influence in leadership essay

Leadership and Influence Report

Introduction, initial reflection on unit, organizational dynamics, leader as a social architect, reference list.

According to Northouse (2009, p. 3), “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influence a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”.

Considering leadership a process implies that it cannot be defined as a characteristic or trait that is typical of a leader, but a transactional phenomenon that arises from the communication between a leader and followers.

Defining leadership from this perspective provides greater understanding of the influences and interactions between leaders and their subordinates. Hence, leadership cannot exist without influence because it constantly occurs in groups, the context in which leaders operate and influence individuals to achieve a common purpose.

In the course of development, leadership practices have evolved into multiple models and theories. This is of particular concern to transformational leadership and situational leadership models. There are also frameworks that are premised on such aspects as personality traits, skills, and behavior.

All these approaches provide a wider picture of how leadership can be characterized, as well as what dimensions are the most efficient ones in managing an organization.

General analysis of leadership is closely associated with the contexts in which leaders operate, trends in organizational dynamics, and discussion of traits, skills, and competencies that a leader should possess.

Engaging in formative activities, specific attention has been given to the analysis of personal skills, experiences, and activities that relate to leadership analysis. Multiple tests and procedures have provided awareness of pitfalls and benefits that can further be considered in self-evaluation tests.

In particular, self-assessment is designed to assist leaders with determining what skills are needed to develop new leadership competencies.

Because leadership can refer to process and influence, the contextual dimension of understanding this phenomenon is vital. Introducing new models, techniques and approaches to leadership educations has strong connection with social environment, political aspects, as well as the dynamics of human nature.

More importantly, due to the fact that leadership as a process that refers to various cultural contexts and personal dimensions, specific attention should also be given to self-reliance and personal growth initiatives, being the main drive forces of developing leadership skills.

Leadership evaluation is closely associated with evolution of social and organizational change. In this respect, Rost and Barker (2000) emphasize that, at the threshold of the twenty first century, leadership perspectives are more oriented on individualistic training of leaders as a superior class.

Focus on leaders’ and ignorance of followers, however, does not contribute to the development of efficient management environment because the influence and interaction stand at the core of the relationship.

In this respect, Rost and Barker (2000, p. 4) assume, “leadership education…is goal oriented, where the goal is defined by some level of organizational performance; …it is centered on self-interest; it is founded in materialism”.

Such a perspective has dramatically changed nowadays since more models are oriented on individuals rather than on goals. Leaders should develop a set of values and goals that can suit the employees’ culture and generate profitability, commitment, motivation, and high performance in an organization.

Ability to adopt new approaches is closely associated with change management. It is also inherent condition for promoting leadership perspectives.

In this respect, Dawson (2008, p. 1) stresses, “evaluating the extent and depth of company change allows us to classify change from small development activities and routing modifications through a large-scale transformational initiatives”.

Apart from the evident connection between external aspects of change and its influence of organizational development, change management should be consistently applied to individuals working with an organization.

In this respect, Dawson (2008, p.) insists, “…the importance of communication, employee involvement and ensuring that behavioral change is rooted within the culture of an organization has a relationship has longstanding history in the field of Organizational Development”.

Therefore, both organizational environment and human potential are important factors triggering new trends in leadership styles.

With regard to the above, leadership contributes greatly to formation of workplace setting, which influences the level of individuals’ achievement, purpose, and security.

Therefore, leaders should realize that the turnover level and recruitment culture depend largely on personal characteristics and approaches that they to improve organizational culture.

In this respect, Hull (2003, p. 3) understands workplace leadership in terms of “how the immediate supervisor, team leader, manager or coordinator presented himself or herself”. The focus is made on leadership and individual potential, but not on administration and management.

Hence, the employed environment should be effectively organized to enhance employees’ motivation and increase their competence (McDonald n. d.). In addition, leaders should be able to organize their followers in teams to operate effectively and achieve the established goals.

Within a cultural context, it should be acknowledged that most leadership styles are oriented on western models that are characterized by a narrow-focused orientation. In this respect, Mellahi (2000) advises to think beyond western stereotypes and promote new, unconventional approaches to business management.

Diverse leadership practices, therefore, are vital for creating a universal scheme. Similar to Mellahi (2000), Avramopoulos and Thomas (2007) also discuss leadership in the context of Greek traditions. In simplistic terms, understanding Greek context does not imply focusing on historic analysis of specific leaders.

Rather, the tradition is associated with “the interference of cultural factors and key principles relating to leadership development as evidenced within broader literary source of ancient Greek figures” (Avramopoulos and Thomas 2007, p. 52).

Within this perspective, the leadership style illustrates social ideology and qualities that ancient leaders tried to achieve. At an individual level, the myth aims to outlinine an important process of searching for the self through struggle and effort.

During the struggle, potential leaders should be guided by an appropriate mentor who can provide viable advice. Therefore, the Greek mythology closely relates to gods and goddess who accompany mortal heroes in their pursuit of goals.

Finally, at the threshold of the technological era, leadership should be connected with the development of online communication, which requires leaders and supervisors to inquire new skills and experiences, including instant messaging, technological competence, and constant interaction with several subordinates (Martinsons et al. 2009).

In this respect, the virtual context also influences the modes of negotiation and supervision.

Organizational dynamics and development is closely associated with individuals’ performance, group working, and organizational culture. All these components should be harmonized through efficient leadership and supervision.

The research on organizational dynamics, therefore, aims to define the extent to which individuals should be involved in teamwork, as well as how group cooperation, should concern how close leaders should follow the firmly established goals.

Team culture is an important element of successful interaction and cooperation, but focus on individual achievement is not less important. Finally, lack of support and inability to adjust to quickly changing environments does not contribute to innovation and improvement.

Team building is an indispensible factor affecting corporate cultures. It defines duties and responsibilities that each team member should take. In this respect, the role of a leader is confined to taking control of the processes held within the team and providing team members with enough space for creativity and critical thinking.

The individual potential should be appraised by leaders. In this respect, Thomas and Walker (2010, p. 189) insist, “the sharp end, where policy rhetoric meets organizational reality, is an ideal opportunity to examine leadership and its handmaiden failure”.

The failure to conform to a specific end should not be regarded as a disability of a team leader to achieve the desired goals. The problem is that leaders are not flexible enough to recognize alternative solutions to the problem that have been offered beyond the established framework.

As a result, the organization fails to response to the rapidly changing external environment, which can also lead to low competence.

The value of team working should not be underestimated because it provides a number of benefits for employees’ performance and productivity. In particular, team building is primarily premised on constant support, assistance, and interaction, leading to generation of new ideas and thoughts.

As an example, Smith (2012) on the Olympic games held in Australia when Australian swimmers failed to achieve the results just because no one expected they could win the game.

Reluctance to make the effort refers, first of all, to the prejudices and biases shaped within the coach’s team. According to Smith (2012, p. 2), “this relatively dismal showing has come to be seen as the inescapable product of poor administered sport in sharp decline…weak leadership and double standards”.

Strong dependence on authority, however, prevents individuals from developing their professional skills, as well as cognizing personal abilities and skills.

Such a perspective explains the dark side of supervision and leadership that is concerned with cult of a leader, rather than adherence to specific goals ( Dark Side of Leadership n. d.). More importantly, self-destructive behaviors of leaders can cause the decline of corporate culture.

It has been defined that leadership is connected with the social and cultural environment in which leaders can be regarded as social architects. Hence, managers and supervisors should be able to scan the external and internal setting for delivering new mechanism to face challenges of constantly changing market.

Product innovation, knowledge management, human resources are among the priorities that leaders should consider before engaging into organizational development. Cultural diversity is another phenomenon that has penetrated the management landscape and has shaped new perspectives on leadership.

Cross-cultural communication is indispensible for leaders to reach consensus with their employees and find the motivating factors increasing employees’ engagement into the organizational process.

According to Abbasi and Hollman (1989, p. 19), “managing involves dealing with people who have unique emotions, interests, attitudes, perceptions, cultural experiences, and socio-economic backgrounds”.

In other words, leading an organization successfully, managers should control organizational processes as they believe they should be controlled. Regardless of personality traits, executives should consider a number of rules and principles of managing people.

To begin with, leaders should demonstrate high integrity, which possible through trust, honesty, and respect. Second, fear should be removed from the employed setting because employees will be more productive in case they are not under the pressure.

Third, open communication and open channels of interaction and information exchange is another successful solution to the problem. Finally, providing objective recognition of employees’ achievements can also generate higher rates of job performance.

There are number of opportunities for leaders to adjust to constantly changing working setting. Leading change effectively, executives should be more concerned with developing a new outlook on performance that emphasizes team-based models to cope with the transition to a new model (Kaplan and Norton 2001).

The task of a leader lies in developing a new set of values and structures that can contribute to the development of a new management system that introduce measurement to articulate change (Lussier and Archua 2009).

In additional, the evaluation of behavioral patterns within an organization is also important because it influences strategic thinking, trustful relationships, progressive stability, and considerations for others.

While deliberating on similarities and differences of leadership across cultures, Taormina and Selvarajah (2005, p. 314) pay attention to Asian leadership by stating “the East-West cultural different on t his factor may be noticed in practice”.

For example, western leaders expect their organizations to undertake risk and, therefore, they accept risk as an important condition for conducting daily operations. In contrast, Eastern leadership focuses more on a well-planned activity that ensures the security of subordinates who are involved in specific ventures.

Individualistic biases, universality, and readiness to adjust to new challenges should create the basis of change management and organizational progress.

According to Sturdy and Grey (2003), leaders should be able to quickly react to the emerging problems, as well as pay attention to employees’ needs, values, and beliefs to define what styles should be employed to improve the situation.

More importantly, the interaction between transformational leadership style and organizational change will allow the leaders to establish successful modes of performance (Boga and Ensari, 2009). In such a manner, executives will be able to stand the competition successfully.

A multi-dimensional analysis of leadership education and development has provided a wider picture on cultural, political, social, and economic aspects of its influence on organizational culture and employees’ performance.

More importantly, the analysis has provided new theoretical and empirical perspectives of leading change within an organization through introducing innovation. All the above-presented themes are interdependent because one dimension influences the outcomes of another.

Communication and individual-centered approach are also important for sustaining a competitive advantage.

Abbasi, SM, and Hollman 1989, ‘KW Incompetence Bosses: Are You One of Them?’, IM, pp. 17-19.

Avramopoulos, S, and Thomas, KV 2007,‘Leadership Odyssey’, The International Journal of Knowledge, Culture, and Change Management, vol. 6, no. 9, pp. 51-60.

Boga, I, and Ensari, N 2009,‘The Role of Transformational Leadership and Organizational Change on Perceived Organizational Success’, The Psychologist-Manager Journal, vol. 12, pp. 235-251.

‘Dark Side of Leadership Revisted’ n. d., pp. 3-26.

Dawson, PM 2008, ‘People and Process: Making Sense of Change Management’, ICOMS Asset Management Conference, 1-11.

Hull, D 2003, Simply the Best Workplaces in Australia, University of Sydney, pp. 2-41.

Kaplan, RS, and Norton DP, 2001, ‘Leading Change with The Balanced Scorecard’. Financial Executive, pp. 64-66.

Lussier, RN, and Archua, CF 2009, Leadership: Theory, Application and Skill Development . Cengage Learnng, New York.

Martinsons, MG, Davidson, RM, and Martinsons, V 2009, ‘How Culture Influences IT-Enabled Organizational Change and Information Systems’, Communications of the ACM , vol. 52, no. 4., pp. 118-123.

McDonald, R n. d., ‘Core Skills for Work – A Framework’, Ithaca Group , pp. 1-13.

Mellahi, K 2000, ‘The Teaching of Leadership on UK MBA Programs: A Critical Analysis from an International Perspective’, Journal of Management Development, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 297-308.

Northouse, P 2009, Leadership: Theory and Practice, SAGE, New York.

Rost, JC, and Barker, RA 2000, ‘Leadership Education in Colleges: Toward a 21 st Century Paradigm’, Journal of Leadership Studies , vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 3-12.

Smith, W 2012, That Sinking Feeling, The Australian, pp. 1-7.

Sturdy, A and Grey C 2003, ‘Beneath and Beyond Organizational Change Management: Exploring Alternatives’, Organization , vol. 10 no. 4, pp. 651-662.

Taormina, RJ, and Selvarajah, C 2005, ‘Perceptions of Leadership Excellence in ASEAN Nations’, Leadership , vol.1, no. 3, pp. 299-322.

Thomas, KT, and Walker AD, 2010, ‘The Sharp End: Real Life Challenges in a Complex Activity Space’, Journal of Public Affairs , vol. 10, pp. 186-199.

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Leadership Blog

Influential leadership: influence to inspire, lead, and succeed.

Holding a title is nice, but not when it comes to leadership . In today’s dynamic and ever-evolving world, effective leadership has transcended traditional hierarchies and authority. Instead, it is characterized by the ability to inspire, guide, and empower others to achieve collective success – in other words, the practice of influential leadership.

(by Aaron Ngui )

Table of Contents

What is Influential Leadership?

Influential leadership is about leading others by tapping on the power of influence. Instead of using authority to get things done, those who adopt this style influence others positively so they can excel and collaborate better with each other.

Below are a few common key concepts when it comes to influential leadership theory:

• Leader-follower relationship: Rather than control or domination, the focus is on building strong relationships with followers. Effective leaders understand their people’s needs, aspirations, and concerns – based on which they make use of their influence to facilitate others’ success.
• Motivation and inspiration: Influential leaders are able to inspire others to realize and unlock their full potential. They create a shared vision and empower their followers to take ownership of their work.
• Empowerment and delegation: Instead of trying to do everything themselves; they empower others to make decisions and take action.
• Communication and empathy: They are able to communicate their vision clearly, listen actively, and show empathy for their followers’ perspectives.
• Adaptability and flexibility: They are open to new ideas and willing to change their approach when necessary.

What Makes a Leader Influential?

People who practice influential leadership inspire, motivate, and guide the person or team positively. They do not command and control. Rather, they leverage persuasion and empathy to identify the needs and aspirations of others. In doing so, they establish strong trust and foster robust relationships – which results in better collaboration for higher performance.

To make it simple, influential leaders drive others by making a positive difference in others. Instead of forcing compliance, leaders with influence make the lives of people around them better.

A company is struggling to meet its sales goals. The manager, who is known for his command-and-control style of leadership, decides to implement a new policy that requires salespeople to make a certain number of cold calls per day. The salespeople resent the new policy and their morale plummets. As a result, sales continue to decline.

