Leadership Case - My Three Strengths as a Leader

Final Paper

Part 1: Where am I now?

Part 1a.

My three strengths as a leader

In Kaplan's article, "knowing oneself", or "Taking responsibility for one's career starts with an accurate assessment of one's current skills and performance" is a key component of one's way to reach his/her potential. And knowing three strengths and weaknesses are among the process of "knowing oneself". The following are what three strengths that I possess, from my point of view.

First, I am intelligent, with strong ability to learn knowledge quickly, to analyze problems thoroughly, to think skeptically, or whatever. In Gottfredson's article, the general intelligence factor, denoted by g, is described to contribute a lot to a person's success. Therefore, my intelligence would be one major advantage for me as a leader, especially when I have to face some situations that are not so simple (with regard to the "cynefin" article written by Snowden & Boone).

Second, I have strong determination, which means I am highly self-motivated to achieve whatever I determine to do, no matter the potential toughness or risk. This could be viewed as "achievement motivation" of "drive" described in Kirkpatrick & Locke's article, which can be viewed as another important aspect of a successful leader.

Third, I am a man of integrity, being honest and having strong moral principles. Many articles, including "Leadership: do traits matter" by Kirkpatrick & Locke and "Bad leadership happens" by Kellerman describe how important integrity is as regard to leadership (well, it shall be important anywhere else, but we are focusing on leadership in this paper). Thus, the sense of integrity can help be to become a good leader.

Where I stand on the 5 practices

The five practices of leadership, "Model the way", "Inspire a shared vision", "Challenge the process", "Enable others to act", and "Encourage the heart" are basically what people shall practice in order become great leaders.

"Model the way" means whenever a leader thinks doing something in some way is proper, he/or she just do it that way, establishing a good example for others instead of just ask others to follow it.

"Inspire a shared vision" means that good leaders imagine exciting futures. They have visions and dreams of what could be and absolute belief in these visions, and they are confident in their abilities to make extraordinary things happen.

"Challenge the process" means Leaders venture out. Those great leaders are always willing to seek and accept challenge, well, apparently not blindly seeking for risk, like gambling, but seeking for risk, expecting considerable return for taking the risk.

"Enable others to act" means the work of leaders is making the followers feel strong, capable, informed, and connected. Leaders enable others to act, not by hoarding power, but by giving it away.

"Encourage the heart" means when the followers become exhausted, frustrated, and disenchanted and tempted to give up, leaders shall encourage them to carry on, because everyone in the team is important, and the morale of the team is essential.

The following is my self-assessment of the five practices:

8 1. Sets a personal example of what she/he expects of others.

10 2. Follows through on promises and commitments made.

8 3. Asks for feedback on how his/her actions affect other people's

performance.

8 4. Shows others how long-term interests can be realized by enlisting a

common vision.

9 5. Paints the "big picture" of what we aspire to accomplish.

7 6. Speaks with genuine conviction about the higher meaning and purpose of

our work.

10 7. Seeks out challenging opportunities that test her/his own skills and

abilities.

8 8. Challenges people to try new and innovative ways to do things.

7 9. Asks "What can we learn?" when things don't go as expected.

8 10. Develops cooperative relationships among the group.

8 11. Actively listens to diverse points of view.

10 12. Treats others with dignity and respect.

7 13. Praises people for a job well done.

6 14. Makes it a point to let people know about his/her confidence in their

abilities.

7 15. Gives others lots of appreciation and support for their contributions.

Number 1-3 concerns with "Model the way", which I am doing quite well, especially considers the promises and commitments made.

Number 4-6 concerns with "Inspire a shared vision", which I am doing less well, especially at showing others the "big picture". Maybe it is limited to the scenario in the university, because if there is group project (maybe the only opportunity for me to work in a group as a fulltime student), there is scarcely a "big picture", and even if there were, it would be hard for me to convince others, because we are all students, and psychology reveals that people tend to think of themselves as smart (well, in this context, me and my peers might all think of ourselves as smart, which means we will find it hard to be convinced by the opponent). All in all, this practice would be improved when I work in the future, hopefully, especially when I gained certain reputation).

Number 7-9 concerns with "Challenge the process", which again I am doing well as an individual, but not so well in a group. I am always willing to take risk, in expectation of certain return. But I am not so