The Washington Center hosted a "Conversation on Leadership," welcoming Henry Givray, President and CEO of SmithBucklin Corporation, to the Blinken Auditorium. Mr. Givray offered TWC fall interns insights into the fundamentals of leadership and provided ways to incorporate these fundamentals into both their personal and professional lives.
Mr. Givray’s introduction included a brief overview of the leadership roles he held while a student at Cornell University. Apart from being a Resident Advisor and President of The Interfraternity Council, Mr. Givray was bass player and leader of a rock band called "The Rising Tide." This diversity of extracurricular activities offered him opportunities to develop his leadership skills such as being responsible for others and learning how to make things happen through influence versus given authority.
During the event, Mr. Givray presented "The Passion of Leadership®," where he offered his thoughts and ideas of what true leadership is and the differences between having a lofty title and earning leadership’s invitation. He also discussed the differences between management and leadership. He defined management as being in charge of something – an organization subunit, a project or a team – which is "vested in formal authority." According to Mr. Givray, “The core essence of leadership is profoundly uncomplicated involving three critical actions. Leaders visualize and imagine a better future state, they get others to join the journey, and then they get there."
Mr. Givray introduced a framework to help others define, better understand and ultimately measure leadership capacity and performance. The leadership framework comprises four domains:
Who You Are
- Not your public persona but who you are at the core as defined by your life purpose, your professional mission, your spoken and lived values, your beliefs and assumptions, and, your dreams and aspirations.
What You Do
- The application of your natural talents, knowledge, experience and skills, manifested through your behaviors, habits and practices, based on a prioritized allocation of your time, energy and heart What You Inspire Eliciting positive actions, emotions and behaviors in others without the promise of reward or the threat of punishment
What You Inspire
- Eliciting positive actions, emotions and behaviors in others without the promise of reward or the threat of punishment
What You Enable
- Producing tangible outcomes through others.
In order to earn leadership’s invitation and deliver on its promise, Mr. Givray said that you must be and do in all four of the framework’s domains. In doing so, you have the opportunity to make a meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of people and on the success and long-term vitality of the organization you serve.