A new manager is hired who takes a different approach. He listens to the salespeople’s concerns and learns that they are feeling overwhelmed and unsupported. He then implements a new program that provides team members with training and support on how to make effective calls – as well as gives them more autonomy in how they reach their sales goals.

As a result, people feel more empowered, engaged , and more successful in their efforts – which allows sales to start increasing.

Why is Influential Leadership Crucial?

The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority. Ken Blanchard

Influential leadership is not about authoritarian approaches. Instead, the power of interpersonal skills is harnessed to make things happen. As such, this management style brings about a great deal of benefits, including:

Building trust

Effective communication, lead by example, collaborative approach, adaptability.

Influential Leadership Skills

Influential leadership skills are the abilities and qualities that enable leaders to inspire and motivate others to achieve common goals and create positive change. For those who would like to follow this management style, some of the most essential characteristics to nurture include:

Communication

As the bedrock of influential leadership, effective communication goes beyond words; it encompasses active listening, understanding nonverbal cues, mastering presentation skills, and commanding public speaking. By conveying their ideas clearly, persuasively, and empathetically, leaders establish trust, build rapport, and articulate their vision, goals, and expectations.

Furthermore, skillful communication enables them to provide constructive feedback, mediate conflicts, and negotiate solutions, fostering an environment where ideas and concerns can be openly shared and addressed.

Negotiation

Effective leaders possess the art of finding mutually agreeable solutions in situations involving multiple stakeholders. They skillfully balance their objectives with the needs and desires of others, all while nurturing positive relationships.

Negotiation skills not only promote fairness and cooperation – but also guide them in handling disagreements constructively. The ability to understand the interests of all parties, explore options, propose solutions, and ultimately reach agreements fosters a collaborative atmosphere where everyone feels heard and valued.

Influential leaders recognize the power of delegation. They entrust their team members with tasks and responsibilities, giving them the autonomy to excel in their roles. This bolsters trust and allows them to focus on higher-level priorities, ensuring that the entire team aligns with common goals.

Delegation is a testament to a leader’s confidence in their team’s abilities, which, in turn, motivates team members to demonstrate their capabilities and dedication.

Conflict resolution

Conflict is an inevitable facet of any dynamic workplace. Influential leaders excel in managing and resolving disputes constructively. They possess the knack for identifying the root causes of disagreements, listening empathetically to all parties involved, expressing their feelings and needs transparently, and ultimately discovering common ground.

Decision-making

Effective leaders are adept decision-makers, especially in high-pressure situations. They excel in gathering relevant information, evaluating different options, and making choices that align with the best interests of their team or organization. These decisions, grounded in a deep understanding of the situation and a focus on long-term goals, guide the team toward success and growth.

In an ever-changing landscape, adaptability has become a prized leadership skill. Influential leaders swiftly adjust their behavior and actions in response to evolving circumstances. Such flexibility helps them navigate uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, and even seize opportunities and overcome challenges.

Key attributes of adaptability include resilience, flexibility, creativity , and learning agility.

Leaders with influential leadership skills master the art of motivation. They inspire and encourage team members to perform at their best, creating a positive and productive work environment. By setting clear and realistic goals, providing recognition and rewards, giving constructive feedback, and empowering their team members, they foster a sense of purpose, direction, and commitment, ensuring that every member of the team is motivated to achieve their individual and collective objectives.

Empathy is the linchpin of influential leadership. By putting oneself in others’ shoes and seeing things from their perspective, one is better equipped to build strong and lasting relationships. This ability to connect with team members on a personal level is instrumental in motivating them to perform at their best and fostering a harmonious and collaborative work environment.

How Do Leaders Influence Others?

The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humour but without folly. Jim Rohn

Leaders influence others in a variety of ways – some of the most common and effective methods include:

• Empowering others: Empowerment entails giving team members the autonomy and resources they need to perform their roles effectively. By allowing team members to take ownership of their tasks, one fosters an environment of innovation and self-reliance.
• Recognizing & rewarding achievements: People are more inclined to repeat behaviors that receive acknowledgment and appreciation. As such, leaders should routinely acknowledge accomplishments, both large and small, through formal recognition programs, informal praise, or simple gestures of appreciation.
• Fostering a positive & inclusive work environment: A positive work environment is one where individuals feel respected, valued, and at ease. Leaders contribute to such an atmosphere by being approachable, encouraging collaboration, and addressing issues promptly and fairly.
• Setting clear goals & expectations: Clear, well-defined goals provide direction and motivation for team members. Leaders should establish objectives that are challenging yet attainable and communicate them effectively. Clarity in expectations empowers team members to focus their efforts and align their work with the broader mission.
• Providing feedback and coaching : Constructive feedback is crucial for personal growth and development. Leaders should offer regular feedback, both positive and constructive, to facilitate continuous improvement among their team members. Additionally, they should be willing to coach and mentor others to reach their full potential and refine their skills.
• Setting an example: One cannot expect their team members to follow their directives if they themselves fail to adhere to their own standards. Setting a high standard for their own conduct and being accountable for their actions sets a powerful precedent. People are more likely to respect and emulate those who practice what they preach.
• Embracing diversity & inclusion: A commitment to diversity and inclusion is central to modern leadership. Leaders should foster a workplace that welcomes and values individuals from all backgrounds. This involves recognizing and addressing one’s own biases, creating an inclusive culture, and ensuring that all team members feel seen, heard, and appreciated for their unique contributions.

Read more: Weak Leadership – How Bad Leaders Undermine Success

How Can I Develop Influential Leadership?

Here are some coaching questions to think about, and reflect on to develop influential leadership capabilities.

• Self-reflection: What can I do better to be authentic, transparent, and consistent in my actions?
• Empathy: What steps can I take to enhance my empathy skills?
• Communication: How can I communicate more effectively with others?
• Leading by example: What can I do to role model the values and behaviours for others to follow?
• Collaboration: What can I do to enhance collaboration and cohesion in my team?
• Adaptability: How do I navigate change and uncertainty effectively?

Influential leadership is a powerful approach to transforming a directive leadership style into an inspiring one. When focusing on building trust, empathy, communication, leading by example, collaboration, and adaptability, one is equipped to make a positive difference in the lives of the people they lead. Those who nurture influential leadership skills are in a good position to excel in their professional journey.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. John C. Maxwell

Strategies for Becoming an Influential Leader – Best Practices

Here are some tips and methods to help you improve your influence as a leader:

• Develop self-awareness

To truly inspire and guide others, you must first understand yourself. This means recognizing your strengths, weaknesses, values, and motivations.

Self-reflection , feedback from peers, and personality assessments can be invaluable tools for gaining self-awareness. By comprehending how your actions and behaviors impact others, you can tailor your approach to elicit the desired response and build more meaningful relationships with your team.

Influential leadership is a journey that often requires time and patience. Building relationships, credibility, and reputation with your team and stakeholders doesn’t happen overnight. Along the way, you may encounter challenges, setbacks, and resistance. Patience allows you to demonstrate your perseverance, resilience, and optimism, inspiring your team to exhibit the same qualities.

• Be a team player

A true leader recognizes the value of collaboration and cooperation. Being a team player entails actively engaging with your team members, appreciating their contributions, and respecting their opinions. You should willingly share your knowledge, skills, and resources, fostering an environment of mutual learning and development .

• Communicate with clarity and purpose

Clear and concise communication ensures that your message is understood by all. Adapt your communication style to your audience, ensuring that you convey your message in a way that resonates with each individual. The use of storytelling, visuals, and real-life examples can significantly make your messages more engaging and impactful, leaving a lasting impression on your team.

• Show your expertise

To inspire confidence and trust in your leadership, you must demonstrate your knowledge, skills, and experience in your field. Provide valuable insights, solutions, and guidance to your team based on your expertise. Stay informed about the latest industry trends, developments, and best practices.

• Embrace challenges

Challenges are not roadblocks but opportunities for growth and development. By facing them head-on and encouraging your team to do the same, you essentially contribute to creating a culture of courage and continuous improvement.

• Continuously learn and develop

Influential leaders are lifelong learners. They understand that leadership is an ever-evolving journey. To stay at the forefront, seek out new knowledge and skills that enhance your leadership abilities. Attend workshops, read books, and engage in mentorship to foster personal and professional growth.

Your commitment to self-improvement serves as a model for your team, encouraging them to adopt a similar mindset.

Read more: Self Leadership – The Art of Leading from Within

Common Mistakes that Aspiring Influential Leaders Should Avoid

• Being overly aggressive in exerting influence: It is a common misconception – especially among new managers – that leaders need to assert their authority. While that may be true, an overly aggressive approach often brings about counterproductive effects. Excessive forcefulness is what alienates team members, breeds resistance, and erodes trust. Under all circumstances, one should strive to strike a balance between assertiveness and receptivity – so as to foster collaboration and maintain trust.
• Micromanaging: Micromanagement, often driven by a lack of trust or the desire for control, is detrimental to a team’s performance. It stifles creativity, disempowers team members, and undermines their confidence. Instead, leaders should provide clear guidance, set expectations, and then empower others to take ownership of their tasks.
• Ignoring people: Ignoring team members manifests itself in various ways, including inadequate/ unclear communication, inconsistency, insensitivity, avoiding conflict resolution, and failing to invest time in coaching & development. For those aspiring to become effective leaders, make sure to actively engage with others – and ensure that messages are clear, consistent, and sensitive to the needs of each individual. Addressing conflicts and providing regular team coaching is crucial for nurturing growth and building up a positive work environment.
• Playing favorites: Favoritism in leadership, where certain team members receive preferential treatment, results in division and resentment within the team. Leaders must maintain fairness and objectivity in their decision-making processes, by recognizing and rewarding team members based on merit and contribution.

Who are Some Influential Leaders?

Below are a few examples of well-known people in history who have demonstrated great influence in leadership positions around the world.

Nelson Mandela

Ginni rometty, warren buffett, oprah winfrey, influential leadership quotes.

There is only one way under high heaven to get anybody to do anything – and that is by making the other person wants to do it. Dale Carnegie

The most powerful person in the world is the story teller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come. Steve Jobs

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. Alice Walker

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King Jr.

Be the change that you wish to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Maya Angelou

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. Robin S. Sharma

Influential Leadership Books

• “Leadership in Turbulent Times” by Doris Kearns Goodwin : Goodwin’s book delves into the extraordinary leadership qualities and practices of four iconic U.S. presidents—Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson. It examines how they faced and overcame monumental challenges and crises, revealing the development of their vision, courage, empathy, resilience, and moral purpose.
• “How the Mighty Fall” by Jim Collins : In this thought-provoking work, Jim Collins explores the patterns and pitfalls that lead great companies and organizations to decline and ultimately fail. Collins identifies five stages of decline, from hubris and denial to capitulation and dissolution. By studying these stages, readers gain critical insights into recognizing the warning signs of decline and practical advice on how to either avoid or reverse the process, emphasizing the importance of vigilance and adaptability in leadership.
• “Dare to Lead” by Brené Brown : Brené Brown challenges conventional notions of leadership and argues that true leadership hinges on the courage to be vulnerable, authentic, and empathetic. She provides research-based tools and strategies to help leaders cultivate a culture of trust, open communication, and accountability in the workplace.
• “The Five Levels of Leadership” by John C. Maxwell : Maxwell’s book outlines a clear path to leadership development through five distinct levels: position, permission, production, people development, and pinnacle. He offers practical guidance on mastering each level, emphasizing the importance of empowering others to become leaders themselves.
• “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey : Covey’s classic work is a cornerstone of leadership literature. It presents a holistic and principle-centered approach to achieving personal and professional success. The book outlines seven habits that can guide leaders to set and achieve their goals, such as proactivity, beginning with the end in mind, prioritizing tasks, and practicing empathetic communication.

How Can ITD World Help with Influential Leadership Training?

As the Global Coaching and Leadership Development Partner, we at ITD World offer comprehensive programs to develop influential leadership skills. Our approach focuses on inspiring, motivating, and empowering others to achieve common goals. As such, ITD’s solutions are designed to provide knowledge, skills, and a holistic approach to leadership.

Key offerings:

• Personalized leadership assessment
• Expert coaching and mentoring
• Engaging, practical workshops
• Customized organizational training
• Impact measurement for continuous improvement

Contact ITD World today for a FREE consultation!

Other resources you might be interested in:

• Situational Leadership : A Guide for Effective Strategies
• Leadership Values : 10 Qualities for Exceptional Results
• Skill Development : A Guide to Future-Proofing Yourself

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Leadership And Influence Essay

To uncover the secrets of leadership and influence, It’s like exploring a hidden treasure that holds the keys to making a positive impact on the world. So, put on your thinking caps, and let’s dive into the exciting adventure of understanding how leadership and influence can shape our lives.

Table of Contents

How To Write An Essay On Leadership and Influence

Step 1: collect essay ideas:.

Before we start our journey, let’s gather some cool ideas about leadership and influence:

• Leadership Defined: What is leadership? It’s like being the captain of a ship, guiding everyone toward a common goal.
• Qualities of a Leader: Leaders possess qualities like kindness, confidence, and the ability to listen to others.
• Influence in Everyday Life: Influence is like a superpower – it’s how we inspire others to think or act a certain way.
• Positive Impact: Leaders and influencers can make the world a better place by spreading kindness, empathy, and good ideas.

Making Essay Outline

1. Introduction

Introduce the topic of leadership and influence, comparing them to hidden treasures that hold the keys to positive change.

2. Leadership Defined

Define leadership as the role of guiding others toward a common goal, just like a captain leading a ship.

3. Qualities of a Leader

Discuss important qualities that make a leader, such as kindness, confidence, and the ability to listen and understand.

4. Influence in Everyday Life

Explore the concept of influence as a superpower that impacts how we interact with others and shape their thoughts and actions.

5. Positive Impact

Explain how leaders and influencers can use their powers for good, spreading kindness, empathy, and positive ideas.

6. Inspiring Change

Share stories of real-life leaders and influencers who have made a positive impact on their communities or the world.

7. Personal Leadership

Reflect on how even as young learners, we can practice leadership by being role models, helping others, and making good choices.

8. Final Thoughts

Summarize the main points and encourage readers to embrace their potential as leaders and influencers to create a better world.

Writing the Essay About Leadership and Influence

Introduction:.

Imagine we’re setting off on a grand adventure, like discovering a hidden treasure that can change the world. Today, our treasure is the knowledge of leadership and influence. It’s like unlocking a magical power that can make a positive impact on people’s lives. So, put on your thinking cap, and let’s dive into the exciting journey of understanding the secrets of leadership and influence.

