1. What makes a leader inspirational? What states of being and actions lead to others being inspired?

Anyone who knows me knows how often I emphasize on the importance of open, transparent, and frequent
communication. By now, this cohort may have also picked up on this. To me, an inspirational leader is one
that can communicate – openly, with transparency and frequently. Through communication, a leader can
provide his/her team with a clear vision and direction. Communication allows for collaboration, where
questions are addressed to the team, ideas are shared, and suggestions taken into consideration leading to a
clear vision and direction of the task at hand.

As highlighted by Kouzes and Posner (2021), leaders can be forward-looking visionaries with an intent to
improve the future state of the team or department. In reading Kouzes and Posner (2021), I recognized
some of those leadership qualities in myself. I am constantly looking for ways that empower my team to
work smarter - keeping up with the latest current and upcoming HR trends, practices, and technology
allowing us to provide the operation with the tools and knowledge to develop talent for the future
generation of leaders. In alignment with the company goals, I provide the team with an outline of this
vision. Together – as a team, we come up with team and individual goals. This normally takes us 2-3
working days. I find that this allows for each person to have a sense of accountability and ownership of the
tasks as they are ultimately creating their own goals and responsibilities. We ensure that each goal is linked
to the department/company goals.

2. What causes “leadership failures”? Discuss some examples you have been involved in.

In my opinion and experience, leadership failures are a direct result of ineffective communication practices.
This includes dishonesty, unpredictable moods in leadership figures and lack of time and effort put into
connecting with the team on an individual level. This question is very interesting because as I read it, the
image of one of my previous HR Manager automatically came to mind. For the purpose of this question, I
will refer to her as Karen. If I could describe Karen in one word, it would be ‘unpredictable’. Every
morning, as she strolled into the office, I would ask myself “which version of Karen is coming to work
today?”. Her communication was inconsistent, promising the staff promotions, moves and assignments
without ever materializing. There was a lot of discriminatory practices in the benefits she provided all
employees without any merit, but rather because she says so. She did not provide direction, support or
opportunities for change or innovative/critical thinking.

For the year and a half, I was working for Karen, she dimmed my light and joy for HR. She managed to
demotivate me to the point of depression which ultimately led to my resignation. I lost complete trust in not
only her but in the company I was working for. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work
elsewhere, but many had to stay and accept her demeaning leadership.

The most valuable lesson I took with me from that experience was an example of the type of leader I did
not want to become.

3. What does a strategist need to make a strategy “good”? How can you assess the quality of a strategy?

The ABCs of strategic traction as mentioned in figure 2.2 of The Leadership Code is a great takeaway in
addressing this question. It sums up perspectives from the multiple readings into one easy to read and
understand chart. I see a lot of Aspirational and Energize in my own strategy to leading.

Does Your Business Strategy Execution Resemble A Sea Monster? by Chapman highlighted the criteria for
good strategy which includes being easy to communicate and act on, people are able to see it in action and
it is tied directly to results. This can be linked to my response in question 1 whereby effective
communication leads to personal connections amongst the team allowing for the creation of a shared
vision/goals which produces results you can see, appreciate, and recognize.