Over the course of your career, develop your own theories of leadership that will inform your attitudes and actions. Interviewing leaders after having done some research about leadership allows you to see effective leadership in action through the lens of scholarly research.
Preparation
As part of Assessments 3 and 4, you will need to interview two leaders in organizations of your choice. To prepare for these two interviews, complete the following at this time:
Decide on the level of leaders you would like to interview (for example, individual contributors, middle managers, or top managers).
Research and choose an aspect of leadership based on the topics in the Cashman text (personal mastery, purpose mastery, change mastery, resilience mastery and coaching mastery) to use as the focus for your interviews.
Request and schedule 45-minute interviews with two different leaders at your chosen level. You should conduct the interviews between now and when you begin work on the Assessment 3, as you will need to complete the interviews in order to complete Assessments 3 and 4.
Interview Pitch
Submit the following components for this assessment:
State your intended purpose for the interviews. Provide an explanation of the aspect of leadership on which you plan to focus and why you chose it.
Describe the level of leadership selected for your interviews.
Outline your schedule for both interview sessions; include the names and titles of the leaders with date and time of interview. If you have not been able to solidify your schedule, include a report of your progress.
List the interview questions you plan to use for your chosen aspect of leadership. If you wish, you may use some of the questions from the reflection exercises in the related chapter of the Cashman text. You can use any leadership theories you like to help you develop your interview questions, including servant leadership, Kevin Cashman, Margaret Wheatley, articles from the Center for Creative Leadership, leadership stage theory, and other sources.
Conducting Your Interviews
As you conduct your interviews, remember the following:
At the start of each interview, explain who you are, what you are doing, what leadership mastery you will be exploring in the interview, and how you will use the interview material.
Clarify with your interviewees whether you have permission to use their names and organizations.