Leadership Defined:

For example – you’re the captain of a ship, guiding your crew toward a faraway island. That’s what leadership is like – being a guide who helps others reach a common goal. Just like a captain leads the ship, leaders lead groups of people. It’s not about being bossy, but about showing the way and making sure everyone works together smoothly.

Qualities of a Leader:

For example, if you’re a superhero with special qualities that help you save the day. Leaders also have special qualities that make them stand out. They’re like superheroes of kindness and understanding. They’re kind and treat others with respect. They’re confident, which means they believe in themselves and their abilities. And just like a hero listens to others, leaders listen to the ideas and thoughts of their team.

Influence in Everyday Life:

Think of influence as a magical spell that can change the way people think and act. It’s like when you tell your friends about a cool game, and they want to play it too. Influence is how we inspire others to think or act in a certain way. It’s not about forcing, but about inspiring. Just like a magical spell, influence can make people excited and motivated.

Positive Impact:

If you have a magic wand that spreads kindness, empathy, and good ideas. That’s what leaders and influencers do – they use their powers to make the world better. They’re like shining stars that brighten everyone’s day. They spread kindness, make others feel good about themselves, and share ideas that help the world. It’s like being a hero who brings positivity wherever they go.

Inspiring Change:

Now, let’s journey into the real world and meet some inspiring leaders and influencers. Think of Malala Yousafzai, who stood up for girls’ education, or Greta Thunberg, who raised awareness about climate change. They’re like heroes who use their voices to create change. They show us that even young learners like us can make a big difference.

Personal Leadership:

Think for a while, if you’re a character in a game, making choices that affect the outcome. In life, we can also make choices that show leadership. It’s like being a mini leader, making good decisions, and setting an example for others. We can help our friends, be kind to everyone, and stand up for what’s right. Just like a hero in a game, our actions can inspire others to be their best.

Final Thoughts:

We’re all potential leaders and influencers, capable of making positive changes in our world. Leadership is about guiding and showing kindness, while influence is the magic that spreads positivity. So, let’s use our superpowers of leadership and influence to make the world a better place, one kind of action and inspiring idea at a time.

Hello! Welcome to my Blog StudyParagraphs.co. My name is Angelina. I am a college professor. I love reading writing for kids students. This blog is full with valuable knowledge for all class students. Thank you for reading my articles.

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A Full Guide On How To Create Good Leadership Essay

Attempting a leadership essay isn’t such a daunting task, provided you have a grasp of the necessary information needed for a leadership paper. To write this special essay, you’ll need to redefine what exactly an essay on leadership is, how to choose the perfect topic, what should be in the content, and how to organize and structure the paper. Let’s delve deeper!

What Is A Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a well-formatted, organized and specialized type of formal writing which elaborates on a generic leadership topic or a superior human figure exercising a great influence on people and transmitting desire and optimism to achieve goals.

What Makes A Good Leader Essay?

There are some peculiarities needed to infuse in your write-up if, for example, you’re trying to learn how to write a leadership essay about yourself.

Also, if you’re just trying to produce leadership essays for college, then you’d first and foremost, learn  how to structure an essay , among other skills needed for this type of essay. Here are some qualities which can be found in a good essay about leadership.

• Choose a creative topic
• Avoid the passive voice (the active voice sounds stronger)
• Search for and study leadership essay examples
• Follow the appropriate essay style
• Focus on the essay structure
• Review the essay

How To Choose A Topic And Make A Great Title?

To choose a topic for a paper on leadership, you need to do some research on the concept of a leader (whether in the corporate industry, political society or even in the criminal world). You have to know the current leadership tendencies in organizational groups or society. You can choose to make a leader the point of your reference by explaining the consequences of their leadership abilities or inabilities.

In the body of your essay, don’t forget to mention several types of leadership styles and point out which one the subject portrays. Finally, you should not rule out making comparisons of famous leaders in the modern world or in history. An example of a great prompt for a leadership essay that deploys the comparison technique would be the leadership styles of President Trump and The Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte as both leadership styles have been subjected to political reviews in recent times since their emergence as president of their respective countries.

Outline For A Leadership Essay

When writing a college or professional essay such as -long and short essays on leadership, planning is the key to perfection. The general outline for any essay, including leadership papers, include an introduction, the body paragraphs (which must be properly linked with transition words and/or phrases) and a recapitulating or finding-based conclusions. Here’s what your outline should look like:

Introduction

Knowing how to start a leadership essay depends on your introduction writing ability. The introduction is the gateway to the essay. Aided by punchy opening words, which are the hook, the purpose of the introduction is to draw the reader’s attention. The introduction presents the thesis statement and leaves the body paragraphs to sustain the reader’s interest.

Body Paragraphs

Having informed the readers of the topic of the essay in the introductory paragraph(s), the body paragraphs follow immediately.

Here, you can elaborate on the concept of leadership and do a meaningful interpretation of the subject – the topic or the thesis statement. Don’t forget to talk about your leadership philosophies and leadership experience in whatever capacity you might have found yourself in. Remember, people are more interested in personal experiences. They are great in helping to sustain readers’ attention.

Remember to state a thesis or hypothesis in the opening paragraphs – which is the intro. In each of the body paragraphs of the essay, try to relate your points to the thesis and use each point to prove its validity.

The conclusion is the end part of any well-structured essay. Its purpose is a no-brainer. You don’t want to leave your reader hanging by ending the essay cold turkey. Any standard essay without a conclusion is just as useless as an essay with no purpose. However, be careful not to present new ideas not mentioned in the body.

As mentioned, the conclusion serves to summarize the developed points, restate the thesis and/or present the findings. It is your last opportunity to create an impression on the reader, and this is where they take the message away. If your conclusion is weak, then we might say the essay’s objectives are not achieved.

What To Include In A Leadership Essay?

Here are some tips on what your leadership essay should include.

Your Definition Of A Good Leader And Why He Or She Is Important

Since your essay revolves around leadership and the traits of a good leader, you’ll need to define what it takes to be one. You may also take this opportunity to trash some common myths on what a leader is (i.e., a manager being confused for a leader).

For reference purposes, the concepts of leadership and being a good leader are explained:

Leadership is the quality of a leader and is that person capable of exercising a great influence on people and transmitting desire and optimism to achieve goals. A leader is a guide; someone with ideas and goals that can spread to a large group of people who still believe he or she can lead them in the right direction.

There are many types of leaders and therefore, of leadership since people generally always look for a person or group that shows them a direction to follow. You can find religious, political, social, or philosophical leadership. Leadership can be exercised in a traditional way. In many countries, there is a monarchy. The king or queen is a leader with limited political power, at least in western democracies, but still have the respect and consideration of the people. Their words continue to be heard and taken into account, especially in problematic times. There are other types of leadership that are not given by birth, such as legitimate leadership exercised by, for example, political leaders freely chosen by their people, or charismatic leaders.

In a way, charismatic leaders are what many understand as leaders since they are people who, by their way of behavior and characteristics, get many people to follow and adhere to their ideas. Some charismatic leaders can become legitimate leaders if they choose the path of politics. A traditional leader can also be charismatic. There have always been kings loved by his people more than others. But it can also be a person who prefers independent movements outside of power.

Charisma is the personal magnetism a person has. It is something very difficult to define but makes one capable of convincing others without too much effort, making people follow and trust the leading figure. Charisma can be used positively or negatively. The leaders of the most destructive sects are very charismatic people that are capable of convincing their followers of the eeriest ideas, including donating all their belongings or committing collective suicide.

Examples Of Your Leadership Style

In the content of your essay, you may consider giving an interpretation to your (or your chosen leader’s) leadership traits. Below are some examples of leadership qualities that separate a good leader from a bad leader.

What qualities are necessary for leadership

• Communication
• Emotional intelligence
• Strategic thinking
• Commitment and passion
• Knowledge and experience
• Leading by example
• Active listening
• Ability to enhance talent
• Setting goals and expectations
• People investment
• Discernment
• Concentration
• Positive attitude
• Problem-solving
• Self-discipline

Leadership Essay Example

To know how to do essay fast, you’ll need some ready-made essay examples for the sake of guidance and inspiration. You may find below a leadership essay written by Oliver Smith useful in your leadership paper.

Writing a leadership essay should be easy. A good essay on leadership starts from the hook, and the thesis statement in the introduction. The points developed in the body paragraphs help affirm the hypothesis. Finally, the conclusion offers the reader a summary through the restatement of the essay’s main idea.

As required for every essay type, your essay on leadership has to follow a definite style and format. Examples are MLA, APA, Chicago and AP styles. Take your time in choosing a creative but new topic and also in writing the content. By following this guide, everything should be as perfect as possible.

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Influence and Leadership

• Adi Ignatius

It’s a concern that dates back to Machiavelli and beyond: As a leader, would you rather be lovable or strong? Can you be both? These questions lie at the core of this month’s Spotlight on Influence. In the first article, “Connect, Then Lead,” Amy Cuddy, of Harvard Business School, and Matthew Kohut and John Neffinger, […]

It’s a concern that dates back to Machiavelli and beyond: As a leader, would you rather be lovable or strong? Can you be both? These questions lie at the core of this month’s Spotlight on Influence.

• Adi Ignatius is the editor in chief of Harvard Business Review.

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Leadership Essay

27 August, 2020

12 minutes read

Author:  Richard Pircher

As a college student, you must write essays on a regular basis since the latter is one of the most common types of home assignments. All this means is that in order to get good grades and be successful with writing the papers, you need to have a sound understanding of the structure. Additionally, what you should never neglect is the variety of essay types. Indeed, your essay will significantly differ from one type to another: description essay will most likely have a structure that is slightly different from an argumentative one.

What you may have already encountered in your academic life is the work on a leadership essay. Although it sounds pretty complicated and vague, it is mostly possible to master an essay on leadership. Below is a guide for you to get an insight into this particular essay type.

What is a good leadership essay?

A good leadership essay is the one in which the essay writer has fully covered the topic of leadership and understood its core ideas. More specifically, to end up with a flawless leadership essay, you will need to indicate what makes a person a good leader. For achieving the latter, you will most likely need to conduct research and trace how a particular person reaches his or her goals. In other words, the task is to discover which actions the person undertakes, what their followers say about him or her, and how the person organizes the work. So, a leadership essay implies providing real-life success examples and further revealing them.

Above all, a good leadership essay is the one that follows a precise, clear, comprehensive structure. Structuring your essay about leadership in the most coherent way leads to a win-win situation: you have fewer troubles and barriers to writing a brilliant essay, and your teacher is able to comprehend the essay easily. This guide is what you will need to refer to to get an insight into how the flawless structure for a leadership essay looks like and how it will let you take a benefit.

How to write a Leadership essay?

To write a leadership essay that stands out, you first need to brainstorm all the ideas that you have and come up with a topic for your essay. If you are struggling with this step, you may think of some of the most influential people, read about them, and find out what makes them unique. Or, you can pick any topic which is mentioned at the end of this article. After you have chosen an issue, it is time to structure your essay appropriately.

As you already know, an essay constitutes three essential sections: introduction, main body, and conclusion. Below is the more detailed description of each of the parts.

Introduction

Of course, your leadership essay introduction will always vary depending on the topic of the essay. However, you can always begin by stating your vision of leadership regardless of the topic. Additionally, to motivate the reader and instantly catch his or her attention, you may use a quote of a famous leader, or simply a quote which you find relevant to the topic. Be aware that you should avoid outlining the essence and the role of the leadership in your introduction; leave it for the body paragraphs.

What you may also do in your leadership essay is ask a question, which will most likely intrigue the leader. Or it will at least give your reader an overview of what you will dwell on  in your essay.

Body Paragraphs

You will need to divide the main body into 3-5 paragraphs to make the structure more comprehensive. What you have to do at this point  is  give your reader a sound understanding of your ideas. Therefore, try to fit each idea in a single body paragraph so that you do not confuse your reader. Do not hesitate to indicate your examples to strengthen your arguments. For instance, you may explain a fact that makes a particular person you are writing about a real leader.

Also, always stick to your thesis statement and don’t forget that the body paragraphs should reveal the parts of your thesis statement.

As you may already know, you need to restate your opinion and briefly summarize all the points from the main body in conclusion. For instance, if you wrote your essay on qualities of an effective leader, state the most fundamental qualities and indicate why they matter the most. Besides, try not to copy what you have already written in the body – it is better to restate your opinion using different words. And, of course, beware adding any new and extra information; indicate only those points that you have already outlined in the text. Finally, keep in mind that it is always favorable to keep your concluding remarks short.

Leadership Essay Examples

Writing a leadership essay requires some research and time. In case you feel the necessity to go through an essay example, below is a leadership essay sample you can refer to.

Is leadership an inborn or an acquired feature?

Is everyone capable of becoming a leader, or is this ability innate? A lot of researchers have been struggling to answer this question. One assumption about leadership implies that the leader is the person who possesses particular characteristics. Another assumption claims that leaders are capable of acquiring specific features over their life span. As the evidence shows, leaders own many features that distinguish them among others and make more and more people become their followers. These might be cognitive abilities, psychological traits, professional qualities, and a lot more, and all of them will be either acquired or innate. Based on the importance of leadership qualities, such as commitment, stress resistance, and the ability to make quality decisions, it is reasonable to claim that leaders are made, not born. 

One can deem commitment as one of the top fundamental qualities of the leader. In essence, such a feature indicates that a person is passionate about the common goal, strives to be a team player, and makes every effort to reach a shared goal. As the history shows, none of the successful companies was uncoordinated by an influential, committed leader: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft – all of these companies are examples of dominant teams led by a dedicated leader. A committed leader also inspires his or her team to achieve common goals and put more effort into the shared activity. Besides, commitment is unlikely to be an innate feature; it instead comes with experience. This is so, since commitment implies dedicating oneself to the shared task, and one can reach it only via learning and continuous self-improvement.

Stress resistance is another incredibly important feature that every good leader should possess. This is because only a stress-resistant leader has sufficient capabilities to overcome any complexity and not let the anxiety and stress prevent him or her from making proper decisions. Besides, such a leader will most likely have a positive influence on the team, as long as leading by example will motivate the team members to attain the same emotional stability. What is so far familiar about stress resistance as an effective leader’s feature is that it can be either innate or attained. However, although some researchers admit that emotional stability is something one is born with, it is not entirely true; many people still put a great effort into self-improvement, changing the attitude to unfortunate situations, and so on. Therefore, being resistant to stress can be mostly attributed to a personality.

