Leadership Philosophy

Three years ago I got a new boss. A year, he asked me about my approach to leadership. He told me that if my intention was continue in leadership roles in my career then it would be a good idea to develop a philosophy. Something I can rely on when I’m struggling inside the leadership.

I thought this was pretty good advice. Not just because I have currently hold a leadership role, or because I plan on “moving up” in leadership. More because there are always opportunities to lead. I like the idea of having a reason why I do something. 

After that conversation two years ago I got to work. I took a lot of notes and wrote down a lot of things. Tried on many different hats to figure out what fit best. At the end of the day I came up with this:

This is what I wanted to share. If you had asked me when I started what my leadership philosophy was going to look like I would have said told you some kind of academic paper. Every time I went down that road it didn’t feel right. Rather than edit I would start over. 

During this time I stumbled across this book series but the Stanford D School. One of the books is about creating a manifesto. From what I remember it tries to breakdown all preconceived ideas of what a manifesto is freeing the way expression. While I love that idea I found it very hard to execute. I kept Googling: how to write a manifesto. 

I finally had to force myself to let go of trying to make anything and let myself make a thing. 

Pulling from some different inspiration:

• My time at Oregon College of Art and Craft
• Tom Sachs and Van Neistat

I came up with this:

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