The question whether someone has the foundational traits to be a great leader or not is a difficult one to respond to. As seen in the previous discussion, leadership is a field that has extensively been explored by different scholars and philosophers who provide dissimilar (sometimes conflicting) views. Good leadership takes more than just traits; it also involves organizational context and generic qualities expected by the followers ( Marshall and Broome, 2017). For that reason, the correct response to the concern lies in a person’s leadership profile which, from a general view, is a product of a blend of unique talents, personality, generic and contextual qualities as revealed by various assessment tools.
My personal philosophy on the subject of leadership is that people are uniquely created and each one of us has unique talents. Some of these talents, regardless of the field, are instrumental to a person’s ability to lead. That being the case, my opinion is that leaders are made by identifying key attributes and talents and working to improve them. My view of leadership stems from theoretical models of behaviorism and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. According to the outcome of an evaluation using Gallup’s StrengthFinder assessment, my five main themes of talent include futuristic, strategic, ideation, connectedness, and includer . Additionally, factoring in my personality into the equation, I believe I have what it takes to be a good leader. Despite considering myself a leader, I must improve on some skills before I put them into practice.
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Some of the areas I need to work on include values, strengths, and characteristics. Value is one’s standards or principles that govern their behavior. The concept of values is essential in leadership (Storsletten & Jakobsen, 2015). Wisdom and service are core values that I believe I need to polish to improve my effectiveness as a leader. Leaders spends most of their time making critical decisions that sometimes involve multiple key stakeholders. It is only through wisdom that a leader can make the right decisions no matter the situation. Service refers to the commitment to the common good as opposed to fulfilling one’s self-interests.
Although I am a good communicator and a confident leader as well, I still feel that good communication and confidence are valuable strengths that I need to improve. As an aspiring effective leader, I need to be confident to make sure the commands I give are followed. Commands can only be followed by having confidence in my decisions and qualities. Communication is critical in leadership, and as a person who deals with a wide range of issues, listening, and verbal (and non-verbal) skills must be excellent (Storsletten & Jakobsen, 2015). Improving above skills will ensure that I appropriately communicate my vision and strategies to the team.
A person ’s characteristics stem from their personality. I regards to leadership, as pointed out earlier, I am a humble and an easygoing person. Personal traits that need strengthening include empathy and passion. Empathy is one of the key ingredients for establishing positive and productive relationships. It helps a leader connect with his/her followers (Obolensky, 2017). Having learned that subordinates look up to their leaders who must be effective, I have to give them my all which include being overly passionate.
Leadership has various meaning to different people, and this is attributed to a wide range of leadership theories that approach the phenomenon differently. My leadership profile is built from the foundational tenets of behavioral theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I, therefore, firmly believe that leadership involves knowing the way, having what it takes to go the way and showing everyone the way. A leader has unique capabilities and flexibility to maneuver through different organizational contexts to meet the expectations of his/her followers.
References
Marshall, E., & Broome, M. (2017). Transformational leadership in nursing: From expert clinician to influential leader (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Springer
M. Taylor, C., J. Cornelius, C., & Colvin, K. (2014). Visionary leadership and its relationship to organizational effectiveness. Leadership & Organization Development Journal , 35 (6), 566-583.
Obolensky, N. (2017). Complex adaptive leadership: Embracing paradox and uncertainty . Routledge.
Storsletten, V. M., & Jakobsen, O. D. (2015). Development of leadership theory in the perspective of Kierkegaard’ s philosophy. Journal of Business Ethics , 128 (2), 337-349.
