My vision of Leadership

The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.
                                                                                                                                John Scully

 

Leadership is defined as “relationship through which one person influences the behaviors or actions of other people” (Mullins 2010). An effective leader is one who can encourage, motivate, guide individuals or groups towards in achieving the organizational common goal (Hall, 2010). When we look at the leaders around us, we could recognize there is a wide range of sorts of leadership and leaders have both similarities and differences in the way of their leadership styles. When they identify their strengths and weaknesses, will help them to delegate to others who has those qualities which they don’t in order to achieve the organizational objective (Siyli, 2013).

Vision in the organization set the path and guides the way for an organization to move forward. Full knowledge about the organization can support the management in setting a competitive goal (Vadim, 2011).

Source: gozdeaca. 2016

A convincing vision is one that individuals can see, feel, understand and grasp. When the vision has been realized the effective leaders provide an ironic picture of how the future may glance (James, 2009). In my vision, leadership is proactive in critical thinking, looking ahead and not being fulfilled as they seem to be. The vision of leadership ought to consolidate analytical side of creation with the passion of shared values and creating something truly significant to the people being driven.

The person who inspired my understanding of effective leadership is Sir Richard Branson born on July 18, 1950, in Surrey, England. He is a founder and chairman of Virgin Group, Branson struggle in school and dropped out at age 16 – a decision that ultimately leads to the creation of Virgin Records. He started in the music industry and expand into other sectors, Virgin Group holds more than 200 companies including the recent Virgin Galactic – a space tourism company.

(Source: adobeu99, 2015)

Branson is a participative leader and seeks to involve other people in the process, possibly including subordinate, peers, supervisors and other stakeholders. Branson says his philosophy of” look for the best and you will give the best” helped him to build an empire recognized for its fun and culture. “If a flower is watered, it flourishes. if not, it shrivels up and dies. it’s much more fun looking for the best in the people”. His strategy is to listen to people, encourage communication and feedback, integrate personnel into another part of the organization.

Throughout my studies at CULC, I have been appointed to be a leader in my group several times as everybody in the group were offering chances to lead. At the end each week my group members were asked to give their feedback on what they thought. After listening to their feedback, I was surprised and they made me know more about my leadership strength and weaknesses. While studying, working as a part time at the same time in a diverse team also give me great opportunities to develop my leadership skills in the retailing industry.

Being an MBA student, based on my experience feedback is a crucial effective leading.  In another word, timely feedback is a critical element of a fruitful leading program (Race, 2007).

In conclusion, I would like to be a transformational leader in the future. This leadership style recognizes the potential of their groups and therefore builds the self-esteem and full employee engagement. I want to develop my insightful leadership skill, such as communication and critical evaluating of feedback. And also would like to improve presentation skill, engaging with peers, decision making skill etc. to be an effective leader I have to acknowledge my strength and weaknesses.

A good way to develop my leadership skill is to take on extra projects and the more work, the more I will learn. I would like to work in a diverse team at CULC, by getting their feedback I can work on my weaknesses and, individual and group presentations will help to improve communication and time management skills.  At the end of my MBA, I want to see positive attitude with morals and values in me. However, with the mean time, it is very important to remember the ethics in the leadership. Besides all this, I have improved my leadership skills and now I am confident enough to delegate the roles of a leader. I want to be a flexible as we know future is unpredictable and I have to meet several challenges in the future

 

Reference –

• Anon, (2016). [online] Available at: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/business/analysis-of-the-richard-branson-leadership-business-essay.php [Accessed 18 Jun. 2016].
• Ctb.ku.edu. (2016). Chapter 14. Core Functions in Leadership | Section 2. Developing and Communicating a Vision | Main Section | Community Tool Box. [online] Available at: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/leadership/leadership-functions/develop-and-communicate-vision/main [Accessed 18 Jun. 2016].
• Diversity MBA Magazine – Managing Diversity, Executive Leadership Development, Diversity Jobs & Hiring. (2010). Why Leaders Need Vision, Integrity & Compassion to Succeed. [online] Available at: http://diversitymbamagazine.com/why-leaders-need-vision-integrity-compassion-to-succeed [Accessed 18 Jun. 2016].
• FactSpy.net. (2012). 11 Facts About Sir Richard Branson. [online] Available at: http://factspy.net/11-facts-about-sir-richard-branson/ [Accessed 18 Jun. 2016].
• Friedman, S. (2008). Define Your Personal Leadership Vision. [online] Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2008/08/title/ [Accessed 18 Jun. 2016].
• Hall.K. (2010). ‘Matrix management’. [online]. Available from: < http://www.global-integration.com/matrix-management/?gclid=CN64163Cxb0CFUTHtAodZ1cAvg >. [Accessed 18 Jun. 2016].
• James. O. (2009). ‘Leading Change: The Argument for Values-Based Leadership’. Ballantine Books, Reprint edition.
• Risku, M., Harding, L., Ottesen, E., Precey, R. and Ruairc, G. (2013). Leadership for Inclusive Education: Values, Vision and Voices. SensePublishers.
• Race. (2007). ‘Why is feedback important?’. [online]. Available from: <http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/engageinfeedback/Whyisfeedbackimportant/ > [Accessed 18 Jun. 2016].
• Siyli. (2013). What is “Leadership” and What Makes a Good Leader?. [online] Available at: https://siyli.org/what-is-leadership-what-makes-good-leader/ [Accessed 18 Jun. 2016].
• Sedl.org. (2016). Vision, Leadership, and Change – Issues …about Change, Vision, Leadership, and Change, Volume 2, Number 3. [online] Available at: http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues23.html [Accessed 18 Jun. 2016].
• Vadim.K. (2011). ‘Leadership Defined’. [online]. Available from: <http://1000advices.com/guru/leadership.html > [Accessed 18 Jun. 2016].