YOUR SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP PROFILER

Creating a Personal Sustainable Leadership Plan (PsLP)

Manual for your Personal Sustainable Leadership Development plan

prof. dr. Rob van Tulder
Department of Business-Society Management
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Introduction: creating a Personal leadership Plan1

The transition towards higher levels of sustainability in organizations (companies, university, government,
firms) requires leadership. Of you perhaps? RSM Erasmus University offers a large number of possibilities to
work on your sustainable leadership potential. Firstly, through systematic and integrative skills training
starting in your first bachelor year. You might not have realized this, but the Skill Sheets (Pearson, 2012)
provide you with a large number of Sheets on leadership related skills. It is a matter of understanding this
(awareness) and the willingness to systematically develop and train a number of specific skills. Secondly, in the
more general management courses, the topic of leadership has probably been addressed marginally. LSG is the
second year bachelor course in which leadership is addressed systematically on an intellectual levels.
This profiler provides support for those aspiring leaders that also want to add sustainability to their practical
profile. It builds on the insights gained in the LSG course by reading the book Leadership: Theory and Practice
by Northouse (2009) and in particular on a number of the Questions and Tools as included in the book
Managing the transition to a sustainable enterprise (Van Tulder et al. 2014). This profiler shows you how you
can use a selection of those questions and tools as input for your own development plan.
The latter book also provides a number of profiles of companies (and their managers) that actually made the
transition. These examples can help you to get inspired by leaders in the context of their organization. Effective
leadership depends as much on timing as well on actual behavior and strategies, so an assessment of the actual
phase towards sustainability that you are in is a vital part of your personal leadership development plan.
Another element of a solid leadership approach is to organize a buddy group around you, not only to make this
a collective learning exercise, but also because real leaders only develop in interaction with their peers. The
buddy group will keep you on track.

Preconditions for effectively using this manual

[1] Work with what you already have. Use the material that is provided to you in courses as systematically as
possible; prepare and organize feed-back
[2] Socialize: Organize a buddy group specifically on (sustainable) leadership challenges
[3] Create awareness: try to make a zero-measurement of your starting-position, to enable you (and others)
to systematically work on the transition to higher degrees of effective leadership
[4] Get inspired: read the biography of one or two of your leadership heroes and ask yourself whether (a)
the biography actually tells the real story (use the literature provided in class also for critical reflection), (b)
you would like to follow in their footsteps, (3) what you should do during your studies: extra-curricular
activities as well as within the university.
The profiler should help you to draft a Personal Sustainable Leadership Plan (PsLP) that should help you to spur
self-reflection and planning. The PsLP should serve as a tool to assess your to assess your progress towards
professional, personal, and sustainable leadership goals. It is a chance to examine your personal and
professional aspirations and should serve as a roadmap for your involvement in societal issues and your
studies. In developing your PsLP, we encourage you to challenge yourself and others. Think about creative new
ways to approach your work and studies, push yourself to work across boundaries (sector, issue-area, class,
etc.) or propose strategies for engaging new networks of people in more productive and sustainable ways.

This profiler is partly based on a leadership plans used around the world. In this case, the present leadership
development plan profited in particular from inputs from an Environmental Leadership Program in the United
States: www.elpnet.org

The PsLP approach ideally consists of four phases in which you draft, discuss and further develop your
leadership plans:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Your Skills Profile: apply the reflective cycle and discover your personal strength and weaknesses;
discuss this with a peer group of students; use the skill sheets form B4
Your draft personal leadership Plan (PsLP). Think about the opportunities and threats and focus in
particular on your leadership qualities and ambitions
Organize a buddy-group (of around 3 to 4 people) whom you discuss your PLP
Finalize your PLP and organize a (Linked-in) group in which you give continuous feedback on the
realization of your plans for the next ten years!

The long and short road to sustainable leadership

You can apply this skill profiler in a very detailed manner, for which this manual provides many building blocks.
A quick route provides steps in which you only use the ingredients as provided in the book managing the
transition to a sustainable enterprise (2014) .

