Personal Narrative: A Career As A Transformational Leader

I am emailing to tell you that my major change to mangement was completed today! Furthermore, I am curently on the wait list for both MGT 471 and MGT 390. Yesterday when we met, we both discussed that you would only be able to get me into 471 but you would have to talk to the professor about 390.

My selection into Leadership Rutherford would bring unity to the program and our region from my communication skills, my confidence in our county, and my positive attitude. My pride and love for our community will help to fuel the work that is presented to me from Leadership Rutherford and will allow my natural leadership tendencies to shine. During tasks that give me the opportunity to work with others, I listen with the intent to answer their questions and guide us in the correct direction; if accepted into Leadership Rutherford, I would help to continue to guide our county in the correct direction. Whenever I am out of the country and people ask where I am from, I proudly state "Rutherford County." Rutherford County is not only my birthplace,

Last spring, I was in Hershey Park, going on rides with my friends and having what was supposed to be the best time of my life with the Future Business Leaders of America club. For pictures, I smiled, but there was this nagging guilt inside of me. I tried to quell it. I told myself that I should be happy. I made it to the state level again, and I might make it to the national level again, too. Even so, I could not be sadder.

It was a humid August morning in Fork Union, Virginia when I, along with 42 of the finest cadets Fork Union Military Academy had to offer, boarded buses for a trip to our final training exercise of the 10-day leadership training course. This course was open only to cadets who had performed admirably in the prior school year. I was told the night before to be prepared for an orienteering course and to wear my battle dress uniform, which consisted of a pair of heavy, olive drab green cargo pants, a black polo shirt embroidered with the academy name, and a pair of carefully shined leather combat boots, the perfect uniform for a day of taxing exertion. When I arrived at Terry Farms, a school-owned plot of land that would serve as the orienteering course for that day, I surveyed my surroundings and saw acres of open fields bordered by dense forests filled with

Sure. I am working on a detail with Eastern States Office as a part of my Emerging Leader Program 2016. I am looking to be in DC this summer. I am also open in moving to DC office for political, legislative and overall DC experiences. I am interested in mineral focused areas especially in areas of mining.

I’ve always asked myself,” what does it really take to make it big? To play amongst the greats, how could I do that? Me, Skylar Ross, a young man with this desire, the passion, wanting to play side by side with legends, to become someone people talk about, is what has pushed me all these years. It drove me to become a better player, to become more informed about the sport. This also influenced me to become more intertwined with school, that way I could have a better chance at getting a scholarship at a college.

The leader demonstrates to the followers loyalty, trust, respect and admiration, with these the qualities of the transformational leader, they tend to work harder than originally expected that tends to have a link between effort and reward. These outcomes occur because the transformational leader offers followers something more than just working for self-gain; they provide followers with an inspiring mission and vision and gives them an identity. They believe in the organizational culture they find and specific methods of performing tasks. Transactional leaders are effective in getting specific tasks completed by managing each portion individually. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, transactional leaders focus on the lower levels of the hierarchy that is the very basic levels of need satisfaction. One way that transactional leadership focuses on lower level needs is by stressing specific task performance (Hargis et al, 2001). They are more concerned with processes rather than revolutionary ideas hence under their leadership change is least expected. Unlike them, transformational leaders end up changing existing organizational cultures by implementing new ideas.

I had been working for a children’s summer camp for three years, I had been supervised by the same manager for two years. On my third year working there in the summer, there was a new manager for the camp and I received a higher position, Division Leader. One of my responsibilities was dealing with children, parents and staff conflicts. During my third year, when my new manager, Jason came in, he also brought some of his old staff with him. During our training, there was one staff member that got my attention, Joseph who was a previous staff member of Jason. He was a very outspoken and enjoyed being a leader of activities. When I recieved my list of staff members, I noticed that he was on my list as a regular counselor. When I announced that he would be a regular counselor

Throughout high school, I continuously explored a wide variety of courses in an attempt to figure out what career path I may want to pursue. As senior year drew closer, the business field became more enticing. Furthermore, my aspirations were significantly impacted on the evening of September 14, 2016. I woke up that day and left for school as if it were any other day. After school, I drove to the softball field because we had a game and it just so happened to be Senior Night: the last home game. When it came time for my first at bat, I stepped up to the plate and hit a line drive between the first and second basemen, successfully making it to first base. The next player up to bat hit a double; I rounded second and sprinted for third. I clearly remember my coach kneeling on the ground to signal me to slide into third base. For some unknown reason, I hesitated and slid too late. I knew it was a bad slide, but I was focusing on whether or not I was safe. Then reality set in, I was safe, but I was not physically capable of standing up.

Until I reached high school, my parents never stressed about college. They never talked about college and majors or even scholarships. Moreover, I believed college was a dream, something that I shouldn’t pay much attention to. However, I desired to attend college, and at that time I assumed I would major in a math or science, or even become an engineer. My assumptions grew from my sister, who planned on being an engineer. When I entered high school, my sister began to stress about my education after high school to my parents considering her dream that I would become a success compared to her. Since my mother wasn’t informed on how our college system works in terms of how to apply and the importance of majors, she truly believed my sister’s

Transformational leaders’ focus is on the relationship of the leader with subordinates through encouragement, understanding, enthusiasm, and spur, while considering the individual. The leader motivates, possesses

Additionally, it is important to understand that “transformational leader tries to move the group

A mentor has played a vast variety of roles in my life, she has been a friend, an advisor and also a support system. She helped me realize my dream of becoming a nurse and encouraged me to take on new challenges and to take risks to get what I want. Additionally, she helped me deal with difficult life challenges, especially in times when I felt like giving up she was there, not to give me a shoulder to cry on but to be the silent support that I needed. The support that I knew will always be with me helping me along as I became an adult. As I become an undergraduate I will have a wide amount of help and mentors available. They will be the people who will provide me with all the resources and information that I will utilize as I began to start

Throughout the years I have been elected to many positions of leadership. It all started Freshman year, when I was elected class Secretary. I enjoyed organizing and helping with fundraisers for both the Student Council and my class. I realized that I wasn't too bad at it, either. My Sophomore year, I decided to aim for bigger goals. Soon, I was elected class Vice President, as well as Vice President of the Gay-Straight Alliance, lead artist for the Spirit Week banner, and Co-captain of the Biology League. My Junior year, I was elected President of the Gay-Straight Alliance, Vice President of the History Club, and once again the lead artist for the Spirit Week banner. Finally, during my Senior year, I was once again elected President of the

“ordinary transactional leaders, [exchange] tangible rewards for the work and loyalty of followers, and extraordinary transformational leaders [engage] with followers, [focus] on higher order intrinsic needs, and [raise] consciousness about the significance of specific outcomes and new ways in which those outcomes might be achieved” (Hay, n.d., para. 2)