My Leadership Philosophy

When I think of a leader, I see someone who stands out. I see someone who is courageous and wants to take the lead. I see someone who chooses to create there own path, rather than taking the one everyone else is taking. As I learn about the qualities and the traits of leadership, I began to self evaluate on how I see myself as a leader.

Who am I as a leader? What comes to mind when you hear the word leader? Some would think of our Commander in Chief, others may think of their boss or their teachers. All of these are just titles. I believe that leadership is something that can’t be narrowed down into a title or a position of employment. The choices we make and the obstacles we conquer is what I believe to define us as a leader. With the personal experiences I have had to bear as a U.S. Marine Infantryman and civilian worker, my leadership abilities have proven dedication to my team, knowledge and determination in specific trade, and the ability to motivate those around me.

Leadership is a skill that one is not able to learn based on a set teaching, but rather a skill based off personal experiences. I am the leader, everywhere I turn, everyone I talk to, from a school game to a class party – feeling like I am critiqued for everything I do and say.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” These are profound words spoken by John C. Maxwell. Leadership is something that is required in society to show guidance and reliability when the way seems unclear to others. Leadership is a life skill that everyone can possess. I am a leader who leads not only by my words, but also by my actions.

In my next sit down with Mr. James, I decided to focus more on his interest and his leadership abilities. Although we spoke on who inspires him and what motivates him to stay in the music education field, I still felt the need to dig deeper into why he chose to be a music educator. After greeting him and taking a seat I got started with my first question “What are some of your interest?” After taking a minute to think about the question Mr. James took a deep breath and responded “I am interested in many different. Primarily, what I am most concerned with is music, community, and politics. Music again because I feel like it connects most of my other interest. It’s a form of communication, whether your happy or sad it gives you emotion and an

To me, leadership is not about being in charge of someone. It is knowing the group of people you are going to work with and being able to understand how it works best. Leaders need to understand who they are as people and what you need to do in order to be successful: how people learn, what they accept, and how well they can work with others.

A leader is someone who has an inspiring vision and motivates people to engage in the vision. He imparts other people by laying down a pattern to follow. As a leader, there are certain qualities that I must exhibit for people to accept me as a good leader, a few of these qualities include; intelligence, confidence, integrity, patience, determination and persistence. Meanwhile, I will need to work on a few of my leadership qualities to effective in leadership positions.

With regards to leadership, my strength lies in my desire to help everyone. A leader has to put the group first and make every decision with that principle in mind. When freshman approach me in the hallway, eyes wide with terror and uncertainty, I stop and ask them what they need. If the track team needs and extra runner for a race, even if I despise that race, I’ll step up. My philosophy is to lead by example, not by command. I’ve found that simply telling people what to do is the most ineffective way to actually get them to do it. For example, I am very passionate about track and want the track team to do extremely well at state this year. Instead of giving a rousing speech about courage and strength, I started training months in advance. By making myself better, I encourage others to be better too. I’m not the best on the team by a longshot, but by working hard I inspire others to be better than me. My goal by the end of track season is not to be the best on the team, but for the rest of the team to be better because of me. By doing that extra lap I hope to inspire others to do the same.

What does it mean to be a leader? Do you look at strong political figures, or humble community organizers? Do you look to glamorous movie stars, or to brilliant scientists? Would you say these people are leaders in what they do?

I would like to start my essay with the reason I want part of TET. Leadership. Vision.

People view the role as a leader as something that someone has to have a lot of experience in, but in reality it is not about the past experience itself. As Robin S. Sharma says, “Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It's about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers.” Being a true leader is based on how you develop as a person based on past experiences and based on the people around you who influence you. Being a leader to me is being someone who inspires everyone to push forward whether they are struggling or soaring.

Over the years as a student body, as individuals and as young adults we have been presented with the question, ‘what is a leader?’ personally, I find the answer constantly changing. In respect to the continual growth of my understanding of people, the world and myself; what defines a leader to me evolves based on the experiences and individuals I encounter. An enormous contributor to my concept of leadership has been the St Hilda’s environment and our our motto of Non Nobis Solemn. It seems that no matter how the definition may expand and evolve, there are certain qualities and beliefs which are recurrent and remain at the foundation. It is my understanding that I can bring forth a number of these idiosyncrasies as an individual and possibly,

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I use to be the upholder of this saying prior to beginning my studies in Organizational Leadership. I was not a person who liked change. As a matter of fact, I hated it. I could never understand why we had to change something at work when nothing was wrong with it in the first place. I thought it was stupid and a waste of time. Now, I have come to understand why change is so important. It is catalyst to improving oneself and the growth of an organization. I have become open to performing activities in fundamentally new ways, even though the old way worked just fine domestically. In my previous workplace, I was charged with heading the transition from our old software system to the new one. We would be using this new software for all of our current and future

Leadership is not something that you inherit. Leadership takes self-commitment, and dedication to obtain. There were many people, as well as situations in my life that made me want to become a better leader. This personal self-commitment to being a leader is why it is my favorite thing.

Leadership is at its core an abstract idea; what is the manifestation of leadership is style. Each leader has some type of philosophy, know or unknown. This would be what I call a “leadership belief.” Irwin says, “As with others we must vet these beliefs and root out any that are fundamentally untrue.” (Irwin 2014) This subject may be one of the more important subjects in a person’s life. In my very core I have beliefs, and these beliefs matter. When a leader has a belief or even a mistaken belief it is manifested in his behavior. As Dr. Irwin wrote in “Impact: Great leadership Changes Everything” “How we act depends on what we believe about people and their trustworthiness to do their jobs” (Irwin 2014) My philosophy tells others how I will behave. In the culture of today I