Hi Y'all

Respect. Think big, but stay practical. Fail fast, learn faster. Listen, adapt, and match. Make no assumptions, Finish what you start. Be patient and positive, Do what you say, and say what you mean. Set the best example. 

These were the sections that I divided my first leadership philosophy paper into back in the fall of 2022. At the time, I felt it was a streamlined message and ideology. 

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The beginning of my experience with Gonzaga in October of 2022 feels somehow both so long ago and only yesterday.  Life and circumstances both professional and personal, as well as my own perspective, have changed so much in these past two years. Despite the changes and time, I was pleasantly surprised and quietly reassured to read that the values I originally wrote about at the beginning of the program have remained largely consistent. 

 

Reflecting on my time since the start of the program, I find that I have endured some of the greatest emotional swings, and impactful and challenging life occurrences while progressing through Organizational Leadership. The death of my brother in January of 2023 impacted our family tremendously; there are still days when I can’t make sense of the event. But I have also accepted and resolved to understanding that his passing will affect my own experiential learning for a lifetime. And my recent experiences on Mount Adams in Leadership & Hardiness this past summer of 2024 were not just physically the most difficult challenge I had put myself through in the past twenty years, but also a transformational experience that I am still reflecting upon lessons from. 

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As the program began, it was clear early on that I would find and learn about situations and circumstances that I was actively experiencing time and again. In ORGL600, where we first encountered Northouse, we also read Parker Palmer’s The Courage to Teach. Northouse first affirmed some negative leadership concepts by identifying strategies such as coercion, ridicule, and threat as tools of power (Northouse, 2021). Palmer added additional understanding to reactions by discussing concepts where  organizational members have found or justify reasons to fear those in power, and have learned that there is safety in not speaking up (Palmer, 2017). Unfortunately, these are challenges that myself and many others have encountered in their own professional paths. There is always a balance to consider in how much risk we can undertake to force change. 

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I found ORGL610, Communication and Leadership Ethics, to be one of the most impactful classes for me. When considering new opportunities professional and personally, I undertake a deliberate attempt to define an organization or institution, and then make a concerted effort to analyze and understand the organization’s dwelling place based upon their communicative practices (Arnett, 2017). This approach has helped me be critical and seek deeper meaning in how I hope my professional path will grow. 

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Most recently, the Leadership and Hardiness immersion on Mount Adams and the readings of Victor Frankl have been impactful. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl reflects upon our freedom to choose our response in the face of tremendous challenges. 

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​"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." - Viktor E. Frankl

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Frankl wrote this as part of his observations on human behavior during his time in multiple Nazi concentration camps. While none of my own experiences or challenges can be compared to the extreme and deadly stakes that inspired Frankl’s writings, there are still lessons to be learned that influence our own leadership approach. 

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I really do not know where I would be without this study, these classes, the assigned readings, and the interactions with my peers. The ORGL program on the whole has been instrumental in helping me to re-shape and make sense of the challenges and emotional highs and lows of these past couple of years. 

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And while I understand I am heading closer to the end of this chapter of learning and growth, I also acknowledge in parallel that this will not be the end of my leadership journey. 

 

Thanks for reading y’all. 

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Nick Urbano

December 2024