essay on leadership 3

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Introduction

Being prepared for the real world and your role as a leader takes introspection and careful thought. If you have taken advantage of some of the self-assessments in the textbook, you may have found a personal baseline and have identified some of your natural strengths and also areas that you would like to develop. The first commandment of leadership is “Know Thyself” so the first step is to understand your leadership potential. During the course have you thought about how you have used leadership skills in your professional and home life. You may have naturally applied negotiating skills with family members or in asking for a pay raise. Identifying personal strengths can be an important way to give yourself a pat on the back for your leadership skills. You have been using leadership skills during your life that you may not have identified as such.

During this course you may have identified with some of the theories and techniques; and others you may want to learn more about. If you are in a leadership position you may have learned some techniques that will make you a better leader. Developing your philosophy of leadership is a good start to becoming a leader or a better leader. As you progress in your career and apply leadership theories and techniques, your philosophy can mature. The real-life case studies and the stories presented in the textbook and the movie about a leader that your analyzed can be a powerful way to understand leadership and make a lasting impact on your and those who are affected by your actions.

Activity Instructions
Now that you have completed this course on different theories of leadership and the application of those theories, you are ready to write a philosophy statement about your own personal understanding of leadership, informed by the theories and cases discussed this semester, and how it applies to you. Developing a philosophy of leadership is a dynamic process, as it grows and matures as the leader grows and matures. However, articulating a philosophy statement at any stage in a leadership program is essential as it makes a leader’s development planning much more effective.

In your philosophy statement, you must reflect on the following, applying concepts discussed in class:

  • Describe what leadership means to you.
  • Describe how your view and understanding of leadership has evolved throughout this semester.
  • Describe the theories and skills discussed in this course that are most helpful to you and that you already practice/possess (in other words, what you bring to the table).
  • Identify those skills that you do not possess or that you would like to focus on developing in the future.
  • Describe what you plan to do in the future with the knowledge and skills you have acquired this semester.

Writing Requirements (APA format)

  • 8 pages (approx. 300 words per page), not including cover page or references page
  • 1-inch margins
  • Double spaced
  • 12-point Times New Roman font
  • Cover page with name of paper, name of student, course name and number, name of professor, and date submitted
  • References page (minimum of 2 resources)

Grading and Assessment
This activity will be graded based on academic content, integration of resources, and college-level writing and grammar.

Course Learning Outcome(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
1. Develop a working definition of leadership.
2. Explain the salient theories of leadership.
3. Interpret the characteristics of leadership.
4. Recognize the contributions of scholarly research in the evolution of leadership theory.
5. Generalize the responsibilities of successful leadership experiences.
6. Construct a personal plan for leadership.