Personal Philosophy of Leadership Essay Example

and pragmatic thinking are nurtured, while feelings of empathy, mildness, and bountifulness are rejected.

Despite the passing of time, I experienced a void within me. Even though I have a fulfilling family life with a marriage of 30 years, two sons, and grandchildren, as well as a prosperous career, I felt incomplete. The reason being, I hadn't fully given myself to God. This sudden revelation was profound. I had been too absorbed in my personal life all these years, oblivious to the fact that only through God can one find true completeness. As such, after a 16-year tenure as a manager, I chose to resign from my job with the vow to dedicate my time to serve God in my own modest ways.

In my contemplative moments, I have identified the dilemma for certain Christian business individuals and professionals lies in merging hard-hitting, pragmatic thinking (linked to successful business operations) with emotions, gentleness, and generosity (associated with victorious Christianity).

I have come to the understanding that by studying and adhering to Jesus Christ in His role as a leader, I can achieve this. Although operating a business may not be identical to guiding in the realm of God, undoubtedly, the everlasting values of human comprehension we receive from studying Jesus are relevant in managing and interacting with people universally.

In the beginning, Jesus didn't view His disciples as tools to achieve His success, but instead as individuals who needed motivation and growth. As such, He gave due regard to the personal shortcomings and weaknesses of his disciples, tailoring His advice appropriately while always focusing on the problem but never belittling the person.

He positively influenced them towards their potential, altering

their perception of success. By doing so, He helped them to exceed their own capabilities.

I have great respect for Jesus as he brilliantly identified the potential in his disciples, thoroughly understanding their strengths and deficiencies, and skillfully guided them towards achieving greatness. To illustrate, Jesus recognized leadership qualities in Peter, but also observed his tendency to be overly assertive, excessively demanding acknowledgment, and prone to exceed his capabilities. Consequently, Jesus unveiled to Peter that while a person could be well-regarded by worldly judgment, God's evaluation could be significantly contrasting.

Upon gaining these insights, I began to draw nearer to God. After perusing an article about servant leadership traits, I garnered numerous insights about this leadership style and how it can be implemented and fostered by leaders and managers within their respective organizations. I realized that I could utilize these principles in my engagements with various establishments I'm part of, including Sunday School, Evangelism Ministry, Prayer Ministry, and Women's Ministry. Furthermore, these servant leadership principles can be integrated into my personal mission of providing assistance to distressed women.

Primarily, I've discovered that servant leaders exude an innate drive to assist and benefit others, as they hold a conviction that individuals are precious and should grow. These leaders harbor a desire to effect change for others, readily involving themselves in situations that could impact others' lives. Consequently, they willingly put aside their personal goals for the welfare of others.

Leaders who practice servant leadership are also excellent listeners. They genuinely care about and are receptive to other's thoughts and contributions. Furthermore, they can empathize and comprehend the challenges and situations of others.

Moreover, servant leaders cultivate individuals by equipping them

for their fate, generally for society's enhancement. Setting up a constructive shift for the future echoes the mindset of stewardship associated with servant leaders.

When it comes to fostering a sense of community, they possess a passionate understanding of community spirit. They put in considerable and unceasing effort to cultivate this spirit within an organization, based on their belief that an organization should operate like a community.

Leaders and managers have the ability to nurture a servant leadership approach within a company by acting as exemplars and establishing an atmosphere of shared goals and confidence. Furthermore, they can advocate for and demonstrate the honorable attributes of guardianship, active listening, understanding, persuasion, consciousness, restoration, anticipation, and development within the workforce of a firm.

Upon gaining such profound understanding of servant leadership, I felt motivated to embody this leadership style myself. I pledged to dedicate my life to the service of God and His followers.

Section Two

Under the scope of the leader-member exchange (LMX) model, the varying aspects of leader-member relationships are defined by the "negotiating latitude" which the leader allows the member. This negotiating latitude arises from (a) the leader's openness and readiness to accept changes in the member's role and (b) notwithstanding their official authority, the leader's predisposition to use their positional power to help the member in addressing job-related issues. Various studies suggest a positive correlation between a member's negotiating latitude and their level of satisfaction with the leader.

The Path-Goal Theory of Leadership was formulated to illustrate how leaders encourage and support their followers in achieving their set goals by simplifying and clarifying the path they need to follow.

The Situational Leadership Theory purports that different leadership styles are

more advantageous in varying contexts, recommending that leaders should have the ability to tailor their style based on their specific situation. This theory proposes that an effective situational leader is capable of promptly adjusting their leadership approach as the context evolves.

The Trait Theory/Approach suggests that people are born with specific inherited qualities, some of which are ideally suited for leadership. Additionally, it assumes that those who exhibit effective leadership possess an adequate and proper mix of these traits.

The Contingency theory posits that a leader's effectiveness relies on numerous situational variables, including their preferred approach, the actions and skills of their followers, and an assortment of other contextual factors.

