A Thank You to Bob Augustine for the invitation to collaborate in this discussion thread with a brief post. Currently, I am an Assistant Professor at Texas Christian University. I wanted to share some food for thought based on my experience in leadership.
During my academic journey, I have learned that culture impacts leadership in a meaningful way. This is something that is particularly experienced when the leader is culturally and linguistically diverse. As a culturally and linguistically diverse faculty member, I have experienced many challenges during my academic years. What I have learned of leadership from my home culture and what I have learned of leadership from the mainstream US culture has shaped my leadership role.
As Latino, I come from a background that collective work is valued. Being generous, dependable, and attentive to others are as important as the final result. As a Latino, I used this style to lead my students, my team. Many of the activities that I do with my students require collaboration in groups, trust in each other, consider the opinion of others, and facilitate collective sharing of information and communication with each other. I get rid of tables and chairs and when people come to the classroom, they have to face each other. We do activities to discuss topics outside the traditional classroom by taking the class discussion under a tree. Many students at the beginning of the semester always show resistance to the change, some demonstrate an uncomfortable attitude to my teaching style. However, at the middle-end of the semester, their attitudes have changed. The level of enthusiasm of the students with the class change, students get excited, they look forward to continue working in the class and to learn more from each other. They asked more questions than ever. That is the change that provides culture diversity in leadership. At the end of the semester, I was surprised by the amount of appreciation from my students/supervisees every semester as they gave me short "Thank You messages".
No one can teach you to be a good leader, leadership is something you model from your culture, from experiences with other leaders, and from other culturally and diverse experiences. As a culturally and linguistically diverse faculty member challenges will always be there, but I know that when opportunities are given, my cultural leadership style can complement the way things are done.
How your culture has challenged and/or positively impacted your leadership in your workplace?
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JEAN F. RIVERA PEREZ, PH.D. CCC-SLP
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Davies School of Communication Sciences & Disorders
TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
j.riveraperez@tcu.edu 817-257-4075
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