Leadership : My Personal Leadership Philosophy

The path to a personal leadership philosophy is made up of three parts. Each individual aspect is a facet of a complete whole. Much like a timeline that includes a past, present and future, my personal philosophy consists of a foundation, action, and growth. If you do not understand where your foundation of leadership came from, you will have problems acting in a leadership capacity. Also if don’t pay attention to how you are acting as a leader you cannot know in what ways you need to grow. Why should I spend the time and effort in developing myself as a leader? The Gunner’s Mate rating has a strength of just over 600 members. Maritime Force Protection Unit Kings Bay has 31 Gunner’s Mates assigned to it. I have a full five percent of the Gunner’s Mates in the Coast Guard that I lead. During my four year assignment at MFPU Kings Bay, approximately 55 Gunner’s mates (9.2 percent) will have been under my leadership. I see that as an enormous responsibility. As a young Gunner’s Mate I saw my senior leadership as people capable of effecting great change on the rating. Now today I am in the position to have that same impact.

Philosophy is "the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge or conduct."(Stuart Berg Flexner and Lenore Crary Hauck, 1993). Leadership is the process of influencing others to accomplish the mission by providing purpose, direction, and motivation. Command is the authority a person in the military service lawfully exercises over subordinates by virtue of his rank and assignment or position.(FM 6-22) My leadership philosophy has been developing thru my Army career. I have use the NCO creed as a pillar for my Leadership philosophy. The outcome of my performance is a direct reflects of my subordinates. My ideas will not always the best, that is why my Soldiers have a open door to provide any feedback.

Growing up, I realize the important leadership roles that should be recognized in every day life. Leadership is an important part of one's self character because when someone sees you as a leader they tend to grow more onto you so they can be like you. Part of this statement fits a powerful quote i've always lived by while being around others. "It is the men behind who make the man ahead," this quote by Merle Crowell, fits the man I've molded into, simply because I have realized in numerous ways on how my actions can impact other people's actions. My parents always raised me to believe that what you put in is what you get out. So of course, I believe that if I make the decisions to be a follower of the wrong path, then wrong will follow me as well. Instead, I choose to take the golden path and promote a better outcome for my future and hopefully other's also. Sticking to the routine of a leader builds you into an even better leader. Being a better leader, makes me a better man each day that I choose this route as the leader of my path.

When leading troops it is essential for the leader to understand his or her command environment and how they fit in to that environment. For me, becoming an effective leader begins with this: How do I fit in to my organization and what can I offer my organization and the Soldiers that look to me for guidance. To become an effective leader I have had to address this issue first and foremost. My philosophy is simple, know the needs of the organization, know my personal strengths and weaknesses, and know my Soldiers. This is the philosophy that I try to pass to my subordinates. By knowing these three simple statements I have found that I can become a more effective team member as well as leader to both enlisted and officers alike who look to me for guidance.

There are several characteristics a person in a leadership role should portray. My philosophy of leadership encompasses characteristics such as compassion, collaboration, innovation, perseverance, and competence. I believe to be a competent leader one must be authentic to one’s self and beliefs. One must know where he or she stands concerning ethics and innovations surrounding the education field. A leader must convey understanding, be on the forefront of research, advocate for colleagues and students, and collaborate with other professionals.

A good leader leads from the middle and not the front. Leadership is working with people in order to complete a task, instead of telling others what to do. Delegating and helping others realize their potential and work to their strengths is what leadership is all about. Leadership is the ability to listen to others and show them the right path. I strive to be a leader in all I do. As a pharmacist, I will be the leader in the community and be able to help patients with their medical needs. While I have had times in my academic classes that I am able to step up and be the leader, I often use my leadership skills most in extracurricular activities. I have served as President of my cooperative house, where I learned so much from the constant leadership.

I took something away from the different sources of power. Power is the capacity of potential to influence. Power can corrupt good leaders. Power, by its nature, it is powerful and tasteless like carbon monoxide. The more powerful one becomes, the more likely we are to overestimate our own mental virtue. There is position, power and personal power. Power can be more deadly than drugs. Many leaders allow power to go to their heads. They forget what and who was important to them. They allow power to consume them.

Throughout my life, God has been working in my life to prepare me for a life of godly leadership. He started off giving me small responsibilities which quickly grew to be leadership opportunities. I believe that everything I do ought to be my best for God. As a Christian, I have strived to work harder in school and in ministry than my peers so that God would be glorified through my work. As a high school student, I was blessed with the opportunity to lead two robotics teams into competition on the college level. He has given opportunities to lead on the mission field and in the states. Since the Time of my salvation, God has been preparing me as a leader through my ministry experiences and academic pursuits.

