Premium Essay

My Leadership Story

In:

Submitted By norakent
Words 1457
Pages 6
My Leadership Story
I’ve never considered myself a leader, not in the typical sense of the word. I’ve never considered myself a devout follower either. I’ve gotten better at doing my own thing; taking notice of the things I like and then adding my own mark. Growing up I wasn’t a ringleader among my peer group. I had the Irish Catholic knowledge of the difference between right and wrong ingrained in me so deeply I wasn’t afraid to voice my opinion if I was defending the right of someone else. Defending my own rights was a different matter and I found difficulty in telling the truth about my own desires. It made me feel like I was being selfish or unlikeable. I was little and cute and funny and I could get away with a lot in the way of devilishness. I had a good sense of humor in a self-deprecating way. It was easy to make fun of myself, a defense mechanism that served me well throughout the years. By poking fun at myself I stripped the opportunity from others by doing it first. I think that came about by being the sixth child in a family of eight kids. Getting away with things extended to various aspects of my development. My friends would joke that their parents thought I could do no wrong. I did do plenty of naughty harmless shenanigans; but that Irish Catholic upbringing allowed forgiveness with a couple of Hail Mary’s and an Our Father.

From the readings we’ve had in this class and a week full of self examination, I have realized that I was more of a leader than I originally gave myself credit for. I was first, a leader of my siblings, both younger and older. I also tried, in different capacities to be a leader of my peers on different occasions and out of necessity. The leadership role of mother and wife was probably the most important role I played; it ended the very first time I looked to another for leadership. Lastly, in my current leadership role that

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Julia's Tribute

...For those of you that don't know me my name is Brittany. I work at The Willows at Citation where I took care of Julia. For the short 3 months and 11 days that I knew Julia. I've learned something that no book could possibly ever teach me. On our Journey together I was constantly being moved and touched in ways that I often cannot describe. To live with Alzheimer's and still laugh, love and find joy is nothing short of amazing. I never got that chance to meet Julia when she was full of life and energy. Instead God blessed me with Julia on May 6th of this year. God had also blessed me with the ability to really connect with Julia. I spent many nights by her bedside, I've spent many hours listening, I've shared many tears with her daughter's and I've experienced many lifelong connections. Julia taught me the importance of living in the moment and finding joy in the small things. No two minutes were alike. Things were constantly changing and it put us on the wildest roller coaster ride imaginable. I must say it took a while and I'm sure I'm speaking for a few others when I say this but I came to realize that in order to survive, you must live in the moment and appreciate each and every good thing that happens, no matter how small. Sometimes you really have to dig deep to find the good in a lousy situation. The interesting thing is that bar is constantly moving. That thing that may have seemed completely insignificant a few months ago, can suddenly become the joy that gets...

Words: 781 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Gandhi

...First Television Interview." Fox Movietone News. Fox     Movietone News, FMN, April 30, 1931.               I found this source important to my research due to the fact that it’s a firsthand interview with Mahatma Gandhi and it shows his values and beliefs during that time period. Also within the video he says what his “plan of attack” is which is useful to hear from Mahatma Gandhi himself. However since this picture is a newscast they could have taken things out that they didn't want other people to hear or didn't believe themselves which is a negative. Another negative is that it doesn’t show the peoples beliefs at the time it just shows Mahatma Gandhi’s. Gandhi, Mahatma. "Mahatma Gandhi." Speech, Mahatma Gandhi from India, London, October 17, 1931.               I found this source useful due to the fact that is a speech and it shows Mahatma Gandhi’s views himself and it’s not an interview its him speaking to a crowd, However due to the fact that during a speech you’re trying to persuade a group of people. Mahatma could’ve said some things that he really didn't mean and he could've said it just to have people agree with him. Also it could be considered unreliable because it’s on YouTube and someone could have edited it and took things out. Gandhi, Mahatma. The Labor Monthly.  Vol. 14, April 1932     I found this source important to my research due to the fact that it’s a firsthand interview with Mahatma Gandhi and it shows his values and beliefs during that time period...

Words: 1740 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Short Essay on Mahatma Gandhi

...legal practice in South Africa. In South Africa he faced many hurdles. He discovered that white men were ill treating the dark Indians there. He himself was tortured and insulted by the white often. One day, he was traveling in a first class compartment of a train. He had booked a ticket for him. Still he was evacuated and punished out of the compartment by the white men. Gandhiji fought against this unjust and cruel treatment. He observed Satyagraha there and became successful. Gandhiji returned to India and took part in freedom fight. He was sent to jail many times. Now all the countrymen were with him. He started the Non-co-operation in 1930 and the Quit India Movement in 1942. He became famous as the 'Father of Nation'. Due to his leadership, ultimately India got freedom on 15th August 1947. Gandhiji's style of living was very simple. He was follower of 'Simple living, high thinking'. He taught us the lesson of 'Ahimsa'. He removed the caste barrier in India. He was a reformer. He was shot dead by an Indian on his way to attend a prayer on 30 January, 1948. Mahatma Gandhi is remembered in the world for his major...

