Personal Leadership

Why Personal Leadership?

Personal Leadership extends beyond the traditionally western conception of leadership, one which often leaves us thinking of leadership as some constellation of behaviors belonging only to those with formalized positional power. At the same time, however, a commitment to practicing Personal Leadership is a valuable platform for the process of effectively leading others. This is especially true if as a leader you are working with people from diverse cultural backgrounds and/or are leading through situations of constant change.

Personal Leadership also extends beyond what some might consider a more eastern approach to leadership, that is, controlling and subjugating personal experience and keeping private true feelings in order to conform to group norms and better serve the whole. Here again, however, Personal Leadership offers those who have a strong commitment to group relations a tangible practice through which to consider their behaviors in the context of group development. This is especially true when the group is comprised of people with diverse cultural (be they national, ethnic, racial, religious, etc.) orientations.

In sum, then, Personal Leadership is called ‘Personal Leadership’ because it is about taking leadership of our selves—of our own experiences, of our own cultural programming and habituation as we interact with others in both our personal and professional lives. In this way we are able to access higher levels of learning and insight, mutual collaboration, and creativity in situations of cultural difference.

A Way of Being

Personal Leadership is a state of mind, of heart, and of body. By this we mean that the methodology of Personal Leadership is more than an intellectual exercise. It describes a way of being and of interacting with the world that begins from the “inside out,” and that asks us to be fully present in our lives, awake to our habitual behaviors, and willing to look at every situation with fresh eyes, with “beginner’s mind.” To be effective across cultural difference requires exactly this quality of personal and professional commitment.

In practicing Personal Leadership we are asked to disentangle internal experience from external circumstance, recognizing that we are the creators of the former and not mere reactors to the latter. When we feel offended (or annoyed, confused or frustrated) by what someone else has or has not done, has or has not said, the principles and practices of Personal Leadership help us pause; they help us cultivate a critical space between our immediate and righteous sense of offense and what our automatic reaction might have been. In the critical space of such a pause, however momentary, we can discern the most effective way to proceed. What we then say or do, or even don’t say or do, is now much more likely to be an effective expression of our intercultural competence.

In the Context and Complexity of Difference

Most of us live lives filled with the experience of difference.

We live and work with people whose national, racial, and ethnic backgrounds are different from our own; who have different religious or political or sexual orientations; who are from different professional or vocational arenas; who have different physical abilities or socio-economic supports; or are of a different age or gender than are we. These ‘external’ differences bring with them ‘internal’ differences of values, beliefs, and behaviors, all of which render our daily interactions enormously complex.

Difference also appears in our lives when we move to a new country or community, start a new project, start a new relationship—any time we are engaged in transition and are confronted by the new and unfamiliar.

Personal Leadership exists for the expressed purpose of helping you step directly into, discover, and then leverage the creative potential inherent in all such experiences of difference.

A Framework

Personal Leadership is a framework, or a methodology, consisting of two principles and six practices. Its purpose is to help us access higher levels of learning and insight, mutual collaboration, and creativity in situations of cultural difference. In short, Personal Leadership is designed to help us do better, and even ‘our best,’ when we are interacting with people, places, or projects that are new and unfamiliar to us.

The methodology includes a powerful process technology called ‘The Critical Moment Dialoguesm (CMD)’. The CMD further helps us translate our commitment for effectiveness across cultural difference into strategic action.

The Roots of Personal Leadership

The ideas which inspire Personal Leadership and direct its principles and practices are rooted within several contemporary inter-disciplinary studies such as intercultural communication, leadership development, and whole-person self-development. Additionally, Personal Leadership draws from a broad range of philosophic and esoteric traditions taught throughout the ages.

Personal Leadership brings together these perspectives in our belief that a choice for self-reflection, self-development and creative collaboration is present in all moments made especially vibrant by the differences in values, world-views and behaviors of those involved. Making this choice for intentional engagement can unlock transformative possibilities for one and for all.

Where to Find Personal Leadership

Personal Leadership has served as the basis of both the Intern Program at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A., and the Masters in Teaching program at Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, U.S.A. since 1998. In 2002 it was introduced as a foundational curriculum in the Master of Arts in Intercultural Relations program jointly sponsored by the Intercultural Communication Institute in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. and University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, U.S.A.

Personal Leadership has served as the central content for coaching series and public seminars for expatriates and repatriates, professional interculturalists, and organizational leaders. It has served as the organizing framework in numerous multicultural team development initiatives and in efforts oriented towards building inclusive community.

It has been presented at numerous international conferences, including W.I.N. 2001, Italy; Global Living 2002, Belgium; Families in Global Transition 2002 and 2004 U.S.A.; SIETAR U.S.A. 2002-2005; SIETAR Europa, 2005, France; and American Society for Training and Development, 2005, U.S.A.

Personal Leadership has become the research focus of graduate students at the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy levels, and is now being applied in professional venues around the world, from Mexico to China.

Gaining Altitude

Oh, fly high enough
Notice the pressure dropping
Now! Burst forth in joy!*

*All haikus on this page were written by Heather Robinson, Founder of Success Across Borders

Please submit your contact information if you would like to be added to the mailing list to receive announcements and updates about Personal Leadership: Making a World of Differencesm

Home | Personal Leadership | Seminars | Seminar Schedule | Products & Resouces | Practitioner Network | Practitioner Comments | About Us | News | Contact Us