A quick build-up of your leadership profile

Leadership profile Building blocks

Use components

1. Basic mind-set: Personal statement on

what you do
2. on what your attitude is
3. on what you think
4. on what you find important
5. on what you would choose
6. Context: with what type of organization you
would like to work?
7. What inspires you: consider mottos, define
you own motto; make an I will statement
8. Who you would like to involve (how and
why)

Box 1.3, q 1

Box 1.3, q.2

Box 1.3, q.3
Box 2.4, q.2
Box 2.4, q.3
Box 4.5, q.1, q.2
Box 4.5, q.5
I will campaign
Who: Box 5,7, q.3
How: Box 5.7, q.6
Why: Box 5.7, q. 5

Section 1: Personal statement on where you are

This section should include reflection on where you are now and what you aspire to achieve
over the next several years. (You do not have to use the 5-year timeframe if another format
works better for you, but we have found that 5 years is a good starting point.) You could
think about any vision you may have developed in the past and how it relates to your personal
or professional life; or simply describe the things you care most about achieving and being
involved in over the next several years. This section should not be a list of goals (section III
is for that level of detail) but rather should be a broader look at where you want to go.

1.1 Your starting position: your personal visions and attitude

Fill out box 1.3 of the book (p.15-17) Include a summary of the answers you gave in box 1.3.

Personal vision (in

general) [question 1]

Basic attitude
[question 2]

Prime responsibility for

sustainability [Q.3]

[] inactive
[] reactive
[] active
[] pro-active
Explanation:
Try to understand what the
conditions are under which you
become more or less active
regarding your personal (based on
your answers to question 1, box
1.3)

[] pragmatic
[] realistic
[] idealistic
[] practical-idealist
Explanation:
Stick to you intuitive statement on
this at the start of the course. At
the end of the course try to
understand what this attitude
implies for your action repertoire
as a leader.

More ------less
[] government []--[]-- []--[]--[]--[]
[] firms
[]--[]-- []--[]--[]--[]
[] citizens
[]--[]-- []--[]--[]--[]
Explanation:
Try to establish the degree to
which you consider specific actors
more or less responsible for
sustainability (based on your
answers to question 3, box 1.3)

1.2 Your ambition: your personal vision on specific issues

Use your answers to Box 2.4, (questions 2+3), to come up with a summary statement on your issue challenge.
1 What issue(s) do you want to make a contribution now and in the future? (Question 2, rank 1-6)

2 What issue trade-offs do you consider to present the greatest challenge to you personally? (Question 3)

3. In confronting your priority issues and the biggest trade-offs, what do you see? [explanation: the bigger the
trade-offs in you priority issues are, the bigger the leadership challenge is]

Section 2: Skills, Gifts and Strengths

What personal gifts and strengths do you possess to draw upon in working towards your
goals? In this section, think about the personal gifts, skills, characteristics and interests you
have that will help you achieve your personal and professional goals.
Use the SWOT analysis of your Skill Profile (B4)
Learning style: how easy do you find it to move outside your comfort zone?
Intellectual and emotional leadership style and attitude ( B5; The Format, p. 15)
Go through the various skill sheets that are specified as particularly relevant for leadership and:
1.
2.

Define your skill starting position

Look at the specific skills that you need to develop

What you can do with the Skill Sheets as input for your leadership Profiler?
You have been introduced to the Skill Sheet collection in your first year at RSM. You have probably only used a
few of the sheets. But many more of the Skill Sheets often at a higher level of mastery - are needed if you
want to progress towards real leadership positions.
STARTING POSITION ( B4)
[] SWOT analysis of your skills per skill (use the forms at the website); your assessment: is this profile going to
help you in your leadership ambitions; what weaknesses should you compensate; what strengths should you
further build up?
[] General score: how do you score on the six general principles of self-management (B1) and the 10
general principles of management (G1). Consider the following: the more you feel you are forced by
others in your environment to do things you dont like, the more you face considerable gaps in your leadership
skills. Analyse (A1) where this comes from and act upon it (B8)
DEVELOPING SPECIFIC LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Check in particular how you score on the following skills (that have been proven to be require a minimum
degree of mastery in order to become an effective leader
[] Presenting: great leaders are often great presenters; can you apply the general principles of effective
presentations (F1) and more in specific deal with the challenges of how to use your body language to get
the message across (F9)?
[] Listening: leaders listen or give the impression that they listen to you; to what extend are you able to apply
the principles of constructive listening (D1)?
[] Research: leaders are able to define a vision, understand complexity, which requires considerable research
skills; a critical leadership skill is thereby to define the right questions for yourself and for others to work on
(A11, A12). Can you do that? Furthermore, transformational leaders deal with complex problems, that
require third order learning and interventions; skill sheet sheets A5 (p.41) can help you define what road to
take.
[] Reading: good leaders are able to select the appropriate sources of information and quickly go through this,
while using it as input for other activities. Can you effectively digest large amounts of material (C6), get to
the core of the argumentation and perhaps identify hidden agendas and interests (C7) at considerable
speed (C11)?
[] Self-management: in order to become a leader you have to be(come) very disciplined and focused;
important leadership skills therefore deal with good time management (B8), concentration skills (B7) and
dealing with the inevitable inclination to procrastinate (B9) because your leadership ambition will probably
make you take up too many challenges at the same time.
[] Management: core capacity of leaders is effectively deal with and create sufficient numbers of followers.

