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PHILOSOPHY OF PASSION

Leadership Philosophy

Linda Ontiveros

Grand Canyon University: EAD 501

06/24/2020
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PHILOSOPHY OF PASSION
Leadership Philosophy

I will lead and teach with passion while helping others find challenges that will instill

meaningful values in their life. Amongst the many words that govern me, passion is the fire

behind my life. Our values in life must be a slow burning flame of consistency that is lit

throughout all aspects of it. As a leader it is our job to pass the lighter around and spark a flame

within our followers and those who depend on us. In the educational world things are always

changing and it is our job to adjust and do what we can to keep that passion alive and well. My

philosophy reflects who I am, the type of leader I am, and the actions I want to take to honor

that philosophy.

A piece of the puzzle that is my philosophy is who I am as a person. Throughout my life I

have had the opportunity to pursue anything I wanted but many of those things came with

great sacrifice from my parents. When I decided that I wanted to do something I had to be

800% sure that it what I truly wanted. That mindset is the root of my passions in life. In the

educational world I want to be a platform for my staff and students to feel that they too can

challenge themselves to find their passion. Feeling and having passion comes from being

consistent and determined but that can only happen when the world around you is also in your

favor. This is one of the reasons I connect to Transformational leaders. Northouse, the author

of Leadership said it best, “today's work groups want to be inspired and empowered to succeed

in times of uncertainty” (2019, p. 163). I want to be the leader that empowers others when

going into the unknown. There are times when we need a hand and it’s much easier to ask for

help when you know someone has help to give.

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The type of leader I am is something that also goes into my philosophy. I believe that my

leadership style involves a combination of transactional, transformational, and servant. A

journal article titled Relationships among applications of tacit knowledge and

transformational/transactional leader styles talked about the evolution of leaders and their

leadership style in the military. This journal involved a study within the military trying to show

how there are differences in characteristics and leaderships style based on the rank and

position of a leader in the military. “Our results showed that lower ranking soldiers were more

likely to be transactional leader due to their goal being getting the job done. Higher ranking

soldiers were most likely considered to be transformational leaders because of the different

duties their job requires” (Taylor, Pstoka, Legree, 2015, para. 12). I found this statement very

relatable because I know what my mindset is like when I am in a new position. Whenever I start

something new the majority is about checking the boxes, providing results, and showing that I

can get the job. It isn’t until later on that I trust myself enough to step into the transformational

approach.

When looking at the transformational approach I connected to the core of this style.

According to An Empirical Study of Leader Ethical Values, Transformational and Transactional

Leadership, and Follower Attitudes Toward Corporate Social Responsibility “a strong

deontological ethical foundation is what determines if someone will be a transformational

leader” (Groves & LaRocca, 2011, p. 13). The Deontological foundation is all about doing things

because they feel right to us, not because of the result. When you forget about the reward in

something you begin to feel the passion. You do things because they add value to your life by

feeling the positive feelings that come with it.

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PHILOSOPHY OF PASSION
The last piece of my philosophy will be the most reflective one. The actions I take as a

leader are what people will see. It doesn’t matter who I am or who I think I resemble because

the things that resonate with someone will be my words and actions. As a teacher I believe

many of the actions we take are those of servant leaders. “Many ancient monarchies had

widely acknowledged that leadership was for the service of people and country” (Jeyaraj &

Gandolfi, 2019, p. 2). As teachers, we are here for the service of our children so that they too

can be servant leaders to our country.

Reflecting on the things I can offer as a leader also involves showing integrity and

looking at the things I have yet to learn. If I want my staff and my students to be treated fairly

then I must also treat them with equity. Everyone has different needs which means I can’t use

the same methods for every teacher and for every student. Learning about different cultural

backgrounds is something I believe is one of the biggest steppingstones for providing equity

due to the fact that many needs are based off of cultural background. Doing the work to meet

the needs of those of students and teachers shows that leaderships is evolving. No longer is

leadership just about whom a leader is and what they believe, it’s about what a leader can do

for their followers. As a person I am all for stepping outside of the box that others put us in. In

the educational world there are so many boxes that do not need to be filled but replaced with

new thinking and knowledge. If there is no box that my teachers and students fit in then that’s

okay, because nothing amazing ever came from sitting inside a box.

To conclude, a philosophy is only as good as the person who honors it. So much work

goes into building one and it is important to be as honest as possible. The more of yourself is in

it, the easier it is to apply it. Passion sums up so many other values that I have within me. The
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things we do in life should be because we love them and want to continue to get better at them

day by day. Amongst being myself and relating to other types of leader, my actions are what

will truly make a difference for my followers.

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References

Jeyaraj, J. J., & Gandolfi, F. (2019). Exploring Trust, Dialogue, and Empowerment in Servant

Leadership: Insights from Critical Pedagogy. Journal of Management Research

(09725814), 19(4), 285–290.

Kevin S. Groves, & Michael A. LaRocca. (2011). An Empirical Study of Leader Ethical Values,

Transformational and Transactional Leadership, and Follower Attitudes Toward

Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 103(4), 511.

Northouse, Peter Guy. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Retrieved from

https://viewer.gcu.edu/27xeuu

Taylor, T.Z., Psotka, J. and Legree, P. (2015), "Relationships among applications of tacit

knowledge and transformational/transactional leader styles: An exploratory comparison

of the MLQ and TKML", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 36 No. 2,

pp. 120-136.
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PHILOSOPHY OF PASSION