Authentic Leadership

Joseph Castro is a tall, robust man with dark hair smoothed back off his forehead. Young for his position as Vice Chancellor for Student Academic Affairs, he carries an old world elegance, simultaneously appearing both charming and wise. This is what one sees on first meeting Joe. But what is so compelling about him, what inspired me to write this profile about him, is something else entirely. It is his heart, the giant muscle which guides Joe in everything he says and does.

I first met Joe many years ago. He was new in his role at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and had discovered a scholarship fund for Native female medical and nursing students which was being underutilized. Calling a meeting with the Native American Health Alliance, of which I, as a Native staff member at UCSF, was a member.  We spent an hour together, Joe, a first year Native medical student and I talking about the ways in which UCSF could best utilize the scholarship funding and advance participation of more Native people in the health sciences. Later, Joe covered the expenses for my attendance at a meeting at UCLA, where Native staff across the UC system were working toward the creation of system-side Native American Staff Development Conference. The conference was recently held for the third year and UCSF, more accurately Joe, sponsored the event.

These are small examples of the kind of care Joe takes in his relationships with students and staff, with following through on his commitments and priorities. These are minor examples of the authenticity of Joe’s leadership. When I asked Joe what he considers his strengths as a leader, he indicated four things: good listener; open and accessible; creative; and focused on serving others (staff and students). But I would describe his strengths differently. I would say he listens with his heart and he problem-solves with his eyes on the best outcomes for everyone involved. His words are worth their weight in gold. As for weaknesses, Joe is comfortable naming these as well. He avoids conflict. He struggles with self promotion. He has a hard time turning down projects that align with his values and thus finds himself sometimes overcommitted.

Recently I heard Joe speak on the topic of leadership. He told the audience that much of what he learned about working with others came from the grandfather who raised him. He also indicated he had learned a great deal from childhood adversity. From his grandfather he learned how to get things done by building positive relationships with others and from adversity he learned resilience and the ability to focus on long-term outcomes rather than short-term concerns. But the most important leadership lesson that Joe ever learned was not to focus on himself. In his words, “It’s not about me.  It’s all about whom I am serving." That is something else Joe learned from his grandfather, the value of service. It isn’t always easy, he acknowledges, but he is committed to this principle.

Enlarge Your Sphere of Influence

“Leadership and learning,” according to John F. Kennedy, “are indispensible to one another.” And yet over and over again, we as leaders think that `what we know’ is our greatest asset. It is not. ‘What we know’ provides a robust frame through which to interpret new information; it provides the structural support on which new things can rest. But without learning, there is nothing new. There is no growth at all.

Leadership then is not a role or a  pre-existing skill set but a practice. It is the practice of asking good questions, of learning from our environment and the people around us. One way to deepen this practice is to train in the art of shifting frames. Frames are the way we see the world, the borders we put around life experiences so that we can focus on the content therein. But the process of framing is reductive and thus limits what we can see. As a leadership practice, take a moment to ask yourself “what is the meaning I am constructing about this situation, person, challenge? What solutions or actions am I leaning towards?” This will give you a sense of the frame you are in. But to shift the frame, you must actually see an alternate point of view. Stand up. Walk to the other side of the room. What do you notice here?

There are a multitude of frames, as many frames as there are people. Bolman and Deal, in their book Reframing Academic Leadership point to four core leadership and organizational frames: structural, human resources (people development focused), political and symbolic (cultural). Each of these frames is associated with a particular kind of situational analysis. In the structural frame, leaders often ask, “what are the critical rules, roles and policies? How can I establish effective procedures, lines of authority, and technologies to ensure the best possible outcome?” In the human resource frame, leaders attend to people’s needs, developing skills and growing capacity, enhancing relationships between individuals and teams, and ensuring the overall health of the system. In the political frame, leaders focus on power as displayed through conflict, resource constraints, constituency interests and agendas and group alliances. In the symbolic frame, leaders ask themselves, “what are the cultural beliefs being displayed by this person, team, department? What stories would be most compelling to them? How can I create practices, celebrations, rituals that would effectively bring them together around a shared vision? Which symbols best convey this vision?”

The next time you find yourself facing a situation that is all too familiar and yet the outcome you are seeking eludes you, shift your frame and see what new focal areas, new solutions become available to you. The more attention you pay to the diversity of frames, the more effective you will be as a leader. Learning is the key to enlarging your sphere of influence.