My very first experience on an online training platform was an executive leadership education at Yale SOM. It was a 6-week program, and the first round was about “Values-Driven Leadership”.

We started with a role-play. I closed my eyes and thought about the characteristics and values of the individuals I met until now. The first people who come into my mind were my PwC partners Cansen Symes and Zeynep Uras! I would like to work more closely to them and get more details about their leadership styles. However, I had limited chance within distant observations, and I was quite young when I was working in PwC. However, this was enough as well! Whey I remember their name first? Because I find them very calm and make you think that they know what they are doing.   

My favorite professor of the course is Rodrigo Canales for now. He commented on this exercise that generally people think about business leaders however they do not want to have their features. Maybe it is true for other applicants however my feeling about these two businesswomen leader is not so. I would like to have their features for having a leadership style like them of course under my comments.

Another exercise was about leaders. The names which come into my mind when I heard the title as “leader” were Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Michelle Obama. Two women with strong roots, strong educations, and a clear picture of what they desire. They look like they have the control of “now”, not like leaves on water. They have the power for determining their desire and way of it. We discussed gaps in leadership characteristics and it has been stated that there is a clear difference between business leadership and human leadership. I do not agree with this argument as well. The instructor also specified masculinity features (strength, domination, persistence, and vision) and femininity features (integration, compassion, empathy, and collaboration). I see myself I have all, with different levels. Like being Samatha Jones-Charlotte York-Miranda Hobbes at the same time!

We touched an extremely popular topic as well, using emotional awareness when negotiating. This is possible only with leading with core values and noticing your own strengths. At this moment, there are two points I would like to underline. First is choosing one for being: Thermometer Leader or Thermostat Leader. If you directly reflect the tension in your team you are a thermometer leader. If you regulate and use it for absolute progress you are a thermostat leader. Both are necessary, both are true. As a leader, I need to understand my core values, my leadership style, and manage the extra set of emotions for choosing one of them at the right time and the right spot.

As a summary, the first week was highly effective for me. Benefiting both “Thermometer” and “Thermostat” leadership skills and regulating an extra set of emotions will be my priorities for my next leadership experiment. Even if I found the grades a little easy, I liked the course a lot! 

#ZeynepStefan, #ValueDrivenLeadership, #Leadership, #YaleSOM, #AboutMe

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