Personal Leadership Personal Statement

I have many experiences with leadership experiences due to my participation in FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America). In FBLA I had to take a leadership role in a group project that we compete with. While I was the leader I influence others to get the project done and work together as a team. I made sure that we were all on track and that our assign tasks were being completed. When there was an issue I would try to help them and figure out what was happening. I would bring peace when there was arguments.

Throughout Middle School and High School, I have won multiple Academic Honors and was able to partake in a Leadership Group/Camp. In Middle School, I was Honored as the best student in Reading, won many A-Honor Rolls, a few A/B-Honor rolls, and multiple Perfect Attendance Awards. In 8th grade, I was chosen along with many other students to help mentor the 6th graders moving up to the middle school and from there on I became part of a group called “Michigan Middle Leadership Initiative (MMLI)”, where only 10 students were selected to join. Currently, I have maintained a GPA of 3.89 or higher and I’m taking an Advanced Placement course for Environmental Science. Overall, I have a good attendance record and have never been tardy for class before. At the most, I’ll miss about 2 days of school in a trimester if I become ill.

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.

Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others , helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.

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.

First, about my past leadership skills were understanding and gaining knowledge from people. When I was a child, I would always look up to my father and mother as role models to help lead a family together. Both of my parents gave me positive reinforcement in school and out of school so I can be successful in life. I have also taken an interest in

Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.

Is a leader as defined in the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, merely one who leads - synonymous with a boss? Or something more? I believe that a leader is much more than that and can be defined in any number of ways. In attempting to define a leader personally, I will use both myself and others as examples.

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.

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.

While I attended Wichita State University for my bachelors of Social Work, I was afforded the opportunity to participate in a leadership program two consecutive years. We learned tips on strategies to become more effective leaders. Whenever I participate in activities that require me to take a leadership or supervisory role, I tend to think of what I learned in the program. The conflict that I identified as a supervisor in this activity was mainly that we had a student with erratic behavior, with firearms at home, and a mother who not only, saw nothing wrong with it, but wanted him removed from public school and is largely uncooperative with the school regarding his psych eval.

According to Hans Urs von Balthasar “a vocation is something lived, something enacted and a concrete life story” (Contino, 2004, p. 85). My vocational life story has developed over the past forty years with my first job at twelve babysitting six children to where I stand today teaching home economics at Chowchilla high school. “I build my own life story through the decisions of projects I undertake” and the choices I have made regarding my career path (Contino, 2004, p. 85). Someone looking from the outside at my wandering path might believe of my career changes seem a bit radical. Moving bicoastal, leaving a stable career of twenty five plus years to go back to college, take a pay cut and joining the unstable labor market of Home

Not everyone is born to be a leader, but many become leaders. Similarly, to a way that I improved my leadership skill by learning from my mistakes. One day after school, my leadership skills were tested when I was left babysitting my younger sisters. Although, at this time I considered myself a responsible person, I lived through an experience that I will never forget and I will always forever carry with me and remind me that, as a leader, everyone should receive attention, and as leader I need to be attentive of everyone.

According to Schwartz (1997), Goizueta joined Coca-Cola at a time when the company was in trouble. Slowed by bureaucracy and with an eroding stock price, the beverage maker was slowly loosing its market share to rivals like Pepsi. An inspirational leader, Goizueta was able to turnaround the beverage maker and before his exit, the company had become one of the most recognizable brands in the world. His managerial style as Rowe and Guerrero (2010) point out was more intellectual than hands-on.

Leadership is a difficult discussion even nowadays, because there is not just one conclusion, but a combination and variations of that.