Brenda Jimenez
Professional Portfolio
Doctorate of Executive Leadership
University of Charleston
Charleston, WV
Profile
My Scholar- Leader Identity
I began my professional DEL journey in October 2020, 10 months after being appointed CEO of MENTOR New York, a leading nonprofit in New York State, creating mentoring cultures and fostering mentoring relationships wherever young people live, learn, work, and play.
Only four months into the role, the global pandemic was announced. New York completely shut down and began to require social distancing. At a time of great unpredictability, turmoil, and need, our organization became a lifeline for youth development programs and schools trying to connect with young people. I was receiving a crash course on leadership in a time of crisis.
The DEL program provided a place to expand my understanding of leadership, reflect on my role as a leader and solidify my leader identity to become more effective and make the transformational difference I aspire for the people and the communities I serve.
My leadership identity is rooted in pursuing social justice through pragmatic altruism and ensuring that communities come together to find solutions. To do this, I worked to create environments of inclusion and shared leadership that allows for innovation and feedback loops to inform the collective transformation within communities.
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Abstract
Much like butterflies that undergo different stages to complete their transformation, the morphing model focuses on the stages that an individual will navigate to implement the desired transformative outcome successfully. This model also establishes a framework of the strategies and practices that must collectively be in place to have the desired community impact. Therefore, The Morphing Leadership Model has four key components to drive transformative impact. The process is iterative and continuously evolving as stakeholders analyze data, try new strategies and adjust as they learn. This evolutionary change process happens in parallel with the individual development process each leader and stakeholder experiences as they implement the model.
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The Morphing Leadership Model components focus on the leader's ability to innovate, share leadership, develop other leaders, and provide strategic vision and infrastructure for the team and the individual's success. Together, these components drive the results that lead to transformative community impact. The pieces are interdependent, and without one, the others will not have the effect they can have on the leader's objectives and the organization's mission.
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The leadership development process informs the individual's leadership identity and development. It has four leadership development stages: learning, reflection, experiential learning, and leading.
Maya Angelou
Poet and Civil Rights Activist
"I've learned people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel"