Personal Analysis Reflection

Personal Values

Instrumental Values: "Helpful," "honest," "loving," and "broadminded."

The importance of honesty and sharing love has been with me for as long as I can recall. However, I have noticed that being broadminded has become of significant importance in my life only recently. I remember the moment which enhanced my focus on this value. In the early stages of my relationship with my partner, Jacqueline, she had shared that I wasn't open-minded. I responded that I'm more open-minded than most. While I believed in what I was saying, I realized the merit in Jacqueline's statement. That solidified my focus on being more open to different perspectives and ideas. That was in 2017. As recently as the spring semester of 2021, Jim LoPresti's course in Visionary Leadership reaffirmed the importance of individual perspectives. I now find myself thinking about being more broadminded daily.

Since high school, being helpful has been a part of my persona. I began doing a significant amount of community service and philanthropy work at this point in my life. I attribute this awakening to better understanding the needs that existed outside of my immediate periphery. Further reinforcement came from my friends, who were very interested in the environment, and my best friend's mother, who introduced me to the Rotary Club. Through her sponsorship, we established our high school's first Interact Club, the high school equivalent of Rotary. I now realize that being broadminded when I was thirteen led me to a core value of mine.

Terminal Values: “True friendship,” “an exciting life,” “a sense of accomplishment,” and “inner harmony.”

The importance of demonstrating friendship has been with me ever since I started meeting new people in grade school. I imagine there is a direct correlation with the value I put into sharing love. Having an exciting life, seeking inner harmony, and feeling a sense of accomplishment, are values that have developed within me recently. Over the last few years, I've begun thinking a lot more existentially. I imagine this started in 2016 after relocating from Houston back to my childhood home area in Southern New Jersey. I wanted to be closer to those friends I've known the longest, as well as my family. Coming home was an adjustment, however. My friends were mostly the same, but the family was different from how I remembered them. The area I grew up in was completely different too. Gaining more perspective had me judging my previous views of what I loved and valued. At this point, I began asking myself the questions of "what is an exciting life?" "What do I hope to accomplish in life?" and "How will I find inner harmony through much disappointment?" I ask myself these questions several times daily.

Demonstrating Core Values

In my first job out of undergrad, I served as a Leadership Development Associate within a large commercial printing company. The idea was that LDP Associates would rotate through all the departments of their print shop over three years. This organization had a significant presence on college campuses, sold the potential to advance within the organization, in turn, expected employees at many of their operating companies to work 60+ hour weeks for an entry-level salary of $32,750. If you lived in DC Metro or Los Angeles, you received a cost-of-living adjustment bringing annual wages to $35,250. The year was 2009. While some individuals found this acceptable and exciting, the consensus among my peers was that we temporarily drank the Kool-Aid and needed to look for other employment. After six weeks of working at my print shop, my President asked me if I would be interested in working at corporate headquarters within college recruiting. I took him up on the "opportunity."

I began to love my job. Working in college recruiting was something I not only enjoyed but was a field where I excelled. I was making friends, lifelong ones, in the corporate headquarters. My team and Director were terrific. I was still struggling financially, but life was moving in a positive direction. Then, my values hit me.

As I was passionately interviewing and onboarding new LDPs, I realized I was a part of something that didn't feel good. I recognized that I was dishonest with the candidates I was communicating with daily. I was advocating a program I didn't believe in. Only a handful of the 180 annual hires would work at corporate, and most likely, many would find themselves in a compromised position because of the "good work" I was doing. When offered the opportunity to be a full-time College Recruiting Associate and avoid having to go back to a print shop and work 60+ hours a week, I declined. I wanted to continue working on that team and explore that career opportunity, but the values of honesty, helpfulness, and love towards people made the decision easy.

Reflecting more, I recognize that when things don't feel right, I often resist. In college, I was a student ambassador for a branch campus of Penn State University. I did not enjoy the branch campus life, yet I entered my sophomore year as the President of the Lion Ambassadors. Internally, I struggled, thinking of myself as a "Lying Bastard" rather than a "Lion Ambassador." A month before beginning the school year, I declined my leadership role with the organization. Even today, I have a specific product that I'm responsible for selling within my medical device sales career. I've undergone scrutiny over the past five years because I haven't sold it in my territory. I don't believe in the product because my physicians share that it's a dud. I'm going to keep this silent protest going until a physician shares it provides them value.

