This document outlines Rich Kao's personal leadership development plan. It begins with a summary of Rich's 30-year history in leadership, starting from being elected captain of his high school tennis team. It then assesses Rich's strengths and weaknesses as a leader, noting that he excels at vision casting, attracting talent, and encouraging others, but could improve at collaboration and training leaders. The plan proposes that Rich focus on reading, writing, thinking, interacting with others, organizing his knowledge, and growing through humility to sharpen his skills and effectively pass on leadership practices to others.

1. A Personal Leadership Development Plan
Rich Kao
April 13, 2013

2. Leadership Development Plan 2
Abstract
As leadership students and professionals, having a development plan is imperative to
keeping oneself sharp and active. A leader must be growing at all times, and the use of a personal
roadmap is a critical tool for personal improvement. This leadership development plan for Rich
Kao is divided into three sections. First, is a review of the author’s leadership history. Second, is
a five-point assessment of the said history in light of Kouzes and Posner (2012), Engstrom
(1976), the Spiritual Gifts evaluation (Dellavecchio, 2005), biblical principles and other
leadership references and tests. Third, a seven-point plan is proposed for how the author can
grow and improve as a leader.

3. Leadership Development Plan 3
A Personal Leadership Development Plan
“Rich, you’ve been voted by your teammates to be the captain of the tennis team.” So
began my journey in leadership. It was my senior year in high school, and little did I know that
it would be the beginning of many leadership positions I would occupy over the next 30 years.
In this paper, I want to take a birds-eye look at this wonderful journey, where I’ve been, where I
am now, and where I want to go.
The Journey Begins
Having grown up as shy, quiet Asian teenager, I would have never guessed that God had
leadership in store for me. Accentuating my shyness was the fact I was the only Asian male in
our small university town of 10,000 people. Always wanting to fit in, but always aware of my
ethnic differences, my goal was to blend in with the crowd not to stand out. Being a leader was
not in my natural thinking.
Then when I became a Christian at 17, things began to shift, imperceptibly at first, and
then more consciously as I grew in my faith. Leadership roles started to come my way. During
my early years in college I was asked to be vice-president of our Christian club. Soon I was
leading bible studies, prayer meetings, and evangelistic outreaches on campus. When I graduated
from college and started graduate school, my church asked me to be the college ministry
coordinator. More leadership experiences followed. My graduate work went quickly, and I
finished in two years, shortly after I had turned 24. I was fortunate to get a job right away as a
researcher at a diagnostic company in the Minneapolis area. My degree in immunology was
needed for a new diagnostic technology the company was testing. Within months I was asked to
be a project leader, designing research strategies and overseeing other researchers on my team. I
was presenting results to upper management, interfacing with marketing and manufacturing

4. Leadership Development Plan 4
people, and representing the company at national conferences. At the same time, it was
becoming clear to me that God was calling me to the ministry. So while I was working as a
scientist by day, I was apprenticing as a minister by night.
A big part of my ministry training was helping to plant churches; working with elder
teams, preaching, teaching, trouble-shooting, and traveling to start-ups. It was great fun.
Eventually, I was called to be an elder at our church at the ripe old age of 28! All the while, I was
continuing my research career by day, which was now winding down after my move to 3M
company where I was hired to help them develop a new drug deliver system.
Two short years into my position at 3M, my church asked me to join the pastoral staff
which I humbly and joyfully accepted. This was a huge milestone for me as now I was a
vocational pastor. That was in 1990. Over time I became the senior pastor of our 600-700
member Scandinavian congregation with a big heart for missions and church planting. I led a
leadership team of over 30 people, which included staff, elders and deacons. After 12 years of
serving at this church, our budding family of six was sent out in 2003 to start a new international
Great Commission church in Vancouver, BC, where we are ministering today.
In the mid-90’s, doors to China supernaturally opened, and I got involved with an
organization ministering to the underground House Church movement. In 2007, I became the
president of this leadership training organization. Called Strategic China Initiative, we equip the
top underground House Church leaders in China. To date we’ve trained nearly 400,000 leaders,
in part through a strategic partnership with John Maxwell’s EQUIP organization. Concomitantly,
during this season, I also helped a friend start a metrology high-tech company which has become
the top air quality measurement company in the world. The company was recently awarded the
largest air quality measuring contract in U.S. EPA history. I continue to serve as a managing

