Multiplied ripple effect – Motion is most effective when boosted from multiple perspectives. When teams manage to agree on a common target and find ways to push forward from their own individual standpoint, mountains can be moved.
Multiplied ripple effect – Motion is most effective when boosted from multiple perspectives. When teams manage to agree on a common target and find ways to push forward from their own individual standpoint, mountains can be moved.

Reflection paper written during my MBA at the University of St. Gallen: my top three take-aways from the People course.

"Awareness sets you free. New ideas that you never even had an inkling of are gateways to becoming a bigger, better, more powerful version of yourself" (Lakhiani, 2020).

An organization is like a song. It is the materialization of experiences and emotions into a physical, tangible, and functional format. To lead an organization, you need a strong tune and meaningful yearning that attracts others to contribute with their own tones in a synergetic oeuvre. The people course endowed me with tools that support me to tune in deeper into my personal purpose (Leadership-Brand). It provided me with knowledge to establish culture and vision (Organisation) and organize structures for creators to follow and retain (Employees). It built up my confidence and commitment to step onto an entrepreneurial path.

To lead others to success I need grit. The courage to venture into big challenges, the conscientiousness to determine and provide meaningful guidance, and the ability to communicate long-term goals. As a leader, I want to establish a culture of excellence and growth and remain resilient, regulating my emotions to establish optimism (Perlis, 2013). To retain grit, I want to create environments that resonate with my leadership fallback style and consistently reflect on my leadership experiences. Creating an authentic Leadership-Brand requires constant alignment between experienced (inner) and external (outer) authenticity (Cha, 2019). When all actions follow an authentic purpose communicated in logical ways and conveyed through empathy, an environment of trust and security can be created (Frei, 2018). To remain aligned with my values it is essential that I constantly reiterate and adjust my Leadership-Brand. This way it will continue to serve me as a north star and decision-making tool in different contexts and situations.

Following the path of an entrepreneur has the advantage that I can translate and scale my Leadership-Brand into a company's DNA. Watkins' Star-Model made me realize that the challenges and opportunities of a start-up resonate with my current interests in growth, relationships, and priority-making (Watkins, 2008). The cases discussed in the course offered learnings in building up sufficient company structures, including performance management, strategy, and employee-centric processes. I realized that I want to build cultures driven by purpose (Boris Groysberg, 2018) and enable employees to act toward the company's goals with autonomy. I want my employees to feel part of a greater community, enabled to learn and grow their individual unique strengths. Southwest's successful implementation of an employee-first policy inspired me to research Theory Y and successful integrations in companies (Publishing, 2015).

Finally, this course has taught me about building up sufficient HR-processes, to involve leaders in hiring processes effectively. It also showed me methods to evaluate applicants in a neutral and structured manner using the CBI- and STAR-Model. I uncovered hiring biases that I unconsciously followed in the past and changed my perception of the relevance a clear code of conduct in companies. (Catherine Bailey, 2018)

An organization is like a song. If I manage to maintain a strong Leadership-Brand, transform it to the needs of an organization and provide sufficient process-structures, I can lead a company to hit the charts. The broader view on people organization I am leaving this course with leaves me with greater opportunities to succeed through transparent communication and collaborative leadership.

References