What Kind of Leader Do You Want to Be?

It’s the question missing from so much of leadership development: “What kind of leader do you want to be?” We facilitate and encourage self-awareness among up-and-coming leaders (what kind of leader you are), get them to map their journeys so far (what has made you the leader you are), share knowledge and ideas (what kind of leader you should be), and help them acquire new skills and adopt new behaviors (this is how you can become that kind of leader). But we don’t focus strongly enough on arguably the most central components to successful leadership – leadership intent (the kind of leader you want to be) and impact (the legacy you want to leave). As a shorthand, I refer to these two components, combined, as your “leadership footprint.” In my experience, many have thought about their leadership footprint at some point, but few have defined it clearly enough to guide their behavior and evaluate their “success.” Here’s an example of how this looks in action.

Components of the Ideal Self Developing YOUR Personal Mission Statement Leadership Development Institute: Personal Mission Statement Value of Writing a Personal Mission Statement 1. It forces you to think deeply about your life, clarify the purpose of your life, and identify what is really important to you. 2. It forces you to clarify and express succinctly your deepest values and aspirations. 3. 4. Process of Creating a Personal Mission Statement 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Developing a personal mission statement. A personal mission statement answers questions like these: -What do I want from my life? A personal mission statement is the beginning of personal leadership. A mission statement often includes a set of personal beliefs. Writing what is true about ourselves isn't as easy as it may seem. So writing a mission statement is really an adventure in self-discovery. We clarify our personal mission by dividing it into roles A mission statement gives us general guidance. Some of the roles we may have are family member, student, worker, or community member.

The Subject-Object Illusion The whole problem is that we think of ourselves as ourselves. That is, as objects – endowed with sentience, perceivers of the world, stumbling our way through life burdened by circumstances over which we have no control, all the while pretending that we do. And always lurking in the back of our mind is the knowing that ultimately we are going to die. Life as an object is tough. Seeing ourselves as objects is of course inevitable, given how we regard time and space as separate from us. Let me be clear. And since most of us do believe that subjects and objects are real, whenever we encounter an object we inevitably see ourselves as its subject. This is the mistaken identity from which we seek to free ourselves. And so, if we are to awake, we must rid ourselves of this notion of objects existing in their own right. However, simply understanding that objects and subjects don’t actually exist isn’t enough. It’s a division through conceptualization. Artwork by ratpat13

META Lab | Psychological & Brain Sciences | UC Santa Barbara Combining empirical, philosophical, and contemplative traditions, the META lab addresses broad questions that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. These are some topics and associated questions that intrigue us: Meta-awareness: When do we notice our thoughts and how does explicitly attending to an experience affect it? Mind-wandering: How does the stream of consciousness flow between the external world and internal thoughts and feelings? Mindfulness: Are there ways of enhancing our capacity to remain focused in the present moment? Creativity: What processes contribute to creative discoveries, and how can we enhance them? We are also interested in broader issues and associated questions regarding the frontiers of science.