Leadership Essay

I knew for the past year that my leadership style is not the most conducive way to lead based on my current failures to steer recruiters toward increased enlistments. After reading Daniel Goleman’s Leadership That Gets Results, I now see why. I am a Pacesetter: I strive for perfection [to enable me to lead by example] and then expect others to follow. I use other techniques on a regular basis, but the perfectionist in me takes control as pressure and expectation build. I never meant to come across as the Pacesetting type; it is just my nature. No matter what my type is, it does not change what I believe to be important leadership requirements. What I believe is that personal values are the foundation to one’s leadership and that there are a few essential qualities that all leaders must have.

I believe personal values are the foundation to one’s leadership. I derive my personal values from multiple, but equally important, sources. First is religion. Many people use their faith as a guideline for how to conduct themselves and treat others. Christianity teaches love, patience, and respect. Second is my family, which is where I developed most of my values and beliefs. My parents taught me values like right verses wrong, independence, standing for what you believe, and hard work. To my own dismay, I did not always listen as a child. Their lessons began to make sense once I went through life-altering events like leaving home, joining the military, and starting a family. I hold honesty and integrity as the two most important values. Someone told me the adage, “if you always tell the truth, you will never have to remember what you said”. I take pride in doing the right thing, especially when no one is looking. In addition, I want my word to mean something. Lately, when I think of values, my thoughts tend to drift more towards how they relate to my family. I am not under-stating the Army Values or the value system in today’s Military. However, since...