In What Role in Your Life Do You Function as a Leader - Assignment Example

In what role in your life do you function as a leader? Do you do it well? How so and how not? The role of mine as a leader in life is relevant in many contexts as in my family, in the university classes, the society etc. However, the one which I consider prominent is the leadership role in the society around me. To the best of my knowledge I am playing the role of a leader in an efficient way with relevance to the social responsibilities I hold. I could initiate many socially relevant activities in and around the university. My leadership role in many of the voluntary efforts towards social renovation has found success. More importantly I could encourage and lead many of my friends towards these voluntary movements and could utilize their skills and abilities in contributing towards the cause of the community. The best achievement of my leadership is that I could initiate in my friends, a vision for a sustainable approach in all realms and life and evoke their responsibility towards the society. ii) You are a member of many groups that may include these: family member, University Sem class, human race, dorm resident, sports team, etc. What is your biggest contribution, typically, to the groups in which you hold membership? My biggest contribution to the communities I have associated with is that I could successfully be a good family member. I could do my role to the best as a son (daughter), as a brother (sister) and adhered best to the family values. As it is the family that contributes the most towards the making of a good personality, this role of mine will ensure me to be responsible and successful in all realms of life to come across. When I was sent to school I made my parents proud as a good student. I could make them proud among their relatives and friends as a good person with bright future. With all the hard work done, the good fame could be maintained at the college level as well. My contribution to my neighborhood as well has been substantial. I could use my managerial capacities to negotiate with many of the public systems to bring in basic infrastructures in the local township. I could strategically unite people to have a unified voice resultantly increasing their bargaining capacity. This made their voice heard much better and the authorities could not stay away from addressing the issues. iii) Reflect on your role as a college student. Define and discuss the most significant challenge(s) you will face. My role as college student in many ways holds responsibilities of varied kinds. Apart from the academic level responsibilities which would form the foundation of my career, the college environment demands me to delver much more in the organizational and cultural perspective as well. The diversity among the students in terms of culture, language and social values requires a deliberate effort to bind them all together as a cohesive force. This binding process is required to maintain a healthy learning environment. Having very well understood the problems of new students especially from foreign countries on getting adapted to the learning environment, I have identified my role in being a facilitator in this adaptation process. However, the most challenging would be the same as well. The count of diversity is so immense that it becomes a difficult task to create a common platform. Deliberate efforts to pay respect to the cultural aspects of each communities that the students belong to would help this process to a larger extend. On the other side the assimilation of all the cultures and languages into a common one as followed by the college must be ensured. I realize the key role I can play in leading such a change process. iv) Read a current news article on two different types of leaders (one good, one note) and compare them based on a single, unique trait or characteristic that they share. For instance, two leaders may both be charismatic, but with different results. An ideal example of good leadership has been described in the article written by LaBarre P (1999). The leadership quality of Navy commander D. Michael Abrashoff’s has been explained in the article. He could successfully lead the team across difficult situations that were obvious to arise in front of the Navy officers who spend long periods in the uncertainty and vastness of the ocean. Kellerman B(2006) has explained the leadership of Patricia Dunn, the chair women of HP as a bad one with reference to her bad manners and display of bad leadership attributes at a public appearance. The trait that influenced both of their leadership skills in common is the communication skills. When Abrashoff used communication as a tool to reach up to all strata of the team and did win their heart, on the other side, Patricia Dunn with her public communication got badly famous as an icon of bad leadership in corporate America. v) Write about the three most important social changes you would like to see happen in your lifetime. Be sure to prioritize them. What can and will you contribute to the likelihood that at least one of these changes happens? The priority among the social changes that I wish to happen is the equity in distribution of resources among all people in the world. This would mean that the difference between the have and the have-nots would nullify. The distribution of education, economic resources, infrastructure and social values should get across the limitations of geographic boundaries. The next social change I would like to happen is the irradiation of racial discriminations. This is of high importance in the context of globalization which promotes the presence and active interaction of a range of people from different nationalities in all realms of business and other routine life activities. The third social change that I wish to happen is that the whole population of the world takes a sustainable approach towards the nature. This is quite important with reference to the increasing concerns on climate change and depleting global levels of natural resources. In my opinion, the change which has to be dealt in priority is the assurance of the equity in distribution of resources as it would in turn automatically promote the other two social changes. My part in making these social changes happen is to utilize my education and knowledge to extend the importance of these changes to the people and to the authorities. In my professional endeavors, I can evolve strategies which would promote the equity in opportunities in varied levels. vi) Consider your ability to change anything that is considered a current world circumstance. Assume that you could actually do what your heart desired to affect change by simply submitting your ideas to a higher power. What is your “anything” choice and why? My choice for change would be eradication of poverty. This is my choice of high priority because I believe that every one in the mankind deserves to have the minimal necessities of life including food, cloth and shelter while another portion of the population manages to live in their own luxury. I realize it as my responsibility as a fellow human to facilitate any process possible from my side so as to make the change happen. vii) Focus in one of your prejudices. How did you develop it? How do you nurture it? In what circumstances are you confronted by it? How do you address it? One of the prejudiced views that I have developed is that all the corporate professionals show least responsibility towards the society. This view was developed by me as I faced acute indifference in the corporate world where ever I tried to express my ideas on the social responsibility. When the Corporate Social Responsibilities of various organizations were found to be mere formalities, the view was further nurtured. However, this prejudiced view has restrained me from expressing my social concerns at many socially relevant stages. This further prevented many chances which would have helped me to convert my ideas into practically feasible action. I have made deliberate efforts to learn about the possibilities of corporate firms and professional engaging in social reforms. This has helped to me have an open mind with hopeful thoughts when further coming across such situations. References LaBarre P (1999) The Agenda: Grass Root Leaderships, in Fast Company, Retrieved March 28, 2009, from http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/23/grassroots.html?page=0%2C0 Kellerman, B (2006) Public Displays Of Bad Leadership, Retrieved March 28, 2009, from http://www.forbes.com/2006/09/10/clinton-dunn-hewlett-packard- cx_bk_0911kellerman.html Read More