Running Head: PRINCIPLED DECISION MAKER 1

Principled Decision Maker

John Dandoy

Azusa Pacific University

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Evidence of Knowledge Acquisition

A principled decision maker is a self-aware individual who has a clear focus on their

core values. They pause and reflect before making a decision on how they are going to

respond to a given situation. In gaining a clear awareness of who you are, you must

understand your values and the principles that guide your leadership (George, 2007, pg. 85).

They allow their value and principles to be the lens through which they choose to respond.

This process is a result of analyzing every part of ones life and being authentically present to

make each decision; this is real integrity according to George (2007). George (2007)

continues to make the case that if one is not authentic in all aspects of their life, if will be a

difficult to be authentic when there are challenging decisions to be made as a leader.

Principled decision makers know that there is power in every choice they make, and they

encourage others to see this power in their respective choices as well.

In contemplating an appropriate leadership theory to expand upon the virtue of the

principles decision maker I was drawn to the Path-Goal theory. I was drawn to this theory

because of its focus on the goals of the follower making the influence of the leader a crucial

component to the followers success. Making this theory a natural fit for the principled

decision maker. An effective leader has to attend to the needs of followers. The leader should

help followers to define their goals and the paths they want to take in reaching those goals.

When obstacles arise, the leader needs to help followers confront them. This may mean

helping the follower around the obstacle, or it may mean removing the obstacle. The leaders

job is to help followers reach their goals by directing, guiding, and coaching them along the

way (Northouse, 2016, p. 286). In the path-goal theory there are four different leadership

styles: (1) directive, (2) supportive, (3) participative, and lastly (4) achievement-oriented style.
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In utilizing these four styles the principled decision maker is able to understand the motivation

of the follower and discern the most effective course of action for the follower and the

organization as a whole.

Interpretation of Knowledge

Given that Azusa Pacific University is a Christian based institution of higher

education the notion of principled decision make was woven throughout each of the courses

that I have taken. During my Cornerstones of Christian Leadership class we were asked to

explore followership and its relationship with leadership. We discussed Jesus and his life as

a leader and as a follower. I intuitively understood that leadership and followership were

opposite side of the same coin operating independently from each other. However, this

exploration caused me to reevaluate my assumptions about the exclusivity of the to two

positions, and caused me to consider the notion that leadership and followership are deeply

connected and in reality are in a fluid transitional relationship between themselves. Leaders

are at times followers and it is required at time for followers to take on leadership roles.

This understanding brought to my attention the need for being a good follower and a

real appreciation for the good followers that I have who follow me. This further made me

realize the impact that followership has on an organization and the influence it can have on

the organizational culture. Principled decision makers know what it is to walk in the others

shoes and do not ask others to do something they themselves are not willing to do or have not

done in the past. This concept cemented my belief that if a leader does not know how to

follow in a given organization they will struggle with, and may fail at, leading that

organization. The fundamental component and driving force of a principled decision maker is

the ability to clearly identify challenges and offer or implement value based solutions that
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will benefit the organization and have the most influential impact on the largest number of

organizational members. If a leader is unfamiliar with the experiences of the follower it will

be nearly impossible for them to make value based decisions that will have a positive impact

on the follower population.

Application of Knowledge

In owning and managing a brokerage of twenty-three agents and growing, I feel that it is

imperative that I set the expectation of ethical behavior and requisite moral standards up early in

the interview process. This insures that the agents joining my firm know who I am and what is

expected of them as they consider a potential offer of employment. First and foremost I expect

that the agents will be placing their respective clients needs above their own monetary reward or

other personal gain. I expect that they will fully disclose all know material facts relating to the

condition of the property and all other facts affecting the desirability and/or value of the

property. I expect that any agent working in my office will behave in a honest and trustworthy

fashion, and that they will support the open collaborative environment being fostered in my firm.

I am directly explicit with my agents, if these conditions are not tenable for them, this is not the

right office or cultural fit for them. Further, if there are found to have behaved in a manner that is

not consistent with these values they will be terminated on the spot.

This said I have recently met with two agents who were looking to join my firm. These

two agents work as a father son team. The father has been in the business for a number of years

and the son has been in the business for four and half years. The father is getting ready to retire

and the son is taking the lead in their collective businesses. The son agent was a younger man

who has been working in the industry for the past few years. For being relatively new to the

industry he has done very well for himself. He closes on average thirteen transactions per year
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for the past three years, which is statistically higher than most realtors nationally. Their two

practices, should I choose to hire them, would represent a good deal of company income and

local market share.

After the first meeting with these two gentlemen I let them talk. They were asking

questions about how my firm operated, what kind of services were provided, asking if there was

any kind of continued advanced skill building or accountability, and who were the lead office

administrative persons and what are their respective roles within the firm. After this meeting, I

was leaning toward hiring them. They appeared to represent themselves well, asked all the right

questions, and their monetary value to the company would be significant. At the second meeting,

I brought out my mission, vision, and values for the firm. I asked them about how they handled

their clients and offered scenarios for them to respond to. I asked how their current commission

structure functioned at their existing brokerage. After taking in all of their responses, it was very

clear; the good game they talked was not the game they practiced. They said that they worked

honorably and ethically, but when pressed about how their fee structure worked at their existing

brokerage, they said they would move the credit for sales back and forth between them to be paid

a higher commission, and what difference did it make their managing broker was none they

wiser. The impression I was left with at the end of our second meeting was that they are in this

business to profit first and represent their clients second.

In this moment I was living Kahemans (2011) dichotomy of self. I was living in the

moment and my experiencing self was examining the potential for profit, market share, and

company growth. While my remembering self was churning away in the background. It was

whispering in my ears: why did you start this company? Is this company for everyone or only

those who meet your model? Is sacrificing your values today for a small monetary reward going
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to provide the environment for future growth tomorrow? Once, I took a moment to step back and

center myself on these questions; the answer was simple and clear. These two men were not a fit

for my firm. When next we spoke, I told them both that there are a number of other offices that

are better suited for their business model and I wished them well.

Creation of New Knowledge

Personal
I have committed to journaling every day. In these journaling sessions I will identify

the most difficult challenges that I faced that day and do my best to approach them from a 365-

degree perspective. Then I will identify the value system that I utilized to make the decision. I

will then evaluate the impact my decision had on my followers and my organization to see if

the decision was a good choice or a choice that could be improved upon in the future.

Professional

I will meet with each employee individually on a bi-monthly basis in order to identify

his or her biggest challenges in their business and their personal life. We will then collectively

create a set of solutions to be implemented over the next 6 weeks. When we meet again we will

access their progress and adjust the course of action as needed to continue to address those

issues or others that arise in the process.

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References

George, B. and Sims, P. (2007). True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership. San

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
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