Being A Person That Lead From Action, Influence Others, And By Showing Trust

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” John C. Maxwell

“In order to be a good leader, there are two things to remember. Lead from the Front and always set the Example. From these two leadership principles, everything else will fall into place.”

When I think about leadership, Matthew 26:36-45 always comes to my mind. In this passage, Jesus unpacked the roles and responsibilities of a true leader. A true leader leads by sample without looking back. The scripture states, “…My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little further, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed…. Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.

Through Frederick Douglass’s, Sam Houston’s, and my own life, being fearless, determined, and dependable has helped us be great leaders. In all great leaders, character plays an important part, for it defines the way they will interact with people and situations. Leaders tend to have strong traits, courage and ambition, for example.

This approach emphasize that having a leader with a certain set of traits is crucial to having effective leadership. It’s the leader and the leader’s personality that are central to the leadership process.

My father once told me that, “everything we do— be it in academia, at work, social or family life—we are guided by principles, beliefs and values that collectively form our ideology of life.” I believe that every leader, to a certain extent, is shaped through her individual personal experience. Although in some cases, we may not realize to what extent our personal assumptions and beliefs shape our ability to lead or be led.

Before this class, I had a very primitive and vague definition of leadership. Not only did I define it as per my views and ideologies, but I also said that each individual has their own definition of leadership. My initial belief was that leadership does not have a clear cut definition, but there were well defined leadership traits which made an individual. I also initially believed that personal traits did not translate into leadership traits with no strong correlation. After going through the various modules this class offered, it is safe to say that I have significantly redefined leadership and underwent a strong personal assessment. This paper talks what I took back from each of the class activities, assignments and how my self-assessment compares to the perception of others.

In my reflections as I prepared to write this paper, I came to the realization that leadership is much more complex especially since the paper requires that I focus on a few traits. In an effort to make it simple, I wrote down the traits that came to mind and in process had over 10 important traits but an even bigger challenge was on how to narrow them down to 3 or 4 and this is the place that required a good deal of reflection. Eventually, however, I had to prioritize them since in any case; it is not possible to get a leader that has all the traits. As I thought of the various leaders who have inspired me, I noticed that while they strived to provide the best leadership by focusing on their strong points, they still had their weaknesses. To me this provided a justification for at least identifying key desirable traits and thereafter working to improve them. I did manage to settle on four traits, which for me are indispensible if a leader or a leadership is to become effective.

To me, leadership is more than a title. It is more than just being in charge. Leadership is honestly, learning, listening, and most importantly application. Leadership means going the extra mile or two, doing the right thing no matter who’s looking, staying encouraged and encouraging other even when times are hard and you have every reason to quit. Leadership doesn’t mean you’re rich, well known, liked, or respected but it does mean you are a passionate, caring, and authentic. Leadership means you care about something so much you are willing to risk everything you have for this belief or idea. Leadership is doing whatever you can in your power to make things better for those around you.

In order for a leader to be a leader he/she must begin with the assumption that you are the one who matters most. As a leader you have to possess that level of confidence in yourself that you are capable of leading yourself “before you can lead others”. And when you develop this belief then you are better able of affirmative influence “on others”.

What qualities make a good leader? You can ask a hundred different people, and you will get a hundred different answers. A good leader is someone who accomplishes the mission, has the respect of their subordinates, and makes the difficult decisions when needed. For me, I believe that a great leader needs to have a variety of qualities, but most importantly a sense of fairness, hard work/care, and common consideration for others. Different experiences throughout my life and time at West Point have lead me to believe that these three tenants are what are most needed for a great leader. In terms of a leader’s moral character, common consideration has the greatest influence on the success of a leader, because without common consideration, a

Therefore how a leader’s character or personality influences leadership. This paper will critically evaluate how useful is the trait approach to leadership. It begins with

“Leadership is more ability than job. Moreover, it is all about determination, ability to solve problems, set direction for followers, gather them for common purpose and motivating people to achieve tasks. Furthermore, it is a charisma and the ability to reacting at the right time for a particular competitive situation” (L.Mullins, 2010, P372).

Denis Waitley (1995) in his book, Empire of the Mind, encourages the reader to explore his/her beliefs on leadership. He asks the reader to be cognizant of how these beliefs manifest themselves in our lives, by stating, "What the mind harbors, the body manifests in some way" (p. 119). My beliefs about leadership are shaped by my experiences with my father. I have compiled a list of good leadership qualities from watching him interact with others over the years.

This theory is based on the premise that there are certain personality characteristics that are essential for a person to possess in order to be a leader. The main emphasis is on what the person is in terms of a constellation of personality traits. This theory searches for that set of universal leadership traits that will assure success. Numerous traits have been suggested: courage, integrity, loyalty, charisma, ambition, intelligence, honesty, clairvoyance, persistence, arrogance, health, political skill, confidence and vision.