1

Leader Identity Narrative

Dyan Babbitt
Arizona State University
OGL 482: Organizational Leadership Pro-Seminar II
Professor Trista Guzman Glover
March 30, 2024
 2

Leader Identity Narrative

Throughout my life, there have been many instances where I have shown leadership qualities.

Some I believe I have gained from watching my parents and others were nurtured by mentors. There have

been moments throughout my leadership history that have been amazing, some that have been very low,

and some that have been a turning point for me and my leadership journey. While there have been many

instances of highs and lows throughout my journey, I will reflect on several instances that have made a

significant impact on my leadership style. After all, how can we become better leaders without reflection?

Take Your Child to Work Day

The first time I can recall any type of leadership was watching my father work with his team at

Teledyne Electronics. I was around 10 years old, and I remember going to my dad's work for the day. Of

course, I was young, so I wasn’t looking for signs of leadership during this day, but I remember being in

awe of how my dad commanded the room but was gentle and available for his team. They asked for his

help troubleshooting the towers filled with testing devices and he didn’t complain or moan. He simply

helped. While this isn’t my leadership style, watching my father interact with his team made me happy. I

believe my father showed transformational leadership skills. He motivated his team and pushed

boundaries for productivity and innovation (Leadership styles, 2023). Looking back on this moment, I can

see why I was in awe of his work, he simply made it a safe place for his followers to take risks and ask for

help.
 3

First Job, First Promotion

Another moment of reflection leads me to my first job. Not only was this my first job, but I was

able to be promoted within 4 months to supervisor because of the responsibility I showed. Robek’s would

be the first place where I was able to be a leader. The owners really enjoyed my work ethic, and I was

able to experiment with how to talk to people with some authority. I was around 15 years old, and I

remember clearly an incident involving an older team member. They didn’t want to ‘take orders’ from a

younger person and they did all they could to avoid listening to me. While this was a downside, I still

enjoyed all the experiences of learning to lead people. For this instance, I would classify the leadership

style as bureaucratic leadership. Because I was learning and experimenting with my approach, I stuck to

the rules and policies and not so much on making connections. I could also relate this experience to

transactional leadership because of how straightforward it was. There was still fun and relationship-

building, but I was focused on getting it right.

Jamba Juice

Around age 20, I was working at Jamba Juice for about 4 years. My manager, Nadine, was

starting to become more of a mentor and friend than a manager. She would show me, little by little, how

to communicate more effectively with my team and how to do the more technical skills like ordering and

inventory. Throughout the 10 years at Jamba, I can say that my leadership style was at first transactional

but developed into transformational leadership because I was invested in the team's individual growth. I

was learning how to train and develop their leadership skills. I made personal connections while still

creating a high-energy environment. I was dedicated to increasing sales and providing an amazing

customer experience. During my time at Jamba, I was also doing some extracurricular activities that were

not in line with my leadership goals. While I was still doing my job well, I believe that I was set back

because of what I was doing out with friends.

 4

Nadine gave me multiple chances to improve my out-of-work behavior and I ended up moving

locations to help assist other managers with training and improving metrics. This gave me a sense of

being wanted because I was able to help teams enforce policies and procedures while keeping the air

light. I felt I was respected and someone to look up to even though I was in my 20s. This experience was

a high one for me because I was able to do what I loved, which was working with people, while growing

and learning under my mentor, Nadine. I can honestly say that I owe everything I have learned from her,

and I still think about what she would do when I am stuck in a situation in my current position. The

leadership style I have now is directly related to my experience in my 20s at Jamba Juice. As I reflect on

my past at Jamba Juice, I was more of a risk-taker. In my current role, I feel less support from my

supervisors to do big things at Starbucks.

Failed Management

Around 25 years old, I was working for Jamba Juice on a college campus as the manager. I want

to set the stage for the upcoming trauma. The company has been sold and is now franchised to a multiple-

location owner. Things are drastically changing, and quality and standards are dipping. Nadine was still

available to help, but my direct supervising manager was cold and unavailable. This position was a long

time in the making, and I was excited for it, unfortunately, the team I had was NOT bought in for a new

manager and they showed it. From the very beginning, I took the time to get to know the team and try and

build connections while learning to run a store myself. My leadership looked more transactional at this

time as I was balancing my new roles and responsibilities. Everything I did I was getting pushback from

the team, it felt impossible. I asked my supervisor for suggestions, and they just said to let them have their

feelings. I thought this was wrong because it could get toxic and negative fast, but I listened and kept

going.

