I Am As A Leader And An Effective Leader

In presenting a theory about myself as a leader, I will attempt to draw conclusions about my strengths and weakness as a leader based on the things learned in this class. I will speculate on a reflective leadership best-self-portrait through my work experiences that draw on my interpersonal resources for vision. Recognizing my talents and shortcomings will help develop both micro and macro levels of resource development needed to reach my full potential.

Throughout this course, I have learned several things about myself as a leader and about a leader in general. I feel like I now have the ability to point out many strengths and weaknesses I did not notice before. Strengths such as being able to find better ways of doing certain things, spot things that may or may not be really working, motivating team members, and working great under pressure. Some of my weaknesses include resisting change, constantly working within a group, because I always tend to feel like I'm doing either all or most of the work, and sometimes micro managing in an attempt to help/coach closely. Sometimes the micro-managing is unattended but at the same some things don't get right in time unless you keep a close eye on it.

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight D. Eisenhower This quote from Eisenhower rings true on many levels. During my career in the military and the private sector, I have been subjected to many different styles of leadership, good or bad. In my leadership roles I have attained, I tried to model leadership abilities by taking bits and pieces of previous leader’s styles and forming them into my own model. This has proven to work well as dealing with people from all different walks of life there is no one size fits all approach. In writing this paper, I will detail my own leadership platform drawing from the course material and various other sources. The goal of this paper is to show a solid understanding of the course teachings and perhaps give the reader a new found perspective on leadership.

Learning how to be a leader in all types of situations has been one of the most important skills which I have acquired. The most important growth in my leadership skills was through 4-H where I served as President, 1st Vice President, and various other positions. I learned valuable public speaking skills from a lawyer who was teaching a public speaking class and was able to apply this in the various duties I undertook as leader of my club. Now I step into leadership roles with confidence, trusting my ability to work with and lead everyone in the group. When I join the scholars at the Hankamer School of Business, I will be able to fulfill any leadership positions necessary with confidence, whether it be in a small group or large group

I have always known I love change, but from this class, I learned change is the hallmark of a leader. As John C. Maxwell says in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, “Growth = Change.”The leadership assessments allowed me to understand myself in a new way. Because I am a curious green thinker, I need explanations and answers to understand my world. I tend to see the big picture of a project and my mind motivates me toward something new or improved. I am curious about new opportunities because I easily become bored with routine. Learning I have these characteristics has increased my confidence to pursue future leadership roles in a small to a mid-sized position.

One of the biggest lessons learned from this course is that to be an effective leader, you must have a diverse skillset. I’m not sure if there is any one magical component or characteristic in being a great leader. One influence during my review of the literature was that; although easier for some, I see leadership as something we must continually improve upon. This is in contrast to my belief during my first day of class, when I thought leaders just

DAFT, R. L. (2011). Leadership mind and body. In Leadership (pp. Chapter 5 120- 150).

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.

Leadership is a very broad topic; I never knew just how many different traits and skills that it takes to become an effective leader. Some of which I was familiar with, and others that I was not aware of, but now from taking this course, they all seem to be necessary for the role of leadership. The attached paper, will explain of some of the important theories and concepts that I thought were most important to be able to become and effective leader.

I believe that developing leadership skills is not a rapid process, but it is a daily process. The best place people learn how to lead is from their daily experiences. Therefore, my job experience helped me to be more familiar with this topic and I gained additional worthy information from the class materials and lessons. Writing a biography was an amazing experience that helped me to look back in my life, review it in details, know what I did in the past and discover myself better. I did many of the book’s assessments and exercises and I found them totally thought-provoking and useful materials. They assisted me to think more about my leadership potentials and skills. Doing the exercises made me more aware of my strengths and weaknesses in the area of leadership. I read in the book about 10 qualities that mark a leader and help influence the leadership process. Those qualities listed as: vision,

I like to cover up the cracks in my life with the glue of my strengths. So, this piece of this assignment was probably the hardest one. I am very aware of my weaknesses in an everyday way. For instance, I procrastinate, and I have difficulty communicating via email and phone. I also have trouble understanding my emotions and how to discuss them with others. However, these are not directly connected to my leadership abilities. I have found that standing out in a large school has been more challenging than I thought it would be. I believe in roving leadership and what Dr. Sergiovanni calls, “substitutes for leadership” and I have found it difficult to stand out in my school. At my first position in a middle school in Krum, Texas, I was able to stand out immediately and within six weeks of my teaching there; I had already taken up a position of leadership on campus. At my current campus, I have not found it that easy. Partially, I think that it is due to the size of the school and district. It takes longer for leaders to be recognized. However, I also think that is a part of the leadership dynamic at my current campus. This is something that, as a leader next year, I must be cognizant of. Campuses flourish when teacher leaders feel empowered to make the school better. I believe they will step up to any situation if they feel connected to the principal and the rest of the

During week one of the course, I completed a project that allowed me to identify my strongest and weakest leadership traits. The project required input from six individuals with whom I have a professional relationship. They rated me in different areas based on a scale, to determine the results. I also rated myself, and when I compiled the data I was able to identify the areas of leadership that I am strongest and weakest. The results are:

When I read the two articles “Becoming the Boss” and “A Survival Guide for Leaders”, I noticed various differences between the two. While both articles consist of tips and advice for leaders, they go about that in two diverse ways. From the one article read, leadership is made out to be an abundance of responsibility, while the other article starts by describing leadership as dangerous and risky. Although responsibility and danger come with both good and bad in this case, I felt very differently about the separate articles. However, in both readings there were things I liked and disliked, and many things I would remember for future reference.

Before one can lead others, they must learn to lead themselves. The first step to developing your leadership abilities is identifying your strengths and weaknesses. A few of my personal strengths are, integrity, problem solving, and vision. Some of my weaknesses are priorities, decision making, and most importantly, influence.

The challenge will be completing at least five pages when I don’t even know where to start. The leadership practice inventory PDF wasn’t that helpful, and since there was no outline, template, or clear directive on how to shape the paper. I feel like this could very well end up being a rant of some sort. I guess from a leadership perspective it’s my job to create my own path on how to complete this exasperating assignment. I would like to apologize to my fellow students in advance of reading this paper. I’m not a fan of forced writing