Am I a Leader: An Autobiographical Sketch - Essay Example

? Am I a Leader: An Autobiographical Sketch The essay aims to present an autobiography of how I discover and learned leadership. It also aims to present the different leadership qualities, style, and the comparative differences from a non-leader. Am I A Leader? Discovering Leadership in Me What makes a leader? What are the essential leadership qualities? Is being a leader an inborn trait or does it require time and due process? I really felt admiration for persons who become leaders. It is so amazing to unfold the honing of an exemplary individual who evolved to influence a group of people. I learned of the essential theories to become a leader from the academe and from contemporary experiences. It is one’s personal contention that that there are persons born and destined to become leaders. In my case, I realized it is a process encompassing developmental stages in one’s life span. As babies, parents provide assistance in personal care and needs. Through one’s personal development, children get to stand and walk on their own. We learn to exercise our sense of autonomy. There were times when there was the persistent conviction to negate our parents just to do what we want. In this stage of life, leadership of a growing child was clearly exemplified. It is a type of leadership involving the primary care giver and the child. Leadership is thereby recognized as the process of influence in other people to achieve a certain goal. At this stage, the only goal that one has is the gratification of needs, realized through either good or bad behavior. It seems that even as a child, one learned to influence and become a leader in simple ways. The first time we pursued academic endeavors, the start of the leadership process focus on enrichment. Through school plays, group activity, participating in discussions, and joining school organizations, leadership enrichment is reflected. We came to have peers that influence us or we get the chance to influence them. Leadership is clearly expressed and felt when friends and acquaintances ask one’s opinion regarding outfits, assignments, perception, and even fun activities and endeavors. Colleagues begin to value one’s opinions with regards to group perception. I became more competitive in the latter part of academic life. I joined different organizations and performed responsibilities concurrent with higher accountabilities expected of my position. I came to enjoy different social interactions from both genders. One became more focused on achieving higher grades because of the belief that as a profound influence to others. It manifests some form of power and authority. I envisioned to be more responsible, committed, and become a role model. That was the stage of my life that I felt that I truly became a leader. Qualities of a Good Leader But what are the qualities of a good leader? Did I have that power to lead? According to Warren Bennis (1990), managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing. Leaders are persons with character who strives for excellence. Leaders do not command a group to achieve excellence; rather, they are engaged in achieving excellence. One sees what is desired and goes after it. One attracts followers because of the will power, determination, energy, drive, and willpower. Of course, to be a leader, trust is the most essential thing. Trust builds good relationships between the leader and the follower. Since a leader influence a group of people, one must be inspiring and must show the confidence in achieving identified goals and endeavors. A good leader is acknowledged to treat others fairly; should display empathy and sensitivity to other people’s values, beliefs, and emotions. In a leader’s journey to reach identified goals, insurmountable amounts of stress are expected to be overcome. The leader must have enough courage to surpass challenges and be creative in dealing with trying situations. Until now, I am thinking of qualities that I exhibited enabling my peers to consider me as a leader. As I gained self-awareness and took my research in the qualities of a good leader, I believed that my peers appreciate my being honest, committed, being a visionary and highly competent to undertake diverse responsibilities. I have become aware of the need to be objective and to relay constructive criticisms for the purpose of challenging others to improve. I recognized the need to acknowledge mistakes and to take measures to address them. I became more of an optimist and a calculated risk-taker. We must have a vision, a clear and identified goal to achieve. I always plan all of my decisions and activities when faced with difficult situations. The manifestation of these traits and qualities paved the way for colleagues to acknowledge me as a true leader through time. Leader vs. Non-Leader With all the qualities and characteristics presented above, one can truly differentiate between a leader and a non-leader. A person can be categorized as the leader when one is able to influence others towards an identified goal. In contrary, a non-leader could manifest traits and characteristics of leaders but could not influence other people towards a common objective. Further, non-leaders could be part of a group of people but the commitment to enjoin others through motivation or other means of imposing rewards and sanctions are neither inherently eminent nor developed. There is something lacking in terms of personal desire, commitment, drive, enthusiasm and the capability to lead. Aside from lack of theoretical background on leadership, a non-leader does not possess any need or desire to excel and be profoundly instrumental in the transformation of people or of the organization to greater heights. Leading with Soul and Leadership Bolman and Deal’s “Leading with Soul” relates to the process of becoming a leader. One remarkable and noteworthy passage indicates that: “The heart of leadership is in the hearts of leaders. You have to lead from something deep in your heart." (Bolman and Deal, 2001) At first, a person who was not born to become a leader thinks that one is still in search of personal worth where goals are ambiguous and the vision towards the trodden path is unclear. One could be remunerating for a long time as well as proffering the future direction and sense of direction. As a leader, one plans for every event, every endeavor; and would not allow things to happen beyond one’s control. One must enter the journey of life so that experiences will help in the process of leadership. The heart of leadership is within the core competency of a leader – the commitment to transform into an improved status towards an identified goal. I see myself in this passage through academic years. I was uncertain of my goals and future plans. I was afraid of having no direction to take. I felt inspired with this passage. It made me aware that leadership can be continuously developed through time, with the appropriate theoretical guidance and with the right mentors. However, the start should come from one’s personal desire and drive to become one. The experiences had contributed to who I am today and where I want to be in the future. I intend to end up being a leader in my own way, influencing other people to achieve their respective goals. References Bolman, L.G and Deal, T.E (2001) Leading with soul: An cncommon journey of spirit. San Francisco,CA Jassey-Bass Bennis, W. (1990).Why Leaders Can’t Lead: The Unconscious Conspiracy Continues. Jossey- Bass, San Francisco. Read More