I would define leadership as a position of power that is held by a group or an individual and gives them a chance to be in a position of exercising interpersonal influence on the members by mobilizing them to direct their efforts towards a certain objective or goal. I believe that a leader is always at the center of a power structure of a group (Ahmad et al., 2013 p.10). The leader helps in keeping the group together, injects life into the group and directs it towards the objective and at the same time keeping it at equilibrium (Apenko, 2014 p.28).
Additionally, I would say that leadership is that quality of behavior of individuals that helps them in guiding other people or activities of those people in organizing efforts. In my opinion, leadership is more about hard skills as compared to soft skills. We usually talk about knowledge and power now and then. It is believed that knowledge is power. Knowledge is, therefore, an essence of leadership and hence assumed those individuals who have intelligence and knowledge will make good leaders. However, according to me, I will dispute that the individuals who have more knowledge will be in a position to provide good leadership. For instance, we have seen very brilliant individuals like scientists who are known to be brilliant but when it comes to providing leadership they are poor (Diamond, 2014 p.12).
Leadership is not about is about an individual behavior but not about quality. It is about the leader having a high self-esteem and a positive attitude. Leadership is a process that we can call it influential. When an individual is in a leadership spot, he should be able to regulate, shape and be able to change the behaviors, attitudes and the performance of the group members. There is usually a certain relationship that exists between the group members and the leader that is characterized by social and interpersonal interaction (Yeung et al., 2015 p.2680).
My underlying leadership philosophy has been shaped by different factors. One of my underlyingphilosophies is the knowledge of self. I usually believe that it would be impossible for one to achieve their full potential as a leader until you get to know yourself first. If you take out the process, leadership on its own is a form of a relationship (Northouse, 2015 p.31).If there are no supporters, then there is no leader. The relationship will start to exist if an individual knows themselves first and what they are bringing to the table and the impact it will have on the leader/follower relationship. In that way, the leaders will approach the relationship role very confidently, bearing in mind that there are mutual benefits for both (ODonnell, 2013 p.72).
I believe that leadership is a quality that is innate. However, I again believe that it is something that can be developed and nurtured through practice and experience and build up confidence. I would say that it is a belief as well as being confident that an individual can lead to implementing ideas and looking forward to seeing these changes. What I have realized by watching a large number of individuals in business in the course of recent years, however, is that like most things leadership capacity falls along a curve. A few individuals are, in reality, conceived leaders. These people at the highest point of the initiative curve begin great and have a tendency to improve as they go along (Gamble& Vaux, 2014 p.15). There is then the other middle group in the curve that no matter what you try, you cannot be able to become an effective leader. The curve where the majority of us are, states that there are those individuals who have the potential of becoming leaders. These individual can be groomed to become effective leaders in the society. The lower group in Therefore, in my opinion, and what I know is that leaders are innate as well as they can be developed.
One of the critical factors that I have managed to achieve in my personal development is the identification of my core values. Identification of the core values is one of the most critical aspects of becoming an effective leader. I would say that most of my core values are as a result of my upbringing. These values have however been shaped by attending school at different levels. For instance, when I was at the University, I have been challenged severally to make leadership decisions when I was the students leader. Throughout my childhood, schooling and interacting with family as well as my friends, I managed to identify the following as my core values;
Genuineness
One cannot be a successful leader without first having a comfortable learning of him or herself. Once this understanding is picked up, choices ought to be made in a manner that the leader stays consistent with his or her goals (Renzulli &DSouza, 2014 p.361). A genuine leader stays true to themselves, as well as to others. It, therefore, implies consistency in practices and decisions, and a fitting level of openness with group followers. The groupfollowers ought to know about their leaders qualities and decisionmaking process, and ought to trust that the leader is real in interactions.
Passion
About passion I try to picture everything from enduring to a protest. I would define passion as having that intense feeling towards something. Passion is something that is deeply rooted. In leadership, I can call it a goal or a mission that one needs to undertake. When one does not have a passion about something, it is hard for them to become effective leaders(Smith, 2012 p.463). To both the leader and followers, passion is a spark that sets ablaze the entire interaction to enable them to pursue a certain collective goal. It is this passion that makes the group keep going even in challenging situations.
