As 2016 ends, I’ve been going through emails and files to complete what needs finishing and delete what needs removing. I came across an email I sent to the Leadership Niagara class of 2016 sharing my Leadership Philosophy. At graduation from the program, each leader is asked to share their leadership philosophy. This brought me to think, does a leadership philosophy matter?

How pseudo-reflective we get at the end of the year. 

There is an Elliott Jaques quote that has served as a frame for my organization development work.

If you dislike theory and seek only “Practical action”; That is unfortunate. Anything you do is founded upon a theory of some sort, and eschewing theory merely means that your decisions are being misdirected by some bad theory which you do not know about. – Elliott Jaques; Requisite Organization

Then my friend Lindsay Kirsch posted a question on Instagram, and I chose to respond:

Question: What did you learn about yourself this past year?

Response: I enjoy being alone, but my willpower is greatly diminished now that I’m the father of twins; my credibility is all I got as a consultant. 

Here is my Leadership Philosophy:

My hope is that you think, rethink, rethink and think again about leadership, your views, how you arrived at them, and seek evidence to prove that what you think you know about leadership is wrong.

My philosophy is that you are good enough being who you are. You know how to change your role and language to add value to others. You do not need a leadership list, assessment, or some idiot being paid to make you feel good telling you what you want to hear.

Leadership is finding what works to increase and what does not work to decrease, you are the expert.

My solution will not work for you, and when you choose to do something different, then you are a leader.