Running head: LEADERSHIP EXPRESS: THE LILLIANNA SHOW

Leadership Express: The Lillianna Show

Lillianna Franco
ELPS 419
Loyola University Chicago

LEADERSHIP EXPRESS: THE LILLIANNA SHOW

Leadership Express
The Lillianna Show: Episode 1 Leadership
YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/YXR6r8oVEcQ
In order to describe my personal leadership philosophy, how experiences and my
identities have helped shape it, and to consider social justice concerns, I decided to utilize
my communication skills and present these themes through my first episode on The
Lillianna Show. During The Lillianna Show, I decide to share my leadership journey and
along the way explain my philosophy. With every experience I have ever had, I truly
believe my leadership skills have developed. Leadership skills that can be learned are
categorized into technical, human, and conceptual skills (Northouse, 2016). While these
skills are valuable to leadership, I believe the leader I am today comes from my natural
traits. The traits approach consists of how individuals assess how their leadership
characteristics in terms of ability (Northouse, 2016). Some traits that I find I uphold are a
care for others emotions, values, ethics, standards, and goals. These traits are highly
connected to the transformational leadership model. Transformational leadership is when
leaders empower others to transform themselves to be able to reach their highest potential
(Northouse, 2016). I believe transformational leadership is my personal leadership
philosophy because I am confident in my leadership, I have strong beliefs and values, I
effectively try to communicate to others, and I encourage action that produces positive
transformational results. Above all, I believe this is my leadership style because of my
past experiences and identities.
As a female, Latina, being raised in a low income household, and living in a
violent and unsafe environment, I have come to realize how my identities affected my

LEADERSHIP EXPRESS: THE LILLIANNA SHOW

story and therefore, my experiences. Many people didnt believe in me. They assumed
that because of my identities, I would never succeed. In particular, many times I was
racially discriminated or received micro aggressions because of my race/ethnicity.
Women of color tend to face many obstacles in the workplace (Sanchez-Hucles & Davis,
2010) but thankfully, many have begun to realize how Latina can contribute to leadership
in our society with core values of the Latino culture, such as personalismo and familismo
(Vasquez & Comas-Daz, 2007). I could have easily fallen into the trap of believing I
wasnt good enough because of the negative stereotypes but instead I knew believed in
my core values and what they could contribute to society and what they could help me
become. So, I pursued success in all aspects of my life utilizing my values; I always
challenged myself with goals that, for many, seemed unattainable. Now, as a college
access advocate and a motivational speaker I find that my calling is to use my identities
and successes to be a role model for other individuals like me, and my community. I
spend my time utilizing idealized influence, to act like a role model, and inspirational
motivation, to communicate high expectations to my community (Northouse, 2016).
Growing up, I wish I would have had someone who would have challenged me to change
and fulfill my highest potential.
In order to engage with the audience of The Lillianna Show, I decided to allow
followers on Twitter to hashtag #LillyLeads with leadership questions that they might
have about my leadership philosophy. The first question was, How has your leadership
changed over the past few months? And I detailed how the Lillianna Book Club, also
known as our leadership course, allowed me to read about leadership and gain an
understanding about my leadership style and how to name it. Moreover, the course

LEADERSHIP EXPRESS: THE LILLIANNA SHOW

allowed me to realize my strengths and engage in dialogue with others about how I could
utilize those strengths to be most effective in my transformational leadership work. I
changed my perspective on leadership and realized how I truly empower others. The
second question was, How do you envision your leadership philosophy will translate to
practice? I shared how I believed I would utilize the Social Change Model (SCM) to
bring about meaningful and value based change in the community, with a focus on
working collaboratively with others. The SCM is a way to reconsider leadership with
ideals in purposeful collaboration in order to change the community and society for a
better future (Cilente, 2009). Transformational leadership is highly correlated to the
SCM because it is all about empowering others to change and accomplish more than what
is usually expected. The SCM is a way in which I could take action in social justice
issues.
Finally, the third question I received was, How does your role of social justice
play out in your leadership approach? Well, as previously stated, not many people
expected much of me and because I want to bring equity up for underrepresented
minorities, I believe it is my duty to challenge my community to improve and expect
more of themselves. My social justice role plays out in my leadership approach as a
mentor. Mentoring is an integral part of young adults understanding of leadership
(Campbell et al., p. 587, 2012). If I mentor underrepresented minorities, it is clear that I
would help them gain equity and justice by aiding them in their leadership development
and success. According to the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL) many
minorities require mentors to become leaders themselves but Latinos, for example are
less likely to have faculty/professional mentors (Dugan, Kodama, & Correia, 2013). This

LEADERSHIP EXPRESS: THE LILLIANNA SHOW

could hold them back from professional leadership development and from obtaining
social mobility. I commit to doing my part to bring about social justice to
underrepresented minorities by using transformational leadership to empower them, in
unjust situations, to become the best they can be and therefore demystify the negative
stereotypes that privileged individuals assume about their identities. I believe that by
sharing our stories, we can work together, to inspire our community to change for the
better and become the leaders they deserve to be in our society.

LEADERSHIP EXPRESS: THE LILLIANNA SHOW

References
Campbell, C. M. & Smith, M. & Dugan, J. P. & Komives, S. R.(2012). Mentors and
college student leadership outcomes: The importance of position and process.
The Review of Higher Education 35(4), 595-625.
Cilente, K. (2009). An overview of the social change model of leadership development.
In S. R. Komives, W. Wagner, & Associates (Eds.), Leadership for a better
world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development (pp.
43-78). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Dugan, J. P., Kodama, C., Correia, B., & Associates. (2013). Multi-Institutional Study of
Leadership insight report: Leadership program delivery. College Park, MD:
National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7 ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:
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Sage.
Sanchez, J. V. & Davis, D. D. (2010). Women and women of color in leadership.
American Psychologist 65(3), 171-181.
Vasquez, M. & Xomas-Daz, L. (2007). Feminist leadership among Latinas. In J. L. Chin,
B. Lott, J. K. Rice, & J. Sanchez- Hucles (Eds.), Women in leadership:
Transforming visions and diverse voices. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.