PERSONAL EXPOSITION
I recently applied for an Eisenhower Fellowship, which is a leadership exchange program that sends people to different countries outside of the US to share best practices on topics such as economic development, education, and health care. If accepted, I'd like to go to China to learn what they are doing to make sure their explosive economic growth does not come at the expense of urban decay, social foment, and/or environmental disaster.
A major part of the application is a one-page personal exposition, which I've pasted below. Having written thousands of one-pagers for work, it was surprisingly difficult to write a one-pager on myself. The application asked that you not simply list credentials and accomplishments, a la a resume, but that you really exposit on yourself. So I found myself typing and retyping, cutting and pasting, and I still don't feel satisfied with the final draft. But here it is.
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Below please provide a maximum one-page exposition of your background. Include how your background has led you to your education, practical experience, present responsibilities, and special interests. The purpose of this is to describe who you are as a person. This should not be a listing of personal and professional facts.
Robert J. Clinton’s “The Making of a Leader” examines Christian leaders from the Bible, church history, and the present day, to determine patterns and markers in leadership development. After reading the book in 2001, I challenged myself to look at my own life and chronicle the events and decisions that had shaped my worldview as well as the values and pursuits I held most closely. The end result of this exercise was a twelve-page document that synthesized these personal milestones and life directions. I revisit this document annually, to add the previous year’s significant events and to remind myself of what I hold dearest.
While I am still wildly inconsistent and painfully human, I do strive to line up my actions with my beliefs, and I have found that who I am (background) influences what I choose to do (activities), which then in turn shapes who I am becoming (values). My biography, then, is a series of choices and actions – some good and some bad – which are in part made according to my core identity, and which then in part help make my core identity. I believe in a God who is the Author of my life, and, like any good writer, this Author has made sure that what is being read now is building on what has been read before.
As mentioned above, the full document is twelve pages and counting. Given the space constraints, here is a summary of the key events in my background that have brought me to the present:
* 1973-1991: A stable family structure incubated a healthy outlook on life and gave me a value for working hard and doing things the right way.
* 1991-1995: Going 2500 miles from home to attend Wharton taught me to be my own person and fed me the business principles through which I see all of life. I also became a Christian during this time, and in examining the life of Jesus and taking seriously His call to discipleship, I radically re-oriented my life values and re-shaped my life ambitions. I got involved in a Christian fellowship, spend a summer ministering in Eastern Europe, and decided to say no to investment banks and consulting firms to work for a small non-profit organization in West Philadelphia.
* 1995-1999: Applying my Christian values and spending my post-college years in an urban setting opened my eyes to the personal pains and systemic injustices in cities. I started a youth program at my job and volunteered with the youth group at my church to get in touch with urban people, and read books at a feverish pace to understand urban systems.
* 1999-2002: Marrying my wife and then almost losing her to thyroid cancer was a harrowing experience. I learned that life is precious and there is more to living than professional development and personal accomplishments. I also experienced what I knew in my head to be true, that even in suffering there is a richness of texture and a depth of joy to life.
* 2002-present: I have made choices to expand my perspective and my influence. I assumed greater leadership responsibilities at work and church, participated in my first political campaign, and enrolled in a ten-month course for emerging Philadelphia leaders. In 2002-2003, I took a yearlong sabbatical from my daily responsibilities at work to produce operations manuals and provide consulting to organizations around the world that sought to replicate our work in their communities; I also used the time off to write extensively about my lessons learned as a transplanted urban Christian.
I recently applied for an Eisenhower Fellowship, which is a leadership exchange program that sends people to different countries outside of the US to share best practices on topics such as economic development, education, and health care. If accepted, I'd like to go to China to learn what they are doing to make sure their explosive economic growth does not come at the expense of urban decay, social foment, and/or environmental disaster.
A major part of the application is a one-page personal exposition, which I've pasted below. Having written thousands of one-pagers for work, it was surprisingly difficult to write a one-pager on myself. The application asked that you not simply list credentials and accomplishments, a la a resume, but that you really exposit on yourself. So I found myself typing and retyping, cutting and pasting, and I still don't feel satisfied with the final draft. But here it is.
***
Below please provide a maximum one-page exposition of your background. Include how your background has led you to your education, practical experience, present responsibilities, and special interests. The purpose of this is to describe who you are as a person. This should not be a listing of personal and professional facts.
Robert J. Clinton’s “The Making of a Leader” examines Christian leaders from the Bible, church history, and the present day, to determine patterns and markers in leadership development. After reading the book in 2001, I challenged myself to look at my own life and chronicle the events and decisions that had shaped my worldview as well as the values and pursuits I held most closely. The end result of this exercise was a twelve-page document that synthesized these personal milestones and life directions. I revisit this document annually, to add the previous year’s significant events and to remind myself of what I hold dearest.
While I am still wildly inconsistent and painfully human, I do strive to line up my actions with my beliefs, and I have found that who I am (background) influences what I choose to do (activities), which then in turn shapes who I am becoming (values). My biography, then, is a series of choices and actions – some good and some bad – which are in part made according to my core identity, and which then in part help make my core identity. I believe in a God who is the Author of my life, and, like any good writer, this Author has made sure that what is being read now is building on what has been read before.
As mentioned above, the full document is twelve pages and counting. Given the space constraints, here is a summary of the key events in my background that have brought me to the present:
* 1973-1991: A stable family structure incubated a healthy outlook on life and gave me a value for working hard and doing things the right way.
* 1991-1995: Going 2500 miles from home to attend Wharton taught me to be my own person and fed me the business principles through which I see all of life. I also became a Christian during this time, and in examining the life of Jesus and taking seriously His call to discipleship, I radically re-oriented my life values and re-shaped my life ambitions. I got involved in a Christian fellowship, spend a summer ministering in Eastern Europe, and decided to say no to investment banks and consulting firms to work for a small non-profit organization in West Philadelphia.
* 1995-1999: Applying my Christian values and spending my post-college years in an urban setting opened my eyes to the personal pains and systemic injustices in cities. I started a youth program at my job and volunteered with the youth group at my church to get in touch with urban people, and read books at a feverish pace to understand urban systems.
* 1999-2002: Marrying my wife and then almost losing her to thyroid cancer was a harrowing experience. I learned that life is precious and there is more to living than professional development and personal accomplishments. I also experienced what I knew in my head to be true, that even in suffering there is a richness of texture and a depth of joy to life.
* 2002-present: I have made choices to expand my perspective and my influence. I assumed greater leadership responsibilities at work and church, participated in my first political campaign, and enrolled in a ten-month course for emerging Philadelphia leaders. In 2002-2003, I took a yearlong sabbatical from my daily responsibilities at work to produce operations manuals and provide consulting to organizations around the world that sought to replicate our work in their communities; I also used the time off to write extensively about my lessons learned as a transplanted urban Christian.
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