Is self-confidence necessary for effective leadership - Essay Example

IS SELF-CONFIDENCE NECESSARY FOR EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP INTRODUCTION The notion that because somebody is being followed by others does not automatically mean that he is a leader; a person may follow somebody because he is being paid, intimidated, forced, or may have been deceived (Soriano, E. F., 2004).DEFINITION The strict meaning of self-confidence is "confidence in yourself and your own abilities (Encarta Dictionary, 2006)." Self-confidence means assurance, belief in yourself and your abilities without any doubt.

SELF-CONFIDENCE: OF DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVESThe question now is - "Is self-confidence the real essence of an effective leader"Defining confidence produces different perspectives from different people.According to Hollenbeck, G. P., and Hall, D. T., self-confidence is one of the factors that carries some to achievement and, when missing, causes others to fail, or even fail to try. They also mentioned the review conducted by Alexander Stajkovic and Fred Luthans concluding that - "Self-confidence can translate into significant performance improvements.

" Learning to be lowly and learning to be small will make us great somedayThere is a great host of leaders recorded in the Bible. If we have to learn their ways, faith, principles, and beliefs, we will come to the inevitable conclusion that these great leaders like Moses, Noah, Peter, Paul, and many others, was found to be able and successful leaders because they have learned to accept that they are nothing; that the Creator is able to produce great things from nothing. Nothingness is the best place and idea to start a creation.

When we do something out of something that already exists, we fashion it in a manner by which we always consider the kind of material that exist; but everything is possible, and every idea can be freely conceived if you create something out of nothing like what God have done (Soriano, E. F., 2004). Hollenbeck and Hall also mentioned in their article that "Leader's self-confidence causes followers to believe in the capabilities of the leader and the direction set." Contrary to that, Soriano said that "A leader, in the truest sense of the word, must be someone being followed intelligently by followers of understanding.

The kind of people that follows reflects that kind of leader someone is. Blind followers that follow blind leaders are sure to end up in perdition. A leader by his leadership must be able to produce other leaders" So Soriano wants to tell that it is not through self-confidence that you will be considered as effective leader, a follower will follow because he understands the command and the purpose why he should follow, while Hollenbeck and Hall tells us that you must first have self-confidence that they people might see in order for them to follow.

I think Soriano's statement is logical than Hollenbeck and Hall's. We know for a fact that almost all leaders of different nations considered God, and this part of history further proves us that claim - In a nonstop day that began with prayers in the morning and ended with partying at night, George W. Bush became the 43rd U.S. president Saturday, promising in his inaugural address to build "a single nation of justice and opportunity (CNN, 2001)." CONCLUSIONIf you will only believe in yourself and in your own capabilities, you as a human, though how great and powerful you may be, have limitations, but there is someone who can extend beyond your limitations and capacities, and that's within the power of the Almighty God.

REFERENCESCaetano, A., Vala J., & Leyens, J. P. (2001). Judgeability in person perception: The confidence of leaders. Group Dynamics, 5(2), 102-110. De Cremer, D., & van Knippenberg, D. (2004). Leader self-sacrifice and leadership effectiveness: The moderating role of leader self-confidence. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 95, 140-155. Kanter, R. M. (2004). How leaders gain (and lose) confidence. Leader to Leader, 35, 21-27. Hollenbeck, G. P., & Hall, D. T. (2004). Self-confidence and leader performance.

Organizational Dynamics, 33, 254-269.Wallace, K., Associated Press, Reuters. (2001). President and first lady welcome visitors to the 'people's house'. Retrieved November 11, 2006 from http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/21/bush.sunday/index.htmlSoriano, E. F. (2004). The Essence of being a Leader. Believer News Magazine, 8-10.http://thinkexist.com/quotations/leadership/