Conversely, transformational leadership proposes that people are inclined to follow someone whom they find motivational and inspirational. This leadership style maintains that an individual with passion and vision can achieve numerous notable feats, and believes that the key to these achievements lies in instilling energy and enthusiasm.

In my opinion, out of all the modern leadership theories, my personal leadership beliefs strongly align with the transformational leadership approach.

According to Bass (1985), transformational leadership transcends the mere trade of rewards for performance. Instead, it intellectually invigorates and motivates followers to transcend their individual interests in favor of a higher shared and collective purpose.

Transformational leadership involves not only identifying with the leader but also sharing a vision and prioritizing the organization's needs over personal interests. Such leaders inspire their followers to go above and beyond what's expected of them. Furthermore, they motivate followers to strive towards a shared vision. They inspire through motivational speeches, idealistic influence, intellectual stimulation, and paying attention to each individual's needs.

Upon self-assessing my personal leadership

approach, I've come to understand that transformational leadership resonates with me substantially as I currently incorporate it into my life.

Upon introspection, I concluded that I utilize various elements of transformational leadership in my own life. These include:

The primary element being ideal influence. It's my belief that an authentic bond of trust must be formed between leaders and their followers. If the leadership is truly transformational, the leader's charisma or ideal influence is demonstrated through staunch ethical and moral standards. For both the leader and follower, trust originates from a robust ethical and moral bedrock.

Inspirational motivation, the second aspect, provides followers with meaningful challenges and a sense of importance in engaging in common objectives and projects. The leader's call to what should be accomplished fuels everyone's motivation to advance.

The following element is cerebral provocation. This stimulation aids adherents in reviewing suppositions and formulating more inventive solutions to challenges. The leader's vision provides the background which allows followers to understand and perceive their relationships with the leader, the institution, their peers, and the goal. Upon obtaining this comprehensive perspective and being given liberation from norms, leaders can innovatively overcome any roadblocks that obstruct the mission.

Finally, the aspect of personal consideration is crucial. It involves recognizing each follower as a unique individual and providing them with mentorship, coaching, and opportunities for development. This approach does more than just train future leaders; it also satisfies an individual's desire for self-realization, self-esteem, and self-satisfaction. Additionally, it subtly encourages followers towards further personal growth and success.

As a Sunday School teacher, I've come to understand that there's potential to curate transformative learning experiences for students. Citing Cashman (1998), effective leadership

thrives on successfully reconciling polarities, thereby resulting in an evenly balanced individual. This balance can be achieved by making informed choices, maintaining awareness, allocating time for relaxation and introspection, engaging in physical and mental activity, simplifying and appreciating life. Being a comprehensive leader is characterized by priorities set on essentials, perceiving growth and progress as an ongoing journey, wholly embracing and acting upon one's responsibility, favoring consistency over intensity, discarding doubts and negative thoughts, putting into practice your beliefs, and fostering self-awareness.

Section Three

Leadership possesses the ability to sway individuals or groups towards achieving objectives (Schein, 1997). Leadership as a procedure, shapes an organization or group's aims, incites behavior for the fruition of those aims, and aids in defining the group or organizational culture. Fundamentally, it is a process of impact. Personally, I reckon the five key elements of effective leadership to be:

1) The capacity to sway individuals or groups towards meeting their objectives. Leadership as a procedure forms an organization or group's goals, spurs behavior for reaching those objectives, and assists in determining the organizational or group culture. Primarily, it's an influential process.

Leadership is a dynamic and changing procedure in that, whilst the element of influence is always prevalent, those wielding such influence can shift. Furthermore, the application of influence hinges on the context and its correlation to an individual's competencies and capabilities relevant to the situation. For instance, if someone possesses the necessary expertise and understanding required to address an issue, one could assume they hold a degree of influence over others.

As an example, some managers have the ability to inspire their team to strive towards achieving the company's goals. However, merely bestowing formal

authority upon a manager doesn't necessarily transform them into a leader. Undeniably, they possess power, yet their ability to motivate their staff might depend on more than just this granted authority.

2) The process can be characterized as transactional, where leaders respond to the basic lower level and security needs of their subordinates. Both leaders and their subordinates may be seen as negotiating parties, their respective power controlling an exchange process where benefits are distributed and received. Consequently, a subordinate may choose to follow a leader if they are acknowledged to have the capacity to fulfill specific essential needs.

There are cases where supporters of a political figure may be quite unsure. If their desired requirements are not met by the policies implemented by the leader's administration, these supporters may swiftly shift their allegiance - supporting another candidate - in the upcoming election.

3) It's crucial for every leader to possess the skill to create an influential vision that can guide people to new heights, as well as the ability to actualize that vision. Current leadership-based literature tends to depict the leader as the one preserving the vision, the guardian of the dream, or the person that upholds an image of the organization's meaning.

In his book "Leadership Is an Art" (1989), De Pree claims that the main duty and obligation of a leader is to "define reality". He continues to emphasize that leaders have the role to "manage the dream". In this context, he illustrates vision as the power that gives sense to the members of an organization.

