Personal Leadership Philosophy Examples

Self leadership through personal learning and reflection “provides a foundation for effective leadership skills” (Watson, 2004). The Canadian College of Health Leaders (CCHL) includes self leadership as one of it’s five core leadership competencies, which is defined as “The Lead Self” domain. As part of Leading Self, effective leaders must demonstrate: self awareness, managing self, developing self and demonstrating character. (CCHL, 2010).

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.

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.

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,

My leadership philosophy stems from my experience in the Army. As a leader, I believe in honesty, commitment, and respect for others. All responsibilities should be carried out in a timely manner. My main priority is the well-being of my Soldiers. My Soldiers can expect me a leader that is caring, dedicated, and upholds the standards.

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.

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.

A leadership philosophy is something that is in constant development. According to Dr. Sosic, an individual’s leadership philosophy evolves as new life events influence and change the individual’s view of the world. If a person sees or experiences something in practice, he believes to be in-line with his own values; he should adapt it to his own personal leadership philosophy. Major Jonathan Sawtelle, in his book Resilient Effective Adaptable Leadership talks about how a “shared purpose must be cultivated within a vision and values for promoting expertise, innovation, and risk taking.” I believe his statement aligns with the key principles of my personal leadership philosophy, which are leading by example, fostering innovative thinking,

To compare and contrast leadership styles and experiences, two leaders in different industries were interviewed. Each interview subject was asked the following fourteen questions: (1) Do you have a personal philosophy of leadership? If so, please describe; (2) Who is your role model in leadership and why? (3) How would you describe yourself as a leader? (4) What do you consider the moest effective leadership characteristics? (5) What do you consider the least effective leadership characteristics? (6) Do you feel those traits are inherent, or can they be learned? (7) What has been your biggest challenge in leadership? (8) What are the ethical responsibilities of a leader? (9) In your opinion, does gender, culture, or ethnicity impact your view

March 16th, 1968 South Vietnam. Members of Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment descended upon the hamlet of Son My in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam on a search and destroy mission against the 48th NLF Battalion. Second Lieutenant William Calley led first platoon Company C into the hamlet of Mai Lai while his Company commander, Captain Ernest Medina, waited outside in his command post. Investigators would later determine that 2LT Calley would systematically round up members of the village and then execute them, burning the village and destroying food stocks and livestock. At one point the platoon would take a lunch break before continuing with the operation throughout the afternoon. Calley would be convicted of war crimes but only served 3 ½ years of house arrest of his sentence before being pardoned.

Some people are born leaders, others must work hard to become a great leader. As long as they put in the work, anybody can become a great leader. There are different types of leaders. Whether you have good or bad ones you will always learn something from them. You take from the good leaders what they did right to add in your style, but the bad ones influence you to not act like they did. This way your Soldiers only learn good habits from you.

Through careful consideration and an internal evaluation of myself I have been able to determine my core leadership principle; at the foundation of my leadership philosophy is ethics. I believe it essential to be an ethical leader because it establishes the key building blocks of a strong relationship between leaders and subordinates, which in turn allows for the implementation of my personal leadership style—transformational. As defined by Webster’s Dictionary ethics are: “involving questions of right and wrong behavior,” (Merriam-Webster, 2016). As a leader I believe it is important to have a strong ethical grounding as it allows you to conduct personal behaviour and actions in acceptable means. As an aspiring leader in the Canadian armed forces I believe I have two strengths to support my core philosophy. They are honesty and moral, both traits I believe help to make me an ethical leader. Another two important aspects needed in being an ethical leader are consistency and empathy, which I believe as a soon to be leader are two traits I need to improve. These four traits surrounding my leadership philosophy help to drive my personally employed leadership concept through the leader-member exchange theory. At the foundation of my leadership philosophy is leading ethically, which allows me to utilize the transformational theory to solidify my leadership principle. I believe the above named aspects of leadership are all vital to being a strong leader in the Canadian Armed