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My time spent in Gonzaga’s Masters in Organizational Leadership program has been a fulfilling, transformational, and inspiring experience. Each course fully engaged my mind, heart, and spirit, which after two years of studying has left me feeling congruent and grateful. Now, in my final semester, I am called to reflect on each course individually and holistically to create something that embodies my leadership philosophy. It was two years ago that I embarked on my Servant leadership journey. Now, it is my duty to the world to use the knowledge that Gonzaga has imparted on me to better my relationship to others, the communities I serve, and society as a whole. My Masters Capstone project deliberately and creatively captures the essence of my leadership philosophy in three ways: through reflection as seen through ImagineCreateServe, through seeking the guidance of my mentors as I strive to become a master in my field, and through the execution of creating, planning, leading and co-facilitating a Leadership Seminar for the entry-level hires I serve in my work.

Reflection.

Embarking on the final semester of Graduate School has been a bittersweet experience. While on one hand I look forward to having more free time, I’m sad to be closing this chapter. A wise professor once told me that learning never ends. This concept inspires my three-fold Masters Capstone project. It was when I was half-way through completing my Master’s degree that the first component of my Capstone project came to fruition. The course I was taking at the time was ORGL 605: Imagine, Create, Lead. ORGL 605 required a final project that was a synthesis of leadership and imagination. The project was intended to capture the creative process through producing something innovative that built on my understanding of leadership through creative expression. ImagineCreateServe is what manifested. ImagineCreateServe transformed into a platform for reflection and a way to capture the artifacts that convey the various leadership competencies I’ve gained through my time in Graduate School.

Mentorship.

I have worked for The Boeing Company for six years. At Boeing, I serve as the program lead for Boeing’s Premier Business leadership development program, the Business Career Foundation Program (BCFP). The BCFP is a highly selective, two-year, entry level rotation program designed to build participants’ leadership and business acumen through a challenging, fast-paced rotation experience. With rotations in six different business disciplines, participants get hands-on, experiential challenges and responsibilities. The BCFP offers many exciting development activities, including leadership development training. The wealth of wisdom I’ve gained through Gonzaga’s Master’s program has been invaluable in my leadership development work. Historically, the BCFP gets together as an enterprise in April for their Capstone Seminar which takes place at Boeing’s leadership center in St. Louis. The Capstone Seminar celebrates the culmination of the participants’ two years in the program. In many ways, it is monumental and significant that the BCFP and I will be graduating from our programs at the same time. In my role, I’ve been fortunate to help with the planning of many of these types of activities. However, facilitation and curriculum development for leadership workshops continues to be an area of interest and growth for my career development. It was in 2014 that I recognized this passion. At the time, I was supporting the team I currently serve on a temporary assignment.  In this role, I participated in a high ropes challenge course. It was there that I met a fellow Servant leader who would inspire the foundation and development of the leadership seminar.

Davis & Spears (2013) describe, “Fortuitous encounters” as instances that, “cause our lives to change in a more positive direction” (p. 1). It was in 2014 that I met Kevin Bush. Kevin is the co-founder of a company called Teams & Leaders that Boeing partners with to facilitate and lead a variety of workshops from emotional intelligence training to team building. At the time, I didn’t know what it was about Kevin that was unique. Now, as my graduation approaches, I recognize Kevin for his Servant leadership. Kevin is engaging, humble, and curious. He leads and facilitates workshops that drive organizational effectiveness and team-building through understanding what it means to be human. Since then, I’ve always wanted the opportunity to learn what it takes to be a leadership workshop facilitator. So I reached out to Kevin about a month ago to see if he would be willing to guide me as my mentor through the creation of the BCFP Capstone Seminar. He was ecstatic about my vision and encouraged me to create a curriculum that was both congruent with my leadership philosophy and the leadership development of the future leaders of the Boeing Company. In addition to connecting with Kevin on the BCFP Capstone Seminar, I have had the honor to partner with a close friend and mentor of mine, Abbey Louie. Abbey is a leader who shines. We worked together for six months when I started my position as the BCFP Program Lead. While our time working together was short-lived, we have remained close. Abbey has extensive experience facilitating and graciously agreed to help co-facilitate a portion of the BCFP Capstone Seminar.

Execution.

Gonzaga’s Masters in Organizational Leadership has inspired me in many ways. I now understand that reflection is an essential foundation of leadership development. For the leadership seminar component of my Capstone project, I would like to take the execution process a step further than in previous years of planning the seminar. Instead of continuing to do what we have done year over year, I hope to revamp the curriculum design and co-facilitate the week-long seminar alongside Kevin and Abbey.  The BCFP Capstone Seminar is the last time the BCFP participants meet as a cohort. Traditionally, it has been a time for reflection, goal-setting, and leadership development. I would like to tie in concepts I’ve learned while at Gonzaga into the BCFP Capstone Seminar while incorporating interactive activities and personal reflection time for the participants. It’s my intention to create a seminar that is creative and inspiring for the BCFPs as they move on from the program into their full-time positions. As Greenleaf (1996) writes, “The greatest foresight… is to develop young people as they come along to deal courageously and creatively for the future. You cannot bind the future with your current wisdom… Somebody needs to dream big and tell society” (p. 296).