The aspect of leadership known as "visionary leadership" comprises four distinct types of vision: organizational, personal, future, and strategic. The organizational

vision entails a comprehensive understanding of the system's elements and their interconnections. Personal vision relates to the leader's individual goals within the organization and provides motivation to align organizational and future visions. Future vision paints a detailed picture of the organization's future state, including its internal workings and position in the larger ecosystem. Strategic vision involves bridging the current reality (organizational vision) with potential future scenarios (future vision) in a unique manner (personal vision) that aligns with the leader and organization's needs. Therefore, for the leader's vision to be realized, it is essential for it to be embraced by all individuals involved in achieving it.

Indeed, a key aspect of vision is the idea of “shared vision.” Some research suggests that it's the presence of this individual vision from the leader, communicated with those in the organization, that may differentiate real leaders from mere managers.

4) Not only do leaders propel the progress of a united vision, they also value the human assets within their establishments. Their provision of a progressive environment augments individual contribution to the enterprise's operations. These leaders bolster and maintain the cooperative relations birthed in the course of cultivating and executing a shared vision. They formulate teams, support team endeavors, boost the abilities demanded by individuals and groups, and offer the required resources - both human and material, for the successful realization of such a collective vision.

5) One can measure the success of an effective leader by their capacity to "accomplish the correct tasks." This often involves undertaking what others have overlooked while bypassing unproductive activities. Without the developed mental habits that mold them into outcomes, imagination, intelligence, and knowledge may

all prove futile in a leadership role.

In addition to various aspects of leadership, I will also present some personal insights on this topic. Firstly, my belief is that effective leaders avoid "fragmentation" and instead, focus on one endeavor or project at a time, certainly not more than two. As Drucker stated, "I haven't found an executive who can maintain effectiveness when juggling more than two tasks simultaneously." He further added that efficient executives set priorities and stick to them. Once the first task is complete, a fresh assessment of "what needs to be done next" is carried out.

As noted by De Pree in 1989, leadership is a dynamic or fluctuating process. Even though influence is a constant factor, the individuals wielding that influence could shift. In addition, the extent of influence control hinges upon the situation as well as the applicability of individuals' skills and abilities to it. For instance, if someone possesses the expertise and proficiency needed to tackle an issue, s/he can be considered as having some influence over others.

De Pree (1989) suggests that despite some managers' ability to guide their followers towards achieving organizational goals, simply conferring formal authority on a manager doesn't necessarily qualify them as a leader.

Bennis and Nanus (1985) emphasized that leadership and management are not interchangeable, informing that while all leaders might not be managers, not every manager is necessarily a leader. Within a team setting, these are simply roles undertaken by team members. Most teams require a manager to oversee - coordinate, connect, liaise, organize, procure, and schedule - their operations; this role can potentially vary greatly from that of the leader. As De Pree's article suggests,

occupying management positions doesn't necessarily mean possessing the ability to influence. On the other hand, a leader should inherently have the capacity to influence their team members.

In my view, the development of leadership qualities is a lifelong journey that hinges greatly on an individual's willingness to allow for it. All of us inherently possess the capacity to evolve through personal experiences, rigorous training, challenging situations, and the impact of mentors. Indeed, we have demonstrated our capability for lifelong learning. Given we have the aptitude for leadership, the key consideration thereafter revolves around our readiness to learn and the sacrifices we are prepared to make.

The level of personal development a leader experiences is a result of skill, potential, and desire. Our inherent traits, determined by genetics, provide a foundation, yet they are surpassed by the impact of gained knowledge, personal experiences, mentorship influence, overcoming biases, and the work ethics we've ingrained within us. In essence, the attainment of leadership prowess requires adopting personal accountability to achieve it.

I'm of the opinion that outstanding leaders, both from our personal experiences and throughout history, share a universal trait — they all have capitalized on their innate talents and utilized every opportunity and situation to achieve the best possible outcomes. Furthermore, I firmly believe that the art of effective leadership can be learned, but this requires the education to be perceived as pertinent, engaging, beneficial, interactive, well-structured, and continually reinforced within the professional setting. Undoubtedly, a wide range of studies can help achieve this goal.

People often wonder if one can exhibit leadership without management skills, or vice versa. Denhardt et al. (2002) suggested that the fundamental attributes of management, such

as adeptly wield power and influence, working well within a variety of groups, and effectively communicating and inspiring others, form the foundation for leadership.

From my perspective, there's a significant interaction between the roles and abilities associated with leadership and management. It's quite evident that both leadership and managerial skills can be likened to conjoined twins. Although they might be distinct in nature, they frequently intermingle and are inextricably connected. As illustrated by J.P. Kotter in 1991, leadership and management are two supplementary activities. Success in a progressively unpredictable and complex business landscape necessitates both.

Finally, I maintain that leadership and management are linked closely. This implies that management provides leadership with stability and organization, and conversely, leadership brings management into fruition through successfully motivating the entire group to give their best effort. As a result, in order to be efficient, one should be proficient in both domains.#