Personal Leadership : My Personal Philosophy Of Leadership

Those who show good leadership share qualities such as strong integrity, consideration of others, and the ability to lead by example. A good leader will know what’s wrong and what’s right. When leading others, they choose the option that is morally acceptable. A good leader has been taught what is right and wrong and doesn’t choose to do what’s wrong when leading others. A good leader thinks of others when making their decisions. They consider what will be best for the group when

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.

My personal leadership philosophy is simple, lead by example and be authentic in everything you do. I always model the way with my staff. I make sure that if I request for them to be at work on time, I am on time. I make sure that if I set an appointment or promise something, I honor it. This is the only way to build rapport and gain respect from my team. I have learned through trials and tribulations that subordinates are always watching, even when we think they aren’t. Visibly spending time on what’s important shows that you’re putting your money where your mouth is (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). I take time with my staff to ensure they see that I value a good work ethic.

Participating in the course Foundations of Organizational Leadership presented many opportunities to enhance and enrich my perspective on leadership as well as develop my own unique leadership philosophy. By observing the theories, models and cases presented in Northouse, Kouzes and Posner textbooks, I was able to learn through the experience of others what a true leader should represent. While considering the strengths and weaknesses of each theory, I am able to implement a leadership style with an effective approach tailored to many different types of learners. In addition, witnessing both the triumphs and failures of various businesses and leadership styles, helped me confirm my personal stance and aspirations towards becoming a leader. By implementing what I have learned from the course and textbooks, I will address in this paper what specific leadership theories, styles and models have contributed to forming my own leadership philosophy. In addition, I will also define the values, qualities, strengths and weaknesses and ethical considerations that pertain to my stance on leadership. By integrating a faith based approach as the foundation of my leadership style, I hope to implement my new philosophy into my current and future career path.

Phase 1 of the Personal Leadership Philosophy Paper presented the opinion and supporting information establishing that; leaders are products of opportunity, birth and environment, but of these; opportunity influences great leadership the most. Furthermore, it was discussed that assigned leadership is a cancer to corporate America and this point is illustrated in the following example. While employed at Deloitte and Touché Consulting Group (DNT) we engaged ARCO, a major oil and gas company, to develop and implement an email migration strategy that consisted of 1200 Arco users at their subsidiary company, Vaster Resources Inc. In the initial meeting we were introduced to a gentleman, we will call John Smith for the purposes of this paper,

Dreher, in the text: The Tao of Personal Leadership, does just as the title states; demonstrates personal leadership. The text is broken up into two parts, divided into eighteen sections, covering approximately two hundred and sixty pages, from cover to cover. With part one being an introduction of finding the inner Yin (good), and section two is describing the yang (bad) of leadership. The five sections at the heart of the text, in order, are: Zanshin, Centering, Presence and Process, Timing, Respect, Yohaku, Joy, Building Community, Vision, Empowerment and Growth, Communication, Conflict, Transcending Ego, Creating Harmony. A quick summary of each section will

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.

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 by 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.

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.

"Where there is no community, trust, respect, ethical behavior, it is difficult for the young to learn and from the old to maintain" (Sendjaya and Sarros, 2002, p. 68). The founder of servant leadership, Robert K Greenleaf; believes that every person ought to own values that could support and guide others. Greenleaf 's theory "the servant leader is a servant first; it begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve" (Dierendonck & Patterson, 2010). In order to serve, people must comprehend values, which are a person 's ethics of behavior shaping his or her vision. In addition, values could be distinct from taking the survey created by Milton Rokeach; which consists of the most important morals and beliefs and how it influences people, organizations, and society (Johnston, 1995). Furthermore, servant leaders have personal models of leadership; which are the advancement of personal growth and values. My personal model of leadership reflects and creates a purpose on my values and belief, which are trust, responsibility, equality and loving; demonstrating how it impacts an individual, interpersonal, organizational and societal. In conclusion, once people comprehend their value and decide their personal model it will define them as a servant leader because it does not matter if it is today or tomorrow, the values will then have the same principles (Lee, Fabish & McGaw, 2005).

My father once told me that, “everything we do— be it in academia, at work, social or family life—we are guided by principles, beliefs and values that collectively form our ideology of life.” I believe that every leader, to a certain extent, is shaped through her individual personal experience. Although in some cases, we may not realize to what extent our personal assumptions and beliefs shape our ability to lead or be led.

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.

As a graduate student approaching her final semester in school, thoughts regarding my leadership abilities in the soon-to-be “real world” have occupied my mind lately. To further explore and develop my ideas about leadership, I decided to develop my personal leadership theory. So, I asked myself the following questions: What makes a successful leader? How do you recognize a leader when you meet one?, and lastly, what is my theory of leadership? With this last question I thought about what leadership meant to me personally and how I personified it in a role of authority. While I had given thought to how I led, I had rarely taken the time to fully understand what my personal leadership theory entailed. Throughout the length of this paper I will analyze how my leadership skills, traits, values and elements from both Authentic Transformational theories help me to shape my leadership philosophy. In doing so I hope to define the leadership values that influence the way I view and practice leadership.

From research we see that there are many qualities that people value in leaders. Some of these qualities include: having high standards, supportive, inquisitive, involved, honest and having integrity. When I think about leadership I think of a person who is self-aware and always striving for improvement. To be a good leader you need to know how your personal biases may impact decision making in various situations. Bias or values can effect how you interact with those you come in contact with on a daily basis. A good leader can set the tone for students, staff, and parents by being consistent and clear in thoughts and in actions. The leader is the foundation of the building.