Introduction
“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
— Vince Lombardi
As I reflect on my leadership journey, I become more convinced with Vince that leaders are not born leaders, but are a result of a conscious effort to be one. While serving in various institutions in leadership positions, I have seen myself emerge to those positions through my hard work and skills rather than just having been assigned to it. Various factors like experience, training, mentorship, conscious practice and even failure have contributed in developing my leadership abilities. But being able to create a vision and striving towards it is a leadership skill …show more content…
Because I have been brought up in a very cohesive family environment despite differences, my greatest strength is the ability to listen to others and find a common ground. Many people confide to me, which in turn helps me understand them better. I remember when I was serving as a President of a LEO club (Non profit voluntary organization) in Nepal, listening to our member’s opinion was a top priority in my meetings. It not only helped in decision making but also in increasing their commitment and ownership towards the club. During my tenure, I also lived by the motto that if I focused on the individual growth of the members, the club would progress in itself. It taught me the importance of attending to the needs of individual members. Social Performance skills on the other hand, is an area that I could improve on, because my persuasion skills are not very strong and I tend to lack assertiveness when situation …show more content…
Although fairly simple by definition, I believe it is the most difficult attribute to develop. While I did initiate a small handicraft project, brought a team together and emotionally involved myself in pursuing my dream, I was not able to articulate my vision and define a strategic direction towards fulfilling my dream of a handicraft business. Among many reasons for its failure, as Skill based model of leadership (Zaccaro et al., 1991) describes, one was lack of knowledge and critical thinking. Since I had little information and experience on it, I was unable to foresee and resolve the challenges. Also, I was not conceptually aware of looking at it from a bigger picture. Because conceptual skills develop with experience, interaction and realization, in order to improve my conceptual skills, I could practice thinking and analyzing the long term effects of any issue and engage in ‘what-if’ thinking, as suggested by Holly Green in her article, ‘How to develop 5 critical thinking
“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
— Vince Lombardi
As I reflect on my leadership journey, I become more convinced with Vince that leaders are not born leaders, but are a result of a conscious effort to be one. While serving in various institutions in leadership positions, I have seen myself emerge to those positions through my hard work and skills rather than just having been assigned to it. Various factors like experience, training, mentorship, conscious practice and even failure have contributed in developing my leadership abilities. But being able to create a vision and striving towards it is a leadership skill …show more content…
Because I have been brought up in a very cohesive family environment despite differences, my greatest strength is the ability to listen to others and find a common ground. Many people confide to me, which in turn helps me understand them better. I remember when I was serving as a President of a LEO club (Non profit voluntary organization) in Nepal, listening to our member’s opinion was a top priority in my meetings. It not only helped in decision making but also in increasing their commitment and ownership towards the club. During my tenure, I also lived by the motto that if I focused on the individual growth of the members, the club would progress in itself. It taught me the importance of attending to the needs of individual members. Social Performance skills on the other hand, is an area that I could improve on, because my persuasion skills are not very strong and I tend to lack assertiveness when situation …show more content…
Although fairly simple by definition, I believe it is the most difficult attribute to develop. While I did initiate a small handicraft project, brought a team together and emotionally involved myself in pursuing my dream, I was not able to articulate my vision and define a strategic direction towards fulfilling my dream of a handicraft business. Among many reasons for its failure, as Skill based model of leadership (Zaccaro et al., 1991) describes, one was lack of knowledge and critical thinking. Since I had little information and experience on it, I was unable to foresee and resolve the challenges. Also, I was not conceptually aware of looking at it from a bigger picture. Because conceptual skills develop with experience, interaction and realization, in order to improve my conceptual skills, I could practice thinking and analyzing the long term effects of any issue and engage in ‘what-if’ thinking, as suggested by Holly Green in her article, ‘How to develop 5 critical thinking