Integrity
In my opinion and to what I have been taught in school, integrity involves known what is right and doing it. It has the courage to do what is right and to say no to what is not right. Integrity is a factor that sets a framework where the leader will be making decisions. It is integrity that guides all other values (Siewioreket al., 2012 p.13).
Service
Leadership in itself is an act of serving others. Leadership requires an individual who is going to serve the group not in his interest by serving the interest of the group (Shelby, p.14). Eventually, I feel that servant leadership is the most praiseworthy methodology for a leader to take. Service leaders regularly best comprehend working for the benefit of all, since they have sacrificed individual gain for the advantage of the entire group. Leadership begins with serving; a leader devotes themselves to the reason and the cause, and to bettering the individuals who permit him or her to be a leader in any case. Leadership will succeed if it serves the followers and not the leader him/herself. If the leadership is driven by self-interests, such as financial gains or other gains, then the leadership itself is bound to fail.
Hard work and dedication
Leadership is difficult. Understanding devotees, giving backing and course of direction, as well as persuading followers can be depleting. Moreover, leaders quite often keep running into difficulties, and even on account of disappointment, the leader must have a commitment to the goal that they are not disheartened. Thus, they should be willing to reevaluate and alter course if necessary (Schoemaker et al., 2013 p.134).
Personal narrative
Being a leader entails setting a good example and making right choices whether others approve or disapprove it. Personally, I usually try at my level best to practice good leadership skills in school, at home, my life and try to look and the good in others. I always try living by example through setting a good example to others. My dream is always to have an impact on other people lives through small and large things. The habit of doing small things always helps to build good habits that can help an individual in the future.
In my daily life, I hear as well as the good things that people do for others that showgood leadership as well as the skills of leadership. People express their kindness to strangers or individuals that they completely know. For instance, there was a classmate of mine who totally forgot his bag in the park and went home only to remember about the bag the following. He returned the bag to the park and found a notice that I found your bag in the park and I have taken it to police station. In such kind of a situation, some would have taken the bag and kept it as their own or others would totally ignore the bag. Such act of leadership made a person to pick the bag and take it to the police station. I think that is leadership in its true and real form.
Personally, I usually demonstrate my leadership skills are hoping to influence others into making better choices and decisions. In my everyday interaction, I tend to lead others by example as well as being helpful to them. I think leadership does not revolve on just leading. Leadership works well when individuals are executing as well as distributing the right decisions to the people. My junior year in college was one of the most difficult years. Many changes came into my life concerning the decisions that I used to undertake so as to be in the right direction. Battles with leadership positions toward the end of my sophomore year persisted into the start of my lesser year when I started to feel an overwhelming detach in the middle of myself and the organization. While the junior year is ordinarily when numerous students have their most leadership roles, I felt myself being pushed away from my organization; however I could not identify the reason. Despite the fact that I finished my organizational change of enhancing communication frameworks inside the organization with anexact end goal to ensure that all individuals felt included, and their opinions welcomed, I felt that my entire self-was not in the process. Instead of enhancing communication to affect the organization genuinely, it felt like I was making a cursory effort to satisfy a requirement. I left that month to study overseas, and the rest of my school experience has been drastically adjusted accordingly. Studying abroad implied confronting myself and, also, another place and culture. In spite of the fact that I was miles far from home, I was still connected to the new leadership I had picked up. However, its connection was in a totally new context.
Charting my course in another society opened my eyes to the differing viewpoints that exist on the planet that lies in front of me, particularly as an International Business major. If anything, I turned into a substantially more adaptable leader, approaching possibility contingency and situational approaches when given a variety of challenging circumstances, from getting stuck at a bus stop in the morning miles outside of the city my first week abroad to working with a group of international students. I can now attest that my time abroad was reestablishing, as well as was fantastic as far as myself discovery. I could focus in on things I am amazingly enthusiastic about; that will impact the way I live and the way I lead. I extended my limits and was rewarded with a rich social experience.
My experience abroad taught me a lot about leadership. I remember our supervisor taught me that leadership is leadership. He emphasized that being a good leader first call...
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