An ability to make high-quality decisions most likely determines the chances for an enterprise’s success. In particular, such quality is incredibly fundamental for a company of any size and professional orientation. Additionally, it is one of the top tasks of a good leader to make final decisions. What he or she should do implies brainstorming, discussing various opinions in the group, making forecasts, analyzing all the pros and cons. However, the leader is the one to make a final decision. Thereby, he is in charge of researching the market, discovering all the hidden truths, and analyzing the organization’s potential and capabilities to result in the most effective decision. As it flows logically from the latter, an ability to make sound quality decisions is purely a professional quality. This leads to the conclusion that one has to work hard to become a genuine leader and master the skill of making effective decisions. 

Overall, the leader may possess a multitude of different skills and master them perfectly. However, what has so far become transparent is that any leader, regardless of which team he leads, must possess three essential qualities. These qualities are commitment to the common goal, ability to handle and resist stress, and, finally, an ability to make effective decisions. All of the three qualities are most likely to be acquired over a lifetime. The statement below leads to the conclusion that even though some qualities can be innate, most are not the ones that leaders are born with. Hence, this answers an essential question: leadership feature is acquired, and not necessarily inborn.  

20 leadership essay topics

When coming up with your next leadership essay topic, it is imperative to brainstorm ideas and think of what leadership might be related to. If you are struggling with a topic of the importance of leadership essay or any relevant type of essay, you may quickly take a look at some of the possible topics we prepared for you:

• What are the main qualities of the leader?
• Successful Time Management as a feature of an effective leader
• The role that rhetoric plays in leadership
• The most exceptional leader in the history of the 20-th century
• The role of female leadership
• What are the challenges of the leader of the 21-st century?
• How college helps students develop leadership skills?
• Qualities of the leader that motivate people to follow them 
• Top things to avoid doing to become a team leader
• Examples of effective and ineffective leadership in the history
• Top techniques for developing leadership skills
• The interconnection of creativity and leadership 
• Is a university’s role fundamental in developing leadership skills?
• Dictatorship as an anti-example of leadership
• Liberal vs Authoritative leadership: which one works better?
• The influence of the leader’s role model on the followers’ mindset
• Main difficulties that the new leader may face in a new team
• Leadership of today vs leadership of the past: what has changed?
• Reasons why I want to become a member if the leadership program
• The role of cognitive abilities for the leader 

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How to write an essay about leadership

Leadership essays, or essays where you are asked about your work as a leader in your school or community, are not as common as you might imagine. Given all of the emphasis schools and clubs put on leadership roles and titles, essays asking students to dive deeply into this work are actually pretty rare in college applications. That said, it is important to consider leadership very broadly! You do not need to be the President or Founder of a club to write an effective essay for one of these prompts. In fact, sometimes the less common considerations and definitions of “leadership” can make for more compelling essays.

Example Leadership Essay Questions:

• U of California: Describe an example of your leadership and a way that you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
• U of Texas: How do you show leadership in your life? How do you see yourself being a leader at UT Austin?

LET'S BREAK DOWN THE ESSENTIAL POINTS YOU NEED TO HIT WHEN RESPONDING TO THIS SUPPLEMENT:

Leadership is more than titles – it is important, when you consider questions like these, that you reflect on activities where you have contributed to an accomplishment and learned something (about yourself, about your community). In fact, it would be a more powerful essay to reflect on a leadership contribution that was not connected to a title of leadership, but where you learned something important, than to reflect upon your activity where your leadership title is big “in name only.”

Sometimes leadership happens within your family – you do not need to limit your focus to leadership that happens during your school day.

You can consider this essay happening in two distinct ways: narrative structure – where you present a challenge you faced in a leadership role, actions you did that had an impact, and lessons you learned (skills you gained); OR montage structure – where you take on two different activities that both taught you a common lesson about leadership. Don’t muddle these together! Decide whether you want to write linearly (and chronologically in time) about one activity or if you want to write non-linearly about one leadership lesson.

THINGS TO AVOID:

Try to stay away from topics where your leadership takes the reader on a familiar journey. If you want to write about your leadership on an athletic team, that is wonderful, but try to avoid an essay about how your leadership of your team during The Big Game contributed to (winning/losing) The Big Game and the team becoming closer and being “one-strong-team.” Does that feel familiar to you? That’s because college admissions folks will have read thousands of essays that tell this type of story. If you select a common team to lead, take your essay in an uncommon direction.

Avoid lengthy introductions that take away from your word count and don’t actually support your essay response.

Avoid overemphasis on one aspect that detracts from your ability to talk about the other aspects of your story. In other words, if you spend half of your words outlining the challenge you faced, you only have ¼ of the remaining words to discuss your actions and ¼ to discuss the lessons you learned. This is not a good balance!

ADDITIONAL TIPS AND TRICKS:

• What did you do?
• What problems did you solve?
• What lessons did you learn?
• What impact did you have?
• How have you applied these lessons?

Answering these questions (and in this order) actually builds you an outline for this essay!

Do you have an extracurricular activity where the character count really limits you in terms of describing your work and impact? Consider using this essay to further highlight your contributions!

Do you have an extracurricular activity that speaks directly toward your intended major or field of study? This might be a great time to make your application stand out by sharing your leadership and contributions to this field! What problems have you solved? How can you use this prompt to share these solutions?

Elise holds a BA in Political Philosophy from Williams College and an MEd in Administration & Social Policy from Harvard. She has spent the past twenty years working in top-tier independent schools.

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How to Write the UC Essay on Leadership Experience

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Vinay Bhaskara in a CollegeVine Livestream. You can watch the full Livestream for more info.

What’s Covered:

What exactly is leadership, consider different types of leadership, mistakes to avoid.

The first of the University of California’s essay prompts states: 

Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.

This prompt is all about conveying your leadership experience. However, keep in mind that your essay does not need to be limited to an example of school-based leadership. Many of the better versions of this essay convey leadership in ways that are about neither academic leadership nor direct or positional extracurricular leadership.

It’s really easy to get lost in a definition of what leadership means with this prompt. Remember that leadership has a very expansive definition. What leadership looks like to each student will vary drastically, but, in other words, the prompt is asking you to describe how you have utilized your personal experience for the betterment of yourself and others. 

This prompt focuses on concrete actions that create tangible benefits for members of an organization, or even for an individual within the organization. Many students focus on how they have inspired their classmates or helped to resolve a conflict. While these are good examples of being a leader, try not to limit yourself to formal leadership positions and actions when brainstorming your response.

Leadership can range from formal leadership positions, such as being president of a club, to informal positions, such as mentoring a younger peer. Some examples of more formal leadership would be leadership positions in extracurricular activities including athletics , academics, and even work with non-profit organizations. Informal leadership, on the other hand, is leading in any capacity that is out of the ordinary, specifically when you do not have an official title.These are events or instances that you may not think of as leadership, but discussing such examples may actually help your essay stand out even more. 

A really powerful example of this could be a student helping peers deal with and overcome mental health struggles. Another example could be a student taking on more responsibility within their family by helping a sibling with their homework. The most compelling essays tend to be about informal examples of leadership, which are then supplemented by the formal leadership positions on your resume . 

Though there is no right or wrong answer for this essay prompt, here are a few things that you should avoid in your response.

Cliche Responses

A cliche essay response is any topic that reviewers may see repeatedly, and therefore is something you want to try and avoid in order to stand out among the applicant pool. Cliche responses for this essay prompt generally include examples about a club, such as a sports team, orchestra, or group, failing at something initially, and then the student helping the group succeed. It is possible to tackle such topics if you are an incredible writer, but if you aren’t then it may be hard for your essay to really make a lasting impact.

Restating Your Resume

Always avoid using the leadership experience prompt to restate your resume! It often seems that the most direct way to complete this essay is to speak about the leadership that can be found in your Activities section. Remember, however, that colleges already can see what’s on your resume. Therefore if you’re only expanding on the information in your application and using your essay to further list the clubs you led or your accomplishments, you’re not conveying anything new. You are missing an opportunity to add additional context to your application by doing this.

What the schools are really looking for are the qualities of leadership demonstrated through your experience – not the accomplishments or awards that you’ve accumulated from leadership positions. Instead of focusing on a title, focus on the impact of your leadership on others or on the approach used to build personal dynamics and relationships in leadership. Remember you want your essay to show which of your concrete actions have driven tangible benefits for others.

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Essay Samples on Leadership

What type of leader i am: examining my leadership.

What type of leader are you? This question delves into the unique qualities, values, and approaches that define my leadership style. As a leader, I recognize that my actions and decisions influence others, and understanding my leadership style is crucial for effective collaboration and impact....

• Leadership Styles

How to Be an Effective Leader: Guiding with Excellence

Becoming an effective leader requires more than just holding a position of authority; it entails embodying qualities that inspire and guide individuals toward shared goals. Whether leading a team, an organization, or a community, effective leadership is marked by the ability to foster collaboration, motivate...

• Effective Leadership

How to Be a Good Leader: The Path to Effective Leadership

Leadership is a multifaceted skill that involves guiding and inspiring individuals or groups toward a common goal. While leadership styles may vary, there are essential qualities and practices that define effective leadership. In this essay, we will explore how to be a good leader, discuss...

Are Leaders Born or Made: the Nature vs Nurture Debate

Are leaders born or made? This age-old question has ignited debates, discussions, and exploration into the realms of leadership. The inquiry into whether leadership is an innate trait or a cultivated skill has intrigued scholars, practitioners, and curious minds. This essay delves into the heart...

• Leadership Development

Analysis of President Barack Obama as a Leader

Successful leaders possess distinct traits and qualities that set them apart. One such leader is Barack Obama, who exemplifies several key leadership characteristics. Inspirational communication, unwavering conviction, and a willingness to take risks are among the qualities that have contributed to Obama's success. Furthermore, Obama's...

• Barack Obama
• President of The United States

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Leadership and Management: My Personal Philosophy of Leadership

Everybody can be a leader. Nevertheless, I feel that not every individual can lead effectively. I also believe that it is not a position but a process. Leadership is an action to influence other people to move and accomplish the same goal. Leaders are ineffective...

• Leadership and Management

Leadership Development: Analysis of My Leadership Experience

This reflective essay is an analytical look into my leadership experience not only as a leader but also as a member of a group. I specifically adopted the situational approach and the path-goal theory when presented with different leadership challenges hence the adoption of changing...

My Chevening Leadership: Leadership Skills that I Developed

I acquired leadership skills from early adulthood based on my experiences in church and my family. I developed organisational, resilience and other leadership skills which have been honed over the years. My leadership skills continued in secondary school when I started volunteering and campaigning against...

What Is Leadership For You

It is a general term that can have very different meanings with broader possibilities and scales associated with it, and it goes through some evolution with constant permutations and combinations that go on forever. It starts from ancient times and then into the Middle Ages...

Important Role of Leadership Quality and Professionalism

Dedication, strength, honor, and integrity, are just a few of the descriptive words that can be used to define a leadership role. Accountability, knowledge, as well as integrity are words used to help describe professionalism. Notice how the words used to describe these roles are...

The Meaning Of Leadership To Me: Qualities That Create A Leader

For countless millennia, we had witnessed the birth of several societies and organizations that had flourished from successful leadership. Today, in modern businesses you could immediately tell how the leadership it had evolved into at present and the leadership it had decades earlier. Take for...

• Personal Qualities

The Definition Of Leadership: What Does Leadership Mean To Me

My leadership philosophy is established about the need for a leader to encourage and inspire to do what motivates them. It can be accomplished by a leader and at the same time attaining the goals and the task of the team, department, institution, or corporation...

• Personal Beliefs

Chelladurai's Model Of The Leadership

The model that is used for leadership in sports would be the Chelladurai's model of leadership. Chelladurai's model is a framework which builds on research from non-sporting settings in order to analyze effective leadership in sport. The fundamental target of the leader is to achieve...

Example Of Effective Leadership In Jeff Bezos Life Path

Since the beginning of people’s lives, everyone makes choices and decisions which gradually define a person itself. It is often difficult to identify whether the decision was good or bad because each person has a different level of awareness of the importance. Some things which...

Leadership Style Of Jeff Bezos

Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American technology entrepreneur and the founder, CEO, and president of Amazon.com. Since high school, he has had an interest in computer science which led to him pursuing a degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University in 1986....

Management Vs Leadership: The Good And The Bad Of Being A Manager

Being a manager is a job. Being a leader is a role. Increasingly companies are seeing that you need both skills for an effective work environment. In the article, “What Leaders Really Do” by John Kotter, John highlights the differences between a leaders and managers,...

Ender's Game Character Analysis Essay

A mission that decides the destiny of humanity, its survival or obliteration, is a challenge many will succumb to. Failure is not an option. Ender’s Game, a science fiction novel written by Orson Scott Card, tells the story of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin who fights in...

• Ender's Game

The Rule of Charlemagne: The Development of Europe Under Successful Leadership

“Right action is better than knowledge; but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right.”- Charlemagne Charlemagne, also known as Charles I, Charles the Great and the Father of Europe was an important Germanic figure in medieval times and has...

• Charlemagne

The Benefits and Disadvantages of Transformational Leadership Style

Transformational Leadership deals with the motivation, inspiration, and encouragement of the personnel in order to carry out the innovative and creative change. This change directly helps the company in the growth and allows the scope for development. This leadership style is based on improving the...

• Charismatic Leadership

What Makes a Leader Charismatic

Leadership is a dense genre that had remained under debate regarding the difference in opinions of the definition and components of leadership, and either it is intrinsic quality or learned behavior. Despite all the debate, Leadership can be contributed as a personal impact that is...

The Influence of Mansa Musa's Leadership

The most important aspects of this topic would be the importance of Mansa rebuilding the Mali empire. After he helped rebuild the empire they were more powerful and had a more important standing within society. The emperor who came to make a difference within their...

My Motivation to Obtain the Darwin T. Turner Scholarship

The Darwin T. Turner Scholarship is a program of diversity and leadership initiatives. Hello, my name is Simratdeep Kaur and I believe I should be a Turner Scholar because I show great potential in the future. I have maintained great academics, participated in many school...

• Scholarship

What Does Being Inducted into National Honor Society Mean to Me

From the time I was inducted into National Junior Honor Society in seventh grade, I had always dreamed of the day when I would walk across the stage to become a part of National Honor Society. I have been continuously determined to do my very...

• National Honor Society

The Four Tenets of National Honor Society I Exemplify in My Everyday Life

Induction into the National Honor Society validates academic goals that I have worked extremely hard towards thus far. Membership would not only help maintain my academic performance, but assist me in accomplishing further goals of my school career. Getting accepted into NHS has been a...

