Self-awareness and Leadership: Developing an Individual Strategic Professional Development Plan in an MBA Leadership Course

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The International Journal of
Management Education
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijme
Self-awareness and leadership: Developing an individual strategic
professional development plan in an MBA leadership course
Arthur Rubens∗, Gerald A. Schoenfeld, Bryan S. Schaffer, Joseph S. Leah
Florida Gulf Coast University, Lutgert College of Business, Department of Management, 10501 FGCU Boulevard South, Fort Myers, FL 33965, USA
A R T I C L E I N F O
Keywords:
Leadership
Self-awareness
Leadership skills
Professional development
Individual strategic plan
A B S T R A C T
This paper describes an MBA course assignment, the “Individual Strategic Professional Development
Plan”. The assignment consists of three parts, requiring students to: 1) conduct an industry and
job analysis 2) explore, benchmark and develop their leadership skills; and, 3) develop a personal
strategic plan for guiding and achieving their leadership capabilities and career goals. As a core
competency, leadership is needed by all business and management students. While courses in
leadership may offer important theoretical and conceptual guidance for students, our assignment
requires students to go further; they must reflect on their own identities (who they are) while
considering the necessary and critical routes that must be followed on their paths toward be-
coming effective organizational leaders. In dynamic and uncertain global and technological en-
vironments, students' abilities to strategically map their careers and assess and develop key
leadership skills critical to career success are more important than ever. Anecdotally, students in
post-class assessments have voiced praise for the assignment, citing it as one of the most im-
portant outcomes in their MBA experience.
1. Introduction
Leadership is a foundation course in almost all business programs (undergraduate and MBA) and is also commonly included in
degree programs across many other academic disciplines. In addition, many organizations throughout the world offer professional
development seminars and executive training sessions on the topic of leadership in order to facilitate the growth and promotability of
their employees. Although it is difficult to estimate exactly how many universities and colleges in the U.S. offer courses on leadership,
the number of these classes and programs has expanded exponentially since the 1990s (Dugan & Komives, 2007). In 2012, the
American Society of Training and Development reported that U.S. businesses spend more than $170 Billion dollars on leadership-
based curriculum, with the majority of those dollars being spent on “Leadership Training” (Myatt, 2012).
Furthermore, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) has included leadership as a required core
competency of AACSB accredited business schools (http://www.aacsb.edu/). Recently, leaders in management education and
business schools worldwide have advanced a “Principle for Responsible Management Education”, which also designates leadership as
an essential skill, emphasizing its alignment with, and embodiment of, principle values of the United Nations (Woo, 2009). Lea-
dership courses are important components of all business program curricula, whether emphasis is on management, finance, ac-
counting, marketing, or another functional area. Regardless of the major, graduating business students will eventually be placed in
situations where their success will be dependent on their application of leadership skills and their ability to manage people and
resources effectively.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2017.11.001
Received 26 December 2016; Received in revised form 26 June 2017; Accepted 2 November 2017
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [e-mail] (A. Rubens), [e-mail] (G.A. Schoenfeld), [e-mail] (B.S. Schaffer), [e-mail] (J.S. Leah).The International Journal of Management Education 16 (2018) 1–131472-8117/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T

Most leadership classes in Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs include leadership theories, concepts of leadership
and management, and to varying degrees, student learning of some managerial skills; however, many of these classes do not provide
the needed focus on the development of essential skills, such as self-reflection and self-awareness (Hobson, Strupeck, Griffin, Szostek,
& Rominger, 2014). Prior research has generally supported a positive relationship between ‘knowing thyself and self-awareness’ and
overall leadership success (Ashley & Reiter-Palmon, 2012; Goleman, 2004). Van Velsor, Taylor, and Leslie (1993), in a review of
causes for leaders' derailments, reported four primary areas of leadership failure: (a) interpersonal relationship problems, (b) not
meeting objectives, (c) team leadership breakdowns, and (d) inability to adapt to transitions and changes. Self-awareness is related to
all four of these areas, but seems particularly applicable to an individual's ability to adapt to change. This is directly related to the
issue of self and leadership gaps (standard model of scientifically developed leadership competencies and derailment factors) which
are also part of possessing the necessary soft-skills for success in the workplace. In addition, self-awareness and the ability to assess
oneself are basic tenets of possessing high emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1998). Furthermore, the importance of knowing oneself
through introspection is as old as ancient Greece, where the inscription on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi states: “Know Thyself’
(γνῶθι σεαυτόν) (The Oracle at Delphi, 2017).
