Ex-chancellor stresses need for leadership with students

Nathan Humpherys

Paul Elsner, former Maricopa Community College District chancellor and namesake of MCC’s library, spoke to honor students on Nov. 5 about authentic leadership.Authentic leadership, as Elsner related, is a harmonization of people’s lives where integration replaces compartmentalization.

Elsner said the theory of authentic leadership is based on the assumption that everyone is underestimated. Elsner described the lack of fulfillment most people are left with in their jobs.

Though Elsner discussed the importance of integrating people’s lives and work more thoroughly, he stressed the importance of a balanced life.

Elsner sees the future of industry reliant on collaboration between people, and that authentic leadership and authentic living are necessary to have the full participation in these collaborations.

The “do-it-yourself” attitude is comfortable for Americans because it provides complete control over their work, Elsner said, but added that in the long run such attitudes can severely limit the accomplishments that could be made.

The integration of people’s daily lives into their work will provide more productive, safer work places Elsner said.

He went so far as to call some organizational structures toxic, saying that many times the leadership discourages or cancels out the contributions.

The key to authentic leadership is not based on management styles or leaders telling coworkers every aspect of their lives, but be accessible and open with the essence of who that leader really is.

“There almost has to be a spiritual component to it,” Elsner said.

Authenticity in the workplace will lead to job fulfillment by allowing people to find means of expressing themselves through their work, and helping people to find their “intended purpose,” as Elsner put it, the purpose for which they were created for or predisposed to.

While Elsner acknowledged that authentic living is difficult to define, much less do, he stressed that such a lifestyle will be essential in the upcoming century.

  • Mesa Legend Staff

    These are archived stories from Mesa Legend editions before Fall 2018. See article for corresponding author.

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