Leadership Profile, Jane Goodall

Abstract
The following report is a reflective a case study of Jane Goodall, the influential leader who I admire. I have analyze the various dimensions of the Jane Goodall’s strengths and limitations through data collections from reputable sources, evaluating her personal traits, behavioral styles, situational responsiveness, communication skills ,and other dimensions of leadership. I have also evaluated my own strengths and limitations of these same dimensions, compiling a personal leadership profile that summarizes what I admired about Jane Goodall and how I compare my own leadership strengths and limitations to hers.

Introduction
I will be analyzing the leader I admire and inspire to be like, Jane Goodall. Goodall is best known for the 45-year study of social and family interactions she observed with wild chimpanzees in East Africa. Goodall’s research shed light on our evolutionary past, reveling human like behaviors and complexities within chimpanzee. Goodall’s is a leader in primate research, however has changed her focus now to the conversation of their habitats. Goodall opened the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977, to promote the education of conservation to children and adults all over the world. The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) is widely recognized for innovative community-centered development programs worldwide (JGI, 2012). To assess the effectiveness of Goodall leadership, I analyzed her accomplishments, and her abilities to motivating others to achieve goals. Goodall’s work with the chimpanzees has become the foundation for Primatological research and has redefined the relationship between humans and animals (JGI, 2012). Goodall’s global efforts include founding the Roots & Shoots programs, which connects hundreds of thousands of youth in more than 120 countries, inspiring them to take action and make the world a better place for people, animals and the environment (JGI, 2012).

These accomplishments measure Goodall’s effectiveness as a leader. Today at the age of 78 Goodall continues her work, she travels an average of 300 days a year educating and inspiring people to take action on behalf of endangered species, and the environment we all share (JGI, 2012). Through her years, Goodall has demonstrated the ability to motivate change, by build relationships with people, and working towards the same cause. She is viewed as an inspirational fascination to most who know her story, and is viewed as a well-respected scientist within her community. Goodall has demonstrated to her followers that she is knowledgeable in her field and willing to challenge obstacles that stand in her way. These traits are seen as attributes in effective leaders.

“Followers check their perceptions of a leader against their prototypes of leader attributes, such as intelligence, and expectations of how leaders should perform (Hollander,1992).” I have learned about Goodall’s traits and strategies she used to overcome obstacles within her work. I plan to implement Goodall’s techniques and skills discussed in this case study, to be viewed as an effective inspirational women within my industry. I am currently working within the health care industry and plan to excel to a management position upon obtaining my BBA. I would like to stand out as a leader within my field, to keep up with the demands of change being seen within the health care system. “Leaders are sought out to keep up with the changes seen within our society post the geopolitical changes of 9/11”(Taffinder, 2006). The “Born” Leader

Assessing ones traits to gain insight about their effectiveness as a leader has fostered various theories and research over the past centuries. The early “Great Man” theories, studied the lives of “great men” such as great social, political, and military leaders (Northouse, 2010, p. 15). These theories suggested that “great men” had innate leadership qualities that allowed them to be great leader. The five factor model, which includes concepts from the “Great Man” theories, is sparking a revival of studies into personality traits and their effectiveness with leadership. The Five Factor model uses the following traits: neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness, openness and conscientiousness to rate someone’s traits on a scale of effectiveness as a leader. Each trait is explained below: The tendency to be emotionally reactive, anxious, susceptible to stress, hostile, and insecure would describe the traits of a person with neuroticism or neurotic tendencies, neuroticism is rated low on effectiveness according to the Factor Five Model. Goodall’s attempts to gain access to chimpanzee’s habit required hours of quiet reflection and meditation, she sat for weeks before the first chimp approached her. This kind of diligence and perseverance is not expected from a person with neurotic tendency.

Nor do I see neurotic qualities in myself. Extraversion, or the tendency to be energetic, assertive, and sociable is rated as a highly effective trait for leaders within the Factor Five model. Goodall has demonstrated both introverted and extraverted traits during her life’s works, her year of study in Africa with the chimps required methodical thinking and a great deal of solitude behaviors often exhibited in introverted approaches, however her years following the two decades in Africa, where spent educating and motivating people, requiring more extraverted tendencies. I feel Goodall possesses both qualities of introverts and extroverts. I have always been a more extraverted person with high energy, which has helped with past and current employment. Tendency to exhibit creativity, curiosity, tolerance for ambiguity, and awareness of one’s own feelings, refers to ones openness to experience and is rated as a highly effective trait from the model. “ Goodall spent long hours working to gain the trust of the chimpanzees, tracking them through the dense forests and gradually moving closer and closer to the chimps until she could sit among them—a feat that had not been achieved by other scientists”( Haraway, 1989).