Attributes of Effective Organizational Leaders

Before tackling the question of which specific attributes lend to effective management, I'd like to share that I do not believe that one attribute or pairing of attributes will guarantee organizational success. Theoretically, I think specific attributes can aid in predicting successful leaders, more so than others. However, there are too many life variables for us ever to call this a science. Much like "scientific management" became a dated practice as the workplace evolved.

While I question myself in choosing one of my provided attributes, I believe an effective pairing, indicating a high likelihood of success in an organizational leader, is high general mental ability paired with conscientiousness (IPIP-NEO).

From our lecture, we learned the importance of GMA testing. While not a part of our assessment scores, this is the first step in determining our ideal leader as it is the best predictor of job performance. Since identifying that we have an individual capable of cognitively evolving within the organization, I see the value in ensuring that this competent individual is committed to the organization. Thus, from the Big Five, I have honed in on the attribute of conscientiousness. Aptitude plus organizational commitment would be an excellent place to start when selecting an organizational leader.

While we did not take a GMA test for this assignment, my score for conscientiousness was 99. (Appendix I) Recognizing this score opened my mind to a potential culprit for recent stressors. I had felt personally attacked while bearing witness to questionable interpersonal behaviors directed towards a group of peers. I was very defensive of both them and myself initially. After reviewing my Big Five results, I connected a dot. I was also defensive of my organization. Given the assessment results, I hypothesize now that I'm at a level of commitment within my organization where I'm emotionally affected when others are hurting it and its culture.

I cautiously share conscientiousness as half of the "effective management" equation, as I recognize it may appear I'm calling myself a great leader because I care about my organization. That, of course, isn't enough, and given my track record with standardized testing, I have no basis for claiming superiority. Simply, I see the merit of a leader being undeniably committed to the company and its vision.

Interrelationships and Risk

There are closely connected attributes across these assessments. I believe there is an apparent relationship between openness and a high tolerance for ambiguity. The ability to think less linearly opens the opportunity for innovation. It allows the individual, or group of individuals, to imagine what could be instead of working within the parameters of what we know. Folks with low FIRO-B Control scores, myself at 6 (Appendix I), prefer these unstructured situations within their work environment. However, we can't have a team full of these folks, as we need the balance of structure to complete objectives.

After learning from this week's materials, the benefit of these various assessments has become clear to me. Before this, I viewed assessments as a novelty, not understanding their purpose beyond entertainment. I now recognize that there is tremendous value in knowing how you, and those around you, operate when working in a team environment.

Considering the risks of biased perceptions, I have a clear thought. It is critical for the leader of the team to understand how unique each team member is. Through these assessments, they can get to know the strengths and weaknesses of each team member at the individual level and then accommodate individuals by advocating for them to perform within their strengths. When bringing on new team members, fill the gaps your group is missing to establish the balance. Diversity is the strength. The most critical risk I perceive is putting a close-minded leader in place who treats each employee the same and is close-minded to the merits of constructing a balanced team. If each team member knows their responsibilities and their peer's specific roles within this dynamic team setting, I believe we can subdue most biased perceptions.

Appendix I

Personal Assessments Results

Completed by Matt Lilly on 9/30/2021

Cognitive Styles Indicator

- Knowing - 4.25 - Above Mean (Young Managers & MBA Students)

- Planning - 4.28 - Above Mean (Young Managers & MBA Students)

- Creating - 4.57 - Above Mean (Young Managers & MBA Students)

Locus of Control Scale - 8 - Average

Tolerance for Ambiguity Scale - Total Score 36 (Novelty = 12; Complexity = 15; Insolubility = 9) - High Tolerance for Ambiguity

FIRO-B

- Total e: 15 - High

- Total w: 20 - High

- Total Inclusion: 11 - Average

- Total Control: 6 - Low

- Total Affection: 18 - Very High

- Social Interaction Index: 35 - High

IPIP-NEO (Big Five)

- Extraversion - 74 - High

- Agreeableness - 77 - High

- Conscientiousness - 99 - High

- Neuroticism - 47 - Average

- Openness - 90 - High

*NOTE: Interesting to see my “Total Affection” score validate my perceived core instrumental values

Submitted 8/31/21