Self and Leadership - Essay Example

First, I will present the results of a feedback survey I conducted with my family, friends, and business colleagues. I expect this to provide me with insight from those closest to me as I ask them to identify my strengths, weaknesses, and areas where I could improve. Then, I will assess the results of several standardized tests I took that will offer insight into my personality, intelligence, career strengths, etc. These more objective forms of self-analysis are instructive from a comparative perspective.

My scores will include a comparison to classification levels that are recognized as having a significant impact on the workplace. Following that, I will include a section on personal information from my family and past that has bearing upon my skills and functionality within the workplace. This, most personal, area of assessment will include my own biographical information as well as those events in my family's history that impacted my personal development. Finally, I will perform a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) analysis on myself using a synthesis of all of the information I have gathered.

I expect this methodology to be useful for providing a condensed presentation of all the data in the assessment and lead to specific goals for improving my leadership skills. My goal, during the course of this exercise, will be to explore my individual leadership capability and determine ways of making myself a better, more effective leader. During the course of the assessment, I expect to be able to communicate my personal and career goals, particularly as it relates to leadership within a business culture.

I perceive myself as the type of individual who looks forward to continuously advancing and improving my skills and knowledge. I try to identify the strengths and weaknesses I may have to help me grow and become a better leader. This assessment exercise will help me achieve my ultimate goal of establishing my own successful business so that I can obtain security and independence.Section I: Feedback My initial foray into increasing my intrapersonal intelligence involves a series of interviews with a group of my family, friends, and business colleagues; asking them to comment on me.

I must admit that doing this made me a little nervous. It is one thing to take a personality test or fill out an online questionnaire and have a computer rate your score. It is quite another thing entirely to conduct a face-to-face interview with people who are important to you while giving them the opportunity to speak candidly about you. We were advised to listen to the responses carefully, and try to say nothing at all; even if we did not hear what we expected or wanted to hear. As revealed in the assessment portion of this paper, I am a direct and focused person, which makes it hard for me to listen to something I don't want to hear.

Ironically, one of the comments from an interviewee was that I needed to "listen to peoples' ideas even if they don't agree with [me]."1 The methodology for this part of the assessment was straightforward. I personally met with each interviewee and asked them three simple questions about