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Personal Leadership Assessment and Development Plan of Bobby G Roy
Personal Leadership Assessment and Development Plan of Bobby G Roy
Roy
7 December 2010
ORGB 625
Bobby G. Roy’s Personal Assessment and Leadership Development Plan
Introduction
The focus of my personal assessment and leadership development plan is to denote the values, beliefs,
thoughts, and actions that will propel me into a state of personal fulfillment as a more complete leader at home, in
The preparation of this document will result in the creation of a deliverable to be frequently referenced
and used as a reminder of the overall direction and more specific strategies to achieve my personal and
professional hopes, dreams, and aspirations, as well as put into place a foundation for facilitating leadership
development in my communities. My more immediate aspirations include being promoted at the California
Department of Education (CDE) and aiding others in finding their financial independence, while my long term goals
are to become an elected official, create policy, and serve my community in a manner that inspires others to serve
This plan incorporates my total leadership experiments as opportunities to overcome areas of concern
and become a more holistically empowered leader. These areas of concern are time management and organization
While I have always seen myself as an introvert, a variety of data stemming from assessment results and
feedback from others have resulted in my reconsideration of my identity. When identifying my core leadership
value of shared identity, I realized that being an extrovert was an integral part of operationalizing that value. The
implied moral and normative aspects that oblige a person to treat others as fellow human beings and equals
requires interaction with others. This results in a genuine, people‐centered orientation where people engage in
service of others around them and are committed to their communities. Among friends, one must be an
transformational leader and community organizer. As foot soldiers, they must be reliable, and the ones who step
forward to volunteer. They must be quick to lend a hand and share their skills and knowledge freely (i.e. by
teaching children, working with the less fortunate, or facilitating community workshops, etc.). They must help with
Shared identity manifests itself in an interpersonal value of shared perception, or knowing through
feeling. This compliments shared identity. It is a participatory process, where emotions tend to be experienced
mutually. Heightened sensitivity and the ability to read body language are good survival tools in a society where
not all social interactions are carried out with words. Here, only carefully feeling out one another can help us
navigate the ambiguities of life’s encounters—like knowing when to join a group or how to blend in with people.
Connectedness, however does not equate with collectivism and the subjugation of an individual to the
group. I also value freedom, the idea of self-determination and self-actualization. The concept of having agency
and the ability to positively influence those around you is incredibly important to me. Autonomy, the
independence to make one’s own decisions is essential for progress. Rather, shared identity and perception is the
emphasis of the whole plus its isolated parts and on blending and collaboration, as well as how to enhance and
support others. It is important that people pool their strengths and achieve common goals by working together, by
sharing surplus, instead of hoarding and racketeering. We must make sure the heart is also full, not just the
These values stand for an organic concept of the world. They thrive on basic connectedness—of person
with person, of person with nature, of person with the unseen spirit worlds and, ultimately, of person with God.
For these values, the most impactful and supportive leadership topics were emotional and social
intelligence, the effect of gender on leadership, authentic leadership and self-monitoring, leadership ethics, and
personal development. These topics intersect to create the platform upon which sustainable, transcendental
My value of shared identity is one that seems strongly interconnected with emotional and social
intelligence. Emotional intelligence can be divided into two dimensions: (1) non cognitive self-management
personae; and (2) social dexterity (Wakeman). Similarly, social intelligence contains seven components: (1)
empathy; (2) attunement; (3) organizational awareness; (4) influence; (5) developing others; (6) inspiration; and (7)
teamwork (Goleman and Boyatzis). In order to create and develop a shared identity and a shared perception
between people, one must demonstrate high emotional and social intelligence. The social intelligence quality of
The results of my Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire were a coordinate pair of (6, 7), which placed me
in the sector of the circle attributed to a gamma alpha persona. This means that my social dexterity score is 7 and
my non-cognitive self-management personae score is 6. The quadrant and sector describes people with well-
developed social dexterity and non-cognitive self-management skills. Feeling confident in my ability to employ
emotional and social intelligence, I can best leverage my limited time to develop stronger relationships.
My value of freedom is also tied directly to the differences in leadership styles of men and women and
how each are valued. Studies have shown that women prefer and tend to behave in terms of a feminine leadership
model characterized by cooperativeness, collaboration of managers and subordinates, lower control for the
leaders, and problem solving based on intuition and empathy as well as rationality (Eagly and Johnson). Women’s
leadership styles emphasize interpersonal relations to a greater extent than men’s styles, and are more democratic
and participative (Eagly and Johnson). In the article “Women and the Vision Thing”, it is theorized that women are
as visionary as men but in a different way, where they engage in more collaboration and rely on diverse and
external inputs and alliances in forming their vision (Ibarra and Obodaru). The research shows that women are
more natural connectors. Unfortunately, male leadership styles are too often touted as the definitive leadership
styles, and valued more than female leadership styles. This framework is a form of oppression against women and
The understanding of gender’s effects on leadership and an androgynous style of leadership can be
effective tools in closing the rift between men and women, bringing the two sexes together for a variety of issues
as allies and supporters of one another. The goal is more than a tolerance or acknowledgement of a difference in
leadership style, but an acceptance of the strengths and weaknesses of different styles. These commonalities can
be used to form coalitions on a variety of matters and issues. I acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of
different styles of leadership and the advantage of having an androgynous leadership style.