5. Leadership Development Plan 5
director of this business. Along the way, I also started several other non-profits and NGO’s
which are focused on social entrepreneurship, humanitarian aid, and reaching the poor in Asia &
Africa. What started out then as a surprised teenager becoming a sports captain, has led to a
journey of leadership I never anticipated. Only the grace of God could do this.
Outcomes & Assessments
With a career of 30 plus years in leadership, what kinds of outcomes have been achieved?
Clearly, a major theme of my leadership has been living out an entrepreneurial spirit and starting
new organizations. To date, I’ve started six organizations (a mix of businesses, non-profits, and
faith-based), five of which are still running strong. This becomes then a primary lens through
which to evaluate my leadership history. It provides a window into my strengths and weaknesses,
which -- using Kouzes and Posner’s five leadership behavior (2012), Engstrom’s treatise on
Christian leadership (1976), and other leadership resources -- I would enumerate in the
following ways.
First, vision casting has been a great strength for me. I love to engage people in a cause
and mobilize them to join in a transformational journey, whether it’s providing compassion care
to the hungry in North Korea, or helping seniors die with dignity in China. Of course, the highest
cause is the cause of the gospel and Jesus Christ, which is why our family moved to Vancouver,
BC to plant a church. Our aim was to raise up the next generation of Great Commission workers
in a strategic gateway city. Kouzes & Posner (2012) state, “Leaders look forward to the future.
They hold in their minds ideas and visions of what can be. They have a sense of what is uniquely
possible if everyone works together for a common purpose” (p. 100). I resonate strongly with
this leadership behavior of “inspiring a shared vision” (p.99). Baldoni (2003) refers to this kind
of leader as transformational, which in turn motivates how he communicates and drives change

6. Leadership Development Plan 6
(p. 17). Engstrom (1976) summarizes this point well when he says, “Christian leadership
demands vision. Vision includes optimism and hope. Vision imparts venturesomeness -- the
willingness to take fresh steps of faith when there is seeming void beneath” (p. 201). My impulse
to start things has allowed me to work with many world-class teams that are changing the world
in multiple arenas, for which I’m deeply grateful. This facet of my leading correlates strongly
with my Spiritual Gifts survey results (DellaVechhio, 2005), as my scores for “ruler” came out
on top. This also matches my previous DISC scores in which I ranked highest in “D” (Griffen,
2009), as well as my Birkman results which showed my highest interests to be in persuasion,
design, and strategy (Parks, 2009).
Secondly, my ability to attract talent, raise capital, and gather people for these enterprises
has been strong, and rooted in a certain credibility people have graciously afforded me. Partly
due to my Asian upbringing, partly due to my personality, but mostly due to my relationship with
Christ, integrity, humility, and sound character are what I value most. Truth be told, I would
rather be anonymous to the world with great character than be famous with bad character.
Kouzes and Posner (2012) in writing about “modeling the way” (pp. 41-71) state, “The first step
a leader must take along the path to becoming an exemplary leader is inward. It’s a step toward
discovering personal value and beliefs. Leaders must find their voice” (p. 43). And as the authors
so poignantly conclude in their book, “Leadership is a not an affair of the head. Leadership is an
affair of the heart” (p. 365). People are attracted to a leader’s heart and values. This becomes a
platform upon which they develop followership (Northouse, 2013, p. 6). Modeling as a
leadership behavior is crucial to influence and credibility (Kouzes and Posner, 2012, pp. 60-61).
Engstrom (1976) calls this the “authority of character,” which he defines as one’s “credit rating
with other people [regarding] your integrity, reliability, honesty, loyalty, sincerity, personal

