Personal Essay leadership Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Personal leadership - Essay Example My definition of leadership in the past has been the ability to control and supervise individuals to do a certain task. This made me view individuals that were ranked higher than others to control the way forward of the group and situation as leaders. I was keen in the leadership of various presidents as they took control of millions of citizens by guiding them in decision making of policies for the nations. The decisions made by the presidents determined a lot whether the country was prepared for the dynamic future. It is apparent that my view of leadership was on what a person deed. In reference to the dimensional model about the four quadrants, my view of leadership was of the Q-3 quadrant. In the Q-3 quadrant I referred individual as leaders due to their warm and friendly approach. This is by keeping people happy and being smooth over conflict. My earlier ideal leader was a thoughtful person who before making decisions, he or she considered the impact of the decisions to the relevant people. Also, he was the person that others followed in terms of vision and mission of an organization. An ideal leader to me was the one ethical in her dealings, and this made him be a role model to others. It is evident that an ideal leader fought for the rights of his people one that I recall is Nelson Mandela. He stood his ground to fight for equality among the blacks and the whites. He obtained referent power, this is power based on subordinates identification with the leader. Nelson Mandela had influence because of charisma and reputation. The referent power made followers wish to be like him and be associated with him. A few years ago I interacted with a leader who was the CEO of an ICT company in Europe. At the time we met he had been in that position for three years. One thing I realized was that he was a dominator as he used the autocratic style of leadership. He led the