The content for the BCFP Capstone Seminar will consist of several elements. The high-level agenda including daily themes and objectives is highlighted below:

Day 1: Theme: Engage (Welcome & Awaken Awareness):

• Welcome: As the program participants reconvene as an enterprise for a final time as BCFPs, I will lead them in a series of silly games and icebreakers to get them present and relaxed.
• Mindfulness: Once the group is warmed up, I will lead them through a mindfulness practice (4 breath prescencing from ORGL 537). We will review the benefits of mindfulness and how mindfulness reminds us to be grateful. Participants will be introduced to the concept of a “nature walk” and will be instructed to engage in a nature walk prior to the end of the seminar.
• Values: Program participants will learn the difference between character, values, and integrity. Through adopting a beginners mind, they will brainstorm their values, determine the themes of their values, and identify their top 5 core values. Program participants will walk away with an understanding of how their values guide their leadership. I will co-facilitate this component alongside Abbey.

Day 2: Theme: Evaluate (Understanding who you are as a Leader)

• StrengthsFinder Assessment: Program participants will identify their top 5 strengths and understand how to leverage their strengths to do what they do best every day. Abbey is an experienced facilitator in StrengthsFinder. I will help coach the participants alongside Abbey in their small group activities.
• Emotional Intelligence: Program participants will come away with a set of tools & skills that allow them to understand their own emotional intelligence through increasing their self-awareness & social awareness and improving their self-management & relationship management. This workshop will be adapted through partnership with Teams & Leaders using an underlying theme of conflict transformation. I will co-facilitate this component alongside Kevin.
• Leaders Teaching Leaders: Program participants will hear from a panel of diverse Boeing executives on how the topics of EQ, Strengths Finder, and systems thinking are essential to good leadership. This component will be led by a group of three Boeing executives with diverse backgrounds and expertise.

Day 3: Theme: Influence (Systems Thinking & Organizational Behavior)

• Systems Thinking Organizational Workshop: Participants will engage in a business simulation that addresses unconscious bias and incorporates a variety of organizational dynamics, particularly around structure and power. This workshop will be adapted through partnership with Teams & Leaders. I will co-facilitate this component alongside Kevin.

Day 4: Theme: Excel & Embark (Reflection & Gratitude)

• Feedback: Participants will engage in a feedback circle exercise that provides them an opportunity to understand their leadership behaviors that are working well and areas of growth to leverage.
• Dialogue Walk: Following the feedback circle activity, the participants will receive a letter they wrote to themselves at the beginning of the program which highlighted their goals for the two years ahead. After reading their letter, the participants will pick a partner and go on a dialogue walk with guided questions.
• Leadership Philosophy: Participants will develop their personal leadership philosophy and understand how their strengths and values inform their philosophy. This activity is informed by building on each learning component from the week.
• Gratitude: Participants will have a chance to hear closing remarks and wisdom from the program management team and engage in a circle of thanks. This will be a group activity where participants are encouraged to share moments of gratitude from the week and from their two years in the BCFP.

The three elements of my Capstone Project: reflection, mentorship, and execution, will drive the desired outcome of my project. I would love for ImagineCreateServe to become the foundation for a leadership consulting practice where I serve others through facilitating leadership workshops and individual leadership coaching. In terms of the mentorship piece of my project, I have already learned so much from Kevin and Abbey and know I will continue to grow from their leadership. At the end of the BCFP Capstone Seminar, I hope to bring a deeper awareness to the participants as they embark on their future assignments post BCFP. I will know I’ve reached my desired outcome with the seminar when the participants utilize their developed leadership philosophies to serve their future organizations.  My vision is to make the seminar as experiential and interactive as possible. I hope to bring in a variety of elements from each course I’ve taken throughout my Master’s Degree including the Servant leadership concentration courses.  Ultimately, the experience of integrating my reflections on ImagineCreateServe, my mentoring relationship with Kevin and Abbey, and the delivery of the BCFP Capstone Seminar will enhance and grow my personal leadership philosophy. I chose the image of the guides and their camels in the desert to highlight my proposal. I recognize this journey will be a challenge, but it will be beautiful. Just like the camels making their way through the desert heat, I will arrive at the end of this journey trying to figure out what’s next. For now though, I will continue to enjoy the beautiful journey that I’m on.