Leadership Philosophy

The two TV drama leaders depicted above, Francis Xavier Regan, NYPD Commissioner from Blue Bloods, and Josiah Edward Bartlet, a.k.a. Jed, President of the United States from West Wing have long been my  idols and leadership models over my adult life. Their selfless servant minded manner inspires traits I strive emulating. Dispatching wisdom, compassion, and sternly principled ethics, clearly inspired by a Christ-like-life; while being human enough as worthy models, knowing admitting mistakes is proper.

Leadership could be described as the amount of influence you exert over others. The choice you have is whether you positively or negatively influence people and organizations you lead. (Koch & Schaink, 2018, p. 142). DCCL's, The Past, Present, and Future of Community Colleges class taught new leaders must have effective leadership characteristics, which includes being honest, forward looking, inspiring, competent, intelligent, broad-minded, dependable, supportive, and fair-minded (Koch, & Schaink, 2018, p. 136). Leadership is a relationship between those aspiring leaders and those who follow by choice.  You can’t have one without the other. Leadership strategies, tactics, skills, and practices are empty without fundamentally  understanding such relationship dynamics. In every relationship people have expectations for each other. Sometimes these expectations are clearly voiced, and other times they are never discussed, but nonetheless expectations are present in every human relationship (Kouze, Posner, 2010, p. 16). “True leadership only exists if people follow when they have freedom not to” (page 13). If people follow because they have no choice…that is not leading. Good leadership gives legitimacy to a cause or mission and can be challenged by lack of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral competency (Bryson, 2018, pp102, 124-5, 160).

I believe that my greatest strength is being a servant Leader – an enabler who removes my people’s barriers to success. As a subordinate, I strive at taking things off my boss’s plate and avoid unnecessarily putting things on their plate. I  try especially hard following core principles including, listen to understand, not to respond, and admitting when I am wrong! Living by, “I don’t care who is right, I prefer doing what is right!” Strive being a voracious learner, being content, but never satisfied. And finally, not caring about past wrongs or starting a blame game, alternatively only valuing creating a path forward. The past is good for only one thing, lessons to avoid repeating similar mistakes. Remember, principles do not change with time or circumstance and become who you are (Turner, 2017, p. 3). 

I feel I am capable of inspirational and transformational leadership as I portray in a podcast I did last year titled, Remote Learning: The Pivot for Higher Education (de Leon, Turner, & Thompson, 2020) discussing technological opportunities to revolutionize higher education course delivery made apparent via COVID-19 pandemic required changes (Turner, 2020-1; 2020-2).

My two biggest weaknesses are not spending enough time on relationships and not relinquishing control, or delegate without meddling. I must let people make mistakes (that don’t hurt customers) so they can learn from them and grow. Regarding relationships, I am very analytical and so discussions with subordinates and peers alike can seem like an interrogation with an unintended purpose to degrade or condescend. This makes fostering relationships hard and keeping them harder. Even though I abhor causing such feelings, my directness and analytic tendencies hinders close professional and even personal relationships. I have worked at this over years and my most effective tactic is to admit this shortcoming, when I perceive it happening, as my problem, not a person I am interacting with. Short circuiting these issues with openness and "intentionality" is a recent topic of discussion with a job coach, and a growth opportunity I am pursuing through books on "intentional leadership," by Kise (2014) and Williams (2020).  This growth opportunity requires being self aware and watching for queues when someone is taking me wrong. Stopping the conversation immediately and doing what is needed; aligning on an emotional level. 

My major growth as a leader is learning there is a vast difference between managing and leading. The former is very impersonal and transactional and latter is all about interpersonal relationships. I must build relationships where people genuinely become inspired, motivated by my leadership style, and choose following when not required.  

Patrick Turner

Turner 2017 GLUG Presentation on Leadership, Workplace Engagement & Key Skills for Driving Change

Bryson, J. M. (2018). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement (5th Ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley & Sons.

Kise, J. A. G., (2014). Intentional leadership: 12 lenses for focusing strengths, managing weaknesses, and achieving your purpose. Allworth Press. Ebook ISBN: 987-1-62153-419-8

Koch, C., Shaink, D., (2018). Welcome IDSL 805. Available at: IDSL 805 2018 MI 05-12  PPT As Presented.pptx. Unpublished.

Kouzes, J. M.  & Posner, B. Z. (2010). The truth about leadership: The no fads, Heart of the matter, Facts you need to know, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass ; p. 17

Turner, P. (2017). Leadership, workplace engagement & key skills for driving change. Great Lakes Users Group Session Presentation, September 25, 2017. Unpublished.

Turner, P. R. (2020-1, September). Increasing remote access to tech heavy classes for all student populations on simple personal devices. Learning Abstracts, 23(9). League for Innovation in the Community College. Retrieved from http://patrickryanturner.com/files/2020_09%20Learning%20Abstracts_Turner%20-%20Increasing%20Remote%20Access%20to%20Tech%20Heavy%20Classes_League%20PRT%20FINAL.pdf

Turner, P. (2020-2, November). Emerging leader perspective: Community college entrepreneurship during the pandemic. Perspectives. Ferris State University. https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/administration/academicaffairs/extendedinternational/ccleadership/Perspectives-November_2020-final.pdf

de Leon, Y. P., Turner, P. R., & Thompson, H. (2020, May 28). Remote learning: The pivot for higher education. ‎VMware: CIO Exchange Podcast on Apple Podcasts. [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cio-exchange-podcast/id1498290907.

Williams Jr., R. F. (2020). Intentional leadership: 3 big rocks to elevate a team from ordinary performance to excellence. Spark Imagination Publishing.