A tempered authentic leadership is also necessary for leadership movements to occur. The idea that a
moderate amount of self monitoring is acceptable to navigate difficult circumstances or personality conflicts is as
important as not compromising one’s own values and beliefs is an interesting concept. This can be done not only
to avoid regrets, but to also meet and exceed the expectations of followers, and maintain their followership and
loyalty from one goal to the next. Individuals that engage in impression management and self-monitoring are not
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necessarily violating trust and authenticity. As a result of the letters of Day and Bedeian, I have a more complex
perspective on how high self-monitoring (HSM) and low-self monitoring can be interpreted by followers and third
parties, with respect to being considered authentic and consistent. Trust is a key to effective leadership (Bedeian
and Day). Self exposure, relating, and making leaderly choices also result in a perception of authentic leadership
for both the leader and to those they seek to lead (Ladkin and Taylor).
The journals and journal responses have helped to clarify ideas behind authentic leadership, and the idea
that leaders filter out some elements that are not appropriate for some situations (Orsaba-Finders, Re: Journal
Entry 2 - Amy Gutierrez), and do not create false personas that result in one being a false leader. Another example
that clarified this was how we have work clothes and leisure clothes, but in neither attire are we being more or less
authentic, because attire is merely an indication of outside appearance, not our inner personalities (Linnehan). In
essence, leaders can maintain solid ground while also self-monitoring and engaging in impression management.
These actions, as behaviors of emotional and social intelligence, are enhancements to one’s leadership ability.
Even strong ethically driven movements, like social movements, labor movements, civil rights movements,
or revolutions have examples of highly ethical and unethical leaders. When a high dominance motivated leader
perceives instability within the group hierarchy or there is a lack of intergroup competition, leaders sacrifice group
goals for the sake of self-interest (Maner and Mead). Knowing about and being aware of the emergence of these
leadership development. An important factor in leadership development is that it must be provided in a manner
that is appropriate to the level of an individual’s leadership role (Ramo and Ibarra). As I advance in my career with
the CDE, I will continue to request specific guidance and training that is appropriate for my classification of work. In
a long term view of my career trajectory, if I find myself in a place where my ethics will be challenged, I hope that I
will be able to employ a boundaryless perspective on my career and a broader view of career success (Callanan).
Based on the readings on the areas of emotional and social intelligence and authentic leadership and self-
monitoring I have identified leadership behaviors that I should continue, as well as make minor and major
adjustments to. For example, my emotional and social intelligence abilities made my first experiment, to better
balance my time between my realms, that much easier. I was able to remain effective in my work realm by
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leveraging my relationships with my colleagues. By better distributing and managing work through the use of
emotional and social intelligence and authentic leadership and self-monitoring, I was able to collapse lengthy and
Similarly, the readings on the effect of gender on leadership, leadership ethics, and personal development
were directly related to my second experiment, where I took on different responsibilities in education policy. At
the CDE, my ability to acknowledge and encourage the different styles of my colleagues were in direct proportion
to their ability to mentor me in my new role as an education programs assistant. Being androgynous in my role as a
follower and leader helped me to adapt to the different leadership styles of my colleagues.
The syncretism of my values and experiences with the leadership concepts learned have been
advantageous in applying leadership theories and ideas and implementing my total leadership experiments.
Self-Assessment
Through the analysis of the various assessment instruments and journal entries in the course, one can
identify five reoccurring themes that support the values listed above. They are: (1) All that I am and all that I ever
will be is because of my mother and lola; (2) I am highly motivated to lead and empower others to seek and strive
for social justice, particularly for gender equity; (3) I enjoy being connected to others; (4) I appreciate openings to
pursue personal and professional growth; and (5) I am optimistic and view challenges as opportunities to earn
My relationships and experiences with my mom and lola continue to be the leading influence on how I
view the world and my role in it. They have empowered me with the idea that I have a prominent part to play in
life, whether my influence reaches one or billions. My experiences have developed my self-confidence, self-
Through my mom and lola, as two of the strongest women in my life, I gained a unique perspective on
women and the strength of women. I did not receive as much gender role feedback as other children did. This
came out in the masculine-femininity leadership assessment, which indicated that I displayed a strong feminine
As a result of my being the primary caretaker of my mom and lola at the end of their lives, and their role
as the primary caretakers of me in my youth, a beautiful reciprocity existed in our lives. This view is a
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demonstration of my optimistic attitude and positive outlook on life. I believe that this is grounded in my utilization
of locus of control, taking credit when things go well, and reasoning that when things do not go well, it could be a
result of something outside of my control. My optimistic identity also causes me to be highly motivated to lead. My
My need to feel connected to others, seemingly flies in the face of my idea that I am an introvert.
