Leadership: Let Your Individuality Shine Essay

What comes to mind when you hear the word leader? Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy? According to Webster's Dictionary, a leader is "one who leads." After participating in the Leadership Program, I have learned that a leader is hard to summarize.

Being a leader is more than simply holding a leadership position or having the ability to lead. Everyone is capable of being a leader, but not everyone exercises his or her leadership abilities. Each person’s idea of leadership is different. My idea of leadership has developed over time, and being a member of the President’s Leadership Class has helped me develop my philosophy of leadership further than what it was two months ago. My personal philosophy of leadership is the ability to effect change through leading by example, taking initiative, and encouraging others.

One of the challenges facing nurses today is learning how to be an effective leader. Assessing and analyzing the style of leadership the nurse possesses is the first step in facing the challenge. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and understand the characteristics of my style of leadership from an assessment performed by Gallup Strength Finders and DiSC and compare the strengths I have in common with Eleanor Roosevelt.

Our world is filled with many successful leaders. The gift of being a leader can be learned; however some individuals have a natural born talent to be a leader. Each leader has his or her own unique leadership style. The gift of being a leader can be learned. Certain individuals are born with a charismatic style and can easily be a leader. A successful leader is one who can inspire and motivate people towards a goal. Martin Luther King Jr. was an individual with a born gift to lead people. The following paper will discuss how Martin Luther King Jr. was able to inspire and motivate people with his effective leadership style.

Nelson Mandela was known as a world leader for his role in fighting apartheid and being the first multi-racial president of South Africa. His presidency created a significant change in the perception and building of a multiracial society in South Africa and around the world. Nelson Mandela was also known to be a leader of a civil rights organization known as the African National Congress. The purpose of the African National Congress was to demolish racial segregation and discrimination. The two most significant social changes made by Nelson Mandela was his uniting of a fiercely divided country and his creation of a truly democratic society in South Africa.

In the movie when Mandela’s daughter came to visit him, she criticized him on the work he was trying to do as President. His daughter did not understand why he wanted to unite with the white people of the country who were the people who imprisoned him. Instead of trying to change himself and his ways to fit what his daughter wanted, Mandela stood his ground and held his beliefs and simply replied to his daughter “you criticize without understanding.” Mandela never tried to be something he was not and did not let what others had to say influence him and his decisions as a leader. Another example of Mandela being an authentic leader was when he attended the first Rugby game of the season. After he went out on the field and greeted all the players on both teams, he went up to the stands and greeted a few people with a smile. Even though the majority of the crowed as booing him, the main reason why he went up to the stands was to thank one particular fan for representing the new flag of South Africa. Of course at this time Mandela knew that going up into the stands was a very risky act because a lot of people were not happy with him as President. It is obvious that Mandela did not change himself or his kind actions just because of the circumstances. One last key value of being an authentic leader is that the strength of the leader is derived from their past experiences. When Mandela invited François, the

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." This inspirational quote came from the sixth president of the United States of America named, John Quincy Adams.

The life story of Nelson Mandela has long become a legend, a story that transcends race, borders, culture, or language. He is one of the greatest leaders to ever step foot on this Earth. He was willing to give up his own personal freedoms for the good of his people. Still, his decisions at major points in his lifetime hold lessons for individuals who are inspired of becoming good leaders. Many leaders are inspired by the actions and decision-makings abilities of Mandela. He kept the interest of others before his own. This is what made Nelson Mandela a great leader, and worthy of winning a Nobel Prize. From the decisions he made, and his life experiences while fighting for human rights, one can conclude that Mandela is truly

Leadership is something that people are born with. It is an inherent charm and it doesn’t hide even if you want to hide it. There is a leader amongst us and he or she is the one that leads other people to great things by inspiring and motivating people to do good deeds. Leadership has been described as “a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”. This way a leader can decide what work goes in and goes out. Good leaders in history have left a mark in walks of life. But great leaders, they’re different. Great leaders have the ability to make each and every individual re-think their life decisions and choices by

When reflecting throughout America’s history, two people in particular exemplified the essence of true leadership traits, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. While others displayed a vast variety of traits, Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Nelson Mandela displayed traits of leadership that stood the test of time, and while today, their traits still influence, as well as affect people in today’s society. Throughout his time as political activist, as well as South Africa’s first African President, Nelson Mandela’s

Through identification and ongoing assessment of her leadership style and ability this leader is able to develop and understand her own strengths and limitations in order to grow and develop into a more effective leader. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of servant leadership, contingency, path-goal styles leadership to gain an understanding of current leadership models, identify this author’s style of leadership and explore why leadership is important to organizations, society and this author.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, leadership is the power or ability to lead other people, the act or instance of leading. I believe that Leadership is an art, the art to get others to follow and accomplish a common goal or task in a harmonic manner. A leader can be shown in all kinds of shapes and forms. To be a great leader many people believe it consists of modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart. Over the course of me learning how to become a better leader and being in leadership roles, I’ve learned that all these are very necessary to be a great leader.

This paper explores the four frames of leadership described by Bolman and Deal (2013) through the analysis of Nelson Mandela’s Leadership. Mandela is known as a great leader but when this paper explores is how he got to be, what happened in his life that developed him into such a great leader. This paper will explain his leadership in each frame one by one.

Imagine being systematically oppressed from the moment you exited the womb. All your civil rights, based on the amount of melanin in your skin. Drinking from the wrong water fountain, could even get you thrown into jail. Coincidently; this was the life, of black South Africans from the moment of Dutch colonization in 1652, to the first true democratic election in 1994. Apartheid, meaning “separateness” in Afrikaans; was legal segregation enforced by The National Party (NP) from 1948 to 1994. It legally imposed preexisting policies of racial discrimination on the Majority of the South African population. The entire basis of the racist policies, was the darker your complexion the less legal rights you had. Presumably this injustice, could have continued much longer if it weren’t for all involved in the fight against the NP, however the man who arguably contributed the most, was Nelson Mandela. He ended an apartheid, with both his philanthropy and political prowess. He united a nation that used to be segregated; which seemed a daunting task at the time, but through the sweat and bloodshed he achieved the impossible. This alone exhibited his heroic characteristics, but to be more precise: both his actions and inactions lead to his success. Furthermore, Mandela was both a strong leader and forgiving at the same-time. Being in the forefront of the abolishment movement, was an extremely risky move during the apartheid. He risked his life for what he believed in, and this personal

In terms of leading a team, I regard myself as an enthusiastic and considerate leader. My colleagues on my team can always feel my passion about achieving goals as well as my consideration about others. I intend to make conversations productive by understand other’s perspectives first. I also have a high standard of integrity and apply the same criteria on both myself and my coworkers. When I was working for Deloitte, I was always the first choice for all supervisors in my group if they need to find a project leader for a very diverse team. I have been nominated as the “Team Star” for two consecutive years.