Words: 266 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Mass Media -Advantages and Disadvantages

...Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in the town of Porbander in the state of what is now Gujarat on 2 October 1869. He had his schooling in nearby Rajkot, where his father served as the adviser or prime minister to the local ruler. Though India was then under British rule, over 500 kingdoms, principalities, and states were allowed autonomy in domestic and internal affairs: these were the so-called 'native states'. Rajkot was one such state. Gandhi later recorded the early years of his life in his extraordinary autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth. His father died before Gandhi could finish his schooling, and at thirteen he was married to   Kasturibai, who was of the same age as Mohandas himself . In 1888 Gandhi set sail for England, where he had decided to pursue a degree in law. Though his elders objected, Gandhi could not be prevented from leaving; and it is said that his mother, a devout woman, made him promise that he would keep away from wine, women, and meat during his stay abroad. Gandhi left behind his son Harilal, then a few months old. In London, Gandhi encountered theosophists, vegetarians, and others who were disenchanted not only with industrialism, but with the legacy of Enlightenment thought. They themselves represented the fringe elements of English society. Gandhi was powerfully attracted to them, as he was to the texts of the major religious traditions; and ironically it is in London that he was introduced to the Bhagavad Gita. Here, too, Gandhi...

Words: 308 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Wheatley Leadership

...Gonzales Wenchey Johnson Looking back on your business and personal experience, do you have any stories to tell that contrast the “old” and the “new” stories of leadership as Wheatley, describes them? Have you practiced or been informed by either leadership approach? Wheatley (2007) describes the old story of leadership as “a story of dominion and control, and all-encompassing materialism.” It can be explained by analogizing it to a machine; a lifeless object that does not have the capability to think, feel, or make decisions. It, the machine, functions quite like the old story of leadership by where there are many more managers (machines) than leaders. An ideology that she credits to Western culture, which believes organizations, can create processes that people will carry out in a machine-like manner. Wheatley (2007) states that “we would engineer it to do what we saw fit, and we would fix it through our engineering brilliance” (p. 17). Managers utilizing the “old” style of leadership will create processes and expect the people to follow the process exactly as is with little, if any, room for deviation from that process. By contrast, the new story of leadership encourages creativity and deviation from the “status quo”. Wheatley (2007) further argues that, people never behave like machines and often will resist change or “add their own spin” to directions. In the new story “key human traits as uniqueness, free will, and creativity” are essential to the organizations long-term...

Words: 2066 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Personal Reflection

...Most accounts of my early life are mostly from stories my parents have shared with me. My mother for example, tells me stories of how I made it a point to say hello and visit with everyone we came across during our evening walks when I was two. And now, over thirty years later, I still find that same attribute very much ingrained in my personality as I have come to realize the tremendous value in human interaction as my leadership style. My father, a diplomat at the time believed in the importance of a good education and experiencing new cultures. He would always take me along with him on his diplomatic postings when I was young. These trips usually required that we live in a different country for four years, learn the language and integrate into the society of the host country. By twelve years of age, I could speak three languages, was well versed in global politics, and more importantly, I had learned how to easily adapt and integrate myself into any culture or group. I spent most of my early life often adapting to extreme lifestyles. I remember the radical transitions from the often comfortable lifestyles during diplomatic missions to the harsh realities of a third world country without basic amenities such was clean water of power supply. Over the years, these experiences would help me maintain awareness of the wide disparities between societies, and to learn to connect with people from different backgrounds and socioeconomic classes. Hoverer, the constant movement from...

Words: 644 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Developing a Philosophy

...Developing a Philosophy of Leadership A leadership philosophy is the way we see ourselves as leaders. This philosophy guides our actions, our behaviors, and our thoughts. Our philosophies are influenced by external and internal forces. We can change who we are as leaders by simply changing our philosophy of leadership. Leadership philosophies can change as you grow to understand yourself within the context of leading. Creating or finding your leadership philosophy means that you must explore and reflect upon your personal values, assumptions, and beliefs about leadership. Personal values are qualities or characteristics that you value. You would rather leave an organization or step down as a leader than violate your values. Your values guide your intentions and they influence how you lead. When your personal values are clear and you are conscious of them, you create a solid foundation for leading. Assumptions are ideas that are assumed or believed to be true. As a leader it is important to understand what assumptions fuel your leadership thinking. Often leaders are not aware of the assumptions because they are operating from certain paradigms that will not allow them to see assumptions. Reflection into one’s leadership is an excellent way to uncover assumptions. Beliefs are ideas that we hold to be true; they shape our realities. If a leader believes that the only individuals in an organization that can make decisions is the management staff, then that belief will...

