Leadership the Essence of Leadership

Leadership

The Essence of Leadership

It is often said a manager is what one does and leader is who one is. One of my core values is continually seeking insight, intelligence and knowledge to excel at the tasks I've taken on. In turn, I rely on these skills learned to better serve those around me, better support and strengthen those that rely on me including my beloved children, and seek to elevate the groups I belong to by contributing as much as possible. I believe a great leader needs to concentrate just as much on preparing themselves to serve others as they invest in improving themselves.

An Analysis of My Leadership Strengths

Of the many galvanizing moments in my career, the greatest were serving in the U.S. Navy, completing a tour of duty in Iraq, in addition to case management and counseling for battered women earlier in my career. These positions required me to grow as a leader much faster than a typical progression that others experience. I had to find approaches to keep motivation high in Iraq, and with lives on the line for battered women, had to be creative in finding solutions fast. These experiences, along with my educational background, served as a crucible that reshaped who I am as a person and what my values are.

Moving beyond myself and thinking more about my teams in Iraq, in case work and on help lines for battered women, all taught me to value others and serve them not only in the moment, but also to guide them to their goals as well. Leadership is as much about sharing new intelligence and information, helping others to succeed as it is about succeeding on ones' own. These are the factors that led to my growth as a leader, and showed me that deeply caring for and nurturing those I was responsible for in these positions could make a huge impact in their lives.

During this time period I also began studying leadership and the more interesting aspects of motivation. I found that the concepts of autonomy, mastery and purpose can have a transformational effect on those I am leading as well. Instead of concentrating just on carrots and sticks to motivate others, I looked at how to create entirely new jobs that would allow for autonomy, mastery and purpose to be included in each role. This worked out extremely well in Iraq where there were many more projects that people to go around, and time, resources and talent were nearly always in short supply. This experience taught me that focusing on results was not enough; there had to be a focus on providing those reporting to me with a chance to grow professionally and find their path to their own leadership styles and approaches too.