In Why It Matters, in addressing the subject of plagiarism. I noted, “I was asked to address the UA community as part of the interview process for the chancellor position and to share my vision for the university. In thinking about the vision statement, I decided to use ‘The model land-grant university of the twenty-first century.’ Although I knew what I meant, few in the audience did. Over time, I realized we needed to draft a vision statement by engaging a wide range of stakeholders. The resulting vision statement was ‘A nationally competitive, student-centered research university serving Arkansas and the world.’
“Years after my interview for the chancellor position, in going through files I accumulated while serving as Georgia Tech’s engineering dean, I found a publication from Virginia Tech titled ‘The Model Land-Grant University of the Twenty-First Century.’ I was stunned! I thought I came up with the vision statement on my own. I had no idea I’d stored the phrase from Virginia Tech someplace in my brain. Machiavelli’s quote regarding fortune being ‘the arbiter of one-half of our actions, but she still leaves us to direct the other half, or perhaps a little less,’ swirled in my thoughts. I was very fortunate no one connected my vision statement with Virginia Tech’s. It could’ve cost me my reputation; it could’ve cost me my job. My experience showed plagiarism can occur unintentionally, but the damage it can do is very real, whatever the original motivation.”[i]Several university presidents lost their jobs because of plagiarism.
In creating the Leadership Alphabet Game and identifying attributes of exemplary leaders for each letter of the alphabet, I didn’t realize others had posted similar material on the worldwide web.[ii] Among the postings, I found three that provide attributes for all letters of the alphabet.[iii] Shown below are my selections for the “winning words” and theirs.
For A, I chose ATTITUDE; two chose AUTHENTICITY; the other chose AGILITY. I chose BALANCE for B; two chose BALANCE and one chose BRAVERY. I chose CHARACTER for C, but one chose CALM and the other two chose COMMUNICATOR. All four choices for D were the same, DECISIVE. Two of the three agreed with my choice for E, EMPATHY; the other chose ENERGETIC. All three chose FOCUSED for F, whereas I chose FAIR. For G, I chose GENUINE, as did another, but the others chose GENEROUS and GROWTH MINDED. I chose HOPE for H; others chose HONORABLE, HELPFUL, and HUMILITY. Where I chose INTEGRITY for I, they chose INTROSPECTIVE, INSPIRATIONAL, and INCLUSIVE. They chose JUST or JUSTICE for J, but I chose JUDGMENT. One chose KNOWLEDGEABLE for K, but the other two and I chose KINDNESS. LOVE was my choice for L, but two of the three chose LISTENER; the other chose LOYAL. Two chose MOTIVATED, one chose MENTOR, and I chose MODEL for M. One agreed with my choice for N, NIMBLE; others chose NURTURING and NON-JUDGMENTAL. Only I chose OBJECTIVE for O; they chose OBSERVANT, OPEN, and OWNERSHIP. Likewise, there was no agreement on P; I chose PRIORITIZE and they chose PATIENT, PERSONABLE, and PURPOSE. For Q, two agreed with my choice of QUESTIONING; the other chose QUALIFIED. For R, two agreed with my choice of RESILIENT; the other chose RESULTS-DRIVEN. For S, two agreed with my choice of STRATEGIC; one chose STEWARDSHIP. For T, two agreed with my choice of TRUST; one chose TRANSPARENT. For U, I let the reader choose among UPSTANDING, UNDERSTANDING, and UNSELFISH; others chose UNWAVERING, URGENCY, and UPBEAT. For V, I let the reader choose among VISIONARY, VISIBLE, and VOCAL; others chose VISIONARY. Only one agreed with my choice of WISDOM for W; others chose WELL-INFORMED and WORK-LIFE BALANCE. For X, one chose XENIAL, two chose X-FACTOR, and I chose XENOPHON. For Y, one agreed with my choice of YES-MINDED; others chose YOURSELF and YARDSTICK. Finally, for Z, two chose ZEALOUS, one chose ZEST FOR LIFE, and I chose ZERO-TOLERANCE
In retrospect, I should’ve done my homework before embarking on playing the Leadership Alphabet Game. Had I done so, I’m confident my thinking would’ve changed for some letters.
Enjoy continuing to play the Leadership Alphabet Game as you consider attributes you want to exhibit in your leadership and those you want your leader(s) to possess. As Sherlock Holmes said to Watson, “The game is afoot!”[iv] (I wonder if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle knew William Shakespeare, approximately 300 years before, used the same line in The Life of Henry V.[v])
Next: Leadership ABCs—The 26th Key to an A
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[i] John A. White, Why It Matters: Reflections on Practical Leadership, Greenleaf Book Group Press, Austin, TX, 2022.
[ii] See, https://kevineikenberry.com/personal-professional-development/leadership-by-the-letters/, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-alphabet-ihab-el-ghazzawi, https://drmattkutz.medium.com/the-secrets-of-exceptional-leadership-the-abcs-you-need-to-know-b2d6dc9e84e8, and https://www.dvm360.com/view/following-the-letters-of-leadership, among other sites.
[iii] See https://www.gracejudson.com/resources/leadership-a-to-z/, https://www.oakconsult.co.uk/a-to-z-of-leadership-qualities/, and https://www.google.com/search?q=leadership+attributes+for+letters+of+the+alphabet&oq=&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgAECMYJxjqAjIJCAAQIxgnGOoCMgkIARAjGCcY6gIyCQgCECMYJxjqAjIJCAMQIxgnGOoCMgkIBBAjGCcY6gIyCQgFECMYJxjqAjIPCAYQABhCGLQCGOoCGNsFMg8IBxAAGEIYtAIY6gIY2wXSAQ0xOTU4ODI1NTBqMGo3qAIIsAIB8QWQbiTiEMRJ5g&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8.
[iv] Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Abbey Grange, The Strand Magazine, January 23, 1897, p. 3, ISBN 9781986432016
[v] William Shakespeare, The Life of Henry the Fifth, Act 3, Scene 1, line 33, circa 1599.
