Running Head: PERSONAL VALUES AND LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

Personal Values and Leadership Challenge

Freddy Escudero
Personal and Theoretical Foundations to Global Leadership
Wendy Rowe
Cheryl Heykoop
Royal Roads University
April. 10, 2016

Running Head: PERSONAL VALUES AND LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

Personal Vision, Values, and Learning Goals

Personal Vision Statement
I believe that everyone can contribute to the solutions of global issues regardless of their
social condition and their social position. Vision allows us to be focused on dealing with
challenges satisfactorily. I want to be prepared and trained with knowledge and skills to lead my
family and my soldiers in the new environments that are emerging in my country and all over the
world. I want to be an example, provide awareness, and acquire knowledge that my family and
my soldiers might use to improve their lives, and contribute to solving global issues around the
world.
Personal Values
I have identified four core values that guide my personal and military life as a leader,
along with my definitions, why they are important to me and how they will be reflected in my
behavior. (Appendix 1).
Learning Goals
Personal leadership working in a global context.
Self-reflective practice.
[E]ntails orienting toward personal mastery and developing a supportive, self-reflexive
practice (W. Rowe, personal communication, February 1, 2016). Increase my skills to deal
with the personal and military challenges through continual self-examination and knowledge
in order to serve human beings.

Running Head: PERSONAL VALUES AND LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

Resilience and personal adaptability.

This learning goal helps to adapt, learn, and change when new complex, challenging, and
stressful environments appear (W. Rowe, personal communication, February 1, 2016).
Increase my knowledge to adapt to new environments by understanding peoples diversity
and developing a good relationship among us.
Self-in-system management capability.
This learning goal refers to awareness of self in relation to others in a global context
(W. Rowe, personal communication, February 1, 2016). Increase my competences to serve
and help people and their actions through personal planning of my activities and a
coordination of these activities with other peoples activities.
Leading in a diverse global context.
Culture-general and specific knowledge.
This goal provides knowledge to understand and accept different general and specific
cultures (W. Rowe, personal communication, February 1, 2016). Increase my abilities to
understand different cultures through new knowledge and accepting that every single person
has their own culture in order to improve tolerance.
Intercultural interaction and communication.
This learning goal entails the ability to participate and share with people of different
cultures (W. Rowe, personal communication, February 1, 2016). Increase my intercultural
communication skills to be able to help my family, my troops, and my classmates by
accepting peoples behavior and their diversity.

Running Head: PERSONAL VALUES AND LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

Intercultural group facilitation.

This learning goal entails the ability to work effectively with groups and teams (W. Rowe,
personal communication, February 1, 2016). Increase my skills to develop intercultural
groups (gender, ethnicity, economic and political position) and teams through workshops and
meetings to work jointly and accept different criteria.
Leading sustained change in complex environments.
Knowledge of global political, social and economic issues.
This goal includes knowledge of the complex political, social and economic drivers
impacting communities, and their interrelationships across a variety of international and
global systems (W. Rowe, personal communication, February 1, 2016). Increase my skills to
understand the complex global environment through the study and analysis of global issues
that are happening all over the world.
Knowledge of international organization systems and change strategies.
This learning goal includes knowledge of organizational mandates, policies, structures
and performance systems of the United Nations, international and local NGOs, governments,
and civil society (W. Rowe, personal communication, February 1, 2016). Increase my
knowledge to work and support people through greater understanding of international
organizations and their impacts around the world.
Capability to lead change in complex environments.
This goal refers the abilities to create vision, and to organize and facilitate processes of
change through collaboration with others and across multiple cultures (W. Rowe, personal
communication, February 1, 2016). Increase my abilities to develop domestic and military
relationships through working jointly regardless of our borders and our cultures.

