What you can achieve by practicing PL

Jan Beasley
College Counsellor, Li Po Chun, United World College; intercultural consultant
Hong Kong SAR
Personal Leadership empowers! Six months ago I faced a most challenging situation. By applying the six practices and deciding how I wanted to be, I was able to navigate through an emotional roller coaster and keep myself grounded. It was empowering to be able to keep to my vision and have a positive outcome.

Janet Bennett, PhD
Executive Director, Intercultural Communication Institute
Editor, SAGE Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence
Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.
For over 15 years, Personal Leadership has been integral to both our master's degree cohort program, and our Summer Institute. It has provided a remarkable foundation for teamwork and high-functioning groups under stress, where self-discipline and intercultural insight are required. An accessible yet sophisticated approach to leadership, PL encourages individuals to achieve as much as possible, while being responsible to self, others, and community.

Nadine Binder, PhD
Fellow, The Bremen International Graduate School of Social Science; intercultural trainer
Bremen, Germany
Learning about Personal Leadership has been a truly eye-opening experience for me, both on a personal and professional level. It has given me a framework to better understand my own intercultural practice. Personal Leadership has quickly become part of my everyday life, and within a short time has already helped me in many situations and relationships. On a professional level, I have brought Personal Leadership into one of our peer-support projects and it has been a great success so far, giving our team a shared language and practice.

Alfred Flores, Jr.
Director, Apartment Life and Children’s Services, University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
I first became aware of Personal Leadership while assisting with the design and launch of The Scholar Ship program. This program brought undergraduate and post-graduate students, faculty and staff onto a ship that sailed across the planet for an entire semester. The group represented over 50 nations and a wide range of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Personal Leadership training was provided to all onboard-life staff and faculty, and offered to students as well. Using PL helped us to navigate the many challenging moments that occurred on a daily basis. It is fully evident to me the Personal Leadership is a powerful and effective model that serves both individuals and communities to attain significantly higher levels of functioning.

Maritheresa Frain, PhD
Interim EVP Study, Vice President of Academic Affairs, CIEE
Portland, Maine, U.S.A.
I participated in a PL training at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication during the summer of 2014. It was life-changing. PL introduced me to a powerful set of frameworks, tools and insights for mastering my inner self. By incorporating PL practices in our lives and in situations of cultural difference, we are able to reach higher levels of learning and insight, mutual collaboration and creativity. I am proud that CIEE is dedicated to teaching our staff and students the power of this personal development tool of behavioral awareness and change.

Gayle Hillecke
Executive Director, Kentucky Campus Compact
Highland Heights, Kentucky, U.S.A.
PL can be used anywhere. While simple, it allows movement even in very complicated situations. It’s a process that elevates toward resolution rather than processing ad nauseam.

Esther Louie, MS
Assistant Dean, Intercultural Student Services, Whitworth University (Retired); Senior PL Facilitator
Spokane, Washington, U.S.A.
For 15 years, I administered the Personal Leadership training curriculum in my role as assistant dean for our student services division. It was the best method I found to support and encourage students, staff and faculty to develop a personal and sustainable process for reaching their vision. My greatest rewards are the comments that I continue to receive, even though the PL trainings may have happened years earlier, about how PL continues to guide them in their life vision, giving them a sense of purpose, allowing them to meet conflicts with confidence, and to move their lives and careers forward.

Mary Meares, PhD
Associate Professor, University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S.A.
Personal Leadership has been invaluable in my Group Leadership classes at the University of Alabama. The students gain valuable skills that help them make active choices about how to negotiate their interactions with others. PL develops their capacity to work constructively with others. As they juggle multiple commitments and prepare for professional options after graduation, the practice of PL has proven to be very useful for them!

Jan O’Brien, IAC-MCC
President and Owner, Culture Conscious International; Senior PL Facilitator
Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
I have been a “frustrated artist” all my life, always creative but with creativity that had no soul. Something was always missing. At the PL seminar, I realized what that "something" was: I realized I did not need tools or machinery, enamels or paints. My head and my heart are my tools, and my vision is my greatest creation.

Sonja Paulson
Director, International Student Services, Dickinson College
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
As a 2013 Fellow at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication, I had the privilege to learn directly from one of the founding PL partners. I was able to implement its six practices immediately. Practicing PL has made me more effective at helping college students develop intercultural competence. Moreover, the Critical Moment Dialogues methodology has helped me navigate challenges effectively. It is not an exaggeration to state that PL changed both my personal and professional lives.

Jane W. Wang
Intercultural Coach and Training Consultant
Taipei, ROC
PL goes beyond traditional notions of leadership. It explores who our best selves and our under-stress selves are in practice, and how we lead in any arena, personally or professionally, formally or informally, when we show up as our full-potential selves. It’s often easier to preach than to practice what we preach. PL provides the map, the inner mirror, and the loving laboratory to help us master our full potentials, practice what we preach, and transform our approach to leadership—and to life.

Laverne D. Webb
CEO The Webb Alliance
(collaborated with PL as CEO of Encompass 2000-2015)
Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Personal Leadership leads the way in advancing how we develop leaders from the inside out with a wise and profound process. PL has been an essential part of EnCompass’ leadership programs for over seven years. During this time thousands of leaders in the United Nations and other organizations have grown in self-awareness and in their capacity for mindfulness, right action and impact.

Bernie Whelan
Programme Manager, Journalism, Whitireia
New Zealand
The Personal Leadership book is perfect for my masters’ degree research into leadership and learning in newsrooms. News media organisations are still struggling with digitally driven change, but good journalism will survive and thrive through the personal leadership of journalists at the grass roots even more than by training its leaders in leadership.

Nita Wornom
Director of Civil Rights, US Forest Service
Pacific Northwest, U.S.A.
I now lead from the inside out! I've gained personal insight that I never knew was in me in the first place. Personal Leadership is designed in a way that coaxes your very self to show up and be absolutely surprised and joyful about it. The principles of Personal Leadership are easily applied, without painstaking thought or action. Nothing was ever wrong with my leadership ability; however I'm now certainly better at acknowledging and honoring how I show up. I have clarity and the tools to learn more.