A Brave Leader: The Success of Rosa Parks Leadership

Refusing to give up your seat on the bus; a seemingly trivial decision in the goings-on of everyday life. Maybe one would be considered rude, or irritate others – but beyond that, the effects of the refusal would seem relatively insignificant. How is it then,...

• Racial Segregation

Implementation of Leadership and Personal Development Planning in South Africa

Introduction Post-1994, the dream of the masses (previously disadvantaged groups), was a vision of self-governance, prosperity, equality, liberation and a sense of belonging and patriotism. Most of all, the yoke of Apartheid was demolished, it was a new future that held promise, a better life...

• Personal Development Planning

The History of Syrian Leadership and Its Impact on the State of a Country

Syria became one of the most discussed and controversial countries in the world in recent years due to its ongoing armed conflict. Millions of Syrians escaped from their homeland looking for a shelter and a better future abroad causing internal conflicts in highly developed countries...

The Concept of Leadership and Mother Teresa as Its Vivid Illustration

Leaders have the power and the intellect behind the organization, and they have the capability to influence the ones working for the company to accomplish and reach the company’s goal. According to Patel (2017), a strong manager or leader must reach and develop eleven traits...

• Mother Teresa

Investigating the Losses and Leadership Positions in Starbucks

The Starbucks brand started in 1971 by opening its to begin with store area in Seattle, Washington. Within the 1970s and 1980s, Starbucks Corporation experienced victory within the U.S. market. By 1987, Howard Schultz purchased Starbucks after serving for 5 years within the operation division...

The Humor Style Suitable for Leadership Positions

Throughout this report, the main topic in focus will be the Leader Humor Style. The definition of humor is not straightforward, “Over the years, researchers have been trying to arrive at one definition of humour which is both comprehensive and universal. All their efforts have...

The Results Of My S.M.A.R.T. Leadership Experience

Leadership, S.M.A.R.T. goals, and the Seven Habits profile are all interconnected in many ways. Throughout the course of this paper I will address the results of my Seven Habits profile, servant leadership, and make S.M.A.R.T. goals. They will assist me in becoming a better leader...

• Emotional Intelligence

The Definition of Leadership: Barack Obama's Presidency

Leadership can mean various things a success, power, efficiency, andintelligence. Among other qualities. However, leadership is taken into accountwhen the leader or the person who is the heads of a movement has the abilityto influence others and make a positive impact on the world around...

Leadership Is My Strong Side

Mustering the courage, penetrating the challenge, and engendering the creativity are the abilities to define myself as a visionary leader. After the head of Corporate Social Responsibility of PT Pertamina Region VII awarded me as the best presenter in Pertamina Technology Challenge, an opportunity as...

• About Myself

The Importance of Good Ethics and Leadership in Society

One of the most important, yet least understood phenomena on earth is leadership. The research was done to investigate leadership traits, activities, behaviour, and processes; yet, until Burns (1978), a few researchers were able to distinguish between leadership that is "transactional" and leadership that is...

• Human Behavior

Change Management in Organizations Dependency on Leadership

This paper seeks to establish how change can be effectively introduced to the challenging global business environment of today. However, to establish this, one has to first understand what a change management strategy is and to critically analyze the key composition of an ideal change...

• Change Management

Analysis Of Individual Aspects Of Leadership

The first factor for business success is empowering leadership. Leadership has taken companies to its peak of success. This report will look into the leadership style of Sandberg in the different companies she had worked. How her leadership skills influenced and impacted the people she...

Application Of Engineering Leadership To Improve Group's Performance

This case occurred during a practical lab session where my group and I were tasked with a graded lab report based on that session’s experiment. That week’s experimental procedure was knowledge-intensive and rigorous, requiring a good understanding of that week’s lecture content while involving many...

• Engineering

Best Way For Society To Prepare It's Youth For Leadership

The provided memo brings a lot of questions to mind. These need to properly addressed before jumping to the conclusion that increasing the advertising budget will help increase the attendance of people in movies produced by Super Screen Movie Production Company. Firstly, the memo talks...

• Modern Society

Classic Leadership And Organization Dilemmas

The main challenge of any organization is to perform tasks in the right time. If they cannot perform it within the prescribed time, their ongoing work can be interrupted. Therefore, if the job is to be executed at a given time, it is necessary to...

• Organizational Behavior

Jim Davis Case Study Analysis: The Problem Of Leadership And Power

Leadership and power have a fine line in which they were most effectively together. In that relationship it is important that a good sense of credibility is established in order to achieve and maintain a status. The problem at hand is how Jim is going...

Leadership – The Art Of Managing People

The capacity to sort out a gathering of individuals or an organization is called leadership. The individual who directs the gathering is characterized as a Leader. Despite the fact that the bigger fault and less credit come to them, a pioneer is the foundation of...

Leadership And Management In International Hospitality Business

Introduction Leadership includes giving the data, information, and techniques to understand that vision, and organizing and adjusting the clashing interests of all individuals and partners. Be that as it may, the initiative has changed after some time and has made numerous difficulties for the individuals...

• Hospitality
• Marketing Management

Leadership In Different Aspects Of Life

Introduction Leadership is defined to be the action of leading a group of people or an organization. In the coaching profession, coaches lead their teams. If you were to ask me what my personal definition and general philosophy of leadership is, I would say, “Leadership...

• Personal Life

The Challenges in the Leadership School: Stepping out of the Comfort Zone

I applied to leadership school and I was told it was going to easy but boy was I wrong. As soon we got on the bus things turned for worse. First, all phones were confiscated as we got on the bus then we to be...

Leadership Style And Influence Of Two Historical Figure

This is an extensive study of leadership styles and scope of influence of 2 historical figures of Nepal. “Siddhartha Gautama (Gautama Buddha) and Prithivi Narayan Shah. They can be seen as an effective and influential leader known to whole world. I found difference in their...

Leadership Theories And Personal Evaluation

Trait Theory Of the eight trait theories presented in the textbook I feel that I possess predominantly the desire to lead, honesty, integrity and emotional intelligence. In most jobs that I have been employed, I often find myself thinking of ways that the manager could...

Psychology Of Work: Organizational Leadership Theories

In lieu of the changing business environments globally, companies strive to be competent enough to be able to respond to customer expectations, have sound and healthy relationships with all the stakeholders, have operations that are transparent and accountable and increase their bottom line fulfilling their...

• Social Psychology

Revitalization Through New Leadership For Success In Any Field

The topic presented here makes a very valid argument that revitalization through new leadership is crucial for success in any field, be it politics, education or government. I am in concord with the claim that those in power should graciously make way at regular intervals...

An Overview of the Five Levels of Leadership

Nowadays the word ¨leadership¨ is used in all spheres of society, from the political field to the business and religious fields. One of the modern precursors of the study of leadership is John C. Maxwell, who for years has used and taught an instrument of...

The Social Influence Of Leadership On Human

For many years, many people (scholars) have had lot of interest in leadership, there have been many debates and some occasional confusion explaining the concept of leadership or what it really means. (Bass 1981) (Northouse, P 2016) Even now, defining it is not as easy...

Value Proposition Of Investing In It Leadership

Companies that invests in IT leadership perform much better than the companies that don’t. IT Leadership development is very important for creating competition and having an upper hand over other companies. A standout amongst the most important internal features to implement change is IT Leadership...

Essay About What Leadership Means To Me

For me, leadership means not only pursue success for myself but also to motivate and empower others to do the same by setting the perfect example to follow. For me, leadership means knowing where to go, leading the right path, taking new challenges and not...

Best topics on Leadership

1. What Type of Leader I Am: Examining My Leadership

2. How to Be an Effective Leader: Guiding with Excellence

3. How to Be a Good Leader: The Path to Effective Leadership

4. Are Leaders Born or Made: the Nature vs Nurture Debate

5. Analysis of President Barack Obama as a Leader

6. Leadership and Management: My Personal Philosophy of Leadership

7. Leadership Development: Analysis of My Leadership Experience

8. My Chevening Leadership: Leadership Skills that I Developed

9. What Is Leadership For You

10. Important Role of Leadership Quality and Professionalism

11. The Meaning Of Leadership To Me: Qualities That Create A Leader

12. The Definition Of Leadership: What Does Leadership Mean To Me

13. Chelladurai’s Model Of The Leadership

14. Example Of Effective Leadership In Jeff Bezos Life Path

15. Leadership Style Of Jeff Bezos

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Feb 15, 2023

Essays on Leadership for Students | 200 - 500 Word Essays

Are you writing an essay about leadership? Check out these examples!

Leadership is often defined as "the action of inspiring others to act in concert to achieve a particular goal." It signifies the harmony in actions that lead to a common objective. A genuine leader not only exudes confidence but also paves the way for their followers towards triumph. Over the years, various leadership styles have been identified and discussed by psychologists.

 Qualities such as intelligence, adaptability, extroversion, innate self-awareness, and social competence often emerge as the hallmarks of impactful leaders. There's a consensus that these traits mold an individual into an effective leader. Interestingly, some theories suggest that extraordinary situations can thrust an ordinary individual into the spotlight, bestowing upon them the mantle of leadership. It's also believed that leadership isn't a static trait but an evolving journey. It underscores the belief that with dedication and the right resources, anyone can hone their leadership abilities.

 True leadership goes beyond merely advocating for a cause. It involves taking responsibility, igniting motivation in others, and differentiating oneself from just being a 'boss'. A leader's essence lies in their ability to inspire and propel people towards grand visions, whereas a manager typically focuses on oversight and operational aspects.

What Is a Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay falls under the category of student application essays and serves to provide student admissions officers with insight into your past leadership experiences. Despite appearing to be very specific, this type of essay acknowledges that the nature and perception of leadership can vary significantly depending on the individual and the context.

 If you find yourself in need of further insights or a unique angle for your leadership essay, consider exploring an expert essay-writing tool designed to assist students in crafting compelling narratives by analyzing vast data and generating fresh ideas within minutes. In this article, we'll also delve into various leadership essay examples to offer a clearer understanding of the genre and inspire your writing journey.

4 Examples of Leadership Essays

Qualities of a good leader, introduction.

Confidence is the most important attribute first of all. One of the most important qualities in a leader is confidence in one's own abilities. A lack of self-assurance is fatal to a person's leadership potential. If you want others to follow you, you need to exude self-assurance. It's imperative for a leader to have faith in his own judgment and actions. How can people want to follow him if he doesn't even know what he's doing?

Every effective leader knows that they need to be an inspiration to their followers. A leader needs to set an example for his team. In addition, he ought to inspire them whenever feasible. A leader must also maintain optimism in trying times.

What qualities a good leader must have?

Leadership is the ability to influence and guide individuals or groups toward a common goal. A leader must possess several qualities to be effective, including:

Communication skills: A leader must be able to communicate their vision and goals clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing. This requires excellent listening skills, empathy, and the ability to adapt to different communication styles.

Emotional intelligence: A leader must be able to understand and manage their own emotions, as well as those of their team members. This includes being able to understand and respond to the emotions of others, and handling conflicts in a constructive manner.

Visionary: A leader must have a clear and inspiring vision of the future, and be able to articulate this vision in a way that motivates others to work towards it.

Strategic thinking: A leader must be able to think critically and creatively to identify and solve problems, make decisions, and develop plans and strategies to achieve their goals.

Flexibility: A leader must be able to adapt to changing circumstances and be open to new ideas and perspectives. This requires the ability to embrace change, be innovative, and continuously learn and grow.

Integrity: A leader must have strong ethics and values, and be willing to make difficult decisions that are consistent with their beliefs. This requires honesty, transparency, and accountability.

Decisiveness: A leader must be able to make tough decisions quickly, without undue hesitation or procrastination. This requires courage and the ability to take calculated risks.

Empowerment: A leader must be able to delegate responsibilities, give team members the resources they need to succeed, and foster a sense of ownership and accountability among their team.

Conclusion 

These qualities are essential for effective leadership, and when combined with hard work, determination, and a commitment to excellence, can help leaders to achieve great things.

How one can be a Great Leader?

Leadership is the act of performing the duties of a leader. In the business world, for instance, it is essential to have someone in charge of a team to ensure everything runs well. Effective leadership is essential for any group that wants to maximize its prospects of success.

Leadership Comes from Experience

As we've shown, leadership can be innate in some cases but is more often learned through practice and exposure. Sometimes the best traits of a leader must be learned over a lengthy period of time, so that one can become a notable one, proving that leadership is not always about a person's innate qualities. Leaders should continuously be on the lookout for opportunities to grow their leadership skills.

Nobody can disagree that experience is a key component of leadership. Numerous examples exist to back up this claim, such as:

Instance 1:

Our school's head boy or girl has traditionally been an older student who has been around for a while and thus has a better grasp of the ins and outs of school politics.

Instance 2:

When there is a vacancy for a team leader, it is common practice for the employee who has consistently put in the most effort and attention to the office job to receive a higher number of votes than their coworkers. 

“The best teacher for a leader is evaluated experience.” - John C. Maxwell

How one can be a Great Leader/Skills to be a Great Leader?

Effective leadership is a skill that develops through time. Developing into a leader with all the qualities that are needed takes a lot of hard work and potential. Being a prominent leader calls for a wide variety of traits. Some of these characteristics are addressed in further detail below:

One should be a Good Communicator

To be an effective leader, one must be able to convey his thoughts clearly to his/her/its subordinates.

Should have Confidence

The individual should have faith in what he says and does.

Give Credit to other Team Members too

A leader not only needs to impose his viewpoints and opinions instead he must also hear to the suggestions of other members of the team and offer them credit if their concept is appropriate.

Good Bond with the Team

A leader's ability to command respect from his team members depends on his ability to develop and maintain positive relationships with them.

Leads with Responsibility

A leader needs to be completely committed to his position. It's important that he takes on responsibility so that he can effectively deal with the various challenges he will inevitably face.

Any group or organization needs a leader above all else. Leadership development takes time and effort. One needs to have lived through a lot to be an effective leader. It's not enough to simply have years of experience in the field; one must also have the traits that make one an effective leader. You can't be a great leader unless you possess certain traits.

What makes a Good Leader?

Trying one's hand as a leader appears easy when viewed through this lens. Is that so tough? Of course not; leading is difficult, and not everyone aspires to be a leader. The vast majority of us have settled into well-established careers where we report to superiors and make a living. Still, not everyone is content to go along with the crowd. They become leaders in whatever field they pursue. A leader is an example to followers and will prioritize the needs of those around them.

Some Unique Qualities of a Leader

Many individuals resort to their leaders to vent their frustrations, therefore it's important for them to be good listeners.

A leader ought to be completely forthright; they can't play favorites or give anyone preferential treatment. One of the most essential qualities of a strong leader is the ability to make decisions with integrity.

