For this assignment you will reflect on your two leader interviews and discuss your personal observations in a written paper. Do your best work because, although it is considered a draft, it should be nearly complete. You will then incorporate instructor feedback and any related changes in your final version due in Week 6.

Preparation

To prepare for this assignment, complete the following:

• Review your notes and any recordings from your two leader interviews.
• Reflect on how those interviews apply to what you have been learning from the Cashman text, the New Business Realities and Thinking Habits, as well as your research on whether leaders are born or made.

Instructions

Write a draft of your Personal Project. Try to submit your paper by Wednesday so you have time to integrate feedback into your final paper in Week 6.

Analysis of Interviews

After you have written the interviews in narrative format and made the necessary adjustments based off of the feedback provided to you in Week 4, you will analyze the experience in the context of leadership theories and the common learning themes from the New Business Realities and The Thinking Habits of Mind, Heart, and Imagination.

Topics to be addressed in your analysis include the following:

1. New Business Realities: Did the interview reflect the dynamics of transformational change in complex systems in the change mastery questions?
2. The Thinking Habits: Did the interview encourage professional self-development through conversational reflection in the questions on Personal Mastery?
3. Leadership theory: Summarize the leadership theory that you used to develop your questions. Analyze how the questions and the data support your chosen leadership theories. You might use Servant Leadership, Kevin Cashman, Margaret Wheatley, or articles from the Center for Creative Leadership, Leadership stage theory, from Novatons, and other sources. Demonstrate your understanding of your chosen Mastery (Personal, Purpose, Change, Interpersonal/Being, Resilience, or Coaching). Use examples from your interviews to demonstrate your mastery topic.
4. What did you learn as an interviewer? Write a section on your learning as an interviewer. What seemed to work? What did not work? And what would you do differently next time? How would you change your contract or your explanation of your leadership topic, the medium you chose, or your behavior during the interview, to enhance the quality of your data?
5. Common Learning Themes: Reread the media pieces New Business Realities and The Thinking Habits of Mind, Heart, and Imagination. Select one topic from each and discuss its relevance to your experience interviewing leaders.
6. Summary Statement. Think about your experience interviewing leaders at this level. Describe the primary lessons you gained from this experience, the value of interviewing leaders and the impact this approach has on leadership development. Include your recommendations to your organization about the development of leaders at this level and on this mastery topic and the use of interviews to propel personal development.