Leadership as an institution is a forming structure for any society. Without people who can make decisions for others, any community is doomed. In any field of activity, the goals set can only be effectively achieved by combining strengths and compensating for weaknesses. From my point of view, the development of leadership qualities is an essential task. Although not all people have a natural gift for such activities, having practiced tactics can significantly help to interact with other people and make decisions. Therefore, I consider it extremely important to explore how exactly I can implement the skills I have. This paper aims to analyze me as a leader, my aspirations, ambitions, and plans in the context of leadership.
It is necessary to determine an ideology to carry out any supervision actions. It can often change depending on the situation since, for example, emergencies require a more decisive and rigorous approach. However, in my leadership path, I want to rely on the ideology of ethical leadership. With such a course of conduct, one of the fundamental values for a leader is respect for ethics, consisting of sets of moral rules accepted in society aimed at achieving the common good. From my perspective, adherence to ethical standards is one of the essential qualities of a modern leader. Therefore, I choose this path, using high moral and ethical qualities to inspire others and myself.
The ethical leader is a role model, demonstrating adherence to established societal norms and encouraging others to follow this example. Such a person inspires and unites people with the help of respect and trust, creating a similar atmosphere around them. Thus, by interacting with people, such a leader consolidates these values and passes them on, making society better. This approach to leadership highly inspires me, so I want to follow it. When interacting with others and acting as a leader for them, I will consider their interests and worldviews. This is a rather difficult task, given the number of different perspectives. However, as Sire (2009) writes, worldviews are finite and can be reduced to a few significant currents, allowing them to be explored. By creating an atmosphere of respect, I will lead others and myself, constantly maintaining a positive attitude and receiving support from the environment. This approach to leadership is highly beneficial to the individual, the immediate environment, and the community in general, as it spreads the ideals and values that the world needs.
However, preliminary preparation is necessary to embody these ideals in different settings. First of all, a person who wants to become an ethical leader must clearly understand the foundations of ethical behavior. Moreover, the future leader must actively believe in them and be convinced that it is with their help that the objectives set can be achieved. From my perspective, the embodiment of these principles in personal life, work, or professional vocation requires a particular restructuring of consciousness. It must be remembered that these foundations of ethics must apply to everyone and in any situation. This requires large-scale work on oneself to eradicate the qualities that can make a person commit unethical acts.
Like many other people, I cannot call myself perfect and devoid of flaws. For example, I am impatient, especially with people who break the rules and order. On the other hand, as personality analysis has shown, I have a lot of strengths that can aid further self-development. I have a strong sense of responsibility and fairness, which is combined with generally accepted ethical standards and allows me to deal with problems more effectively. In addition, there are many signs of an independent extrovert in my personality, which is a positive factor when communicating with people. Therefore, to realize the ideals that I want to follow, I will first focus on self-development, starting with my personal life. Then, I will be able to transfer this approach to work and professional contexts, eradicating harmful practices and instilling a commitment to ethics. To help with this, I will use both the materials already studied during this course and various additional sources on leadership and self-development. In this way, I can most fully live out my leadership beliefs and achieve the desired goals.
Finally, it is necessary to act according to the studied mechanics and constantly engage in self-development to achieve success. A high rate of various changes characterizes the modern world. Having adapted to leadership under certain conditions, a person may be completely unable to continue their activities after a few years. Therefore, the issue of personal growth in the context of leadership is fundamental because it allows not only to maintain competitiveness but also to continue moving forward in life, despite the circumstances.
To engage in such self-development, I’m going to maintain a high level of self-awareness about my surroundings and the latest global trends. The modern world is characterized by transparency, openness, and the blurring of various boundaries. Therefore, it is necessary to keep abreast of changes, try to understand new technologies and be ready to learn. These are my current plans for further leadership and self-development. I’m going to interact with the community as much as possible and follow the news and new trends to keep self-awareness. I will also use news resources and specialized sources, such as books and academic articles.
Using various self-development manuals and attending training also allows maintaining a high level of leadership integrity and its components: openness, honesty, and reliability. However, from my perspective, the quality of these skills can only be tested in practice. Therefore, to continue to grow as a leader, I will not stop leading activities both at home and at work, constantly collecting feedback on my actions. By getting information about how they see me from the outside, I can correct my behavior and become a better leader. This, among other things, will also allow me to implement the concept of adaptive leadership, acclimating to changing conditions and thereby regulating my activities. Finally, from my point of view, the introduction of leadership in all spheres of life, including personal life, can further improve administration qualities. In this context, I want to note the concept of shared leadership, which creates a more holistic life and distributes duties and responsibilities in a quality manner (Strickland, 2020). Therefore, to improve further, I intend to develop my personal life by incorporating aspects of leadership into all my activities.
Thus, I plan to implement the concept of ethical leadership in my life, relying on moral norms and principles of justice when making decisions and interacting with others. Such an approach will allow to manage people more effectively and create a healthier environment, leaving a positive mark on the world. However, to implement such a concept, I will have to do deep introspection with the support of various external tools. This is necessary to establish the proper moral guidelines most effective for leadership and eradicate the shortcomings that may interfere with my activities. Finally, I plan to continue this process even when I am already actively involved in professionally and personally leadership activities. From my perspective, the key to competence and competitiveness is constant self-development, self-improvement, following trends, and collecting feedback from those with whom a person interacts.
References
Sire, W. J. (2009). The universe next door (5th ed.). InterVarsity Press.
Strickland, D. (2020). Better together. W Publishing.