Personal Leadership Philosophy
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.
Leadership Defined
First we must understand and define what leadership is in order to grasp the concepts that contribute to forming leadership styles and philosophies. Leadership is a combination of
Leadership is “the fusion of heart and mind, selfless action, encourage betterment of others, and to make a difference. It is the process of influencing
We live and operate in a reasonably diverse world, and consequently our operations come with a variability of values and beliefs from multicultural backgrounds. As a leader in a healthcare organization I must explore the organizational beliefs, vision, team motivations in order to accomplish the perceived vision successfully and professionally. It is my responsibility as a leader to effectively articulate the identified vision of the organization and motivate the team associates toward the accomplishment of the goals and objectives. It might require the confrontation of challenging and difficult choices and the leader’s deeply held philosophy. In this paper, I will create my personal leadership
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.
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.
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,
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.
My personal leadership philosophy describes who I am as a Soldier, a Non- Commissioned Officer, and a man who serves his country proudly. As a leader, I believe that all members of my team are important. As a Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, I believe, as the NCO creed says, “Non-Commissioned officers are the backbone of the Army.” It is very important to know your role as a NCO and fulfill all of your duties and responsibilities inherent in that role. We can all contribute to the mission and we have to understand that no one job is more important than the other. Teamwork is always provided in my leadership philosophy and if we all work together as a team we will all have the ability to make a positive difference in each other lives. When this is accomplished, then I
In my opinion the term leadership is a very broad and various definitions are given by authors. One definition of leadership is that it is
The opportunity to positively affect the careers and lives of those I work alongside is one of the greatest privileges and responsibilities that I have. As a Boatswains Mate I’ve been fortunate to be in the presence of some great leaders; they defined leadership through their actions, not words. They epitomized the Core Values and expected the same from the crew. The bottom line was that they cared, respected, trusted us and empowered us to become the leader we wanted to be and more importantly the leader the service needs us to be so that we can continue our Service to Nation, Duty to People and Mission Excellence. As an Officer in Charge (OIC) I’m afforded a unique opportunity as an enlisted leader of a unit. Responsibility and accountability cannot be delegated and the repercussions of betraying those duties will have far lasting effects on not only the unit but also the members who were impacted by negative leadership and inconsistent alignment of values. My personal leadership philosophy, which has been drafted and revised numerous times throughout my career, now serves as my Command Philosophy: Family, Readiness and Mission Excellence.
My leadership philosophy is very simple and can be compared to the simplicity of the lifecycle of a tree. A seed forms into a sapling which in turn grows into a mature, majestic, vibrant-full representation of those leaders who have contributed to their development and growth process on their journey to become leaders. Seems very simple when put in to those terms, however, each of these processes are very complex and need everyone’s input, attention and examples; both good and bad, leadership to build on their own style. Leadership is a lifecycle and ever evolving! Leadership defined in my own words is having the ability to create an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and learn from each other both positively and negatively. I certainly do not know everything there is to know about being a good leader, but I am confident and comfortable in my own area of expertise. I am a mature tree that falls in a row amongst many other trees. I have worked for horrible leaders and great leaders throughout my career. I have learned so much from both types and have taken, what I feel, the best from each one to grow my own style. I don’t honestly feel that there is another one of me or my leadership style running around. I am unique.
There are certain essential elements that constitute the definition of leadership. It may refer to the totality of an organization’s top direction-giving functionaries, or the actions applied in providing direction that enables the organization or team to move forward towards a goal. In reality, there are very diverse definitions of leadership depending on
Leadership is a very broad topic; I never knew just how many different traits and skills that it takes to become an effective leader. Some of which I was familiar with, and others that I was not aware of, but now from taking this course, they all seem to be necessary for the role of leadership. The attached paper, will explain of some of the important theories and concepts that I thought were most important to be able to become and effective leader.
Over the years, a great deal of time, and research has been dedicate to the study of leadership. Even with extensive data on the topic, many still disagree on what leadership really means. Hence, leadership is a word that has many different meanings and different researched theories associated with it. On a basic level, leadership involves having and establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with followers, respecting followers, and leading an organization with excellence while ensuring that everyone is part of the team. Leadership is also a method by which a leader uses his or her influence towards getting a group of followers to take ownership or buy into a vision.
Great leaders have the ability to mold our minds, bodies, and souls. Great leaders push us to our limits and have us coming back for more. But, Why? What draws us towards these individuals? Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Steven P. Jobs, what do they all have in common? Yes, they all were great leaders, but it is something more than that. It was their ability to self-sacrifice. They built trust from their moral beliefs and actions. They understood and foster an environment that supported leadership development They transformed their followers. (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2014). In this paper, I will explain why leadership is a fundamental part of organizational behavior, discuss what leadership theory I align with and why, and explain why my leadership theory is effective within my organization.