Provide the title of the article you selected.
Provide a response to each of the critical thinking questions at the bottom of your article.
Provide responses to the following reflective questions:
What is your takeaway from the article?
Why did this interview resonate with you personally?
How can you apply what you have learned from the article to your professional and personal life in terms of the five
practices?
PLEASE MAKE SURE ALL QUESTIONS ABOVE ARE ANSWERED IN JOURNAL ENTRY. THANKS.
The Article is below:
Connecting Theory to Practice
By Gama Perruci
“Leadership for what?” This question often produces a disconcerted look from my students. The study and practice of
leadership demand an answer to this question. In other words, what are you going to do with all the new ideas and
insights you are gaining through your participation in a leadership program?
In Understanding Leadership: An Arts and Humanities Perspective (New York: Routledge, 2015), my co-author (Robert
McManus) and I suggest three possible answers to the “Leadership for What” question: (1) To develop oneself; (2) To
develop others; and (3) To contribute to the greater good. Most students join a leadership program in order to develop
themselves in a safe environment, which will give them the confidence and drive to take on bigger challenges. Others join
leadership programs because they feel called to use their talents and gifts for the greater good. Very few join a
leadership program with the explicit plan to develop others, yet many end up taking on this role later in their careers.
In reality, the three possible answers are interconnected. First, you develop yourself; as you grow as a leader, you take
on the task of developing others; together, the combination of self development and the development of others contributes
to the greater good. John W. Gardner, founder of Common Cause and adviser to many presidents, called this process
“dispersed leadership.” He argued in his classic On Leadership (New York: Free Press, 1990) that this concept is
quintessentially American – the focus on developing leaders across all sectors and organizational levels. In fact,
Gardner suggests that this is one of the strengths of American society.
Andy Bryant, the chairman of the technology giant Intel, provides an unequivocal answer to the “Leadership for What”
question: “you have to help people develop.” He points out that in typical annual reviews, leaders tell their followers,
“Here’s how you did, and do these four things next year.” His annual reviews never do that. He says: “I’m going to talk
about how to develop you. And so to help you develop, I have to first know what you want to do with your career. If you
tell me, ‘I want to leave Intel at some point and be a C.F.O. at a small company,’ I’ll help you figure that out.” He
then talks to his employees about the skills that they do not have, and how they can gain them: “So you start with what
the person’s looking for and add to it what you need, and then you get better work from the person. The point is to
actually help people achieve their goals, and at the same time improve their ability to do their job. It should be about
developing people, rather than listing tasks for them to accomplish in the coming year.”
Leadership to develop others often requires more experienced leaders to share their insights and experiences with others.
Bryant says in his interview that people inside Intel often come to him for advice. He uses these opportunities to share
with them what he has learned from experience: “they might say, ‘I’ve got these two job offers inside the company. I
don’t know which one to take.’ I’ll say, ‘Which do you want to do?’ They’ll say, ‘I want to do this one, but the other
one is the next step up.’ And I’ll say: ‘The thing I learned is that if you’re not doing the job you want to do, it will
reflect on your performance. You’re better off to take a job you’re excited about than to do the one you think somebody
wants you to do.’ People are successful when they’re intellectually and emotionally engaged as opposed to when they’re
checking the box.”
As you seek to develop your own leadership skills, keep in mind that others will be helping you in that developmental
process. For them, the “Leadership for What” question has a different answer. One day, it will be your turn to rethink
the answer to the question and focus on others.
Critical Thinking Questions:
1. How would you answer the “Leadership for What” question right now in your current professional/educational position?
2. What do you think about Andy Bryant’s approach to the “Leadership for What” question? Have you ever worked for a
leader who had the same philosophy? Discuss the importance of mentorship in leadership development.
3. Reflect on Andy Bryant’s advice: “You’re better off to take a job you’re excited about than to do the one you think
somebody wants you to do.” Do you agree with this statement? Why, or why not?
Related “Connecting Theory to Practice” Columns:
Talent Management (Corner Office Interview: Andrew Filev, Wrike)
Mentoring Theory (Corner Office Interview: Vivek Gupta, Zensar Technologies)
Additional Resources:
Andromachi Athanasopoulou and Sue Dopson, Developing Leaders by Executive Coaching : Practice and Evidence (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2015).
David B. Peterson and Mary Dee Hicks, Leader as Coach: Strategies for Coaching and Developing Others (Minneapolis:
Personal Decisions International, 1996).
John Adair, Developing Leaders: The Ten Key Principles (Berkshire, England: McGraw Hill, c1988).
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