I am still trying to figure out who I am and where I fit into the world of working. Attempting to discover what I enjoy as well as my strengths and weaknesses has been a constant struggle for me. According to Greg Thomas, “every positive and healthy change that has ever occurred in human civilization has only come about by great struggle” (2011, p. 3). In the future, I hope this pays off for me. As a future leader, it is essential for me to evaluate the skills I currently possess and what skills I must strive to acquire. Personal leadership is not only the aspect of leadership that is the easiest to control, but it is also the most important to me. In my eyes, the most difficult aspect of personal leadership is “establishing a clear path” (Thomas, 2011, p. 3). I have developed many short term goals for myself, like finishing school. However, my long-term goals are very vague due to not knowing where I ultimately want to end up. For example, I want a job I enjoy doing. Unfortunately, I cannot specifically say what job that is or even what field it is in. The other area of personal leadership that is a weakness for me is a “lasting legacy” (Thomas, 2011, p. 6). This is not something I am focused on or will ever be focused on. I know it is something that will either happen or not happen. For right now, I am focused on me and what I need to do to better myself. I have many strengths as a personal leader. I believe “that there is a spiritual element to life”
In order to demonstrate my leadership development, I will complete an assessment of my personal leadership styles and behaviours, as evidenced through a series of validated self assessment methodologies and tools. My self reflection will include a summary of leadership strengths and weaknesses, in
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.
An effective leader must have a plan for success. This includes a personal plan of growth as well as a professional plan for improvement. This paper will attempt to highlight my personal strengths and weaknesses as leader, identify the areas needed for improvement, and identify the leadership skills and practices that I will use to become an effective leader. This paper will also give an outline of the goals that I consider a priority and a timeline for this development. The overall result will be an inclusive leadership plan of development that I will use to grow myself as well as any organization that I work for in the future.
As an officer in the United States Army, it has been imperative for me to understand every facet of leadership and why it remains important to be an effective leader. During this course, I have learned some valuable lessons about myself as a leader and how I can improve on my leadership ability in the future. The journal entries along with the understanding of available leadership theories have been an integral part of my learning during this course. For all of the journals and assessments that I completed, I feel it has given me a good understanding of my current leadership status and my future potential as a leader. All of the specific assessments looked at several areas in regards to leadership; these assessments covered several
My leadership for the future follows a very distinctive path. As I have worked with multiple organizations and companies, I still have a long way to go for more knowledge and experience in leadership. Leaders always need to train and adjust their skills to the ongoing evolution of economics. I see myself today as a leader that still needs to develop his skills. I teach as an adjunct and work for a finance/accounting firm. In the future, I would like to establish my own firm and continue teaching students how to establish themselves so they can succeed in life and in the future. My personal leadership style is basically a motivational and coaching style. I would motivate my students and clients into understanding the tasks or problems at hand and give them solutions. In return my students/clients will take the motivation and the problem or task at hand and do something positive into learning and accessing the situation.
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.
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.
“It is unequivocally clear that leaders are not like other people” (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991, as cited in Northouse, P. G., 2016, p.22). I have always thought that I was not like other people; I see the world through a different lens. This difference, which sets me apart from my peers, has sometimes restrained my progress; however, after studying my differences and seeing them as strengths, I can now focus on these strengths that make me a unique, passionate, progressive leader. In reflecting on my leadership skills, I will analyze the results of the leadership questionnaires, as presented in Peter Northouse’s book, Leadership:Theory and practice (7th ed.), connect those result strengths with the
I am committed to helping others understand what makes them special and how they can apply their strengths to succeed because this process can be overwhelming and frustrating. When we understand what our strengths are, we can use them to quickly adapt, overcome and enjoy life.
When looking at my life for this assignment, I have realized I have not been in a formal leadership position. I hope to one day manage my own physical therapy clinic, but as we have talked about in class, I hope to lead my colleagues as well. Each person has his or her own way of leading, and I hope that I can take what I have learned from this self-assessment and translate it to the workplace. Upon assessing myself, I have noted some of my strengths and some of my weaknesses. We will start on my strengths, because it is much easier to think of those. My first strength is that I am extremely organized. No matter what I am doing whether it be doing homework, paying bills, or even playing a board game, I have to be completely organized before
The leadership activity I performed for my personal leadership lab was committing myself to personal training. For this Leadership final project, I personally trained two clients, totaling 4.5 hours. I performed these training sessions on the days of February 17, 20, and 24, 2016. I got into personal training around the time of this project’s beginning. My friend Thomas has been a personal trainer on the side for over a year. I have had a little over two years of workout experience, and he introduced me to the personal training class. It is a class that takes only a weekend to complete to become certified. I received one of my clients in inquiry from Thomas, and the other client I found through a craigslist ad. I used these first two clients for my Leadership Lab because I knew there was a lot to learn. Both of these clients are members of the gym I attend called 24hr Fitness. Out of convenience, I trained both clients in this gym.
My chosen profession may shift, but I have come to understand that my existence with leadership will always be a constant and that it is up to me to make it the best that it can. Communication and commitment to improving my skillsets and style will help me mold my leadership abilities. Remembering to use my strengths of loyalty, persistency, and strong work ethic will enable me to lead my team by example. Most importantly, knowing that giving respect to those within my world is the only way I will earn it in return. Continual communication and persistence in bettering leadership will make me become a stronger and better-rounded leader throughout my
During the last six weeks, I have learned a lot about the true meaning of a good leader. The discussions have helped me identify what my strengths are and what are the areas that I need to improve on. Although, I have been in management roles, I would not identify myself yet as a leader. I am a very result driven individual which is strength of mine, but that can also lead me to be desensitized to other’s emotions or challenges they might be facing. Throughout the course, I have also come to realize that I have limited self-awareness. On the contrary, one of my strengths is my social awareness. I have the ability to go into social or networking events and pick up on emotions, or facial expressing to understand the overall mood of that environment. To be socially aware is particularly beneficial because, I can find common ground with anyone I meet to initiate conversation. Therefore, when I see that person again, I can make those personal connections. Another one of my strengths is the ability to look at a current process and streamline it to a leaner, more effective and efficient way. During the last several years I have been hired to be the visionary of new divisions and to implement processes that would support the company’s vision and mission while still driving results. My values are what contribute to the success I have been able to achieve over the years, however. My resilience and work ethic towards my job shows through in the
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.
My leadership outlook is collectively designed from my life experiences, ascertainments, achievements, and failures. I see leadership as an excursion simultaneously taken by leaders and followers to a mutual destination. Great leaders have clear core values, a course of action, an organized, suitable, and effective team, and unambiguous communication that will lead their team to this common goal. The best leaders have definitive vision and mission statements. They often refine these statements to ensure the requirements needed to successfully accomplish the vision and mission of every area of their lives including their family, their organization, and their unit is feasible.