Leaders in many fields guide others through significant learning experiences. Either through professional development, mentoring, or actual coursework, effective leaders influence others to transform their understanding and perspectives. University faculty in particular hold these dreams for their students, and therefore serve as leaders in the educational setting. A quote from L. Dee Fink’s book, Creating Significant Learning Experiences, calls faculty to consider the potential impact of such learning experiences.

“Question: In your deepest, fondest dreams, what kind of impact would you most like to have on your students? That is, when the course is over and it is now one or two years later, what would you like to be true about students who have had your courses that is not true of others? What is the distinctive educational impact you would like for your teaching and your courses to have on your students?”

Of course, as a professor, I wonder how other university professors would respond to this question. But I also wonder how leaders would respond to a similar question:

Question: In your deepest, fondest dreams, what kind of impact would you most like to have on the people you lead? That is, when the meeting, event, strategic planning, evaluation, or coaching is over and it is now one or two years later, what would you like to be true about individuals with which you have work, either as volunteers, employees, or colleagues, that is not true of others? What is the distinctive impact you would like for experiences you have shared to have on these individuals?

How would you respond?