Her work took her to places no one has ever been, she was truly open to new experiences. She lacked the formal education seen in her male counterparts within the early years in Africa, but followed her childhood dream to learn about the chimps. I would consider myself open to most new experiences, however would not have been as brave as Jane was in the wild juggles of Africa. Agreeableness, or the tendency to be compassionate, cooperative, generous, considerate, and willing to compromise for the sake of harmony, is viewed in mixed terms on the Factor Five Model. Jane exhibits compassion for nature with her efforts in conservation, not agreeable to negative affects humans can have to the wildlife’s ecosystems.

I would consider myself a person with mixed levels of agreeableness depending on the situation and my passion towards the subject. I feel most people have to be agreeable to some point to maintain harmony. Conscientiousness or the tendency to show self-discipline and act responsibly is highly rated in the model. Goodall had demonstrated self-discipline and responsibly since a young adult, “When I left school, there was no money for me to go to university, so I went to secretarial college and got a job” (Goodall, 1988). Goodall’s work is that of a truly discipline person, two decades in Africa, multiple publications, and ongoing conservation efforts, all highlight Goodall’s discipline. As a fulltime mother, wife, student and occupational therapist I do not experience much free time so I must practice discipline with my time management, in orders to achieve all of my goals in all areas.

The Five Factor Model is a good tool for assessment of leadership skills however should only be considered as a guide in conjunction with other skills such as education, work experience and appropriateness for the role, I know my discipline towards achieving my goals will assist with becoming an inspirational leader. The “Made” Leader

What makes a good leader? According to Blake and Mouton’s team management framework, leader should be able to lead through integrated team approaches; inspiring high quality and quantity performances towards goals, through participation, involvement, commitment and conflict resolution (Blake, 1985). Goodall’s leadership style is very interactive, seen through her work in Africa and now while traveling. Goodall’s journeys and desire to go to Africa to study the chimpanzees started at an early age so when the opportunity arose to visit a friend’s family in Kenya, she worked as a waitress in a local hotel, living at home to save money for her trip. During this trip she the met famed anthropologist Louis Leakey, the then curator of the Coryndon Museum in Nairobi, he is the one who encouraged Goodall to start her research in Africa.

“Although Jane lacked scientific training, or even a college degree, she was eager to attempt the research herself. Despite Leakey’s confidence in her abilities, other experienced professionals did not believe a lone young woman from England could survive in the African bush (JGI, 2012).” Her mother accompanied her for her first trip and experience in the African bush because British colonial authorities refused to allow her to travel alone to the reserve. Goodall’s family was very supportive of her dreams and goals. Goodall returned to England to earn a doctorate in ethology, the science of animal behavior, at Cambridge University, following her doctorate, Goodall returned to Africa and opened the JGI.

I share Goodall’s determination and management approaches, and have shown my strength as a leader in past roles. Such roles included my time as president of my student organization in college. While in college my occupational therapy class required a class president representative, we were a relatively small class of eleven women, and we elected present on the first day through a verbal voting process. I volunteered to do it with everyone in agreeing and supportive at first, however I encountered problems within my first attempt to achieve our classes fundraising goals. The problems arose when the group met to discuss fundraising ideas, one of my classmates was not in attendance on the day we discussed our planning. As the leader I determined that her absence would not affect the plans to choice our fundraising medium as the majority of the class was in attendance. We decided on selling doughnuts as a class, however the student not in attendance did not like this idea and became upset we made this decision without her; she started to create a negative buzz within our group regarding the sale and approaches me to change our idea.

I reframed from allowing any changes to be made from our original plans as some students had already began their fundraising attempts, this created more animosity within this student, because our class was so small it didn’t take much to segregate us, this is what happened. The group was no longer working cohesively together towards our goals. I called a meeting of full attendance to discuss the negative feelings within our group and in attempt to motivate my team to work towards our fundraising. During this meeting I allowed the identified student the chance to verbalize her thoughts and concerns, and redirected her ideas for fundraising for our events in the spring. I regained control, and placed the focus on the current fundraising efforts while pacifying the upset student, we proceeded to raise the most money effort recorded for our organization. I stayed focus on our goals and attempted please my group through our relationships. Through perseverance and growth I was able to demonstrate my skill as an effect leader by reaching our goals.