7. Leadership Development Plan 7
morals and ethics” (p. 113). Indeed, what we model is our currency with people. My history of
forming leadership teams to start and sustain organizations has resulted in part because people
trust what they see in my life.
Thirdly, another core strength of my leadership style has been to encourage the leaders
around me. Engstrom (1976) makes an insightful statement when he writes that an excellent
leader must “learn the magic of motivation and realize that each man is motivated to a different
degree for different purposes” (p. 191). In other words, personalized encouragement is a key
trait for leaders to exhibit. Kouzes and Posner (2012) speaks to this skill more broadly by
writing, “Getting extraordinary things done in organizations is hard work. The climb to the
summit is arduous and steep. Leaders encourage others to continue in the quest. They inspire
others with courage and hope” (p. 272). The authors further this idea of “encouraging the heart”
(p. 271), by talking about “showing them you believe” (p. 277), and “giving regular feedback”
(p. 282). My management style is strongly rooted in “managing by walking around (MBWA)”
as popularized by Peters (2004, p. 289). My daily routine is to give feedback, encouragement,
and tell my staff how much I believe in them. My core team is so current with me, we never even
have performance reviews. Along these lines, my Spiritual Gifts survey (Dellavecchio, 2005)
correlates closely to this trait as “encourager” came out as my second strongest gift with
“perceiver” being next (“ruler” was number one as indicated above). These two traits of
encourager and perceiver also agree with a prophetic gifting which the Lord has given me as
defined in I Cor. 12:10 and Eph. 4:11. Next to leadership training, I do the most conferences on
the prophetic, which primarily is a gift of encouragement and edification.

8. Leadership Development Plan 8
Fourthly, Kouzes & Posner (2012) talk about “challenging the process” (p. 19) which
they define as “seizing the initiative” (p. 159), “making something happen” (p. 162), and
“looking out for good ideas” (p. 177). Leaders that challenge the process “motivate others...to
exceed their self-perceived limits” (p. 156). This is exactly the kind of terrain entrepreneurs love.
Taking on the challenge. Changing the status quo. This is about risk taking. Engstrom (1976)
speaks to this when he discusses the leader’s desire for achievement (pp. 111-112). Behind the
desire to challenge a process is a desire for change, and part of the change equation involves
embracing calculated risk and leveraging appropriate ambition. A core attribute I’ve nurtured in
this regard and in all the teams I’ve worked with is problem solving, creativity and not letting
roadblocks stop us. Engstrom (1976) notes this very same thing when he lists creativity as a key
leadership trait (p. 114).
Fifthly, Kouzes and Posner (2012) talk about “enabling others to act” (p. 214). There are
some characteristics they define in this leadership behavior that reveals some of my weaknesses.
Because of my bias towards action (Peters, 2004, p. 119), and as mirrored in my Birkman results
which showed 90 and 99 percent intensity for change and pace of action respectively (Parks,
2009), I have not always taken the time to foster appropriate collaboration (Kouzes and Posner,
2012, p. 215). Because of my impatience at times to get things done, I didn’t properly facilitate
relationships (p. 228). As a result, I made mistakes because I didn’t have the fullness of counsel
(Prov. 11:14), or the desired outcome was not achieved because the right people were not
properly involved. Interestingly, I am high on delegation and giving people authority to get
things done as Engstrom discusses (1976, pp. 114-115), but this may be because it doesn’t
require the “slow down” necessary for collaboration. Additionally, my most glaring weakness is
in the area of training leaders in detailed procedures, which again I attribute to not having the

9. Leadership Development Plan 9
patience to slow down and do the “tedious work” (in my mind) of “teaching someone the ropes.”
I’m good at recruiting high competency leaders, but not at training ones from the ground up.
Kouzes and Posner (2012) state a leader that enables others to act should “build the skills and
abilities of their constituents to deliver on commitments” (p. 214). This is an area I need to
improve.
The Way Forward - Growing as a Leader
After 30 years of being in leadership, my passion is turning to raising up and releasing
leaders more than being the leader. This requires that I codify my knowledge and experiences so
that I can make it transferable to others. Furthermore, my desire is to sharpen and leaven my
thoughts to the highest possible level through a season of focused leadership study. I want to
ensure that I can pass on the best practices to the people around me. Towards that end, this is my
proposed seven-point leadership development plan.
1. Read.
With great interest and curiosity, I must lap up all the textbooks and readings that come
through the DSL program. Oswald Chambers (1980) preaches on the great necessity of being
well read as a leader (p.147-159). Feeding one’s mind provides great nourishment, which
involves growing one’s vocabulary and understanding of new concepts, practices, and findings
(p.151).
2. Write.
Francis Bacon famously said, “Reading maketh a man full, speaking, a ready man;
writing, an exact man” (Chambers, 1980, p. 147). There is nothing like writing to make one’s
thoughts precise and clear, and to force rigorous thinking. Writing helps to assimilate what is
read and to imprint it in one’s memory.

