How I Envision These Values Playing out in my Leadership? (Term Paper Sample)

Philosophy of Leadership
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date
Exercise 1
Below is a discussion of my leadership values.
VALUES

Personal Definition Of Values

How I envision these values playing out in my leadership?

Achievement

The ability to lead a team in an efficient manner towards achieving individual and organizational vision as a leader.

For any leader to realize the set goals and objectives of the organization, the achievement should be the core value, and this is the reason I embrace it in my leadership.

Authority

The power to control and administer responsibilities in an administrative and political way to ensure that critical decisions are solely made to avoid the long decision-making process.

Authority is important as it relieves me from the long decision-making process more especially in situations where general ideas are not needed thus helping me make quick decisions.

Friendship

This is the ability to create a healthy relationship between the leader and team members through mutual interactions that are in line with the organizations, goals, and objectives.

This is an important aspect for any leader, and it has helped me to get personal views on the work environment since workers feel free to share out problems hence avoiding escalation of the crisis in the workplace.

Self-respect

Confidence and pride in oneself and belief that what you do is right and should be emulated by others.

In my leadership, have learned that self-respect is key to self-confidence that helps me to act as a role model for my team members.

Decisiveness

The power or ability to make informed decisions when faced with difficult situations.

This is critical to the management of the organization, and it has helped me to make quick and reasonable decisions when am confronted with challenging circumstances that need my involvement as the leader.

Exercise 2
Positive and negative experience I have had in my leadership
In my role as a leader, I have had several positive experiences but the most exciting one that is ever proud about is the Marine Corp award I received for setting up a new vision that led to achievement organization’s targets. Since then there has been consistency in performance, and every team member knows what is what is expected of him or her about the achievement of set goals and objectives. This has also given me recognition in various platforms to speak about leadership and it has given me promotions from one rank to another every single year thus giving me motivation.
On the other hand, my leadership position has been characterized by many negative challenges, which I cannot forget to mention. One major problem was when I had come up with decisions that later turned so disastrous and since then team, members are so skeptical. This was when I needed to make a quick decision on matters relating to the welfare of the employees, but I made a mistake is not adhering to every complaint raised thus creating an enormous gap that led to increased crisis. From then I came to understand that even though some decisions requires quick decisions, it is important to involve a few representative to avoid such situations from arising.
Definition of leadership
Leadership is the act of founding a clear vision and sharing that vision with other individuals so that they may follow willingly by providing knowledge and methods to achieve the set vision as well as balancing and coordinating the conflicting interests of people and stakeholders.
How I came to understand my Definition on Leadership
I first came to know the definition of leadership when I became a leader of the five-member team. This was when I came to know that leadership is all about establishing clear insights and sharing the visions with group members to work in a team spirit. This is possible when you help each to understand the methods required to realize ideas and it contribute to averting conflicting interest.
Individuals and organizations that influenced my definition of leadership
General Colin Powell changed my definition of leadership. Colin Luther Powell retired a four-star general in the US Army. He once served as the Unites States Secretary from the year 2001-2005, serving under the tenure of former president George W. Bush. Powell is so far the on African America who has served the position of Joint Chiefs of Staff. In his leadership, Powel embraced leadership values such as self-respect, decisiveness, and authority that ensured discipline in the service. This made me understand better on the meaning rather than the mere perception that I had about leadership.
What were my assumptions?
Before I came to know what leadership is and what it entails, I just felt it is a simple task that one had to lead a group with no personal values guiding him or her. My assumption was that leaders were born possessing leadership qualities that are not the case. Any person can develop leadership quality through learning and experience gained and whenever you are in a leadership position you learn new styles of which I did not know.
What influenced my assumptions?
My assumptions were influenced by the thought I had that leaders had unique traits that I did not possess. Later on, I came to know that leadership involves different styles, and every manager chooses the best approach that can help him delegate to his or her group members.
Would others (peers, friends, superiors) see the situations I described differently?
Yes. To some extent, every individual has a different definition of leadership and values of a leader. However, the different description there is similarity that cannot be ignored while trying to give personal meaning. In most cases, the definition might be similar, but the values differ.
Exercise 3;
1 Can people who have caused others harm be leaders, e.g. Adolph Hitler?
Yes, they can be leaders. As discussed above every leader possess unique traits that he or she uses in executing duties. However, leadership does not guarantee one to do injustices to others as the law is against it.
2 Leaders should possess certain traits to lead others.
For a leader to succeed in leading a group, it is important to look at personal qualities to ensure he or she is the right leader. This also ensures that there is no inefficiency in leadership positions, as some people do not have qualities to lead others.
3 How do leaders gain credibility?
A leader gains credibility once he or she has shown the power to lead and influence followers to one goal and objective. On the other had a manager can gain credibility through changes that he or she brings into the systems, and they contribute to desired improvements.
4 What do you think is the purpose of leadership?
The aim of leadership is to give direction and control over a group to ensure all members are working as a team for a particular goal. Besides, leadership ensures that there are order and clear structure of the organization to ensure efficiency and accountability for various situations.
Is leadership behavior developed through personal experiences or external forces?
Normally, leadership behavior is established through personal experiences. As mentioned before, individuals who in leadership positions are in a continuous learning process and every time they acquire new skills depending on the situation. Thus, there is no external force that can drive an individual to develop certain behavioral traits concerning leadership.
Exercise 4:
My Leadership Philosophy
As the leader will make sure that, we are focused on our mission by ensuring that we uphold readiness in executing our duties anytime. Our top most priorities will be standards, preparation and fundamental values of achievement, self-respect, authority, decisiveness, and friendship. This values will enable us to meet the purpose of the service.
I believe that for t...