Leadership Point of View free essay sample

A Leadership Point of View Subbu Subbiah Indiana Wesleyan University A Leadership Point of View In my opinion, the point of view of any person may be unique to that person’s personality and core values. In addition, I establishing a standardized rule for leadership would be difficult. Thus, I will find it very interesting to discuss my point of view on leadership. Edmonds (2011) discussed the benefits of clarifying a leadership point of view, such as becoming a leader who is able to be more authentic. This will also reflect on the leader’s core values and principles. It also helps the leader to inspire others to clarify their values and their views on leadership. A strong leadership point of view is (a) reality based, (b) memorable, (c) needs disciples, (d) spreads through visible actions, and (e) requires a persistent focus on part of the leader (â€Å"Executive Coach,† 2010). K. Blanchard, M. Blanchard, and Zigarmi (2010), in their leadership point of view discussion, determined that the leadership point of view is guided by eight questions: 1.Who are the influencers (key people) in your life who have had a positive impact on your life, such as parents, teachers, coaches, mentors, or bosses, and what did you learn from these people about leadership? 2. What key events in your life have had an impact on how you lead others? 3. Think about your life purpose. Why are you here, and what do you want to accomplish? 4. What are your core values that will guide your behavior as you attempt to live your life â€Å"on purpose? † 5.Given what you’ve learned from past influences, life events, your life purpose, and core values, what is your leadership point of view – your beliefs about leading and motivating people? 6. What can your people expect from you? 7. What do you expect from your people? 8. How will you set an example for your people? (pp. 290–291) As part of my response to the first question, I would like to discuss our company’s mentorship program and how it helped me learn effective leadership skills. Our company has a mentorship program for all new hires at the managerial level and above.When I joined our company five years ago, I was automatically enrolled into the mentorship program. An executive was assigned to be my mentor for six months. We had weekly meetings to discuss my leadership skills, and my progress was monitored on a monthly basis. From this coaching, I learned several primary leadership skills: (a) how to influence team members to accomplish team goals, (b) how to establish clear goals for the team and help the team to achieve these goals, and (c) how to build relationships with team members and build trust. The executive gave me practical coaching on these three areas to increase my leadership skills. At the end of the mentorship period, I felt that the executive had greatly influenced my life and had helped to become me a successful leader. Regarding the second question, I would like to discuss about a specific event that caused me to become a leader. I was working for an automotive parts manufacturer as an IT systems analyst 10 years ago. I worked for that company for 8 years. As an employee, I had a very good manager who was trustworthy, and an effective leader.He singled me out for special attention because he appreciated my dedication, passion, honesty, and problem-solving skills. When he planned to take a two-week vacation to attend his daughter’s wedding, he asked me to temporarily manage his team members. I initially hesitated accepting his proposal because I had never managed a group of people before, but he motivated me by saying that he thought I would do well. Ultimately, I accepted his offer and managed the team for two weeks. I found the job rewarding and, worked together with the team. We accomplished the tasks that we were assigned to do.This was my first experience in my management career, and it influenced me to continue to seek management opportunities. After that event, I felt very confident that I could lead a team. For the third question, I would like to discuss my initial goals and ambitions. After completing my secondary school, I wanted to become an engineer. I applied to an engineering college and was accepted. After entering the engineering college, I had the option to become either an electronics engineer or a computer engineer. In India in the mid-80s, there were few opportunities for computer engineering graduates.The computer industry was new to India at that time, but I was determined to become a computer engineer even though I realized that finding employment would be difficult. However, in the early 90s, the computer field in India experienced major growth, and many new opportunities were created. It was at this point that I began dreaming of moving to the United States, where the opportunities for computer engineers were even more abundant. Because at that time there was such a high demand for IT workers in the United States, the desire to move there was very common among my colleagues in India.In the mid-90s, I realized my dream and moved to the United States. In summary, I would like to relate how my dreams and goals were achieved because of my focus and determination. I believe that the determination to achieve a goal is one of the most important leadership skills. The importance of having a purpose, goals, and a vision are important leadership skills and concepts that are discussed in the ADM508 and ADM510 courses. For the fourth question, I would like to discuss my core values and how they have helped me become a successful leader. Speaking the truth is not always easy.I strongly believe in speaking the truth at work and in my personal life. Currently, I work with a 40-member team at MasterBrand Cabinets. I also manage external vendor relations. To be successful in my role as a leader, I stress the importance of maintaining the truth when we communicate with each other and with our vendors. Furthermore, we can’t lie consistently and express the same information. In addition, we will be caught if we try to hide the truth. Truthful thinking and acting are the core characteristics of being good human. Telling the truth is one of my core characteristics.If someone lies at work, it affects not only his work performance but also his personal life. Because people cannot change their core personalities easily, they cannot change their behaviors at work and in personal matters. Lying may create some short-term benefits, but in the end, it creates more problems in life. A person’s core characteristics develop during his or her childhood. As parents, we need to make sure that we do not lie to our children and contribute to their bad character development. Children learn and develop major parts of their characters from their parents.As parents, my wife and I always try to consistently promote the benefits of telling the truth and discourage lying when counseling or guiding our kids. We believe this helps them to do the right thing, be honest, and discourages them from lying to us and to others. To be a successful and effective leader, one should have strong core characteristics; this concept was also discussed in the ADM508 and ADM510 courses. For the fifth question, I would like to discuss one of my core values and how my mentor’s coaching helped me to increase my skills for leading and motivating people.From the core values standpoint, I have strong integrity when dealing with my team, business customers, and external vendors. I have witnessed many situations in which leaders did not maintain their relationships with integrity and were fired as a result. Most companies will not tolerate an employee with integrity issues. Maintaining integrity helps me to successfully lead my team and manage external customers and vendors. I strongly believe that my leadership skills were acquired while studying with my mentor at MasterBrand Cabinets. As a senior-level executive leader, he taught me all aspects of motivating people to achieve a vision.For the sixth question, I believe my team at MasterBrand Cabinets can expect me to always look for the best return on the company’s investments. Even though there may be times when my team does not understand why I am cutting costs, it knows that I will always look for good return values. My team may also say that I grasp technical details quickly and help it if it is in need of support. For the seventh question, I expect my team members to trust in and be committed to the company and me. I have often found that many problems occur due to a lack of trust in the team and its leader.I put a great deal of effort into building trust with and among the team members, and I expect the same effort from them. In addition, my work approach is to influence the team members to feel committed to the tasks assigned to them. Because it is part of my nature to always remain committed to my boss and to my company, I expect the same commitment from my team members. If I do not receive the necessary dedication from my team members, I will not be able to guarantee to my boss and the organization. It has been my experience that without team commitment, it is impossible to establish a firm timeline for completing projects.