Words: 1081 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Developing a Personal Philosophy of Leadership

...Developing a Philosophy of Leadership A leadership philosophy is the way we see ourselves as leaders. This philosophy guides our actions, our behaviors, and our thoughts. Our philosophies are influenced by external and internal forces. We can change who we are as leaders by simply changing our philosophy of leadership. Leadership philosophies can change as you grow to understand yourself within the context of leading. Creating or finding your leadership philosophy means that you must explore and reflect upon your personal values, assumptions, and beliefs about leadership. Personal values are qualities or characteristics that you value. You would rather leave an organization or step down as a leader than violate your values. Your values guide your intentions and they influence how you lead. When your personal values are clear and you are conscious of them, you create a solid foundation for leading. Assumptions are ideas that are assumed or believed to be true. As a leader it is important to understand what assumptions fuel your leadership thinking. Often leaders are not aware of the assumptions because they are operating from certain paradigms that will not allow them to see assumptions. Reflection into one’s leadership is an excellent way to uncover assumptions. Beliefs are ideas that we hold to be true; they shape our realities. If a leader believes that the only individuals in an organization that can make decisions is the management staff, then that belief will...

Words: 1081 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

The Secret of Language Leadership

...SECRET LANGUAGE of • HOW LEADERS INSPIRE ACTION THROUGH NARRATIVE The LEADERSHIP STEPHEN DENNING John Wiley & Sons, Inc. More Praise for The Secret Language of Leadership “Out of the morass of strategies leaders are given to transform organizations, Denning plucks a powerful one—storytelling— and shows how and why it works.” —Dorothy Leonard, William J. Abernathy Professor of Business, Emerita, Harvard Business School, and author, Deep Smarts: How to Cultivate and Transfer Enduring Business Wisdom “The Secret Language of Leadership shows why narrative intelligence is central to transformational leadership and how to harness its power.” —Carol Pearson, director, James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership, University of Maryland, and coauthor, The Hero and the Outlaw “The Secret Language of Leadership is not only the best analysis I have seen of how and why leaders succeed or fail, it’s highly readable, as well as downright practical. It should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in engaging a company with big ideas who understands that leaders live and die by the quality of what they say.” —Richard Stone, story analytics master, i.d.e.a.s “A primary role of leaders is to create and maintain meaning for their organizations. Denning clearly demonstrates that meaningmaking comes from stories well told.” —Thomas Davenport, President’s Distinguished Professor of I.T. and Management, Babson College, and author, The Attention Economy “Steve...

Words: 100587 - Pages: 403

Premium Essay

Authentic Leadership

...in own leadership style, and give reasons why. Give examples of how this will affect my work going forward. Examine what changes I want to make in own leadership style, and give reasons why. Give examples of how this will affect my work going forward. Plagiarism Declaration I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use another’s work and pretend that it is one’s own. Allowing another to copy my work and use it as their own is also plagiarism. This assignment is my own work. I have not allowed and will not allow anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing it off as his or her own work. I acknowledge that working with someone on my assignment is allowed, but only if a mutual effort is made and different examples and, where necessary, wording is used. Signature: ....868.... Plagiarism Declaration I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use another’s work and pretend that it is one’s own. Allowing another to copy my work and use it as their own is also plagiarism. This assignment is my own work. I have not allowed and will not allow anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing it off as his or her own work. I acknowledge that working with someone on my assignment is allowed, but only if a mutual effort is made and different examples and, where necessary, wording is used. Signature: ....868.... Introduction If someone asked me before I started my MBA what changes I would like to make to my current...

Words: 2942 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Medication Errors

...of the Diversity and Leadership in Nursing INTRODUCTION For many years, people tended to think of nurses as one homogenous group. Nurses were expected to be able to take care of problems in whatever circumstances they were presented. Things have changed, today, nurses are increasingly having the choice of specializing and branching out to other fields in nursing. Nurses have the diversity to continually educate themselves and raise their level of knowledge. Mary O’ Connor, explored the art of the nine dimensions of nursing leadership and the relationship between the nine dance metaphors. In this paper, I am going to explore one of the nine dimensions . I chose of diversity as a vehicle toward wholeness, and reflect on my own story of diversity and what I believe is a good nurse leader. Diversity and Leadership in Nursing As a small child, I knew I wanted to be in the medical profession, from playing doctor and nurse in my childhood years, to now in my adult life becoming an Registered Nurse. My mother was a nurse, and I find myself walking in her shoes everyday. My mother always had stories to tell me of her work experiences and she encouraged me and gave me the confidence I have today. After 20 years of being in the nursing profession, and 20 years of learning on the job, I have no regrets about my career choices. My career has lead me to where I am today. I have come to realize that it is is important to appreciate that leadership roles are different from...