Many graduate students, throughout their MBA programs, do not truly go through needed quantitative and qualitative assess-
ments to evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses in preparation for their current and desired future professional positions.
(Decker, Durand, Ayadi, Whittington, & Kirkman, 2014). While MBA students often learn to conduct a strategic analysis and assess a
company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT), they do not typically conduct this same type of introspective
assessment on themselves.
The deep economic recession of 2008 and 2009 resulted in substantial increases in unemployment and job loss in the U.S. and
Europe. Although the stock market has improved and unemployment is down (in the U.S.), there remains a growing sense of despair
among businesses, political leaders, and policy makers that this economic crisis may have effects well into the future (Elliott, 2011;
Eurostat, 2016; Financial Forecast Center, 2016). These job losses and uncertainty in the future, as well as the reality of competing in
a global, technological world, has forced many individuals to seek new employment and/or reevaluate their career options. The
market for jobs in this post-recession economy, especially good jobs, is increasingly becoming more competitive. Individuals with
undergraduate business degrees are returning to graduate business schools to get their MBA's, and many Millennials who are unable
to find jobs after their undergraduate business education continue right away to pursue MBA degrees, without having any man-
agement and/or leadership experience in their brief work histories (Muchmore, 2009). In addition, although many students in MBA
programs are currently working professionals, they often do not have clear career objectives, nor clearly defined plans for their future
career goals. Such plans should take into account trends and changes in the work environment and should incorporate strategies for
personal leadership skill development.
Knowing one's own leadership strengths and weaknesses, as well as strategically understanding the path to follow to achieve one's
future professional goals, are essential to not only the short-term success of graduate business students, but also to their long-term
career success in business. Equally important is understanding current and future trends in the market for a particular industry of
professional interest. In many cases, MBA students have not conducted an objective analysis to assess and analyze the markets and
environments they are pursuing for their career position. Having such a plan may be more important now than ever given the ever-
changing dynamic business environment.
The assignments described in this paper come from an MBA Leadership course in an AACSB-accredited college of business in a
mid-size, public, university in the southeastern United States. For more than ten years, students from this course have completed an
‘individual strategic professional development plan’ as part of the course requirements. Facets of this plan have also been in-
corporated as one of the stated assurance of learning (AOL) objectives for the college's AACSB accreditation. This assignment goes
further than the normative approach to leadership education, and it is felt that it can impact students' personal and professional lives
over a longer period of time beyond the confines of one semester or one's degree program.
Multiple schools and institutions, both within the business field and outside, require their students and/or employees to complete
self-assessments and to develop professional development plans (Baughman, Brumm, & Mickelson, 2012; Addams & Allfred, 2013;
Drew & Klopper, 2014; Lopez, de Saa Perez, Rodriguez, and Almeida, 2015; and; Gerken, Beausaert, & Segers, 2016). In addition,
some schools have dedicated courses where students create such plans through integrative tools, such as Eportfolio (Graves & Epstein,
2013; Kalata & Abate, 2013; Peeters & Vaidya, 2016; and; Vouchilas & George, 2016). The assignment described in this paper is
consistent with these trends. However, its potential to add to the management education literature is based on four factors: 1) the
comprehensiveness of the assignment; 2) its integrated and sequential approach over the progression of a semester; 3) the specific
theoretical leadership focus of the assignment (it is the essential part of the MBA leadership course); and 4) its application to students'
real-world career-goals.