The article I chose attempts to define a leader, the types of leaders, and the ways in which a person can be an excellent leader. The author, Tom Decotils, lists three types of leaders: An appointed leader or someone who is a leader in name, an accepted leader or a leader in practice, and an authentic leader. Decotils suggests that when obtaining a leadership role, one must strive to be an “authentic leader,” whose focus is on results by moving followers forward through teamwork and insisting on personal excellence. (Decotils, 2015, para. 1) Decotils states that an authentic leader has good intentions, grit, and a constant yearning for improvement. (Decotils, 2015, para. 5) Additionally, an authentic leader must have a good

Leadership is the ability to inspire and focus members on a common goal, whether short term or long term and have the same vision. Leadership is more than telling or ordering, but having members believe and want to follow the same path as you. It’s a commitment to your people built on trust and respect. Many leaders shaped my personal leadership philosophy, to include several negative and positive experiences. Negative experiences from poor leaders and lessons learned on my part have uniquely shaped this vision. Difficult to be a good follower when your leader lacks competency, integrity, and your trust. If a leader takes credit for work other than their own, or forces and ideology onto others, but does not follow it themselves; these negative influences damage the trust and respect required of all leaders. However, positive experiences can also have a career lasting impact. A leader who inspires through personal actions and convictions can change how an entire unit operates without ever saying a word.

My leadership philosophy is consists of multiple leadership theories. Leadership theories can be leader-centered or follower-centered. Leadership theories focus on the leader’s personality and skill abilities. The psychodynamic approach is most similar to my leadership style because of its focus on personality. My leadership style is directive and task oriented. There are certain weaknesses in my leadership style which I know I can improve on. By incorporating the knowledge I have gained through this course I plan on applying the contingency theory to refine my leadership skills. The path-goal theory’s main emphases is on the relationship between the leader and follower which can help influence your subordinates. As a follower, I feel the relationship between the follower and the leader is tremendously important in the work environment in order to be able to complete tasks efficiently which is described in the leader-member exchange theory. In this essay I will describe my leadership philosophy which is comprised of the contingency theory, the path-goal theory, the leader-member exchange theory, and the psychodynamic approach theory and present a plan of action to improve my leadership and motivation skills.

The basic premise for leadership is the process of influencing other people to follow your lead in order to accomplish a goal. It is about the relationship between the leader and the followers. A good leader tries to motivate people to bring about positive changes revealing a common objective without using coercion or manipulation. Leadership is not about control, but permitting interaction and communication between the leader and the individual followers. With empowering others, leaders build a foundation of collaborative thinking and encourage an atmosphere of personal involvement; a leader can strengthen the respect and loyalty of his or her followers. Leaders can affect this process by applying their own personal characteristics, such

Over the years, a great deal of time, and research has been dedicate to the study of leadership. Even with extensive data on the topic, many still disagree on what leadership really means. Hence, leadership is a word that has many different meanings and different researched theories associated with it. On a basic level, leadership involves having and establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with followers, respecting followers, and leading an organization with excellence while ensuring that everyone is part of the team. Leadership is also a method by which a leader uses his or her influence towards getting a group of followers to take ownership or buy into a vision.

Leadership is defined differently according to one’s field and/or personal beliefs. According to Howard (2005) leadership is a form of “communication that involves coaching, motivating/inspiring, directing/guiding, and supporting/counseling others (pg.385).” Leadership leads to a production of outcomes for the goals that have been established in an organization (Howard,2005). In accordance Arnold, Connelly, Walsh, and Martin Ginis (2015) state that someone who is a leader influences tasks objectives and monitors the behaviors that help to complete these objectives. Howard (2005) states that leaders have four characteristics that include providing direction, creating trust and hope, and taking actions and risks. According to Tiuraniemi (2008) a leader should self-assess both their performance as well as their personality. Being self aware of what their team members think of them, allows a leader is able to do better at their job because they are able to change their behaviors or way or leading if they see fit (Tiuraniemi, 2008).

Leadership is the ability to create an environment in which people want to put their best efforts forward. Creating this environment takes trust which is gained by leading by example, setting standards and holding people accountable. To set these environments leaders must understand what motivates the people they lead. People are motivated by different styles and a leader must understand the individuals needs and tend to those needs. Leadership is dynamic and a good leader changes to meet these needs. During my career I have been fortunate to experience both good and bad leadership influences. The good leaders displayed the 28 Leadership Competencies found in Ref (a). The bad leaders acted more as managers and did not attempt to create an environment in which people wanted to succeed. The bad leaders can make good people stop caring and stifle efforts of the good people. When developing as leaders we must learn from the examples set forth by both the good leaders and the bad leaders. Leaders must continually develop and refine their leadership practices.