However, I realize that I do not need to be connected to everybody, just to a limited few in whom I give my trust
and loyalty. One could say that I value quality over quantity.
My life is replete with examples of my emphasis on personal and professional growth, like my dedication
to a life of learning. This has exhibited itself in very apparent ways, like enrolling in a masters program to more
obscure ways, such as looking for lessons in cartoons and other forms of entertainment. The Matchpoint
assessment confirmed this in some notable ways, such as showing that a typical social-enterprising career choice is
that of an adult education teacher, a director of guidance in public school, a human resource s manager, a school
superintendent, or in training. Even in the Drexel Graduate Student Association, I was elected by the body as the
chairperson for the personal and professional development committee. A mantra of mine is that there is no such
thing as perfect, because we can always get better. Therefore, I constantly look for ways to improve.
Finally, despite the challenges I have seen in life, like being an only child, the only male in the family,
losing my mom while in the middle of my undergraduate education, and maintaining the same rigorous student
schedule on top of working to sustain the home, I am affirmed by the fact that I have not only survived, but have
succeeded. I recently caught myself telling others, “I like challenges,” and realized just how true that statement
was. In one instance, I took a test that was twice as challenging as the recommended test, passed it, and felt that
much more accomplished. In another instance, I only engaged in self-study to earn a score on the Graduate
Management Admission Test that I am very proud of. I believe that nothing is more effective than hard work.
My significant strengths as a self-leader are my strong leadership traits and behaviors. I am very confident
in my own abilities and willingness to be a positive and encouraging example for others. There is no doubt in my
mind that I lead an exemplary life. However, where I lack is the amount of my belief in my influence on others. This
is in direct proportion to the amount of feedback I seek from others, which is disproportionate to the amount of
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positive feedback I give to others. I also lack in my skills in holding others accountable and providing negative
feedback.
In my professional career, I have advanced fairly quickly, from an entry level clerical worker to established
analyst and programs assistant within five years. My own belief in myself and abilities have been key in my
professional growth. Fortunately, others have seen how I have brought out the best in my colleagues and have
rewarded me for that, even when I did not recognize it in myself. That lack of self recognition has pigeonholed my
career advancement. At my present position, one possible career path is to become a manager. However, because
I do not consider myself good at holding crucial conversations and crucial confrontations with others, I have
doubted my ability to become a strong manager, despite other people’s confidence in me. Fortunately, another
path is to become an education consultant, which actually has more growth potential than going up the
management ladder and seems to align more closely with my long term goals. Another weakness I have is being
susceptible to scope creep. As I continue to look for ways to improve myself, I have often found myself involved in
too much, hurting my performance in the many activities I take part in, rather than excelling in just a few.
However, to ultimately fulfill my goals and dreams, and have a life of happiness and a life of meaning, I
will need to not only learn how to hold others accountable, hold myself accountable, but also continue to maintain
In an effort to foster work-life balance and minimize work-life conflict, my total leadership experiments
were aimed at two goals: 1) organizing my schedule and 2) negotiating to position myself for career advancement.
Both experiments were designed to allow me to develop good habits and sustain a better balance in my work-life
My lack of organization was leading to an inability to remember tasks and duties, meeting deadlines, and
feeling in control of my own schedule. My life was becoming a matter of reacting to what came my way, rather
than being more proactive in managing my schedule. This was a holdover from the behavior I developed in taking
care of my lola, where she always came first and I regularly turned down other activities and tasks to be her
caretaker. After her death and my period of mourning, I found myself with offers of activities and time to do them,
The use of a time management calendar was incredibly useful in managing my time and having a visual
tool to judge how much time I was devoting to different aspects of my life. It helped me divide up the 168 hours in
each week to be as productive as possible for each area of life. My stakeholders have been pleased with the time
and effort I have been able to devote to them and our common goals. When I have shared my goals with others,
many have commented that they too need to organize themselves better. The ideas that leaders engage in
appropriate behavior to accomplish goals, as well as guide people through chaos, in this case, chaotic schedules,
both served to reinforce this behavior change. In order to keep this change sustainable, it is just a matter of being
diligent in the process of updating and referencing my business and time management planner several times a day.
