Summary : ' An Inner Path Of Leadership '

In my opinion, even though it was assumed that some people are naturally born leaders, it was also argued that certain leadership traits can be developed through experiences. With reference to the leadership trait questionnaire that I have done previously, one of my stronger character trait that was reflected was empathy. Cross referencing this to the Psychodynamic approach, under the Myers Briggs personality test, I found myself to be an INFP – Introversion, intuition, feeling, perception. The main core trait associated with those who are classified as an INFP was coincidentally empathy as well where those under that category aim to seek harmony and authenticity in our relationship with others. (Northouse, 2013) That is something I have to agree with as I constantly find myself trying to put myself in other’s shoes so as to better relate and understand their perspective.

The concept of effective leadership is a topic that has been widely debated by individuals and professional leaders in many societies. In Kevin Cashman’s book, Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming a Leader for life, the author reveals that leadership is defined through a person’s understanding of their internal nature, rather than the values, beliefs, and morals a society claims that a leader should possess. Even though Cashman does acknowledge the importance of the societal view of leadership, he argues that true leadership is defined by an individual’s understanding of their internal essence. In each chapter Cashman strongly debates that leaders lead by virtue of who they are. He defines this outlook on leadership as the Inside-Out Leadership Method. This is a method that allows an authoritative figure to develop a strong understanding of their physical, mental, and spiritual essence to lead others towards a mutual goal.

From a personal perspective, leadership from a Christian worldview is about transforming your skills, abilities, and knowledge of the vision of life, beliefs, values, and principles. Due to the differing worldviews as a leader from a secular or biblical perspective, the ways of life as a leader divert the values that guide us, beliefs that direct us, and principles that motivate us to act or behave a certain way. Jesus lives in disciples, and we should all be living as his light and world. In Paul’s plea he stated, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1, New International Version). Not everyone is in the public eye, but everyone is in the eye of someone, and there he or she is a leader. I will discuss my growth and development into the leader from a Christian worldview and from course material as support.

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.

I began this book like most books, with great anticipation that it was going to be amazing, why else would a qualified instructor assign it. I assumed that it would be a shining example of the finest managerial principals in existence all compacted into a simple to read text with plenty of graphs and helpful handouts. I was certain that I would be a more effective leader for having read it. I spent time strategizing how I would write my paper with great enthusiasm. Then, I read the book.

Author Eric H. F Law’s book The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb: A Spirituality for Leadership in a Multicultural Community was published at Chalice Press in 1993. Eric H. F. Law’s biographical information states that he is an Episcopalian priest. “He is also the founder and executive director of the Kaleidoscope Institute. The Kaleidoscope Institute’s mission is to create inclusive and sustainable churches and communities. For more than 25 years, he has provided transformative and comprehensive training and resources for churches and ministries in all the major church denominations in the United States and Canada.” (http://ehflaw.typepad.com/blog/). In addition to this task Eric also writes a weekly blog entitled The Sustainist: Spirituality for Sustainable Communities in a Networked World. Eric H. F Law is not a new comer to writing, he has 9 books published as of now in his career. (http://ehflaw.typepad.com/blog/)

In my book “True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership” by Bill George, I learned that it is impossible to be a perfect leader. I read about a variety of different leaders and their successes and failures that lead to them developing their leadership styles and values. Most importantly, I learned that the hardest person you will ever have to lead is yourself because once you are fully comfortable with who you are, leading others authentically becomes much easier.

Leadership is something that comes natural for some and is a developed skill for others. If we take a look at the role of the leader, we look for certain traits in a person. For example, in grade school, there always seems to be clicks, large and small groups of people that cling together. When we examine these social sub-groups, we often find that there is always one person that leads the group. This person is usually the person that brings the group together. I remember being in social circles with people that I knew I would never be friends with. However, we may have one or two people in common, thus we remain friends. Overtime, we

How I formed my leadership philosophy: throughout my career, having worked with numerous different styles of leaders who all had a different style of leadership. They also had individual ways to deliver their message; these leaders are what helped create my personal leadership philosophy and style.

The current issues that are facing the Native Communities across United States is not the slot machines, movie sets or the football fields, as there many other problems facing the Native communities such as insidious, systemic, life or death problems; which will take years and many votes, marches to resolve the issue at hand. However, it will be given the attention to be recognized. The Federal government recognizes 567 tribes, 229 Alaskan Native villages and through this the Bureau of Indian Affairs is the federal agency that is in charge of relations with indigenous communities. Although each Tribal Nation is

How important it is to understand a leaders worldview is vital. When we are a leader or employee of a business a huge aspect of business ethics is loyalty, if we are in sync of the vision, policies, and model of the business then in order to succeed in our contractual duties is to believe in the direction of the business and display it. Loyalty is really forming us as an living billboard of what business we are associated with. How can we know this to be true let us take an interpersonal survey of how many conversations we have with family, friends, and others that the content of the dialog without fail is threaded with questions about the business your associated with and the direction it is going.

The psychodynamic leadership theory asserts that the first experience of leadership started on the day he or she was born. The rationale of the theory has its roots in the development of psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. The approach suggests leaders can become more efficient once they understand their own psychological makeup. It evaluates the psychological makeup of an individual by determining what motivates his or her reactions and responses to situations of people around them. The main intention of the approach applies to the enhancement of the overall situation the leader learns as well as their team members. Providing more awareness of the personality characteristics of team members, resulting in a better understanding

Path-goal theory deals with the leader's style to motivate followers, to accomplish set goals (Northouse, 2010). The path-goal theory is simply the implication that a leader works with an individual to establish a goal. The leader does this by individual motivation to achieve the proposed goal, while working through obstacles that may hinder achieving that goal (Whitener, 2007). The basic assumption of path-goal theory is that the following motivates subordinates: the capability to perform the work, their efforts will result in a certain outcome, and the payoff will be worthwhile (Whitener, 2007). The path-goal theory is a pragmatic approach that the leader uses to motivate the followers to achieve the set goals.

In the text on page 114, Dupree states the following: leaders, in a special way, are liable for what happens in the future, rather than what is happening day-to-day. Do you agree with the statement? Please explain your answer.

A particular leadership and character building experience I would like to highlight is my 5-year participation in the Southwestern Company Sales Program while in college from age 16 through 20. As Independent Dealer and Student Manager, I successfully surmounted the obstacles distinctive of the program such as selling door to door; organizing my own business; working at least 75 hr. a week every week of the summer; recruiting, training and motivating my own team; and, at the same time, overcoming the language and cultural barriers. The obstacles I had to face at the age of eighteen were so difficult that very few people in the company thought I would overcome them. But, I proved them wrong, and in recognition of my achievements, I received awards such as: the “Sizzler's Trip Award”, granted to student dealers with high level of sales during all summer; the “I Wanna Win Award”, won as a result of the level of sales during the last two weeks of the summer; “The President's Recommendation Award”, won for recruiting, motivating and training the largest Mexican Group in the 100 plus Company´s at age 19; further awards such as “The Salesman Ship Award”, “The Gold Seal Award”, membership in “The President's Club” and other recognitions.