They need to be aware of the bigger picture and understand what makes an individual stand out or become a leader. It's their expertise in addition to other distinguishing traits. Their awareness of current events and the results of recent studies is essential. In many ways, this is helpful, and it's the leader's responsibility to stay current.

Since some might not understand them, they should utilize straightforward, easily comprehended language. Leaders need to be able to communicate effectively at all times. In reality, what sets them apart is their exceptional communication skills. Adolf Hitler was such a gifted orator that his followers believed every word he said.

No matter how you're feeling or what's going on in the world, if you listen to a leader, they may make you feel energized. Since leaders are in charge of inspiring confidence in their followers, they can't afford to be wary or unsure of themselves. People tend to blindly follow their leaders.

Whether you're a leader or a doctor, you should devote yourself completely to your chosen field. Everything we do is for the benefit of others; engineers, for example, spend much of their time designing and constructing buildings for other people. So, take pride in what you do, and if you possess the aforementioned traits, you are also a leader who doesn't have to rely on others to succeed. No matter what you do, aspiring to leadership positions will always benefit others.

What is Leadership in Management and what are the weaknesses and strengths of a Leader?

Simply said, leadership is acting as a supervisor or manager of a group. Different mental pictures pop up when we hear the word "leadership" used in conversation. One might think of a political leader, team leader, corporate leader, school leader, etc. Leaders facilitate order and efficiency in the workplace. Teamwork and success are fundamental to effective leadership. Leaders utilize their managerial abilities to establish courses and guide their teams to success.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Leadership

Able to express oneself more clearly

Growth of character.

Self-awareness.

Possession of teamwork skills.

Gain assurance in yourself.

Weaknesses:

Acting favorably toward one's teammates.

Having no faith in the leader.

Thinks they're better than everyone else, but act hypocritically.

Not living up to the promised standard.

Insufficient morals.

Leadership and Management

Management and leadership are inextricably linked to one another. Leadership and management are both vital to the efficient operation of an organization; but, they accomplish very different things in the process. Leadership is a necessary skill for anyone aspiring to be an effective manager. The terms management and leadership are synonymous with one another. In this manner, we are able to draw the conclusion that a manager who demonstrates the traits of a successful leader is, in fact, a manager who is effective.

Leadership in School

Leadership is essential in nearly every group, as we've seen above. That group includes one's educational institution. Every school needs an outstanding figure to serve as its head of school. Class monitor, assembly captain, cultural leader, etc. are all examples of leadership roles that can be taken on at school, but this raises the question of what makes a person a successful school leader.

Any student hoping to be chosen as a student body leader will need to demonstrate a wide range of competencies. He or she needs to be a consistent student who pays attention in class and does well in extracurricular activities. For the simple reason that no intelligent and hardworking kid would ever be considered for leadership. Student leaders are most often selected from among those who participate fully in all activities.

Leadership in Organization

Leadership in an organization, also known as organizational leadership, is the process of establishing long-term objectives that further the company's mission and help it reach its ultimate destination. This is a classic illustration of how Bill Gates often works with his team: they agree on a strategy, and Gates implements it. To the same extent, it is the responsibility of the leader in each given organization to determine what it is that the group is trying to accomplish.

Leadership in Politics

Leadership in politics, also known as political leadership, is the process of becoming actively involved in a political party in the role of a party leader. Knowledge of political processes, their outcomes, and the political agenda is central to the idea of political leadership.

An effective leader can be developed in anyone who has the determination and drives to do so. Both the strengths and the areas for improvement should be nurtured. Whether in the classroom, the workplace, or the political arena, leadership is always necessary. Therefore, one can exercise leadership anywhere they like inside their own organization.

What are the types of Leadership?

The ability to lead is a rare trait that not everyone possesses. The ability to do so is a gift, so count your blessings if you possess it. It's recommended that you hone it even more so that you can propel your career forward and serve as an example to people around you. However, it is crucial to grasp the various leadership styles before you go ahead and polish your skills.

Types of Leadership Styles

Democratic Leadership

In this style of management, subordinates are given a voice in decision-making. Although the subordinates' efforts are highlighted, the leader is ultimately held responsible for the group's actions. Many people find this type of leadership to be effective.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders motivate and inspire others to adopt new behaviors and ways of thinking in order to improve their own performance and that of their teams and organizations. A transformational leader is someone who encourages their team to strive for greater things and works to boost morale and output.

Team Leadership

A good leader fully incorporates his team into the task at hand. Members of the team are motivated to reach their goals and advance in their careers thanks to the leadership of the group.

Strategic Leadership

It requires a chief executive who doesn't restrict himself to brainstorming sessions with his superiors. He contributes on every level of the team. He is well-liked for his ability to unite the need for fresh ideas with the necessity of grounding them in reality.

Autocratic Leadership

The leader in a command and control structure is the center of attention. The chief executive has absolute power in this setting. He decides things on his own, without polling his staff. He relays this information to his staff and stresses the importance of swift action. The buck stops with him, and he alone must answer for his actions. Not much room for negotiation exists. It's no secret that this method of leading has its detractors.

Visionary Leadership

This kind of leader appreciates the abilities and requirements of his team members. He describes his ideal outcome and the teamwork that will be necessary to attain it.

Coaching Leadership

Leaders who coach their teams do so regularly in an effort to raise output. He inspires his employees to do better and works to keep them motivated. This approach to leadership has been much praised.

Facilitative Leadership

With occasional guidance, a facilitative leader ensures that the process runs smoothly for his team. As a precaution in case his team is ineffective. If the team is highly effective, the leader will take a hands-off approach.

Cross-Cultural Leadership

The leadership of this type is necessary when interacting with people from various cultural backgrounds. Because of the wide variety of cultures represented in the workforce across the United States, many managers and executives hold cross-cultural positions.

Laissez-Faire Leadership

The members of the team are given responsibility in this style of management. They are free to choose how they spend their time at work, with minimal oversight from the boss. It's not a good way to lead, according to experts.

Transactional Leadership

An interactive approach is integral to this kind of leadership. When team members successfully implement their leader's ideas and choices, they are rewarded with immediate, material benefits.

Charismatic Leadership

In order to bring out the best in his followers, this kind of leader makes the effort to change their attitudes, values, and actions.

This article should dispel the notion that leadership qualities can't be further subdivided. It should also assist you in pinpointing your own personal brand of leadership so you can perfect it over time.

Final Words

In conclusion, leadership is a complex and multifaceted concept that involves various qualities and skills. Effective leaders possess traits such as integrity, vision, empathy, decisiveness, and the ability to inspire and motivate others. They are able to navigate challenges, make difficult decisions, and lead their team toward success. Leadership also involves continuous learning and self-improvement, as leaders must adapt to changing circumstances and remain relevant. Effective leadership can have a positive impact on both individuals and organizations, fostering growth and creating a culture of success.

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• Your leadership style: why understanding yourself matters
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• http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0110-2378 Clare Felicity Jane Price-Dowd
• People Directorate , NHS England and Improvement , Leeds , West Yorkshire , UK
• Correspondence to Dr Clare Felicity Jane Price-Dowd, People Directorate, NHS Improvement, Leeds LS1 4HG, West Yorkshire, UK; clare.price-dowd{at}improvement.nhs.uk

Understanding of personal leadership style has been shown to be a key part of effective leadership practice. It has been a topic of interest for many decades as we have tried to understand, and replicate, what makes those considered to be ‘great leaders’ so successful. This article gives a brief introduction to different leadership ‘theories’, leadership ‘styles’ and the effect they have on the ‘climate’ in organisations. Having an understanding of the different approaches can help leaders be more effective through comprehending how and why they do what they do, as well as helping them identify where and when they need to adapt their style. By considering how our understanding of leadership has evolved, it is possible to show how effective leadership is not linked to one approach. It is a combination of knowledge, attitudes and behaviours with a focus on both the task in hand and concern for those undertaking that task. Furthermore this understanding supports impactful personal development, which creates positive climates in organisations where compassionate and inclusive leadership behaviours can, and do result in better outcomes for staff and patients.

• effectiveness
• leadership assessment
• role modeling

https://doi.org/10.1136/leader-2020-000218

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Introduction

Who, when flipping through a publication has not been tempted by the ‘personality quiz’, hoping to get the ‘mostly A, B or C’ that indicates we have the attributes for long and successful careers or lots of friends? While this level of ‘knowing how we are’ could be dismissed as flippant, when it comes to leadership, understanding our personal approach can be invaluable. If you asked people around you ‘what sort of leader do you think you are?’ they would most likely answer in the singular ‘I lead by example,’ ‘I build relationships with people,’ or ‘I don't tolerate underperformance’. They are unlikely to say ‘I do this here, and that on other occasions’ yet the most effective leaders are those who attune to their context, consciously adapt their practice and have an awareness of how their own style effects others. This article introduces the different theories and styles of leadership and how they can be used to create positive work climates. The key terms are given in table 1 .

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Evolution of leadership theory and understanding of style

A desire to understand what makes a successful leader is not new. For centuries there has been debate about what differentiated leaders from non-leaders, and leaders from followers. In a comprehensive review of leadership theories by Stogdill, 1 a number of categories were identified and in the 80+ years since Lewin et al 2 published their theory on patterns of behaviour in 1939, we have seen an evolution from trying to identify ‘common traits’ based on inherent characteristics of ‘great men and women’ through to the what we now understand to be the successful combination of person, place and approach. Looking further into this evolution, although this is not a comprehensive list, it is possible to group the stages of development as follows:

Trait theory—for example as seen in the work of Carlyle 3 and Stodgill 1 is concerned with the type of person that makes a good leader and the innate qualities and associated leadership traits they have. A meta-study by the Centre for Excellence in Management and Leadership 4 identified over 1000 leadership traits in the literature, which they distilled to 83 more or less distinct attributes. While no specific trait or combination was found to guarantee success, trait theory did help in identifying qualities that are helpful when leading others such as integrity and empathy.

Later, behavioural theory identified what good leaders do—effectively how they ‘lead well’. Examples include the Tannenbaum and Schmidt continuum 5 —seven stages of reducing control namely Tells, Sells, Suggests, Consults, Joins, Delegates and Abdicates; the Action-Centred Leadership Model of Adair 6 which sets out the three responsibilities of the leader—‘achieving the task, managing the team and managing individuals’ and the Blake Mouton Managerial Grid 7 also referred to as ‘The Power to Change’ which outlines two behavioural dimensions: Concern for Results and Concern for People.

Situational and contingency theory: looks at the leader in the context of where they lead. By considering how the leader’s success is directly influenced by their environment, it became possible to identify the conditions that support or constrain leaders as seen in work including Feidler 8 Vroom and Yetton 9 Yukl 10 ; Hersey and Blanchard 11 ; Thompson and Vecchio. 12

Transactional theories—as seen in the work of Weber 13 and later by Bass, 14 focuses on the leader getting results by using process and structures while applying reward and penalty in response. Within this are power and influence theory, exchange and path-goal theory by House 15 16 which concentrate on the relationship between leader and led as a series of trades or ‘leader-member exchanges’.

In more recent years, while the transactional and positive view of hero leadership has never entirely gone away, the notion of ‘Hero to Host’ 17 which describes the move to transformational and ‘new wave’ styles outlined by Burns 18 Bass 14 and Kouzes and Posner 19 among others. Transformational leadership not only serves to enhance the motivation, morale, satisfaction and performance of followers, but also sees the leader role model compassionate and inclusive behaviours, which are valued. In ‘Good to Great’ by Collins, 20 the Level 5 leader is described as possessing both indomitable will, but also humility and is often self effacing and shy, the opposite of what we might have previously described as leadership traits!

Relevance for leaders

Every day, leaders in healthcare must constantly analyse complex situations, engage, motivate, empower and delegate. Many leaders now operate within complex adaptive systems—organisations that are an interconnected whole of many parts, which may and may not function effectively together depending on changing circumstances. This calls for leadership skills and behaviours that can move between each required activity with seemingly effortless ease and without loss of effectiveness.

Having an appreciation of different theories and styles also helps us identify our reaction to these changing situations. In considering the global COVID-19 pandemic, the leadership behaviours required, and experienced, may be different to anything encountered before. The effect of leadership in this situation is profound and will have a lasting impact. Displaying command behaviours may be necessary but uncomfortable, while teams may not be used to being directed with minimal consultation. Sustained pressure may have a negative effect, but it does not follow that leadership behaviours slide into being disrespectful or non-inclusive—it is about the leaders focusing on the task and ensuring individuals and teams are clearly instructed on the part they have to play; consulted where possible and informed of when and when they need to do as instructed.

However, knowing about ‘how we are’ is only part of the picture, equally important is understanding the effect we have on other. Goleman 21 found that the one of the biggest mistakes leaders make was to default to a style of personal choice rather than responding with the most appropriate in the situation, while Blanchard 22 suggests that 54% of leaders only ever apply one preferred leadership style regardless of the situation. The result is that almost half of the time, leaders are using the wrong style to meet their current objective or lead the people around them well.

The danger here is trying to be the most popular leader and everyone’s favourite, rather than developing an authentic repertoire of skills. If you have never considered your leadership style or the types of leadership behaviours you have there are a number of tools to help such as the National health Service Healthcare Leadership Model. Based on research of the behaviours of effective leaders, Storey and Holti 23 defined nine domains (Inspiring shared purpose: leading with care: evaluating information: connecting our service: sharing the vision: engaging the team: holding to account: developing capability and influencing for results) against which can leaders can self assess and gain pointers on how to strengthen their style.

Relevance for the work environment

Research by KornFerry Hay Group 24 shows an up to 70% of variance in climate and an up to 30% increase business performance can be directly attributable to the climate leaders create through their style of leadership. This includes feeling included, supported and having a role that is meaningful. To help leaders create a positive climate, Goleman 21 defined six leadership styles—see table 2 —which he then correlated with the type of climate each created for those around them. Those able to deploy the styles in the left column have been shown to create high performing teams in positive climates.

Leadership Styles and the climate they support (adapted from Goleman 21 )

These are not the only leadership styles: others include Autocratic leadership where leaders/managers make the decisions and employees follow orders as previously stated; laissez-faire leadership where the manager empowers employees but gives them few rules to follow with little oversight or direction: bureaucratic leadership where hierarchies and job titles to determine responsibilities and rules and servant leadership which focuses on the needs of employees, seeing them as the organisation’s most important resources and often treating them as clients, but only the six here were included by Goleman.