Looking at where I was as far as keeping my personal and professional life organized, it was easy to see
that what I needed to unfreeze was my lack of discipline with respect to calendaring, making to do lists, and time
management. Using the time management calendar is a change I am still going through right now, and while the
technical experiment is finished, I hope that by the end of the effective experiment, I will have developed positive
habits like calendaring and time management that would be beneficial for me to refreeze. The restraining forces
were and continue to be the complexity of my schedule and the simplicity of ignoring the calendar altogether, but
the driving forces were my feelings of accomplishment and better organization. I feel more efficient and people at
work and in my personal life see that I am more efficient. Their feedback serves to reinforce this change I am
seeking.
In my second total leadership experiment, I successfully negotiated for a training and development
assignment as an education programs assistant, where I would gain policy experience in education. This included
taking on new assignments and engaging in a new role at work. My direct supervisor and colleagues have been
very supportive, and others not in my division have also congratulated me on my role change. The theories that a
charismatic leader takes risks and that leaders are authentic were very helpful in accomplishing this goal. My
honesty with my direct supervisor about my career goals facilitated the creation of a plan to reach them. As a
completely new role for me, the discomfort of taking on these new responsibilities was the strongest force to resist
the change. However, my colleagues have stepped in as mentors and encourage my growth. Engaging in more and
more small projects and developing a track record of success will help make this change sustainable. It has been
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easy for me to engage in activities that I did in my old role as an analyst. In order to successfully transition from an
analyst to a consultant through this assistant position, I must continue to shed my role as an analyst.
In this second experiment, I identified the behavior that needed changing was that of complacency. It was
very comfortable being an analyst in a role and serving in a function that I know very well and am very confident
at. I am unfreezing that behavior by asking for more policy related work. This positions me outside my comfort
zone and forces me to work through the discomfort until it becomes comfortable. The restraining forces are
certainly my aversion to risk, pain, and embarrassment, and the driving forces are self-satisfaction, challenge, and
pride. By checking in with and getting feedback from my mentors and keeping my mind focused on the end goal of
The sustainability of the changes brought about by these experiments will greatly enhance my potential
for accomplishing my professional and personal goals. My professional goals are to become an education programs
consultant at the CDE within three years and to become a regional vice president in Primerica in the next four
years. Both will allow me to personally pay down my car debt, my credit card debt, and gain control of my personal
finances. This will mean continuing to become more disciplined, more dedicated, and more inspirational. The
strengths I possess to make these goals a reality are my clear vision and strong work ethic. However, I need to
address my improvement areas by continuing to better manage my time, putting into practice the information I
In order to become an education programs consultant, I need to obtain a master’s degree by October
2012, successfully fulfill my education programs assistant training and development assignment by October 2012,
pass the education programs consultant examination by April 2012, and successfully apply and be hired for an
education programs consultant position by December 2012. Along the way, my classmates, instructors, colleagues,
and managers can serve as sources of constructive feedback. Of these, my mentors are my work colleagues, Linda
Lownes, Syma Solovtch, and Benjamin Walker, who will provide me guidance on how to accomplish the work.
In order to become a Primerica Regional Vice President, I need to—within the next 90 days—set up and
go on 80 appointments with married, employed homeowners aged 25 to 45 with children, train three of them how
to do the same, and continue to teach people how to become properly protected, debt free, and financially
independent. In this realm, I need to overcome my fear or rejection, begin to make calls and set appointments, and
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obtain feedback from my leaders, Jocelyn Lavilla, Neva Jane Ramones, and Ronnie Dumag. Of these, Ronnie Dumag
Ultimately, I would like to redefine the concepts of power and success in a way that encompasses themes
of strength, inner beauty, and positive social impact through creative expression and the advocacy of social
change. To touch the lives of as many people as possible—especially my family—and encourage people to pursue
their dreams and passions and better themselves and the world as a whole, empowering them to achieve personal
and career happiness and success. This vision will be achieved through one-on-one learning situations (mentoring,
teaching, coaching), creating and disseminating empowering and uplifting material (career, college success,
wellness), and developing and leading inspiring workshops (achieving your dreams, pursuing your passion).
Conclusion
This term, I have learned about many theories and aspects of leadership and refined my ideas on what
makes a good leader. Just as important, I have become more aware of my natural tendencies and identified my
leadership values. Knowing my leadership values, I can ensure that my professional and personal goals are aligned
with them and position myself to succeed. Also, knowing my natural tendencies will inform my plans and strategies
to achieve these goals. As I continue along my present path, this knowledge will serve as guideposts toward career
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Goleman, Daniel and Richard Boyatzis. "Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership." Harvard Business
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(2009).
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