Training Industry Magazine - November/December 2017 - 53

THE POWER OF
PURPOSE IN ACTION
When Sonya Jacobs was named the
University of Michigan's first ever chief
organizational learning officer, it came as
no surprise to those around her. Sonya's
staff finds her inspiring because she is
not afraid to present big challenges,
and she always lays out a systematic,
accessible path for the team to conquer
them. She excels at engaging because she
spots and draws the talents out of each
individual, which empowers her team
to use their personal gifts to find answers
on their own.
Sonya encourages her team to innovate
by challenging them to make new
connections and empowering them to
find solutions to common problems. She
sets her staff up to achieve. Everyone who
works for her knows their goal, but is never
spoon fed the steps to get there. Instead,
Sonya provides a roadmap for everyone
to contribute to the best of their abilities.
She puts the right people on the right
projects, and then takes an active role in
clearing obstacles.
Finally, Sonya is always learning and looking
to improve her capacity to lead. Her role
requires her to be in a constant state of
becoming more courageous, being able
to walk fearlessly into new situations, say
what needs to be said, and do so in a way
that adds value.

5 | BECOME
Among
the
five
foundational
commitments for effective leadership,
becoming more purposeful is the
cornerstone. The ascent to great
leadership is a journey more than
a destination. It is the purposeful
leader's process of learning how to
use their strengths most efficiently,
and how to recognize and improve
their weaknesses. Purposeful leaders
understand that the journey requires
both patience and perseverance to
continuously evolve, knowing there is
never finality in the process. Becoming

THE ASCENT TO GREAT
LEADERSHIP IS A JOURNEY
MORE THAN A DESTINATION.
reflects the commitment to the ongoing
learning journey of a leader.
When they commit to becoming more
purposeful, leaders earn the perception
from their superiors, peers and team
members that they have balanced selfawareness, respect, humility, courage
and fairness to feed the other four
commitments of purposeful leadership.
For
Sonya
Jacobs,
the
chief
organizational learning officer at the
University of Michigan, her personal rise
and the success of her programs can be
traced to purposeful leadership, and her
ability to amass respect and admiration
from many around her, consistently
buys into her vision and her actions to
make it so. People respect her input. She
has influence and she gets things done
because she infuses everything she
does with an extreme sense of purpose:
to produce equity and inclusion within
diverse populations by helping them
advance into leadership positions.
It would be disingenuous to propose
that a leader - any leader - lacks a

sense of purpose in what they do.
They would not be where they are
without it. However, it is the degree
to which a leader is able to uphold
specific commitments to support
their purpose that determines their
success in reaching their goals, and
their ability to engage others in
this pursuit.
In closing, while the effort is more of a
journey than a destination, every leader
can move toward a more purposeful
state of leadership through guided
introspection, practice and sustained
attention to the five commitments.
Perhaps most important, through
adoption of purposeful leadership
behaviors, every leader, from the most
effective to the least, can continuously
and consciously improve for the benefit
of themselves, their organizations
and the marketplaces in which their
organizations operate.
Matt Norquist is president and CEO of
Linkage. Mark Hannum is senior vice
president of research and development at
Linkage. Email Matt and Mark.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - BUSINESS OF LEARNING 20 1 7 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - November/December 2017