The Situational Leader
Jane Goodall was involved in conservation efforts for wild life since 1977 with the formation of the Jane Goodall Institution (JGI). Jane’s efforts focused on protecting the natural habitats of chimpanzees for educational and research links of evolution. However in 1986 Jane attended a conference in Chicago and realized for the first time, that chimpanzees were being used for medical research. Jane viewed a video demonstrating the inhumane conditions in which these chimps were kept and the cruel invasive procedures impacting the quality of their life. From that moment Jane stop doing field work and devoted herself as an activist. “I went to the conference as a scientist planning to continue my idyllic life, and I left an activist (Goodall,2008).” Jane adapted her leadership style from research scientist, to activist against animal cruelty, to suit the needs of the devastating situation plaguing the chimpanzees. Jane started traveling all over the world educating people about her research in Africa and our connections to the great apes, and to enlighten people about the cruelty being implementing on these creatures that shared a similar make up of emotions.

The situation sparked a drive in Jane and inspired her Roots and Shoots program, a worldwide organization that educates and involves children with the conservation efforts within their areas. Jane feels the state of our world’s ecosystem rest within our youth, and focuses her efforts to inspire change for preservation and animal rights, “It is this that keeps me going, traveling some three hundred days a year, determined to spread Roots & Shoots farther and farther around the world. Because I have seen how it changes the lives of young people, gives them a sense of purpose, rekindles hope (Goodall, 2001)” While reviewing Hersey and Blanchard’s’ situational leadership model I would place Jane’s initial activist efforts within the D1 portion of the grid, indicating a low competence of the situation however yielding high commitment for the cause, throughout her work Jane has elevated the D4 position on the grid indicating high competence and commitment. Jane used a combination of directive task and supportive relationship dimensions while working towards hers goals for protection of the chimpanzees.

Her efforts were recognized fairly quickly as she was awarded The Schweitzer Medalists award in 1987 for her leadership in fighting for protection of chimpanzees (AWI,2008). I will pull from my experience as a leader within my student organization, as the organizations president. I was faced with the situation of disgruntled followers who hindered the organizational goals for fund raising. Because the situation erupted after fundraising efforts already began I had to adapt my initial plans, by conducting another meeting to improve team cohesiveness as I identified issues with member’s commitment towards goals. By conducting another meeting and addressing the concerns I adapted my approach and successfully achieve our goals.

I would also rate myself as a D1 from Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership grid in the beginning and a D4 following the year I spent as the organizations president. I feel Jane’s leadership efforts to stop cruelty to chimpanzees was effective, and is still in effect today as she continues to assist with her expertise in investigation against labs utilizing chimpanzees for research. “In no lab I have visited have I seen so many chimpanzees exhibit such intense fear. The screaming I heard when chimpanzees were being forced to move toward the dreaded needle in their squeeze cages was, for me, absolutely horrifying”, a comment for an investigation of a Louisiana lab accused in 2009 of unlawful mistreatment of hundreds of chimpanzees and other primates(2009). The Transformational leader

Jane Goodall would has inspired many people to protect animals and their natural habitats; she is a highly respected animal rights activist, research scientist, and conservationist. Her work in animal rights helped frontier the changes for laws stopping unnecessary product testing on animals worldwide. Jane talks about her transformation from research scientist to conservationist to a reporter from the New York Times: “I went to a conference in 1986. It brought together all the chimpanzee people working in Africa, and when I came out of the session on conservation, having seen the destruction of chimp habitats across Africa and the way they are treated in captive situations like labs and circus training, I knew that I could no longer sit in my beautiful forest. I had to come out and try and do something to help. From that day, I haven’t been more than three weeks in any one place (Solomon, 2006).’’ Her research with chimpanzees was the first of its kind and prompted change within the scientific community of human traits. She brought to science and the public a new understanding of the behavior and culture of chimpanzees.