Running Head: PERSONAL VALUES AND LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

Personal Leadership Challenge (PLC)

Women and men are human beings who are part of our world. They live in the same
world and they did not create a specific place just for men or just for women. Anybody can be
discriminated against based on their ethnicity, place of birth, sex, age, identity of gender, cultural
identity, marital status, religion (Ecuadorian Constitution as a cited in the Ministry of National
Defense of Ecuador, 2013). Indeed gender equality as a global issue has a big impact all over the
world because women do not have the same opportunities to show and demonstrate that they are
able to do several task and jobs, even those which people believe that are only for men. I am a
father, husband, and the brother of five women who have waited a long time to get an
opportunity in their lives because the social environment has not provided opportunities that they
needed to demonstrate what they can do and how they can help to develop our country.
From 1999 to 2000 womens rights were improved with important resolutions from the
United Nations (UN) to provide women and girls a good lifestyle free from oppression and
discrimination. Several UN resolutions such as 1261, 1265, 1296, and 1314, as well as
commitments like the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and Women 2000 - Gender
equality, have given rise to more opportunities to achieve gender equality (United Nations, 2000).
In July 2010, the UN General Assembly created UN Women to focus on gender equality and the
empowerment of women (UN Women, 2016). Over many decades, women have been
marginalized from every society where they did not have access to decent jobs and faced
occupational segregation, as well as being denied access to basic education and health care (UN
Women, 2016). Women have often suffered several kinds of violence and discrimination and
they have been under-represented in political and economic spheres (UN Women, 2016). So, this
institution works to achieve three important goals: elimination of discrimination against women

Running Head: PERSONAL VALUES AND LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

and girls, empowerment of women, and achievement of equality between women and men as
partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and
security (UN Women, 2016).
This gender equality is focused on women and girls to provide equal participation in the
public and private spheres where they might contribute to and be a part of these spheres without
any kind of oppression. As a part of these societies, I had several thoughts about womens roles
within societies. My mother and my grandmothers were great women who worked very hard to
give me everything that I needed to become a valuable person to society. However, based on
Ecuadorian society, we often see womens roles as different from mens roles. When I began my
military life, I was very opposed to accepting women in the military institution because I thought
that women had to do only specific jobs especially those not in the military environment. But my
thoughts changed when the Ecuadorian Army sent me to military college as an instructor. At the
time, I participated in the momentous step of accepting women into our military institution
twelve years ago. I was their instructor and I shared a lot of time with them, which allowed me to
understand that women are just as capable as men. So, all these activities helped me to
understand that women are able to do all tasks, and I changed my thoughts about womens roles.
Womens roles have changed, and I want to be part of this change. My PLC will provide
some recommendations and alternative actions to be part of this change based on my global
leadership skills acquired through the global leadership program. As a global leader, I would like
to begin in two specific places: my home and my job.
Many of our assigned readings were useful to understand this global challenge. Of
particular value was the chapter of Leading Global Teams by Mendenhall. I believe that working

Running Head: PERSONAL VALUES AND LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

as a team will produce better outcomes, and we might find several alternatives to collaborate in
solutions of global issues. In addition, the chapter of Competencies of Managing People and
Relationships was another useful reading to me. I understood that global issues need global
leaders who are able to work effectively. Finally, the UN Sustainable Development Goals were
an extraordinary reading to know that the world needs my help regardless of my position or my
capability to help.
If my challenge is addressed successfully, women and girls will improve their lifestyle,
and they will feel a full part of our society. They are human beings who have important
knowledge, skills, and are able to help their families, their organizations, their country and the
world. As a global leader, I have to be an entrepreneur and have to effect significant positive
change in organizations by building communities through the development of trustinvolving
multiple cross-boundary stakeholders, multiple source of external cross-boundary authority, and
multiple cultures (Mendenhall, 2013, p. 20). So, my family and my military battalion will be
areas to begin to take alternative actions for this challenge. Working as a team could be a good
alternative action to include women within military activities. A team is a group simply of people
working together to accomplish a task (Mendenhall, 2013, p. 141). If military officers and
soldiers are able to include women in their teams, they will begin to accept that women are part
of the Ecuadorian Army, and womens support will provide good recommendations to fulfill
military operations successfully. For example, all over the world, there are 5298 women deployed
in military peacekeeping operations, and they are helping in the peace consolidation process and
protection of womens rights (UN Peacekeeping, 2016). So, women are able to fulfill military
operations and fulfill these operations very well.

Running Head: PERSONAL VALUES AND LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

My behavioral change will be focused on building teams, which will have equal
participation of men and women. I will be open-minded to accept and follow womens
recommendations, and I will encourage my classmates and my soldiers that women are able to
lead teams and military operations. I would like to develop practical leadership exercises to
motivate womens participation in activities, which will require women decision makers.

