My First Year At Pacific Lutheran University Essay

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.

What is leadership? When examining this question it is important to understand what it means to be a leader within an organization. “Leadership is the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve organizational objectives through change (Achua, 2010, p. 6). Leaders serves people best when they help them develop their own initiative and good judgment, enable them to grow, and help them become better contributors (Thomas S Bateman, 2010, p. 66). Unlike management leadership flows from the core of a personality and cannot be taught; although leadership can be learned and may be enhanced through coaching and mentoring. Leadership involves unique processes that are distinguishable from basic management processes (Thomas S Bateman,

I have never considered myself to be a leader other than in my household. Even though I am a very active member in my church and have many responsibilities, at work I have never given myself the title “leader”. Since beginning this class and reading the assigned text I come to see and understand why I am and should be called a leader. The two self-assessments that I took made me realize that the everyday things that I do are actually the skills and attributes of a good leader.

Leader: “A leader is a person willing to show others what to do, someone who influences others to follow to achieve a goal. You have to have a vision or there is no goal to achieve. I have to be able to direct and take direction from my subordinates to be an effective leader. A leader is honest, dependable, caring, and knowledgeable, listens to ideas from other team mates, and is available to answer questions or just listen to problems whether work related or personal.”

For many years, I have been told by teachers, family, and friends that I am a good leader. Until fairly recently, I had never truly thought about what it means to be a good leader and just took it as a compliment. Leadership is an intangible concept which cannot be properly outlined in a dictionary, but one which must be formed and explained only through one’s own philosophies and experiences.

A good leader is someone who puts others before him or her, someone who cares about people and someone who does not give up easily. This is what being a leader means to me and I believe that I have all of these characteristics. When I am at school, I tend to help my friends and peers more than I help myself and I take pride in knowing that they are getting the help they need to succeed. I care about how well people do in school and I really want them to be happy and satisfied with their hard work. If I see someone struggling I know that it is my duty to assist them. When I do assist people, some of them do not grasp the lesson immediately and it takes time to get the to understand but I do not want to give up on them because it is taking too

Throughout my short life, I have come to realize that a leader does not necessarily, although they may, maintain a defined position of leadership. A leader is one who will rise to the challenge even when the odds in opposition. A leader will tackle any barrier that stands in the way of the goal. A leader is willing to be hated and face criticism for doing what is right. Leaders come in all different forms, but a leader is the one who is always willing to make the difficult decisions.

A leader must be able to move quickly from one agenda to another. A leader must be able to inspire a person or a group of people to want to do their best. A definition of leadership can be, “A relationship through which one person influences the behavior of other people” ( Mullins, p. 904 ). One of the biggest problems that a leader in any organization has to deal with is change. Leaders have to be versatile and willing to make tough decisions in today’s economic climate. We will analyze what it takes to be a successful leader and how to manage the people around you for the best results. Asking questions

If I would have been asked to define a good leader before attending this course, I would have probably said that a leader is a person which is able to passionate people,

A leader is the foundation of the organization, the individual who represents the values, purposes, and direction of the organization. A leader is one who creates connections between members of an organization for the purpose of promoting increased performance and quality results (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). Leaders motivate, console, and work with people, to keep them bonded and eager to move forward (Stanley, 2006, pp. 33). The leader is an individual who has his or her own personal goals and want to show everyone what he or she has to offer others. These traits are needed to inspire the employee and make him or

Coming to Wartburg I had an idea of what a leader looks like and who I thought I was as a leader. I also had an idea of where I wanted to go with all that. Now, going through this course I have learned and solidified that a leader is a person, any person, who acts in such a way that influences themselves and others around them to reach a common goal. I’ve learned that there is a difference between a good leader and an effective leader. I believe that I have not changed my definition but strengthened it and created a deeper more descriptive and detailed definition. Going through this course has helped me identify the different skills specifically that go along with leading.

A leader is a person who has a vision (Owen, 2002). A leader has drive and is committed to achieving their goals and vision. Leaders focus their attention on problems that need to be fixed, and will tackle the situation at hand. Leaders are determined, motivated, careful planners and effective communicators. Leaders are positive and do not waste time and effort with negativity. Effective communication is more than just being able to speak and write. An effective leader's communication encourages people to work toward their goals. A leader is

I have learned a great deal from this class, and through the semester, my ideas of leadership have changed. I now can confidently say that my definition of a leader is someone who embraces diversity, is a team player, a manager and is brave. Embracing diversity is to embrace the ideas and opinions of others and even accepting them. Being a team player requires cooperation, communication, listening and setting an example. A leader should be well versed in conflict as well as time management, and a leader must trust their team enough to take a leap of faith every now and

Arguably, there are countless different definitions of leaders in the world, and my experience brought me in contact with countless worthy people who excel as examples of this. Consequently, by utilizing the abundant case studies over the last 28 years of my career, I formed the following definition of what a leader is: A morally grounded individual who meets all challenges with an infectious excitement which others wish to emulate. This drive inspires allegiance to this individual, mostly without a formal request to follow. The members just choose to assist this individual in meeting the desired results without a need for the accolades of a successful result.

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.