Answer the following questions about leadership. By reflecting on these questions, you will find what assumptions are driving your leadership thinking. For each of the questions in this section, ask yourself:

1.Write two narratives about leadership. One narrative should describe a positive experience you’ve had with leadership and the second narrative should describe a time when you had a negative experience with leadership. (in one page or less)

2.How might others (co-workers, friends, supervisors) see the situations I described differently?

3.What were my assumptions?

4.What influenced my assumptions?

5.Write your definition of leadership.

6.Describe the individuals or organizations that influenced your leadership definition.

7.Describe how the leader in your positive narrative gained credibility? What could the leader in your negative narrative have done differently to positively impact their credibility?

Exercise 3: Finalizing Your Leadership Philosophy

Now that you’ve identified your leadership beliefs, you are now ready to write your leadership philosophy using the responses above written in the present tense.

Your leadership philosophy should be a statement that consists of your responses from the above exercises. Start by writing an initial draft of your philosophy. Revise it as often as you need. Remember, your philosophy can change depending on where you are at with your leadership.

The following is a sample philosophy statement consisting of one sentence statements. Remember, you can write your philosophy in any way that makes sense to you.

My Leadership Philosophy is…

It is important to reflect on my leadership and its implications on others.

I value integrity in personal and professional development.

Now put it all together.

Integrity is the heart of my leadership. I reflect on my own integrity as an integral part of my leadership journey. I know that my professional and personal successes directly relate to my core value of integrity. Uncovering Your Leadership AssumptionsAPA