs in every context. I may have to exercise different leadership styles if I want to lead an intramural volleyball team to victory or if I want to lead a sales team to exceed quotas. I believe that leadership is this massive convoluted concept that has no overarching definition - leadership is created by the individual who wants to take it and own it for themselves.

One of my proudest moments was coming up with a nickname for myself in high school and having it stick. I thought I was clever when I stitched "Chantastic" on the back of my letterman jacket. Few even believed that was legitimately my last name. As this name stuck with me even to this day, I've given it a new meaning. I've taken the nickname and shaped it towards my ideal identity. It's fun, it's clever, and it's first implication is just exceptionally fantastic. Who doesn't want that? I've branded my Gmail account, my resume, and my overall leadership with being "Chantastic." What I believe this to mean is incorporated in my leadership philosophy found below.

What is leadership to me?

My leadership philosophy is founded on 3 characteristics. I believe I can be an okay or great leader with maybe only one or two of the characteristics I list below, but to be an exceptional leader that is always growing and willing to learn, I believe I need to have all 3 qualities.

• BE CARING
• BE ARTFUL
• BE SKILLFUL

Be Caring

Human nature is to be selfish. It's natural. I don't fall out of the exception. First instinct for most people is to think of how they benefit from a certain situation. However, the beautiful thing is that we have the ability to make conscious decisions to overcome our instincts. In the context of leadership, I strongly believe that a great leader needs to think about others and put them first. A great leader should not only care about the general well-being of the other but also care about what they care. If my team member wants to double their quota for the month, how can I help them achieve their goals? It is the act of truly caring for what others want that is cornerstone to being a great leader.

Be Artful

Especially in a business context, caring for others may not be the most efficient. Five people may want very different things, but I may be expected to produce a certain result that do not align with everybody else's goals. This is where the craft comes in. A great leader has the ability to negotiate and intertwine and creatively unite a team - and have everyone invested in the same end result. Discovering the priority of the project, the values of each individual member, and creatively crafting a strategy and vision that matches everything up... that's true leadership right there. It's not easy because in a non-perfect world, sacrifices (some big, some small) do have to be made. The art of it is to discover the best way to minimize those losses and to maximize overall gain (be it in team solidarity, numbers, what have you). It is the art of creating a vision that everybody else can believe in.

Be Skillful

The last and most imperative skill a great leader should have are the tools needed to execute the creative vision. I can be the biggest idealistic dreamer with great plans here and there, but if I can't skillfully bring our collective vision to actualization, then all that dreaming would have gone to waste. The art of being skillful encompasses the soft skills that leaders should have - communication skills, organization, detail-orientedness, sense of urgency, patience, etc. The art of being skillful is the art of making things happen.