The effects of the leadership styles displayed and the effects they have on the climate within organisations has far reaching impact for team members. The ability to flex your leadership style and create a positive climate has been shown to create greater job satisfaction and pride in work, greater collaboration and creativity. Having an awareness of the effects of personal style, is therefore an essential part of a leaders toolkit and something every leader should have awareness of

In practice

Delivering health and care is highly complex and effective leadership calls for a match of style and approach to context and presenting challenge. Leadership styles is not a neat category of things, the increasingly interconnected world with ever-evolving technology has dictated a need for leaders who can adapt effortlessly as the situation dictates. Daniel Goleman 21 likens leading to being a golfer—one game but choosing the right club, at the right moment, for the next shot. Lets think about what this could look like: again, thinking about the COVID-19 pandemic the deteriorating clinical condition requires a leader who draws on all their experience, interprets the situation, takes control and ‘tells’ in order to get the best outcome for the patient—transactional and it’s wholly appropriate. At other times, that same leader will need to take time to build relationships and coach others in order to give the best care possible.

We all have a natural tendency towards our preferred style and when under pressure, there is evidence that we ‘revert to type’, relying on the most comfortable part of our personality to see us though. Unfortunately this means using fewer of the leadership skills that usually provide balance. Skilful, mature leadership is about leading ourselves as much as leading others. This level of understanding our style helps us recognise triggers that support adopting the right style for the given situation.

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Different situations require different leadership style and each style can be considered a tool in itself. How we lead needs to be a combination of concern for the task in hand and also the people undertaking it, as both individuals and collectively as teams. We have looked briefly at small number of the plethora theories and styles that can help us understand how we lead. Leaders who understand themselves and can move effortlessly between a range of styles in response to changing situations have been found to have more positive outcomes for their teams and patients.

• Stogdill RM
• Lippitt R ,
• Carlyle T ,
• Tannenbaum R ,
• Blanchard K
• Thompson G ,
• Wheatley M ,
• KornFerry Hay Group
• Newstrom JW ,
• Griffin MA ,

Twitter @clarepricedowd

Contributors CFJP-D completed all part of this paper:

Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests None declared.

Patient consent for publication Not required.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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4 Examples of Chevening Essay: Leadership and Influence

Chevening is looking for individuals who will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.

See all Newest Chevening Essay Example: click here .

Leadership Essay for Chevening Example 1

With a background in psychology, I am excited to apply for the MA in Interpreting and Translation in the UK, with a focus on the Spanish-English-French language path. I’d appreciate your feedback on my leadership essay and the others that I will be submitting. I firmly believe that leadership is a multifaceted concept, varying significantly from one person to another. In light of this, I would like to highlight my unique leadership experiences, particularly during my tenure at Navistar International.

See also:  Ultimate Chevening Scholarship Resources

At Navistar International, I was the first psychologist to be hired, and I quickly realized the absence of any mental health campaigns within the company. Seizing the opportunity, I developed a comprehensive mental health program, concentrating on stress inoculation. I chose this focus because I noticed many employees grappling with long hours and difficulties during their shifts. Designed to span four weeks, the program’s content was both easily comprehensible and pragmatic for the employees.

The program also extended a psychological assistance service to those in need. I meticulously wrote and devised this program with the aim of institutionalizing it as an ongoing mental health initiative for the company, thereby contributing to the prevention of mental disorders. I am pleased to share that the project was successfully incorporated into the company’s annual medical care campaigns.

I also demonstrated leadership while overseeing a university project in 2017, having been selected as the former representative. I was tasked with creating a health initiative for a vulnerable community in my hometown of Victoria. I led a team of eight students from the school year below mine and one from my own school year.

Navigating this project was challenging, particularly in delegating tasks in alignment with the individual knowledge and capabilities of each team member. With the more senior classmates, I elucidated the project’s structure and the psychological approach we would adopt to foster life skills such as problem-solving, assertive family communication, and knowledge about government facilities offering healthcare services, which many community members were unaware of.

Working closely with my peers Carlos and Patricia, we thoroughly reviewed the project structure and sponsorships. After successfully presenting the project to a jury, I am proud to share that we received a first-place award. As a token of recognition, we were each awarded an extra point in our semester grades, and the project was implemented, benefiting a community of nearly seventy people.

Lastly, I am honored to have had an article published in the psychology journal ‘Psychology and Health’ from Universidad Veracruzana. Driven by a desire to contribute to science, I researched journals interested in the topic, ultimately finding a suitable platform. Over the course of six months, my work was reviewed and accepted, thanks to the invaluable support of my teachers, Miss Báez and Miss Torres. The article was officially published in January 2020 and is available on both the journal platform and my Google Scholar profile.

In conclusion, my leadership strengths are rooted in observation, empathy, and a keen ability to discern people’s needs, strengths, and abilities. I excel in the design and organization of projects that promote well-being, community engagement, and effective communication. With a passion for languages and an MA in Interpreting and Translation, I am eager to leverage these strengths to make an impact in the linguistic field.

“Leadership and influence” Chevening Essay Example 2

It is increasingly becoming a well-known fact that ‘influence is the new currency for success’. This is especially true in this new social media era, where several careers have taken off on the strength of social media influence alone, and several political careers have been elevated through the power and ubiquity of social media. Former American President Barack Obama, who used the Internet to orchestrate an unprecedented political campaign mainly using social media, is a prime example. I am well aware that influence and leadership are intertwined, where one cannot exist without the other. Amassing influence is, therefore, the surest way of achieving one’s leadership goals because people can only be motivated to follow a person with some influence. With this knowledge in mind, I have endeavored to build my influence over the years to become a leader within my profession and community. This has seen me take on various leadership responsibilities in school, work, and community.

In high school, I held two primary leadership responsibilities— I was both the Head Girl and Netball Captain at Kereri Girls High School. Being a Head Girl is the highest leadership position one can attain as a secondary school student, and as you can well imagine, it came to a lot of weighty responsibilities. I was the overall leader of all prefects in the school and had to carefully use my influence to guide them towards exercising thoughtful and balanced leadership over the rest of the students. As the Netball Captain, I had to motivate my teammates to succeed in the various national and provincial competitions in which we would participate. Even at the university, I found myself in a leadership role where I was tasked with heading the Fourth Year University Project Group.

Professionally, I have consistently exercised my leadership skills throughout my career. As the Branch Operations Supervisor at NIC Bank, I oversaw teller operations, back office, and customer service operations and guided staff accordingly. I recognized my leadership capabilities and was rewarded with the ‘NIC Bank Branch Forex Champion’ award. These leadership roles have continued as I progress in my career at NIC and currently chair the NIC Securities Limited Welfare Committee. Within the community, however, I have most enjoyed exerting my influence as a leader because it has helped me contribute to society’s betterment in my little way. I am a Mentor at Nyabururu Girls High School, Kereri Girls High School, and the Equity Bank Wings to Fly Program. As a mentor, I have been able to guide young people in terms of professional and academic mentoring and financial support, especially concerning sanitary towels and other school items. In addition, I currently work with the Uthiru Area Chief to support disadvantaged families by donating clothes, food, and some financial support.

Chevening Essay Example 3

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it”. (Dwight D. Eisenhower)

Coming from Jordanian-Palestinian Family taught me about Eisenhower’s definition of leadership throughout my personal, academic, and professional life. External political and economic forces drove my father’s Palestinian family to move to Jordan, Lebanon, then settle in Syria. In 2015, the carpet-bombing of Aleppo forced me to leave for Turkey without a firm grasp on my future.

From the Voluntary experience I gained from working in the Red Crescent and my University Degree in Economics, I have worked as a humanitarian for the UN, trying to assist crisis-affected communities with economic empowerment and development. I have used my leadership skills to assist others who believe in recovery and resilience to commit to the exact humanitarian cause. I helped coordinate and manage the first pilot project for economic recovery in northern Syria at UN-IOM Turkey. Using my communication and administrative skills, I monitor and oversee the implementation of IOM’s programs in Turkey through our partners remotely daily. My leadership skills have been crystalized through the effective management of this project by allowing the partner flexibility to implement the activities and getting feedback on the results.

Strong leadership comes from clear communication of the task and the ability to give freedom and motivate others to thrive in implementing the objective. Moreover, I have used my communication and coordination skills to initiate change in the workplace. When the Turkish lira dropped significantly against the US dollar, and inflation rose 40%, UN local staff suddenly could not support themselves. I led discussions with colleagues suggesting writing a letter to the management expressing our needs and the aim of changing our salaries. By listening, gaining their trust, and acknowledging their fear, I convinced many local staff members to sign a letter to senior management. The letter led to a meeting with senior management to officially coordinate this issue with other UN agencies in Turkey, which later required establishing the Staff Association Committee that I was elected to lead and represent more than 150 staff in the south of Turkey.

The Chevening scholarship will allow me to receive an education that will provide me with the technical expertise and the network I will need when I return to create social change in terms of development and economic recovery not only at the community level but also in terms of policy implantation. This is a highly needed change for the current Syrian Refugee crisis and the Middle East.

Example 4: Leadership and Influence in Water Management

In the pivotal final year of my degree, I took a stand against the pressing issue of limited access to clean water in Sucre, my hometown. Recognizing the urgency, I spearheaded a groundbreaking project focused on groundwater research. Not only did I secure crucial funding from the water services company, ELAPAS, but I also orchestrated collaborations with key stakeholders across neighborhoods. My leadership role encompassed everything from research initiation and sample collection to the actualization of purification units. Through my unwavering commitment, I championed the cause of Sustainable Development Goal 6 and Water Quality Regulation NB512. The tangible impact? Seventy families now have access to safe drinking water, and a ripple effect of heightened awareness about hygiene and responsible water consumption has been set in motion.

My leadership journey didn’t stop there. As a board member of the Scientific Society of Civil Engineers Univalle-Sucre, I took the helm in coordinating all hydraulics and hydrology-related activities. The pandemic posed unique challenges, but I innovatively transitioned to virtual platforms, spotlighting critical issues like sustainable water management and the pivotal role of women in the water sector. My proactive involvement in the society culminated in co-authoring a scientific article, now published in a renowned Costa Rican journal, poised to enlighten future researchers.

Another feather in my cap was my active involvement with ABIS Chuquisaca. Here, I played a pivotal role in orchestrating the “1st Water Fair” in Sucre, offering a platform for 17 companies to showcase their expertise in the water sector. This event, which I helped bring to fruition, garnered significant attention from students, professionals, and the general public alike. Notably, I was among the elite group of eight professionals recognized during the association’s official founding act.

In essence, while my GPA might not be sky-high, my leadership trajectory speaks volumes. I’ve consistently demonstrated the ability to inspire teams, set visionary goals, and navigate through challenges with resilience and determination. I firmly believe that my proven leadership prowess and influential impact make me an ideal candidate for the Chevening scholarship. My vision is clear: to leverage this opportunity to further the development of my nation, elevate living standards, and champion sustainable water management.

By idebeasiswa

Related post, queen elizabeth commonwealth scholarships starter pack, 3 chevening essay: relationship-building and shared learning, gks graduate nursing science essay example.

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Essay on Leadership: Samples in 100, 200, 300 Words

• Updated on  
• Oct 7, 2023

The concept of leadership has been known to us since ancient times, from Ashoka: The Great to modern-day democratic leaders. Whether it’s politics or business, sports or entertainment, leadership is an essential part of human society, Leadership is the art of inspiring and guiding people towards a common goal. 

Critics might argue that being a leader is just about holding a prestigious position and living a fancy life. That might be 1 in 1000 cases, as leaders across the globe work for the welfare and development of their people and country. Below we have discussed some essays on leadership where the multifaceted roles of this position are highlighted. 

Table of Contents

• 1 Essay on Leadership in 100 Words
• 2 Essay on Leadership in 200 Words
• 3 Essay on Leadership in 300 Words

Also Read – Essay on Summer Vacation

Essay on Leadership in 100 Words

Leadership involves a set of qualities, values and actions, which are focused on the benefit of people and their country. A person holding the position of a leader plays a pivotal role in every facet of life, influencing the direction and success of organizations, communities, and nations. To become a leader, one must have a clear vision to understand a future state that is better than the present and communicate that vision to their team or followers.

A leader’s actions should be aligned with their words, and they must demonstrate their honesty, transparency and ethical behaviour. Trust is the foundation for any successful leadership, and it is built through consistent ethical conduct. 

Essay on Leadership in 200 Words

Leadership is a complex and multifaceted concept and is an essential part of developing a society or organisation. Leadership can involve various positions and types, from democratic to autocratic, where the leaders inspire and empower their teams, fostering an environment where individuals can thrive and achieve their fullest potential.

Effective leadership involves skilled communicators to can convey ideas, expectations, and feedback clearly and persuasively. They also listen actively to their team’s input and concerns. A great leader empowers a team of professionals by entrusting them with responsibilities and decision-making authority. With the formation of delegates, the power of leadership is divided among different authorities who are responsible for fostering growth and development among team members, making the organization more robust.

Some of the fundamentals of leadership are authenticity, integrity, ethical behaviour, a clear vision and other vital traits. Trust is the bedrock of leadership, and it is built through honesty, transparency, and consistency in actions and decisions. A leader who understands and cares about the needs and concerns of their team fosters strong relationships, promoting collaboration and cohesion.

At last, leadership is more than a title; it’s the embodiment of vision, integrity, empathy, communication and resilience. Effective leaders work to bring positive changes, inspire people around them and create a sense of purpose and direction in their terms and organizations.

Also Read – Essay on Cricket

Essay on Leadership in 300 Words

Leadership is a vital concept for the welfare of a society, community or country, depending on what the leadership is about. A leader transcends boundaries and is fundamental to human endeavours in various domains. Their job involves the ability to influence and guide a group of individuals toward achieving a common objective. Effective leadership is characterized by a combination of qualities, skills, and behaviours that inspire, motivate, and empower a team.

The first and most important aspect of a successful leader is having a clear vision. A clear vision works as a guiding light, outlining the desired future and providing a sense of purpose and direction for the team. Leaders with a compelling vision can inspire and rally their followers, creating a shared sense of purpose. 

The other cornerstone of leadership is integrity. Leaders must demonstrate honesty, transparency, and ethical behaviour. Trust, which is essential in any team or organization, is built on the foundation of integrity. When people believe that their leader acts with integrity, they are more likely to follow willingly and commit to the cause. 

Another trait that is essential for effective leadership is empathy. Leaders with empathy understand and connect with the emotions, needs, and perspectives of their team members. By showing compassion and actively listening, they create a supportive and inclusive environment that fosters trust and collaboration.