The key objective of this teaching manuscript is to offer faculty teaching leadership, or similar themed courses, a planned exercise
and assignment that require students to assess and reflect on their current strengths and weaknesses in leadership-related skills.
Through this work, students will also develop a plan for leadership skill development, identify opportunities for leadership skill as
applied to relevant management practice, and consider the industry and post-degree occupation that they hope to pursue upon
graduation. This paper provides an overview of the issues related to: leadership education; the concepts of increasing self-awareness
and emotional intelligence; self-directed learning; and the development of a core set of vital leadership competencies, all intended to
prepare students for the dynamic job market of today and the future. In addition, the assignment gives students a model for creating a
strategic professional development plan that can serve as not only a guide for successful completion of the MBA program, but also for
future planned career success. The paper offers a detailed overview of the assignment and its potential benefits, along with practical
classroom recommendations.
A. Rubens et al. The International Journal of Management Education 16 (2018) 1–132

2. Review: leadership education, self-awareness and job market
2.1. Leadership education
The teaching of leadership has a long and varied history. Theoretical contributions in the areas of leadership, management and
administration, appear in historical accounts from ancient Egypt, Babylonia and China (Saatci, 2014). For example, Egypt con-
tributed to our understanding of organizational structure and development, and human resource management, in its temple building,
while Babylonia addressed administration and bureaucracy during the Hammurabi reign (1792-1750 BC), producing the Code of
Hammurabi (Saatci, 2014). China is most noted for its contribution to strategy in Sun Tzu's writing on the Art of War (Cantrell, 2003;
Sun Tzu, 2015). Furthermore, the Greek “Academy” was established around 386 BC by the philosopher Plato with the express
purpose of developing the leadership capabilities of future statesmen (Korac-Kakabadse, Kouzmin, & Kakabadse, 2002).
Although leadership is widely taught and studied in both academia and business, with over 12,000 books being published alone
on the subject in the last few years (Martin, 2002), the concept of leadership remains an evolving topic. Traditionally, understanding
and learning leadership theories were the primary foci of leadership education. According to “The Handbook for Teaching Lea-
dership” from Harvard (Snook, Khurana, & Nohria, 2014), it wasn't until 1985 that the first comprehensive textbook on teaching
leadership - Leadership in Organizations (1985) - was developed by the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership at West
Point. In the late 1980s and 1990s, students in leadership courses in business programs, started to move beyond a primary focus on
learning leadership theory to also include managerial skill development: “an application of the theories, techniques, and behavioral
guidelines, which if applied properly, will enhance a manager's practice” (Bigelow, 1996, p. 306). Consistent with this focus, there
has been a growing popularity of skills-based management texts. More recently, both in the literature and classroom, attention has
shifted toward the integration of a variety of “real-world” active learning innovations in teaching leadership. Examples include case
studies (Christensen & Carlile, 2009), service learning (Gallagher, 2011), simulations (Keys & Wolfe, 1990), client-based consulting
projects (Robinson, Sherwood, & DePaolo, 2010), and student entrepreneurship ventures (Strempek, 2008).
Although we have seen an increased focus and emphasis on skill development and real world exercises to supplement theory in
business school leadership courses, successful leadership requires much more than understanding these theories and learning specific
skills. Specifically, how a leader performs in any given scenario varies according to the situation and is often dependent on a
multitude of contextual factors, including the leader's perception of others, themselves, and their surrounding environment (Osborn,
Hunt, & Jauch, 2002).
In our MBA leadership courses, as in many graduate classes across the nation, case studies (e.g., Harvard Case Studies) are used as
a tool for understanding how leaders behave in given situations. However, truly understanding the “art” of leadership requires
experiential learning through enhanced analysis of the socio-cognitive, psycho-cognitive, and ethical dimensions of the individual
(e.g., McHann & Frost, 2010). Therefore, for students to become better able to adopt and exemplify the behaviors of established
leaders, the pedagogical approach must address not only cognitive knowledge, but also fundamental values and emotions. Although
there are multiple, innovative, educational approaches that can be used to facilitate student learning, with a subject such as lea-
dership there are several challenges facing instructors. The assignments herein offer approaches that teach the knowledge and skills
of leadership, but also provide emotional and perceptional impacts on students' personal lives over a longer period of time. Within the
constraints of a single semester, the pedagogical design is meant to offer students enhanced understanding of themselves and the
world in which they live.