For instance in meetings, are you taking responsibility and skillful enough to stimulate your fellow participants
and steer in the right direction (G5, G8)?
[] Writing: a leader is able to be concise and powerful in writing towards followers to develop vision,
stimulate them to act upon it and instruct people to think out the box. Can you apply the principles of
powerful writing (E1) and come up with good arguments (E6)?

More information and surveys: www.skillsheets.nl

WORKING ON WHAT INSPIRES YOU

For a symposium with the Dalai Lama, an addendum of the Skill Sheets has been written to help
you work on your leadership and sustainability skills at the same time. This requires more
understanding of what motives and inspires you.
You can download this addendum: http://skillsheets.nl/education-of-the-heart.html

Checklist for your skill profiler

General skill

Specific leadership skill

Biggest.
Strength

Weakness

What inspires you

most?

Listening
Research
Presentation
Self-management
Management
Reading
Writing

The final column asks what drives your motivation in each of these skills? For instance: you like to read, but
what kind of reading do you prefer (novels, columns, scientific literature) and what does that mean for your
skill development plans. Reading for instance probably also involves more tough texts in order to get the
proper input. How can you make sure that you are going to master that skill as well? As regards presentation,
for instance, you observe particular presenters, but what is it that attracts their speeches and how can you
emulate that? The same applies to all other categories, you probably combine your biggest strength with what
inspires you most, that is the logical consequence of how skill development also works: the more you practice,
the more skills you acquire. But be careful: if you want to become a (sustainable) leader you cannot only build
on your strengths. Involve your buddies in this when you want to understand what kind of strength/weakness
profile provides a good starting position and/or a good ambition level to acquire in the coming five years.

Section 3: Personal and professional five-year goals

What specific goals would you like to accomplish during the next five years, based on your personal statement,
and the opportunities presented by the bachelor and master education that you can acquire at university?
This section is where you lay out some basic details about how you want to get from where you are now to
what you described in your personal statement. You may make these goals as detailed and comprehensive as
you like. Some people divide personal goals and professional goals into two separate lists; for others, they
overlap so much that it makes more sense to combine them into one set of goal statements. We encourage you
to think big for this section but also to be realistic. Your goals can be specific (e.g. publish at least 6 articles
in peer-reviewed journals or play the guitar for a public audience) as well as exploratory and less concrete
(e.g. explore the possibility of elected office). Remember that there is another PLP section for listing your
milestones in which you can articulate more specific details for each goal.
What leadership style(s) do you apply at the moment; what style would you like to develop for the future?
There are many leadership styles. Actual leaderships sometimes combine different styles. In the course we will
further elaborate these styles. What leadership style(s) apply to you at the moment; what style would you like
to develop for the future? You can use the following table:

Now?

Role model?

Future?

transactional

charismatic

visionary

moral, ethical

authentic

transformational

servant

connecting

responsible

For definitions: see Northhouse (2009)

Role model?

Section 4: Milestones
What tangible milestones, and time frames for reaching them? What will help you assess whether you are
addressing your challenges and achieving your personal and professional goals?
Like the other sections of your PLP, your milestones can be as detailed or broad as you like. Some people choose
to develop lists of milestones within a 1-, 3-, and 5-year period to help them prioritize what can and should be
done in a certain timeframe. Other people identify key achievements over the course of the entire period for the
PLP and aim to meet those achievements by a certain month or year. The purpose of this section is to lay out
some tangible and realistic accomplishments so you can measure your progress towards your broader goals and
vision. Having specific actions you want to complete by a specific date will help you work towards those
ambitions more successfully. It is much more useful to say I will defend my thesis by December 2012 than to
say I want to complete my Master. Again, it may be helpful for you to break your milestones into Personal
and Professional, depending on how you framed the other sections of your PLP. A useful technique in defining
the direction in which you want to achieve the greatest transition, is by inventing a personal motto.
Your personal motto, vision and goals
Summarize your personal and professional motto, vision and goals for the next five years (or beyond). Are you
able to come up with an inspiring motto that will not only stimulate you personally, but can also serve as a
means to inspire others? Consider box 4.5 with a large number of company mottos and get inspired by any one
of them (but hopefully also with an understanding of the limitations of those mottos depending on the
transition phase a particular organization is in). Link your motto to your SWOT analysis: what personal gifts and
strengths do you possess to draw upon in working towards your motto and vision?
Make an I will statement
RSM has introduced the I will campaign. It is applied by staff, students, alumni and external stakeholders and
functions as a trigger to think about the intrinsic motivations of individuals, whilst at the same time creating a
more cohesive community. The I WILL campaign at RSM is particularly interesting in this respect. It is intended
to make business, and business education, an instrument of positive change and think about the future. Most
of the hundreds of statements indeed are testimony of the fact that even business students are more triggered
by societal and social motivations than by personal profit-driven motives. That is quite typical of sustainable
leaders, even at a business school. Would you have expected anything else?

