Finding Your True North,
A Personal Guide
Table of Contents:
Preface Why a Personal Guide to True North? 5
Introduction Why Authentic Leadership Development? 10
Part One Examine Your Leadership Journey 22
1 What is Your Life Story? 23
2 Why Leaders Lose Their Way 36
3 Leadership Development in the Crucible 54
Part Two Discover Your Authentic Leadership 65
4 Build Your Self-Awareness 68
5 Live Your Values 82
6 Find the Sweet Spot of Your Motivated Capabilities 94
7 Build Your Support Team 106
8 Integrate Your Life 119
Part Three Put Your Authentic Leadership into Action 133
9 Lead with Purpose 134
10 Empower Others to Lead 141
11 Optimize Your Leadership Effectiveness 155
12 Create Your Personal Leadership Development Plan 170
Afterword 185
Appendices
1 Other Ways to Use this Guide 187
2 Form a Leadership Discussion Group 191
3 Program for Coaching or Mentoring 194
4 Program for Facilitators 197
5 Course Syllabus for Authentic Leadership Development 202
Table of Exercises:
Introductory Exercise 1: Leadership images in my life 16
Introductory Exercise 2: My preparation for leadership 18
Exercise 1.1: My path of life 24
Exercise 1.2: Learning about my leadership 25
Exercise 1.3: Authenticity and leadership effectiveness 29
Exercise 1.4: My life story 30
Exercise 2.1: Identifying the imposter in me 40
Exercise 2.2: Identifying the rationalizer in me 43
Exercise 2.3: Identifying the glory-seeker in me 46
Exercise 2.4: Identifying the loner within me 48
Exercise 2.5: Identifying the shooting star within me 51
Exercise 3.1: Writing my crucible story 56
Exercise 3.2: How my crucible experience helps me move from “I” to “We” 61
Exercise 3.3: Where I am in moving from “I” to “We”? 61
Exercise 4.1: Assessing my self-awareness 69
Exercise 4.2: Peeling back the onion 75
Exercise 4.3: Getting honest feedback from others 76
Exercise 4.4: Getting feedback on my blind spots 78
Exercise 4.5: Take-aways on self-awareness and self-acceptance 79
Exercise 5.1: Identifying my values 83
Exercise 5.2: Identifying my leadership principles 88
Exercise 5.3: Identifying my ethical boundaries 90
Exercise 6.1: My motivation to lead 95
Exercise 6.2: My extrinsic motivations 96
Exercise 6.4: Avoiding motivation traps 98
Exercise 6.5: Balancing My Motivations 100
Exercise 6.6: Exploring my capabilities 101
Exercise 6.7: Examining my current leadership experiences 104
Exercise 7.1: How do I build my support team? 107
Exercise 7.2: My most important support person 108
Exercise 7.3: My family as a support group 109
Exercise 7.4: My mentoring relationships 111
Exercise 7.5: Using my friends to support me 112
Exercise 7.6: My personal support group 114
Exercise 7.7: Building a professional support network 115
Exercise 7.8: My personal board of directors 116
Exercise 8.1: The buckets of my life 121
Exercise 8.2: Aspects of my integrated life 123
Exercise 8.3: Measuring success in my life 128
Exercise 8.4: Integrating my life 129
Exercise 9.1: Discerning my passions 135
Exercise 9.2: Defining my purpose 137
Exercise 9.3: Living my purpose 138
Exercise 10.1: What do I already know about empowerment? 142
Exercise 10.2: Sharing my story 145
Exercise 10.3: Empowering others to fulfill their purpose 146
Exercise 10.4: Aligning others around a shared purpose 147
Exercise 10.5: Challenge others to stretch 148
Exercise 10.6: Share credit 149
Exericse 10.7: How will I empower others and still meet performance goals? 150
Exercise 11.1: My leadership styles in action 157
Exercise 11.2: My leadership style inventory 160
Exercise 11.3: Honing my use of power 165
Exercise 12.1: My personal leadership development plan 171
Exercise 12.2: Creating my future 182
Exercise 12.3: My development plan 182