Her conservation efforts span worldwide with a focus on educating our youth on preservation of our eco system. She got the attention of the world through her national geographic films that showcased her living among chimpanzees in Africa. Goodall has written 26 books to date for adult and children readers, as well as her work in 19 movies, including the recent Disney documentary Chimpanzee. Jane continues to stimulate desire for continued education and preservation through the Jane Goodall Institute. Jane’s vision for JGI is summarized best by the mission state the institute implements a “strive to respect, nourish and protect all living things; people, animals and the environment are all interconnected.’’ Transformational leadership is all about inspiring change and carrying out a vision. Jane’s visions are vast and require a great amount of work now and in the future, that’s why Jane’s “Roots and Shoots” program focus on educating our youth on conservation, to continue inspiring our future generations.

This is another example of how Jane is a transformational leader as it is defined as leadership that can inspire people to accomplish great things for the common good (Mod,6 theme,1) Her work has been recognized worldwide and she holds over 25 honoring awards as well as being named the United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2002. Jane Goodall is an exceptional example of a transformational leader, and we are lucky such an amazing leader is still inspiring change through her work at 78 years old. Goodall has spent the last 50 years of her life dedicated to her passion, inspiring millions of people to change for the good of all. When comparing my skills as a leader to Jane’s inspirational life’s work, I must acknowledge that Jane’s desire propelled her to achieve great things; the longevity of dedication to her cause has built countless relationships that propelled her to the transformational leader we see today. My passion and work to develop myself as a transformational leader is on a smaller scale then the great work of Jane Goodall; however it’s inspirational and good for the community in which I live.

My recent endeavors involved working towards devolving an assistance program, to help seniors with life skills involving technology. My years of experience as a home health occupational therapist gave me insight to the troubles many seniors face with daily living task; many patients lacked consistent transportation to refill perspiration or buy household supplies. I found myself helping several set up online pharmacy accounts, showing them how to use the computers, many of them already had in their homes, but never used because they lacked the knowledge. I help many get debit cards for their already established checking accounts and educated them on ways to shop and pay bills online. My patients and their families were always so grateful for the simple yet life changing work, I help them with. I wanted to do more because I knew that there were other people that would benefit from this kind of help. I went to the local senior center, where I had volunteered in the past, and asked them if I could start a program at the center to educated senior on uses of technology for daily living needs. The center agreed and I began educating the staff on the problems I was seeing in the community.

I also contacted my school alumni and established a time to talk to the current occupational therapy assistant students about the issues I was seeing with our seniors. I was able to secure the assistance of the whole class help with donations of computer and personal time for the seniors during a community event at the center. Several of those students continued to volunteer at the center, working and adding to the program that is still helping the local community. My time at the center unfortunately has lessened with my goals of completing my BA, but my initial vision and work is still inspiring other to make a change. My time away and in school will help me build addition knowledge and contacts to make more changed and inspire change within my community. This example is much like the work of my transformation leader Jane Goodall. Global leadership competencies

Global leadership competencies refer to the terms that have been used in various frameworks to describe certain personal traits, behaviors, skills, values, and knowledge the form influential global leaders. With the immersion of modern day technology today’s business environments are relying more on global commerce and interactions. Organizations require leaders to be able to perform effectively and remain viable in the global market. Various models and approaches exist regarding global leadership; I will be using concepts from the integrated frameworks discussed in “Global leadership competencies: A review and discussion” (Jokinen, T. 2005), to analyze Jane Goodall’s global leadership competencies while comparing my own strengths and limitations with global leadership competencies. The abilities to be culturally diverse, open minded and optimistic are viewed as positive attributes when assessing leader’s global competencies. Self-awareness, engagement in personal transformation, and inquisitiveness are also term synonyms with global competencies (Jokinen, T. 2005).

Studying the live long work of Jane Goodall shows how she has transformed over the years: how she devolved her skills as leaders, some of these traits she possessed as a child, her motivation and fascination to learn, and some traits she has learned and developed over the years, such her self-awareness and intellect. I based on my readings I feel Jane has shown traits defining herself as a competent global leader. “Determinant of global competencies” is the psychological profile of stable personality traits, comprising of four attributes, intellectual capacity, self-confidence, openness to experience and emotional stability (Jordan, Cartwright, 1998). Jane Goodall moved from a farm in England to the jungles of Africa to study the chimps, she immersed herself into the culture of the chimpanzees for many years, she remained optimistic and open mined with her research efforts. She presented her work in a manner that was never used before; she remained confidence about her methods despite criticism from the scientific community. Jane knew she wanted to continue her work but also knew she lacked the formal education of her peers.