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References
Allen, J. (2015). Personal core values. Retrieved April 04, 2016, from
http://theintegritycoach.com/personal-core-values#personal-core
Brett, M. (2012, October 1). Manly honor: Part I - what is honor? The Art of Manliness.
Retrieved April 04, 2016, from http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/10/01/manly-honorpart-i-what-is-honor/
Mendenhall, M.E., Osland, J. S., Bird, A., Oddou, G. R., Maznevski, M. L., Stevens, M. J., &
Stahl, G. H. (2013). Global Leadership: Research, Practice and Development. New York:
Routledge.
Ministry of National Defense of Ecuador. (2013). Politic of gender of the Ecuadorian Armed
Forces. Quito, Ecuador: Department of human rights and international humanitarian low
of Ministry of Defense.
Rapp, A. (2015, February 24). On leadership and the value of loyalty. Forbes/Entrepreneurs.
Retrieved April 04, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/yec/2015/02/24/onleadership-and-the-value-of-loyalty/#4433fd83286f
Sharyn, H. (2007, February 12). Respect: A core value in every workplace. Libraries and
Librarians Rock. Retrieved April 04, 2016, from
https://sharynheili.wordpress.com/2007/02/12/respect-a-core-value-in-every-workplace/
United Nations (UN). (2000). Resolution 1325 (2000). New York, NY: United Nations. Security
Council
United Nations Peacekeeping. (2016). Women in peacekeeping. New York, NY: United Nations
Peacekeeping.

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10

United Nations Women. (2016). About UN Women: Meeting the needs of the worlds women.
New York, NY: UN Women

Appendix 1. Values

Core
Value

Definition

Integrity is the internal

compass that provides us
with guidance and
direction in assisting us
along our path of life.
Integrity Without integrity
nothing works (Allen,
2015)

Loyalty

The state or quality of be

ing loyal [to someone or
something]; faithfulness
to commitments or
obligations.
Faithful adherence to a s
overeign, government, le
ader, cause, etc. (Rapp,
2015 )

Importance to Me

Observable Behavior

Integrity is a key core

value to me because
this helps me to
facilitate and make
good decisions. If
everything runs with
integrity, I ensure that
the outcomes will be
very important for my
personal and
professional life.

The MAGL cohort will see my personal

traits as Im in my personal and military
life. I work with everyone who wants to
work.

Loyalty is my top core

value because as a
military officer and
father of three children,
I think loyalty allows
that everything can be
accomplished. If
everyone believes in
their leaders, everything
can be accomplished.

The MAGL cohort will have a classmate

who is able to support their plans during
our educational class or when they need
my help anytime even if I am so far
away.

Friends and family will share everything

that they want according to social rules
without preferences to someone.
At work I will be the human being who
fulfills the military policies regardless of
some personal or familiar relationship.

Friends and family will always have my

support to encourage them through their
new challenges. My belief and support
for them can be a strong motivation to
reach their goals.
At work, my soldiers will feel supported
in their activities with my military actions
upon everybody to give the opportunity
that my soldiers need to achieve our
military missions.

Running Head: PERSONAL VALUES AND LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

Being honest and true to
a set of personal ideals,
or being a person of
integrity (Brett, 2012)
Honor

Respect

Treat people equally no

matter their race,
religion, gender, size,
age, or country of origin.
Implement policies and
procedures consistently
so people feel that they
are treated fairly and
equally. Treating people
differently can constitute
harassment or a hostile
work environment
(Sharyn, 2017).

11

Honor supports my
ability to be a global
leader in my personal
life, as well as in my
military life. Honor
allows me to be honest
with my people
regardless of my
personal interest.

The MAGL cohort will always receive

the truth of their actions during our
activities regardless of our different
opinions, but I will give feedback that
they could use to improve. Friends and
family will see me helping them with
their challenges if they need it.

Respect is a core value

to me as it provides a
better environment that
every single person
needs to work
efficiently. When
people accept and
understand each others
culture, they will feel
comfortable and they
will enjoy what they are
doing.

The MAGL cohort will see me sharing

with them regardless of our language, but
I will try to communicate and understand
each person.

At work, I will show me as I am without

any protection which allows soldiers to
believe in me as I am.

Family and friends will see me hearing

their point of view which may be
different from my position, but I will also
provide some recommendations to them,
which allow us to facilitate the
formulation of good decisions.
At work, my soldiers are encouraged to
participate in my creation of decisions to
fulfill our military operations. I will
accept that the Ecuadorian Army has
several cultures which might be part of
the Army.