The Leadership Compass is based on the Native American Medicine Wheel, or Four-Fold Way, in which each direction has a main "human resource" from which to draw for support and strength.

We also use it in City Year to become the best leaders we can be!

The point of the Leadership Compass is to identify the different types of leading one may follow. A person may lead in one primary "direction" or a combination of two or more. The Compass can help people work with other leaders by identifying their strengths and weaknesses so you can assess how to complement their characteristics. You can also understand your strengths as well as where you may be lacking so you can improve your own leadership skills.

Here is the breakdown of the different directions of the Leadership Compass. Have fun finding where you fall on the compass and how well you fit the description!

North: Action

• Like to be in control; comfortable in the lead

• Quick and to the point
• Enjoys challenges and newness

• Perseveres; not easily deterred
• Can grow defensive
• Can overlook details, logic and strategy
• Can produce hasty, incomplete work
• May disregard others' feelings
• May take too much responsibility

South: Empathy

• Understands others' feelings and capabilities
• Heeds and integrates work and thoughts of others
• Use relationships to progress
• Willingness to trust others
• Supportive and receptive
• Able to focus on current activities
• Non-competitive
• Can put too much emphasis on relationships over goals
• May overcompromise or have difficulty saying "no"
• May internalize personal issues and take the blame
• May have difficulty dealing with anger
• May become too focused on the now and lose track of the long-term

East: Vision

• Sees the big picture
• Creative and idea-oriented
• Understands mission and purpose
• Looks for main themes
• Great at solving problems
• Likes to try new things
• May put too much emphasis on the future and lose track of time
• May burn out over time
• May become easily frustrated, especially when working on something they don't consider contributing to main goals

West: Analysis

• Understands and analyzes information well
• Practical, logical and thorough; notices problems
• Resourceful and helpful
• Sees all sides of an issue
• Examines needs
• May get stuck with too much information to analyze
• Can be stubborn or indecisive
• May become aloof or uncaring of others