2.2. Self-awareness: understanding oneself
Although definitions may vary, self-awareness is an inwardly-focused evaluative process in which individuals make self/standard
comparisons with the goal of better self-knowledge and improvement (Ashley & Reiter-Palmon, 2012). In Duval and Wicklund’s
(1972) theory of objective self-awareness individuals periodically focus attention inward and begin a comparison process to assess
themselves against a salient standard (e.g., a behavior or progress toward a goal). As previously mentioned, the concept of the
importance of knowing oneself and introspection is as old as ancient Greece. You can also find various references to knowing oneself
around 500-600 BC in ancient China and India (Leary & Tangney, 2003, pp. 3–14). In fact, it has been theorized that the capacity for
self-reflection, to think abstractly and symbolically about oneself, was contributory to the rise of human civilization some
40,000–60,000 years ago (Leary & Buttermore, 2003).
In the early 1900's, Charles Cooley (1956), the American Sociologist, spoke of human nature, the self, and one's role in society. His
concept of the looking-glass self describes how a person grows and matures out of society's interpersonal interactions and the per-
ceptions of others. Similarly, Duval and Wicklund (1972), spoke of self-awareness and sense of self as a socially evaluative object. In
this regard, individuals see themselves both from self- and other-observation perspectives. Together, these theories suggest that
individuals must use a reflective process in looking at themselves from different vantage points: “how they see themselves and how
others see them” (Duval & Wicklund, 1972).
Although there have been numerous scales used to measure self-awareness (Ashley & Reiter-Palmon, 2012), most build upon
Fenigstein, Scheier, and Buss' (1975) key dimensions of self-awareness, namely: “sensitivity to inner feelings; recognition of one's
positive and negative attributes; introspective behavior; tendency to picture or imagine oneself; awareness of one's physical ap-
pearance and presentation; and concern over the appraisal of others” (p. 523). From this emerged both a private self-consciousness
(e.g., I reflect about myself a lot”), and public self-consciousness (e.g., “I'm concerned about what others think of me”) (Fenigstein,
Scheier, & Buss, 1975). Building on this work, Burnkrant and Page (1984) have suggested that one's ‘private self-consciousness’ could
A. Rubens et al. The International Journal of Management Education 16 (2018) 1–133

better be expressed as a two-dimensional construct of self-reflection and internal state of awareness.
More recently, the need for self-reflection and self-awareness has been exemplified through the study of emotional intelligence
(EI). Goleman (1998) describes EI as the capacity for a person to demonstrate the competencies that constitute self-awareness, self-
management, social awareness, and social skills, at appropriate times and ways and in sufficient frequency to be effective in the
situation. Goleman’s (1998) model of emotional intelligence includes five clusters containing 25 competencies. Each of the clusters
(self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills) are predicated upon knowing who you are and being able to
assess yourself and others. Hence, more than intellectual intelligence or analytical skills, leaders need to be able to understand and
recognize their own emotions, and from this they are able to respond to the needs of others and build the necessary relationships in
the organization (Goleman, 1998). Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2001) state that although these qualities may be characteristic of
the 'soft skills’ in management and leadership, there is empirical support for a positive correlation between leaders' emotional
intelligence and their success in business. Similarly, when we think of why managers and leaders derail, the reasons often relate back
to these ‘soft-skill’ traits and attributes (Center for Creative Leadership, 2016).
