Who am I?
Overall
Based on the above foundational information, I am a pragmatic, servant leader who strives for transformational leadership but occasionally employs transactional leadership to achieve results. This is true in both my bi-vocational leadership settings of full-time civilian employment and the ministry. While I can appreciate the theoretical, I am most comfortable in the realistic. This may seem odd for a “man of faith” but I include my beliefs not in the theoretical but in the practical. I endeavor to create caring and supportive environments that inspire people to achieve collective missions and goals. While I recognize that individuals always have self-interests, I try to place these self interests within the context of the collective vision. Although I employ transactional aspects of rewards and punishment, my preference is to reward for contributions to the collective good as opposed to contributions merely for the sake of self-interest (particularly if the self-interest sub optimizes collective good). In all environments, an authoritarian element can be employed as necessary to keep others unified and headed in one direction. In school environments, I am much more of a transformational servant leader; sometimes to a fault. While the goal is always high quality products, I sometimes prioritize
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The carrot and stick approach was ideal. This is perhaps attributable to being a young leader, less experienced, and being in direct senior-subordinate relationships with young soldiers. The emphasis at the time was much more on accomplishing the mission than on creating harmonious relationships. Looking back, I also employed this type of leadership in church settings (which was somewhat natural since the churches I attended at this stage of my career were in military environments) with mixed