Leadership Philosophy Paper
As the BA in Leadership capstone course, the central activity is to articulate your synthesis of learning about leadership and yourself as a leader in the form of a personal philosophy of leadership paper. This paper is a theory that serves to explain and guide how you act, a set of beliefs/principles
that ground you in how you will lead, and a set of commitments that drive your actions as a leader.
Citing the readings from this course, material from lectures and forum discussions, and thoughts/
ideas/concepts from your previous courses, reflect on the following questions:
Each question will form one of three parts and should be roughly 3-4 pages each.
1. Draft #1 – Who are you? Describe your personality—your uniqueness as a human being. Use
your Birkman and Myers-Briggs to help you articulate your understanding of yourself and how
it shapes your leadership.
2. Draft #2 – What do you believe? Describe your core beliefs. What is your worldview? UseSire’s 8 basic worldview questions to describe your worldview. What are your core values as a
person and as a leader? How does your worldview shape your view of leadership?
3. Draft #3 – How will you lead yourself and others? How will you live out what you believe as a
leader in your personal life and your vocational calling and work life? What is your plan to
grow as a leader and/or to foster ongoing leadership competency (such as self-awareness,
integrity, and adaptive leadership)?
* When you submit your FINAL PAPER it will consist of all 3 parts above as ONE final paper.
Total length for the paper is 9-12 pages, not including the title page and reference page. APA 7
format is required.
Papers will not be marked on the students’ beliefs but on how well their learnings, leadership
philosophy and worldview are articulated.
Required Texts & Materials:
Sire, J. (2020). The Universe Next Door. 6th Ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
George, B. (2015). Discover your true north. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons, Inc.
[Recommended] Brown, B. (2018). Dare to lead. New York, NY: Random House.
