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#20009
Jim Jenkins
Participant

LEADERSHIP EXERCISES
#1 PERSONAL ESSAY JIM JENKINS

1. What motivated me to do the leadership exercises
I’ve had leadership roles and been a leadership practitioner for several decade. It is a dynamic field, always something to learn and improve your abilities. You don’t take a course and suddenly become a leader, at least a good one. It takes practice, learning and growing. I’ve been building my strategic leadership presence in sustainability for the past while and I’m expecting this course will help strengthen and focus those efforts.

2. What do I expect to gain from the experience
I’m a synthesizer and integrator of ideas and information. I intend to use this LEADERSHIP experience to identify gaps in my own process, broaden my mindset further and integrate new to me elements into my leadership style and performance.

3. What motivated me to pursue leading in general
Originally, I came out of a technical field with very little exposure to leadership principles. In earlier days I found myself thrust into leadership situations and realized I better figure it out quickly. I’ve been ‘led’ by some very poor leaders. I vowed to myself I wouldn’t be one of those. This is has become a crusade for me, not a job.

4. What do you think about leadership
Leadership and structure are the problem about 80% of the time, not the employee. This quote comes from Edward Deming’s work on quality leadership. The vast majority of people want to do good things and make a meaningful difference. It’s the leader’s job to figure out how to remove barriers for people and set up the right structure that inspires them to greatness.

Many leaders get it wrong. They think leadership is about them and their importance, their egos get in the way, they think they are a good leader. They may have positional power but how much influencing power do they have? It’s like a sense of humor, everyone thinks they has a good one.

5. What are your models for leadership
Over time, I’ve developed a servant leader style as the best fit for me and my values. Servant leadership is a management style that prioritizes the team’s growth and well-being over the organization’s or leader’s own ambitions. Unlike traditional leaders, a servant leader focuses on coaching and developing individuals, not just achieving the goals of the organization. Servant Leaders Listen First and Speak Last. That has been hard for me to learn. I’ve put axioms in place to keep me on track such as, Listen 80% of the time, talk no more than 20%.

This style can be seen as less assertive, less focused on getting ahead. It was popular in the organization I work for, now it is rare. I still follow it but have added adaptations. You have to be true to yourself in your style or people will know, you will lose your authenticity.

I also believe in leading by example and have integrated other leadership elements into my style. For example, I want to see that an employee has thought things through enough that they have a plan. I want them to use their brain. Once I’m comfortable they do and it is practical, I switch my focus to coaching and helping them be successful.

6. Who are your role models
Within the sustainability sphere, my role models include
• Christiana Figueres, Co-Founder, Global Optimism
• Florian Graichen,GM Forests to Bio-based Products
• Eva Gladek, Founder of Metabolic

From an inspiration and grit and determination perspective, my role models include,
Barak Obama
Winston Churchill
Abraham Lincoln had a servant leader style but to be honest I haven’t read about him much

7. What works for me when I lead, what doesn’t
I start by creating a vison of where we need to go.
I can be very inspiring when I speak.
I have to make sure I don’t get too far ahead of people or I lose them.

8. Where do I want to apply my leadership skills
In the sustainability field to inspire practical action at individual, community and organizational levels.

9. What is my history with leadership, first memories, best and worst memories and so on
Generally positive. I’m a doer and organizer so I often jump in to get involved and things started.
I seek out leadership positions where I believe I can have a positive impact
Best memory: I’ve built 4 high performing teams in my various roles.
Worst memory: I did the right thing to make a walkway safer but spent some money in tight times and was penalized for it. Part of my learning is you have to be prepared to do the right thing as a leader even though you may not be recognized and could be penalized. Allies are important for your survival in an organization. Doing the right think is sometimes not enough.

10. What is the value in doing these exercises
It’s another chapter in learning more about myself and continually developing my leadership abilities.

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