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My Philosophy of Leadership
--
Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership
And Postsecondary Education
University of Northern Iowa
--
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the
Master of Arts in Education
--
By
Radha Shivkumar
The American School of Bombay
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
(February 16, 2013)
--
Timothy Gilson






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I am going to begin my philosophy of leadership paper by saying that I had initially
decided against doing this course and was dragging my feet over giving my final consent. I was
not keen on the principalship since I thought my competency lay in working with my students
and in being a facilitator of learning; and yet I wanted to talk to a few people before finally
saying no.
Dr Shabbi Luthra and Dr Leigh Martin, I would say are true leaders as they put a
positive spin on my perceptions (Ramsey, 2006). As I read through the Teacher Leader Model
Standards and the Ramsey text, the pieces of the puzzle began fitting together and I started to
construct the true and new meaning of leadership.
I now see myself in the light of a teacher leader that I always was. It has been an eye
opener for me to know that there is nothing elusive about leadership. The traits and the abilities
that are the raw materials of leadership can be released, realized and acquired. It is with this end
in mind that I wish to pursue this course.
A leader does not have to be an extraordinary person or someone who is a superior in
hierarchy. Leaders exist in each one of us. I strongly believe in this statement and link it to these
lines from Ramseys (2006) text Leadership is learnable (p. 20). Leadership qualities are
inherent within a person. It is about realizing these dormant potentials within you and bringing it
to the forefront as need arises and as the situation demands.
I have the ability to relate well with others and see myself seeking healthy collaborations
and building a team culture. I value and recognize the contribution of every team member. I am a
strict self-evaluator who uses reflections to make improvements and develops new plans for the
team and for her students. I lead by example- I respect expertise, experience and creativity and in
turn earn respect. I trust my team wholeheartedly to be able to receive their trust in my leadership.
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This enables me to give and receive honest and constructive feedback. My team feels
empowered from the powers we share collectively. Working this way gives me the confidence to
be a teacher leader that I am.
I see the leader in me as being right there in the midst of people. I intend to model
effective skills in listening, presenting ideas, leading discussions, clarifying, mediating, and
identifying the needs of self and others in order to advance shared goals and professional
learning as suggested in the Teacher Leader Model Standards 1 (2010), function (b).
I will make myself available, be tangible and connect with one and all to foster collaboration and
trust building. The following quote has deeply impressed me Your success as a leader who gets
the most out of people wont depend on your title, your degrees, or your previous experience. It
wont be the result of how much you know, how hard you work, what long hours you keep, or
anything you say. It will rest mostly on the way you treat people (Ramsey, 2006, p. 42). The
visibility that comes with building bridges and establishing network with stakeholders, I believe,
will be helpful in forging fruitful partnerships and enlisting others in the shared vision.
I am convinced that the true essence of success in an organization lies in bonding with
the community and promoting consistent progress while recognizing and respecting individuals
and their contributions; and while celebrating the trials and tribulations together. I concur with
Ramsey (2006) when he suggests Good school cannot do business without supportive parents
and friends. Good leaders take all the help they can get and ask for more (p. 47).
It is here that Princess Diana stands out as an inspirational leader for me. She had a
tumultuous personal life. She did, like all normal human leaders do, experience imbalance in her
life. As she matured as a human being and as she began to connect with the people, she
experienced great solace. Her popularity is not only attributed to her royal identity or her fashion
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quotient but the fact that she connected in a sublime way with the masses. There was this
genuineness about her as a true fellow human being with compassion.
I consider being honest and genuine in my interaction and communication with others
very important and that is why when Ramsey (2006) says They evaluate honestly and dont
hesitate to criticize when necessary (p. 44), I completely agree with him. Students too, expect
genuine feedback, appreciation and recognition from their teachers. They have the ability to
gauge them. Pretence always stands on crutches. One can expect it to give way.
In my opinion, excellent planning and organization skills are hallmarks of successful
leaders. These leaders carve out time to plan the path forward. To remain focused on my
business, I see the key role of planning in my life. Good planning will create the much needed
time to be amongst the masses to translate and implement the vision. Planning SMART for
effectiveness strongly resonates within me (Ramsey, 2006). As a leader, I intend to set realistic
and achievable goals that aim at specific outcomes and it should benefit my students in achieving
their optimum potential. Ramsey (2006) affirms this in his text through chapter 2: Planning for
the Future. He also stresses on being a chronic planner for achieving peak performance.
I see people empowerment as strengthening my power as a leader. I see the benefit of
assigning critical tasks to colleagues while offering my support. Team work is unleashing
creativity (Ramsey, 2006), and I am designing Idea factories with a clear purpose (p. 7). The
nurturing and development of subordinates is the key to organizational success (p. 42). Ramsey
clearly lends credence to what I hold true about people empowerment.
A leader that has the strong backing of his staff can build the mightiest of organizations.
My mighty organization is my grade level at the moment, and I can see the program we offer,
flourish and grow by leaps and bounds each day. The collective efforts of people with different
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perspectives and cultural background enrich the learning of our students. This plays out through
Teacher Leader Model Standard 1 Fostering a Collaborative Culture to Support Educator
Development and Student Learning (Teacher Leadership, 2010). I wish to always employ this
trait in realizing my efficiency as a leader.
Balance is vital to a leader. Allocating time for work, play and family is necessary for
physical and mental well-being. I am practicing balance and I wish to stress on its importance by
being a role model. The best leaders you know live a balanced life. They have time for work,
family, spirituality, their community, themselves and fun. This doesnt happen by accident. It
takes planning (Ramsey, 2006, p. 30). I agree with him, when he urges leaders to make the act
of planning, a routine, to do business, and to achieve the right state of balance.
If I am a true leader in every sense and live by the above snapshot of some of my strong
beliefs of what I think should comprise a leader, I am confident of getting the same from my
students, colleagues and the community. As you sow so shall you reap- Giving what you expect
in return shall never fail a leader in being successful. I am drawing upon my knowledge of the
Teacher Leader Model Standards (Teacher Leadership, 2010) to say that I will require the
collective wisdom of my constituents. My meaningful collaborations with them will help me in
problem solving and decision making. The diversity within my community will support me in
handling challenges. The creativity that will emerge from collective thinking will lead to new
findings and new research to enhance student learning. I will want my students to be thirsty for
knowledge and desirous of learning. They will be life-long learners in possessing this quest for
knowledge.
I would like parents to be partners in the education journey of their children. I want to
use the example of the Reggio Emilia Schools in the Reggio Emilia province of Italy. I had the
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good fortune to be able to visit Reggio Schools as part of a study tour. The success of the Reggio
Schools is mainly attributed to the involvement of the parents in the everyday running of the
school. An event at school is a community event and celebration. Such is the degree of
participation and involvement I foresee.


















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References
Ramsey R.D. (2006). Lead, follow or get out of the way. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium. (2010). Teacher leader model standards.
Retrieved from http:/www.teacherleaderstandrads.org/downloads/TLS_Brochure_sm.pdf