Leadership Philosophy: My Personal Philosophy Of Leadership Values

Leadership. It is something that everyone strives to achieve and is a trait that can affect every person in the smallest of ways. It is quite a unique feature, and one very hard to come by, with so many leaders nowadays in short supply. As I always like to say, “One million starts with one”. It only takes one person, only one idea, to revolutionize the way that one million people can think. A leader can open our minds and touch our hearts in ways we didn’t know possible. They can help shape the world with their ideas and the foundation of the people supporting them. Like I said before, true leaders today are in short supply. However, I can give this University a new type of leadership that has not been seen before.

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.

According to dictionary.com leadership is defined as, the position or function of a leader, a person who guides or directs a group: Its synonyms include guidance, influence, control, direction and supervision. These are all qualifications that are needed to be an effective leader. All characteristics are not necessarily needed at the same time and do no need to be used for each subordinate. This paper will identify my personal leadership philosophy along with theories to support my leadership style.

My personal leadership philosophy reflects a desire to develop subordinates and create an efficient, purpose driven environment. A leader must create a clear vision which followers can understand in order to meet all the requirements of their unit. A leader must lead with the end in sight creating goal driven activity. I believe the way to measure the success of a leader is through the success of their subordinate leaders. Therefore, a leader must constantly develop their subordinate leaders. Passion drives success making it essential for a leader to create buy-in to their plan at every level. It is inevitable that a leader will have to make correction and in order for this to have a positive influence on the organization the correction must be clear, quick, and recoverable. My personal leadership philosophy focuses on these three main points; care for Soldiers, clear vision, development of subordinates, and positive corrective practices.

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 I think of a leader I look back on how many people in my life that have helped me to get where I am today. My parents are authority figures in the sense that they are the ones that showed me right from wrong. There are the administrators that helped me along my way with school and completing all of the work that I needed to in order to make my way in this long road called life. Finally there are the instructors that have shown me the ways on how to become a leader myself. When I think of the word leader I do not think of myself right away, but now that I have taken on different roles in my life I have realized that maybe just maybe that I could become my own leader.

Among society, there is a common longing for success. Success, however it is defined, is only achieved through leadership in some form. Whether a person becomes a public leader in his church, in his country, or simply a leader in his own life, it takes a leader to put in the effort to achieve one's hopes and dreams of success. Leadership allows a person to acquire the means necessary to meet a personal goal and ultimately reach this idea of success. Utilizing leadership skills is how I will achieve my goal of becoming a surgeon.

When I think of a leader, I see someone who stands out. I see someone who is courageous and wants to take the lead. I see someone who chooses to create there own path, rather than taking the one everyone else is taking. As I learn about the qualities and the traits of leadership, I began to self evaluate on how I see myself as a leader.

There have been many things in my life that have molded me into the leader I am today. Various people and groups along the way have taught me so much about what it means to be a leader. There were so many things that impacted my life and leadership.

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.

‘Leadership is the subjective. But its foundation stems from one thing: the ability of an individual to establish a following among other individuals or teams.” (Post, 2017) There is no true 1 way to lead. My leadership philosophy is subjective. Each situation, individual, and/or team dictates which of the 30 leadership behaviors we should pay more attention to during that particular time. The 5 personal values that are most valuable to me and guide my leadership philosophy are family, dependability, honesty, communications, and loyalty. The most influential, positive, effective leader I have had the pleasure of working with was the supervisor who made it very clear from the beginning his 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.

Leadership on many occasions has been misinterpreted by many individuals. Many assume that leadership is an easy skill people can develop, however, it isn't. Leadership comes with significant responsibilities such as establishing an influence, guidance, or encouragement on others. While there are some people who seek leadership with the purpose to obtain the power and abusing it for self-interest. I can proudly identify myself as a person who has been titled a leader because I have portrayed an influence. Around my last two years of high school, I became a youth leader at church. Being a youth leader was not only a major learning experience for those who I supported but also for myself. For instance, I had to go through a discipleship class