Words: 1112 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

David's Leadership

...a. BASED ON THE STORY OF DAVID (AS NARRATED IN THE BIBLE TEXTS) RELATE IT TO THE PHRASE “LEADERS ARE MADE NOT BORN”. EXPLAIN THOROUGHLY. Most leaders acquired their leadership ability through academic learning, training and actual experience in life. With these, we can say that leaders are made not born. Even though you have the ability lead, still you need to develop and improve this ability through training and learning with actual experience, with actual encounter in the challenges in life and with interaction to the group you been leading. As with David, his ability was developed thru experience, as a shepherd, his leadership ability was molded with everyday interaction with his father’s goats and sheep. With using his club he make them follow him and obey what he intended to say. And as a leader he also learned how to protect them even facing big animals like lions and bears. b. HOW DID DAVID’S EXPERIENCES (CITE THOSE EXPERIENCES) AS A SHEPHERD CONTRIBUTED TO HIS VICTORY OVER GOLIATH? David had confidence in his ability because of his past experience fighting lions and bears while guarding his father’s goats and sheep. He used that past experience to fight Goliath. He is so persistent to fight Goliath and insisted that fighting Goliath is no difference with fighting lions and bears. He sighted that when a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock; he goes after it with his club and rescues the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on him, he catches...

Words: 1251 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Leadership

...1. INTRODUCTION Leadership is seen as the act of influencing the activities in an organization with regards to its endeavor in goal-setting and achievement (Grint 1997). However, as exclaimed by Locke (1999), leadership itself is merely a relational concept, instead the embedded essence within is about being an effective leader and that means knowing how to inspire and relate to their followers. Therefore, this report serves to provide my understanding further in-depth about leadership and not simply the theoretical concept. I would be discussing about a real life example of a successful leader whom I know of, Mr. Richard Tay. I would also be discussing about his behaviour, traits, influential tactics and other obersavations that I have done and found out which makes him an effective and commendable leader. An interview had also been done with Mr. Tay to understand him further. Finally, the report would then end off with my reflections and improvement about leadership through these observations and analysis. 2. OBSERVATION As mentioned above, the chosen leader was Mr. Richard Tay, 54. He is the owner of Sanyi Air-conditioning since 1982. Mr. Tay was an old friend of my mother who sees to the air-con services at my home all these years and someone whom I politely address as Uncle Richard. His company started out with just him and 2 other partners back then, they provides services dealing with air-con. Gradually, the business expanded and the number of staffs in the company...

Words: 3437 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

True North Finding Your Personal Compass

...your life story and leadership opportunities to this point, with an emphasis on the influences of your early years and instances of your leadership. Discover Your Leadership in Your Life Story 1. During your early years, which people had the greatest impact on you? A: Growing up, I was mesmerized by my father superior (I am an arm force brat). I was very fascinated by all the honors and respect an army officer got. What I didn’t realized was that my dad was the subject of admiration to other kids in in camp ( I life in military camps through out my childhood) and deep inside I developed the desire at least become the man that my dad was . 2. Starting with your earliest memories, which experiences marked key turning points in your life? A: When I was about 11 to 12 years old, I came to the realization that a career as fulltime commissioned officer will not be possible due to an accident that let me with limited physical abilities. I then turned my ambition into becoming a scientist that would still be able to serve in the arm force but rather to being in the fighting front, will be in the lab doing research to help the advancement of military research. (This was being a little ambitious given that I am from Cameroon a third world country with no much financial capabilities to really invest in cutting edge technology. But I was a kid and I had dreams). 3. In which experiences did you find the greatest inspiration and passion for your leadership? A: During my childhood...

Words: 1703 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Ultra-Driven Basketball Coach Book Report

...This book is the most interesting and inspiring book I’ve ever read on becoming a great leader. It is a must read for all the coaches and administrators or any one that has a leadership role. It is the story of a successful high school coach who suddenly finds his players are losing their drive to win. When Coach appeals to a successful CEO friend, he gets advice that doesn’t seem to help at all. However, talking to the school janitor, Joe Taylor, he gets some ideas of what the guys are missing: leadership, the love for their teammates, the will to win, and their former passion for the game. When he learns that one of his players’ parents were divorcing and he brushed it off, appearing not to care, he realized he was failing his players....

Words: 818 - Pages: 4