Visit the website for more examples : http://iwill.rsm.nl/

Section 5: Resources
What other resources and networks do you have to draw upon in working toward your goals?
It is unlikely that you personally possess all of the skills and expertise required to fulfill your goals it is therefore
necessary to take an inventory of the gifts and strengths of those in your network who maybe able to support
you in your efforts. In this section, think about the individuals and networks in both your personal and
professional life who will compliment your own assets. Be sure to consider the tremendous assets within your
Class as well with the Erasmus University. In case you are going to work for an organization, try to define what
the specific resources are that they have (of not have) to deal with the sustainability and leadership ambitions
that you have (section 1 and 2).
Box 5.7: which type of company/organisation would you like to become part of (in order to implement
your leadership ambitions):
[] public
[] private
[] national
[] non-profit
[] international
[] small large
[] family
Use the answers in box 5.7 as a first indication of what you would like to achieve (and how).

Section 6: Constituency and diversity

What are the primary constituencies, networks or communities with which you work? What opportunities and
challenges do you face in diversifying these constituencies and communities?
Think about the groups and communities with which you work and why. Think about other constituencies that
are not currently connected to your work that should be and ways you might be able to broaden your work to
include them. The diversity sessions at the orientation retreat may have helped you identify new constituencies
with which you would like to work, as well as ways in which to stretch your own thinking and learning on
diversity issues personally and professionally. What are the pros and cons of participating in social media
networks like facebook, llinkedin, twitter.

The world of a manager/leader is one with great complexity. The use of power and influence is thereby
essential. Managing with power is one of the most important (dynamic) capabilities leaders have to apply in
order to make their leadership count. This is the saying of Geoffrey Pfeffer, who also adds that if you are not
able to manage in an environment with power, you will not be able to reach your goals. This applies in general
to all change management issues, so also to sustainability issues that involve a number of additional ethical
questions. So, although power has for some a bad reputation and is often framed in a negative way we ask
you to leave you permissions about power and set a clear mind on this topic.
The thing about power is no different than that from money, faith, science or a mobile phone for that matter:
with power you can achieve great, good things. But like everything else, it has it uses for the lesser of goods.
Use the following thinking frame.

A thinking exercise:

With great power comes great responsibility (Spiderman)

. but how far should your responsibility reach (sphere of influence)
. and how should you organize it (alone or together with others)?
Power without ethics is worthless.
Ethics without power is powerless.

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Section 7 Challenges/needs
What challenges do you face and how will you address them? What areas do you need to work on? What
resources do you anticipate needing to reach your goals and milestones?
Thinking in the context of your goals and their relevance to both personal and professional situations, consider
challenges you may encounter that are both personal (such as financial constraints, not enough time, lack of
personal-professional balance, skills you need to work on) and professional (such as systems within your
workplace, lack of resources, gaps in your professional network). While thinking about what lies in the way of
meeting your goals, what will you need to overcome obstacles e.g. skills in certain areas, expanded funding
opportunities, better time management?

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to stick to the PsLP format?
The PLP format is a suggested format designed to encourage you to reflect on your vision, specific goals,
resources, challenges, and milestones. You may write in a different format, but you should still address these
fundamental topics. It is important for your PLP to be substantive so the only format that is unacceptable is a
list with no corresponding text.
Do I have to use a 5-year time frame?
No. Some people may benefit more from a 10-year plan, while others may find a 3-year plan more
reasonable. Use a time frame that seems right for you. Keep in mind that one purpose of the PLP is to help
you clarify how being an ELP Fellow will help you meet your short and long-term personal and professional
goals.
Who will read my PsLP?
Your Buddy group will ideally provide you with feedback on your PsLP and in return you will provide
comments on theirs. We ask that you share your PLP with your buddy-group mates and also send a copy to
the Master coordinator. If you would like, a staff member can be asked to provide feedback on your plans.

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