Culture, Identity & Leadership Development

Presenter: Kecia C. Brown, M.A.Doctoral Candidate

Teachers College, Columbia University

My Charge Today…To begin to engage you in a dialogue around Culture, Identity, Self Awareness and their connection to Leadership

To begin to examine underlying assumptions around issues of various social constructs

A Moment of ClarityWhat is Identity?

What is Culture?

Are Culture and Identity relevant in a conversation about Career Planning and College Prep? Why or why not?

Definition of Terms

Ethnicity

Belonging to a group that share common characteristics, such as country of origin, language, religion, ancestry and culture.

Definition of TermsIdentity Stems from research done by Psychologist, Erik Erikson (1950’s)

Refers to either: (a) a social category, defined by membership rules and (alleged) characteristic attributes or expected behaviors,

(b) socially distinguishing features that a person takes a special pride in or views as unchangeable but socially significant

(or (a) and (b) at once.

Derived from James Fearon, Political Science Professor, Stanford University

Definition of TermsCultureDescribes what people develop to enable them to adapt to their world, such as language, gestures, tools to enable them to survive and prosper, customs and traditions that define values and organize social interactions, religious beliefs and rituals, and dress, art, and music to make symbolic and aesthetic expressions (Wikipedia.org, 2009).

Leadership “An influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes (Rost, 1991).”

BrainstormName several social identities to which you are familiar

Name several cultures to which you are familiar

Iceberg Theory of Identity

Iceberg View of Identity

The Iceberg View of Identity states that only 10% of who we are is visible

with the human eye, while the remaining 90% of who we are lies

beneath the surface.

Convergence!

Identity

Culture

C. Compete

ncy

Leadership

You

In Conclusion…Salient identity based on societal interactions.

Self-awareness is critical in the leadership/professional identity development process.

Importance of exposure and learning of various cultures, while at the same time being open to being wrong and continuing to learn.

Learning & development are lifelong processes.

This was only an introduction to the wonderful work that you will be continuing in this program!