10. Leadership Development Plan 10
3. Think.
The whole purpose of reading and writing is to think. Again, Chambers (1980) exhorts
the leader to not only be an avid reader, but a good thinker as well (p. 156). Much like the
admonishment to memorize and meditate on scripture (Josh. 1:9-10; Ps. 1:2-3), deep thinking
leads to insight and knowledge, which serves to add weight and credibility to the leader’s words
(Ps. 12:6).
4. Interact.
Jesus taught us the practice of interaction is powerful when he was found in the temple
listening and asking questions as a young boy (Luke 2:46-47). This is a practice we can take into
adulthood. Prov. 3:13 says “How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains
understanding.” Our DSL forums provide an important gateway for interaction.
5. Print, file, and catalog.
The point of acquiring knowledge through reading, writing, thinking and interacting is to
organize it into an orderly form that can be passed on. Solomon did this very thing as he “taught
the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs” (Eccl 12:9).
Furthermore, Ecclesiastes says, “The words of wise man are like goads, and masters of these
collections are like well driven nails” (Ecc. 12:11). I intend to print, file and place into
categorized manila folders great articles, posts, papers, and notes from the DSL program so I can
draw upon them in the future.
6. Grow through brokenness and humility.
The point of acquiring content is not to just build a library of knowledge but to grow
from it through changed leadership behavior. James 1:21 says to “receive with meekness the
implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (ESV). James goes on to say, “Prove

11. Leadership Development Plan 11
yourselves to be doers of the word, and not merely hearers” (1:22). The point of this DSL
program is to change, modify or solidify one’s leadership behaviors based on new learning and
quickening by the Holy Spirit. Thus, having seen my weakness in areas of collaboration and
training per Kouzes and Posner’s principle of “enabling others to act” (1976, pp. 213-269), it’s
incumbent upon me to be self-aware and conscious of this tendency so I can self-correct.
7. Pray for and find new mentors.
I’ve had a strong heritage of being mentored, but currently do not have a good coaching
team around me. I need some “Pauls” in my life; those who can speak into my life with love and
insight, and give me godly objective feedback. We are never too old to have fathers in the faith
(Ex. 18:1-27).
Conclusion
My leadership roles over the years have provided much joy and adventure. It’s provided a
tremendous school for learning and “growing up.” But a leader must never stop growing. The
proposed seven-part developmental plan given above can be summarized as a desire to learn, act
and be held accountable. It’s motivated by a desire to create a leadership legacy. Peter Drucker
stated, “There is no success without a successor” (Biggs, 2005). Robert Coleman (1993)
delineated the crucial elements of how Jesus of multiplied leaders (Mk 3:13-19, Mt. 10). In this
paper, the goal has been to articulate a plan by which the author can develop himself more fully
as a leader so he can turn around and make more leaders. Achieving this would be the best of all
achievements.

12. Leadership Development Plan 12
References
Baldoni, J. (2003). Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders. New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill.
Biggs, D (2005). Leaving a Legitimate Leadership Legacy. BOLD. Retrieved from
http://biggspeaks.com/art-llll.htm
Chambers, J.O (1980). Spiritual Leadership. Chicago, IL: Moody Press.
Coleman, R.E. (1993). The Master Plan of Evangelism. Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.
DellaVecchio, D. (2005). Motivational Gifts Survey. Retrieved 2013, March 25, from
http://gifttest.org/
Engstrom, T.W. (1976). The Making of a Christian Leader. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Griffen, M.(Ed.). (2009). DISC Profile. Singapore: Success Insights Intl, Inc.
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2012). The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary
Things Happen in Organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Parks, S.(Ed.). (2009). Birkman Profile. Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Global Hope Network
International.
Peters, T.J. and Waterman, R.H. Jr. (2004). In Search of Excellence. New York, NY: Harper
Collins Publishers.
The ESV Study Bible (2001). English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
The Holy Bible - New American Standard Bible (1999). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.