This self-awareness motivated her to return to England and obtain the formal education she lacked. Her self-awareness allowed her to carry on her passion and gained the respect of the research community; her work was watch and read about by people worldwide. Jane goals have changed over the years from research to conservation, and her efforts have inspired and transformed generations of people from all over the world. Jane diversity as a global leader is seen in the globalization of her own organization, the Jane Goodall Institute. Cultural diversity requires individuals to understand that differences and similarities that exist in all cultures. I work for diverse a company. I encounter employees and patients of different ages and ethnicities, cultures and religious backgrounds. Though my life experiences I have gained a heightened awareness of myself and cultural diversity. My awareness has allowed me to understand that differences among humans exist, and it allowed me to be open minded to perspectives of others. I strive to not pass judgment or prejudice towards people based on differences, even when my own emotional stability is pushed. A recent patient of mine tested my emotional stability in respect to the way he was communicating with me. He was very harsh and rude towards me during a recent OT session.

This session required me to teach him compensatory dressing skills in order to adhere to his doctor’s orders, limiting his bending following a hip replacement. He became frustrated and irate with the technique I was teaching him, and verbalizing his thoughts about my inability to do my job. I explained my role was to teach him these skills not perform them for him, as he was requesting. We worked together for 3 sessions before I spoke to my manager and requested a male OT treat him. Each day he was resistant towards therapy his demeanor worsened, he would speak very condescending to me remarks about women and respect in “his day”.

I spoke to the other staff member regarding his behaviors and realized he was not demonstrating this behavior with the males; he was only acting like that to me and the other female staff members. I discussed my concerns with my supervisor, and had my male coworker switch patients with me so the patient’s medical progress was not be hindered. His actions were based on his views and regardless of how that made me feel, I had to find a way to meet the goals set by the doctor who ordered OT. I feel like my awareness allowed me to identify the reason for the problem and my openness to solutions. A global leader needs to be open to other views and maintain their confidence when conflict arises, If my desire was to enter the global market, I believe I possess traits that could devolved into global competencies. Personal Leadership Profile and Plan

I have learned as a leader you have to have a balance between strong assertiveness, and the ability to be open minded, communicating your goals and the strategies, while being open to suggestions from other increases the ability to meet goals. I have traits and skills that make me an effective leader. The role of leaders is an active position, involving hard work, passion and dedications, there are many people in roles as leaders who lack the dedication and passion to change, and therefore little to no change is seen under their power. This case study of Jane Goodall allowed me to lean the importance of establishing and maintaining constructive communication with followers and teams member, as they are the ones who make to the changes happen. It the leaders role to fill inspire, teach and be active in the process of change, but without follower nothing will change. I plan to increase my ability to participate in active listening and improve my ability to maintain open minded in deconstructive or negative situations My strengthens as a motivated, assertive and dedicated worker will assist me in my endeavors as leaders, I will continue to work towards improving my weakness, by trying to be more open minded and building confidence with interacting with people in positions of power.

References

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Goodall,J 2008 “The Power of Youth”. Retrieved from Google chrome September, 24, 2012 (http://janegoodallhopeforanimals.com/exclusivecontent/section-6-it%E2%80%99s-in-our-hands/the-power-of-youth/

Hollander, E. P. (1992). “The essential interdependence of leadership and followership” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1(2), 71-75. (Jones e-global library)

Jordan, J. and Cartwright, S. 1998, “Selecting expatriate managers: key traits and Competencies”, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 89-96.

McCall, M.W. Jr and Hollenbeck, G.P. (2002), Developing Global Executives: The Lessons of International Experience, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.

Solomon, D, 2006. “The Chimp’s Champion” The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/magazine/16wwln_q4.html?ref=janegoodall

Taffinder, P. 2006, “Leadership Crash Course: How to Create Personal Leadership Value” (2d Ed.). Philadelphia: Kogan Page, Ltd. Pages 1-10. [Jones e-global library®]

Animal Welfare Intuition, 2008, Retrieved from Google chrome September, 24, 2012 http://awionline.org/sites/default/files/products/schweitzer_medalists_brochure_pdf.pdf

The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI). Information retrieved from Google Chrome on September,6,2012 http://www.janegoodall.org/jane

The Humane Society “Undercover Investigation Reveals Cruelty to Chimps at Research Lab” Retrieved from Google chrome September, 24, 2012
http://www.humanesociety.org/news/news/2009/03/undercover_investigation_chimpanzee_abuse.html