Leadership Philosophy

The best way to understand my view of leadership is by reading my blog. I detest principles and declarations. A leader must learn the art of dialogical reasoning and action. If you say and do the same thing as ten years ago, you have not learned anything. If you tell the same thing to different audiences, you do not respect their differences. If you always do what you believe is right, you have not considered other people's beliefs about right and wrong. My  integrity is a function of dialogue: I will always remain true to listening to others, and if we agree or disagree, it will result from our engagement, not from my pre-existing beliefs. This core commitment to dialogue is influenced by my studies of Martin Buber and Mikhail Bakhtin. Mostly, though, this something I have learned the hard way, from my own experiences.

Nevertheless, here is a dozen rules I try to follow:

1. Trust is a function of transparency. When people do not know how and why decisions are made, they fill in the missing information with speculations and suspicions. Understanding is more important than agreement.
2. Play offense, but do not neglect defense. Defense is making sure things keep going, and response to what issues and challenges come your way. Offense is the pursuit of new initiatives and long-range projects. Defense may protect form losing, but only offense makes winning possible.
3. Learn quickly, keep learning, and reflect on what you have learned. Each organization has its own history, culture, folklore; it can only be learned through a systematic effort. credibility comes with local knowledge. Errors and successes should be treated as lessons.
4. The easiest way for a leader to succeed is to support what people are already passionate about. Supporting existing initiatives is much more efficient than coming up with one's own. Leadership is enabling people to pursue their interests and passions.
5. Cut to the chase. Clearly identifying conflicting interests is the most direct route to a compromise. Engaging in rhetoric gymnastics ('serving children," "quality programs," "high expectations," etc.) only muddle the process and breed resentment.
6. Agree on rules and stick to them. There are two types of authority: the first comes from one's personal power to bend rules for a friend, the second comes from the power to enforce rules equally. The latter is considerably more durable.
7. The quickest way to develop a vision is to get high. However, a true vision congeals from many conversations with many people. Leader's ability to formulate a vision is simply an ability to capture common sentiment and present it in a clear from.
8. Bring home the bacon. Genuine progress is only possible when people's work conditions visibly improve, not when the institution is "doing better."
9. To get people to cooperate is easy when they benefit from such cooperation. Either show them how they benefit, or leave them alone. No cooperation for the sake of cooperation.
10. Justice is good bureaucracy. Simplicity of procedures reduce inequality, decrease irritation, help well-being and increase productivity. The leader must pay attention to the "small stuff" like a well-designed form or an easy to navigate website.
11. The easiest and cheapest change is a structural realignment: putting people in different group, calling these groups something else. Many leaders fall into this trap, waste huge amounts of energy, fight useless battles, so they can claim a successful restructuring on their resume. Yet all academic structures are weird and illogical; shifting them around rarely makes much of a difference.
12. Predictability and transparency of budgets is more important that their size.

Highlights of of service responsibilities

970-351-2701, sasha.sidorkin@unco.edu

University of Northern Colorado, McKee 216
Greeley, CO 80639