Over the last decade we have seen a tremendous amount of literature citing the link between these soft skills and leadership
effectiveness. These skills include interpersonal relationships, getting along with others, communication, taking initiative, and team-
building (Hurrell, 2016). Massaro, Bardy, and Garlatti (2016) recently reviewed the management literature for the notion of ‘soft
skills’ and found over 140 papers on this subject. Soft skills have been described as the most sought after skill for workers in our new
economy, and also one of the most difficult to obtain (Davidson, 2016). Davidson (2016) suggests that “as the labor market tightens,
completion has heated up for workers with the right mix of soft skills.” Her article further cites a recent WSJ survey of 900 executives,
where 92% of these executives explained that soft skills were equally or more important than technical skills. To capsulate this
thinking we can look to the Chinese philosopher Lao Tsu who said: “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true
wisdom... mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power” (Popular quotes, 2016).
2.3. Job market and future trends
Not too long ago there was a covenant or compact between workers and their organizations: Take care of business and we'll take
care of you. You don't have to be a star; just be faithful, obedient and only modestly competent–and this will be your home as long as you want
- you are family. However, now we might say there is a ‘New Covenant”: If you are productive and add value - if you keep learning and
your skills are current, you'll be okay. In fact, the organization's half of the bargain is to keep creating opportunities for you to achieve. Your
half is to keep on achieving and demonstrating value to the organization (adapted from: Bardwick, 1995). We have moved from a society
based on human capital to intellectual capital. No longer can workers expect to work for the same firm for their lifetime; employees
have to constantly update and their skills continually demonstrate their ability to add value to the organization (Feldman, 2010).
Further accelerating this process is globalization and the fact that we are part of a global economy. Technological change and
innovation have also dramatically altered workers' roles with necessity for them to constantly update their skills and adapt in the ever
present globalized, dynamic, diverse job market. The graduating MBA student is not only competing with workers in their local
market, but workers all over the world.
Recent research suggests that young people today will change jobs more frequently than their parents. For example, Generation
X'ers who graduated college from 1986 to 1990 averaged two job changes in their first 10 years' post-graduation. Conversely,
Millennials will change jobs at least 4 times before the decade post-graduation (Long, 2016). Where only a few years ago it was
estimated that the typical worker would have seven careers in a lifetime, it is now predicted that this number will be closer to twenty
(Bialik, 2010). According to Davos, events such as economic downturns and increases in automation (e.g., artificial intelligence,
robots, etc.) will result in the net loss of 5.1 million jobs over the next five years in fifteen leading countries (these countries account
for approximately 65% of total workforce). The World Economic Forum (WEF) predicts a total loss of 7.1 million jobs from 2015 to
2020 as a result of technology and disruptions in the economy (Worstall, 2016).
Graduating MBA students will be subject to business environments characterized by these disruptions in the economy, the advent
of new automation, continuous and improving technologies, globalization, and shifting patterns in employment migration. These
trends will challenge business graduates worldwide to constantly assess and reevaluate the current job market and their relevant skill
set. As such, today's MBA graduates will have to be environmentally aware, nimble, and strategic in the way they approach the future,
and they must be prepared and willing to constantly update their professional career plans.
3. The assignment
“The Challenge of Leadership” is a core MBA course that is delivered both in the traditional classroom and online as a distance
learning class. In both platforms, the course is predominantly given over the typical 16-week semester period, and is taken at the
beginning of the MBA program of study. The course is also multi-disciplinary and is taken by graduate students across multiple majors
after they have completed foundation and core courses in their respective programs (e.g. Master's in Public Administration, Master's
in Computer Information Systems, Doctorate in Educational Leadership, etc.).
The focus of “Challenge of Leadership” is to teach students the fundamental theories, practices and skills of leadership, as well as
providing cases and material that give students the opportunity to learn from other leaders' experiences. A key emphasis of the course
is on guiding students' development of specific skills related to leading and managing people. To teach these fundamentals, over the
years we have used a number of ‘skills based’ leadership texts: Gary Yukl's “Leadership in Organizations”, Peter Northhouse's
“Leadership: Theory and Practice”, Robert Lussier's book: “Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development”, and David
A. Rubens et al. The International Journal of Management Education 16 (2018) 1–134