Some time passed and I was doing okay with the technical side of leading, but I couldn’t build

connections because they simply had their posse and I was left out, which is fine, but there was no respect

for me as a manager. I ended up having to let someone go for missing too many shifts without
 5

communication and all hell broke loose. They were retaliating, and calling the owners and anything they

could do to sabotage me. I felt defeated and over it. I ended up getting transferred out of that store and

demoted down to assistant manager. I believe I could have succeeded had it not been for that team. I tried

everything to build connections with them. This very low experience showed me that the environment of

the store or team is something that should be evaluated first. Another thing I found interesting is that a

few classes back, I was asked why I wasn’t pursuing manager at Starbucks after 5 years and I thought

about how bad this experience was. What if the team sabotages me? What if they are mean? What if I

can't lead them? All these what-ifs are terrifying to me even though I know I have great leadership skills

and am a transformational leader. Reflection can make you a better leader, but you must get past your

failures and learn from them to do so.

“Robert”

Where do I even begin with this experience? I will start by saying this was my turning point. I

took everything I learned, good and bad, and decided I would never be this guy. My second manager at

Starbucks has relocated 2 other employees and me to another store to improve the team dynamics, speed,

and customer satisfaction. We succeeded in about 5 months, and she was now leaving to manage in

another district. The manager who is replacing her has been with Starbucks for over 15 years and I

thought he [Robert] had a decent reputation. I WAS WRONG. From the beginning, there was little effort

made to build relationships with his team, let alone the supervisors [including me]. He was making drastic

changes without listening to input from store leaders and was quickly becoming an issue for morale. Over

3 months, about 6 people left the company because of him. I tried to get buy-in from the team on his

behalf and he just kept getting worse and worse. He would yell at us on the floor, in front of customers.

He would laugh at our ideas to improve the store while his ideas would have no benefit to the speed of

service scores and even drew negative attention from the district manager.

At this point, his leadership was autocratic and toxic. I immediately started looking for a transfer

because I couldn’t handle it anymore, he was making me hate my job. The team was calling HR on him
 6

and looking for internal support which seemed to not exist. While I ended up leaving the store and

unfortunately, leaving a good team, I felt there was nothing I could do to help them while maintaining my

job. He ended up quitting soon after because he caught wind they would let him go. This wasn’t the

lowest point in my leadership journey, but I took this experience and learned from it. I could never lead a

team like this. It was almost daily that I was shocked by something else he did. While I tried to maintain

my leadership during this time, I know that defeat had an impact on my leadership because I was trying to

support a manager who had no respect for his teammates. Another reason I felt defeated was that I was

taking leadership classes at the time. I was learning of all the ways he was being a bad leader. After

learning how I didn’t want to lead people, I ended up at a store that would show me more respect than all

the others.

Recognition and Respect

I have been in my current store for over 3 years. I have grown into leading a group of very

different people and even a few that don’t like me. I used to get upset when team members didn’t like me

or how I enforced policy, but I have learned to accept that we can’t all be friendly, but at least we can

respect each other. Throughout my time at my current store, the team has come to me for problems with

their peers, problems with their personal life and even to try and mediate their issues with our manager. I

always try to help my team however I can, and in return, I find that they are easy to lead and don’t push

back when there are new changes. Especially if I can explain them thoroughly. As I move closer to

graduation, I think I should just try being a manager at Starbucks because of how amazing my current

team is and how supportive they are of me and my leadership.

I feel like my leadership has progressed and evolved to be more understanding for others. While I

still must follow the policies and make sure all rules are being followed, I want to make sure my team is

taken care of. I think that an unhappy team will not lead to good outcomes or any positive effects on the

business. While I was reading the text this week, I thought about how I am 34 and just not finding out

what I want to do. The age-30 transition seems real to me because I have been trying to reflect and
 7

evaluate my last few years to find out what I want (Harrington & Hall, 2007, p.183). I have also

decided to shift out of retail/customer service and into HR roles. Shifting my career after graduation

seems warranted but now, I have a whole new type of leadership to understand.

Conclusion

Writing this story of my past makes me wonder where I will end up with my leadership. How will I

succeed in a different career? Will I believe in myself? I am hoping the aPHR preparation that I am

undertaking next will help me understand HR enough to where I can feel confident in my capabilities.

While I am confident in my leadership, especially understanding how it has evolved over the years, I am

still scared to make any big jumps. Seeing where I came from helps me have faith that my leadership

style will continue to get stronger and remain transformational.

 8

Age 10. Dad Age 15. First

Age 20. Age 25. Age 30. Age 34.
takes me to job with Lead
Working Failed at Worst display Respect and
work with position.
alongside my managing. of leadership. recognition.
him.
mentor and
favorite
manager.
 9

References

Harrington, B. & Hall, D.T. (2007). Career management and work-life integration: Using self-assessment
to navigate contemporary careers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Leadership styles. Corporate Finance Institute. (2023, October 15).

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/management/leadership-styles/