Apart from these traits, other important qualities for effective leadership include effective communication and interpersonal skills. A leader must be able to articulate their vision, goals, and expectations clearly and persuasively. 

In conclusion, leadership is a multifaceted concept that plays a pivotal role towards the positive growth and development of organizations, communities, and societies. Effective leaders inspire their teams, create a sense of purpose, and drive positive change. Leadership is not merely a position; it is a journey of personal growth and a commitment to serving the greater good.

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• Essay on Knowledge is Power
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Some of the synonyms for a leader are: Coach, Captain, Principal, Chairman, Kingpin, Boss, CEO, etc.

What makes a good leader is their ability to persuade people using their effective communication skills, having a clear vision working towards the welfare of society, and taking responsibility for their actions.

Writing an essay on leadership in 200 words must include the fundamental aspects of leadership and the qualities they must possess. Effective leaders around the world create a supportive and inclusive environment where people can thrive and contribute their best efforts. They inspire a shared sense of purpose, foster collaboration, and guide their teams toward achieving collective goals.

For more information about such informative articles, visit our essay writing page and make sure to follow Leverage Edu .

Shiva Tyagi

With an experience of over a year, I've developed a passion for writing blogs on wide range of topics. I am mostly inspired from topics related to social and environmental fields, where you come up with a positive outcome.

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Why is Leadership Important

This essay about the importance of leadership discusses the multifaceted roles and impacts of effective leadership in various contexts. It highlights how leadership is essential for setting direction, inspiring motivation, managing change, and fostering a positive organizational culture. Effective leaders are portrayed as crucial in motivating teams, navigating transitions, resolving conflicts, and strategically planning for the future. The essay underscores that leadership goes beyond mere authority; it involves guiding others towards common goals and is pivotal for the success and stability of any organization or society. Overall, the piece emphasizes the indispensable role of leadership in ensuring productivity, harmony, and sustained growth within groups and institutions.

How it works

Leadership stands as a pivotal facet of any entity, be it an organization, a community, or a society at large. It commands significant scrutiny across academic, corporate, and public spheres due to its profound influence on achieving favorable outcomes. But what elevates leadership to such prominence? This discourse delves into the multifaceted dimensions of leadership across diverse contexts and its profound impact on success, innovation, and stability.

At its core, leadership embodies the capacity to guide and sway others toward a shared objective.

It transcends mere hierarchical authority, encompassing the adept utilization of power to effect positive transformation. Leadership assumes paramount importance as it furnishes direction and delineates a trajectory for the future. In its absence, entities may flounder, devoid of purpose, precipitating chaos and disarray.

A primary rationale behind the criticality of leadership lies in its prowess to instill motivation. A proficient leader adeptly instigates and sustains individual motivation, a fundamental driver for project completion and the continual progression of entities. This is accomplished through delineating lucid goals, offering constructive feedback, and acknowledging team endeavors. Such motivation not only catalyzes productivity but also augments job gratification and engenders allegiance among team members.

Furthermore, leadership emerges as a linchpin in change management. In a milieu characterized by perpetual evolution, adaptability assumes paramount significance. Leaders spearhead the implementation of strategies conducive to seamless transitions within their respective domains. They discern prevailing circumstances, make judicious decisions, and shepherd others through the adoption of novel technologies, policies, and mindsets. The import of effective leadership is particularly pronounced during crises, wherein resolute action and transparent communication are indispensable.

Another pivotal facet of leadership is its pivotal role in fostering a salubrious organizational ethos. Leaders shape the tenor of workplace environments, influencing organizational values, ethics, and norms that underpin inter-employee interactions. Through their conduct and deeds, leaders nurture a culture characterized by integrity, mutual respect, and collaborative synergy. They wield the ability to forge a unified entity that esteems individual contributions, a prerequisite for fostering ingenuity and preserving competitive advantage.

Leaders also assume a pivotal mantle in conflict resolution. Conflicts are an inevitable byproduct of human interaction. Competent leaders leverage their acumen to arbitrate disputes, empathize with divergent perspectives, and unearth common ground. This proficiency not only preempts escalations but also imparts lessons on constructive conflict resolution to teams, a prerequisite for sustaining accord and cooperation.

Moreover, leadership is indispensable in strategic delineation. Leaders epitomize foresight, envisioning future trends and devising commensurate strategies. They dissect market dynamics, prognosticate potential hurdles, and blueprint tactics to surmount them. This proactive stance is indispensable for safeguarding long-term viability and expansion.

In summation, the significance of leadership cannot be overstated. It permeates virtually every facet of an entity—from strategic formulation and cultural cultivation to motivation and dispute resolution. Effective leaders galvanize their teams, navigate them through transitions, foster conducive work milieus, and lay the groundwork for triumph. Given its pervasive influence, the cultivation of robust leadership competencies is imperative for anyone aspiring to lead, whether within a small enclave or atop a sprawling organization.

It bears reiteration that this discourse serves as a catalyst for reflection and further inquiry. For tailored guidance and assurance of adherence to academic tenets, contemplation of consultation with professionals at EduBirdie is encouraged.

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Home — Essay Samples — Business — Leadership — The Importance Of Leadership

The Importance of Leadership

• Categories: Empowerment Leadership Vision

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Published: Mar 19, 2024

Words: 777 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

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Leadership as a set of skills and qualities, the ability to create a vision and set goals, empowering and developing others, driving innovation and change, leadership in everyday life, in conclusion.

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University of Alabama's Shelby Institute to focus on building leaders

U niversity of Alabama officials say the Shelby Institute for Policy and Leadership will provide a unique educational experience for students interested in public policy.

UA faculty, students and alumni gathered April 25 to cut the ribbon on the new Shelby Institute, which is housed iat the Tuscaloosa campus in the newly renovated Tuomey Hall.

More: Richard Shelby, University of Alabama announce $100 million faculty endowment

"The Shelby Institute holds incredible potential for shaping the future at the University of Alabama, " said UA President Stuart Bell during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

In a news release, UA said the nonpartisan institute will provide "a premier, immersive learning community for students committed to shaping public policy and focus on nurturing and equipping the next generation of leaders through the Shelby Scholars program."

The first group of students in the Shelby Scholars program will begin this fall. About 20 students will participate in the institute annually, which will involve them in local, state and federal government.

The Shelby Institute is named for former U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby and his wife, Annette Shelby, who served as a UA professor for three decades.

The institute will also house Richard Shelby's official Senate papers, records and materials. Richard Shelby, the longest-serving U.S. senator from Alabama at 36 years, donated his papers after leaving the U.S. Senate in 2023.

Bell thanked Richard Shelby and Annette Shelby for their leadership and contributions to UA.

The Shelby Institute will have a generational influence, Bell said.

"I look forward in seeing the impact of this center over the coming years," Bell said.

Annette Shelby praised her husband's contributions in public service, which in addition to his Senate career included a stint as Tuscaloosa's city prosecutor, as well as terms in both houses of the Alabama Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives.

"My husband's contributions during his 52 years of public service clearly needed to be documented and preserved," Annette Shelby said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The former UA professor said although she has limited documents inside the institute, her academic legacy lives through the students she taught for 30 years.

Richard Shelby said he was flattered by the decision to open the institute and honor his legacy as well as his wife's.

Richard Shelby said the most important attribute about the institute is the students who will become the next generation of leaders.

"It's what goes in this institute and what goes out that counts," Richard Shelby said.

Finis E "Fess" St. John IV , the UA System's chancellor emeritus, is the inaugural executive director of the Shelby Institute. Daniela Susnara is the institute's program director and Caroline Carpenter is director of operations.

Mark Brandon, the former UA School of Law dean, will serve as the institute's academic director.

 “The vision for the Shelby Institute — offering students training in policy and governance, preparation for effective leadership and models for civic engagement across ideological lines — has the potential to make meaningful contributions to our state and nation,” Brandon said in a news release.

“I am honored to play a part in building this program and I look forward to serving alongside the excellent leader we have in Fess St. John,” he said.

Reach Jasmine Hollie at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: University of Alabama's Shelby Institute to focus on building leaders

Stuart Hall caps off research project; Shelburne student honored for essay: CHALKBOARD

School- and youth-related news.

Stuart Hall students cap off research project with symposium

STAUNTON — Students at Stuart Hall School will soon cap a year of independent research with the nearby Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum by presenting their findings at an evening symposium.

The Monday, May 20, event culminates the students’ explorations into the decade of 1912-1922. The History III: Historical Research class has examined such diverse matters as the rights of women and LGBTQ communities, the origin of some professional sports leagues, and the global fallout from war and pandemic.

The symposium will begin at 7 p.m. at the Wilson Library, at 20 N. Coalter Street.

Timothy Layne, who teaches the Stuart Hall class, says the evening program will give the audience a fuller understanding of this complex and eventful time. At the same time, the scholars will learn what it’s like to “present your work at an academic conference.”

“It’s cool to be able to say, ‘Our students are presenting research at a presidential library,’ not just, ‘with the cooperation of a presidential library,'" said Layne.

Students used the fall and winter to develop research skills before selecting their topics and then identifying a question that tied into their topic. With every visit to the Wilson Library, the teenagers immersed themselves in primary documents that could speak to their particular question and inform an answer.

This semester, the class has shifted its work to using those answers as the basis for its research papers. Students are writing draft after draft, and classmates and Layne review them for completeness.

As new information shaped the class’s understanding of this transformative era, thesis statements evolved and conclusions shifted. Layne calls that an anticipated part of the process.

“Expect your ideas to change,” Layne advised the class. “You might think a source is one you’re going to use a lot, but as you go, maybe you won’t find it as relevant as you’ll find other material.”

By the time of the symposium, Layne has told his students they should be an expert on this topic, possibly even knowing it better than Layne himself.

The completed research papers will go into Stuart Hall’s library, the first installment of what Layne hopes will become “a body of literature” on this important era in world history. 

“This class is one of the most exciting things I’ve gotten to do professionally,” Layne says.

The May 20 event is open to the public.

Cobb new director of talent development for Waynesboro Schools

WAYNESBORO — Waynesboro Public Schools announced the appointment of Melissa Cobb as the director of talent development following a decision made at a called meeting of the Waynesboro School Board.

Cobb will commence her new role within the school division this summer. Currently serving as an assistant principal at Waynesboro High School, Cobb brings a wealth of experience and leadership skills to her new position.

Waynesboro Superintendent Jeffrey Cassell emphasized Cobb's potential to elevate the office of instruction's effectiveness in supporting educators at all stages of their careers, saying she will continue the excellent work of those already in the department.

"With an increasing number of new educators to our profession, the extra pair of hands will go a long way in giving our teachers and students what they need to be successful," said Cassell.

Prior to her tenure in Waynesboro, Cobb served as the principal of Parry McCluer High School in Buena Vista for four years and taught history in both Buena Vista City Schools and Augusta County Schools for nine years.

"Ms. Cobb's extensive expertise extends to various areas including new teacher/mentor training, professional development initiatives, and instructional strategies such as project-based learning and the integration of technology in the classroom," a press release said. "Her profound understanding of educational needs and her dedication to nurturing talent will be instrumental as she joins the office of instruction team at central office."

Cobb has her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mary Baldwin University, and an administrative endorsement from Longwood University. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at Old Dominion University.

In her new role, Cobb will report directly to Tim Teachey, the executive director of instruction.

If I Were Mayor contest

STAUNTON — Aiswarya Vinu, a seventh-grader at Shelburne Middle School, won the statewide "If I Were Mayor" essay contest for Region 3. The contest, sponsored by the Virginia Municipal League, asked seventh- and eighth-graders to describe what solutions they would implement for issues affecting their community if they were mayor.

Vinu's essay focused on low teacher salaries in Staunton. Vinu was one seven regional winners. The overall state winner was Piper Dellingerof Signal Knob Middle School in Strasburg.

The essay contest is a key component of VML’s civic education programming, which seeks to teach school children and adults how local government works and how they can become involved in making their communities better places to live, work and play.

Ten other Shelburne students received honorable mentions, including Aaliyah Sprouse, Alex Carpenter, Cameron Boyle, Catherine Montijo, Francis O’Shea, Giuliana Migliaccio, Jacob Holsinger, Jossalyn Mask, Katelyn Blackwell, and Logan Campbell.

Regional winners receive a $150 gift card and a plaque, and their essays will be featured in Virginia Town & City magazine. Staunton City Council also recognized Vinu at a recent meeting.

Read Vinu's essay, along with essays from all the other regional winners and the overall state winner, on the Virginia Municipal League's website .

More: Do no harm: Staunton pharmacy still on probation after board investigation in 2023

More: Schola Cantorum will present its spring concert, 'An American Portrait,' Sunday, May 5

—  Patrick Hite is The News Leader's education reporter. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at  [email protected]  and follow him on Twitter  @Patrick_Hite . Subscribe to us at  newsleader.com .

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Spain’s Leader Says He’s Considering Resigning as Wife Faces Investigation

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez put his public duties on hold. He said an inquiry into alleged influence peddling by his wife was politically motivated.

By Rachel Chaundler and Jason Horowitz

Rachel Chaundler reported from Zaragoza, Spain, and Jason Horowitz from Rome.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said late Wednesday that he was considering resigning after a judge opened an investigation into whether Mr. Sánchez’s wife had abused her position to help friends win public contracts.

The development stunned Spain and threw the political future of perhaps Europe’s most prominent progressive leader into doubt only months after he defied widespread expectations by putting together a fractious coalition and securing a second term in power.

“I need to stop and think,” Mr. Sánchez wrote in a long letter published on his X social media account on Wednesday evening. He canceled all political engagements until Monday to decide, he said, whether he “should continue to lead the government or renounce this honor.”

Recently, Mr. Sánchez had seemed to overcome another significant obstacle by assuring that the Catalan independent movement would support his coalition, making his second term in government seem sturdy.

But all that changed on Wednesday morning, when a judge responded to a formal complaint by a far-right group, Manos Limpias, and ordered an investigation into evidence against the prime minister’s wife, Begoña Gomez, for alleged influence peddling. Further details were not immediately available.

In the long letter published on X, Mr. Sánchez argued that the accusations were motivated by his political opponents, the People’s Party, or PP, and Vox.

In a post on X, the PP party responded, “His problem is not political, it’s judicial and is responsible for an episode that stains the international image of our country.”

“This is an operation of harassment and demolition by land, sea and air, to try to make me weaken politically and personally by attacking my wife,” Mr. Sánchez said.

He added that he would hold a news conference on Monday to inform the country of his decision.

Jason Horowitz is the Rome bureau chief for The Times, covering Italy, the Vatican, Greece and other parts of Southern Europe. More about Jason Horowitz