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Essays About Effective Leadership: Top 6 Examples and Prompts

Effective leadership is an essential trait that all people should strive to develop; here are 6 examples and topic ideas essays about effective leadership .

Many qualities make an inspiring and effective leader, such as vision, focus, and motivation. Like other skills, effective leadership can be innate or learned and practiced. When writing about leadership, include the strengths of an effective leader and how these qualities positively impact their team. You can also discuss weaknesses that can make a poor leader and how to combat these issues.

Here are 6 examples and 10 essay prompts to get you started on your next essay.

1. What Makes an Effective Leader? by Tony Gill

2. a guide to becoming an effective leader by yashi srivastava , 3. leadership: 5 practices of effective leaders by yvette gyles, 4. 6 characteristics of an effective leader by lauren landry, 5. six leadership lessons by order of the peaky blinders by andrew denton mbe, 6. leadership and the quest for certainty by keith grint,  1. what is effective leadership, 2. what does effective leadership look like in the corporate industry, 3. what to avoid to become an effective leader, 4. habits of an effective leader, 5. studying the mindsets of effective leaders, 6. effective leadership and its benefits to an organization, 7. indicators of strong and effective leadership, 8. poor leadership vs. effective leadership, 9. real-life examples of effective leadership, 10. how perception creates effective leadership.

“Work at using leadership styles that do not come naturally, styles that you find difficult. By becoming a well-rounded leader, it is easier to adapt your leadership technique for different situations.”

Gill uses a research-based approach to answer the central question of his essay. He looks at various sources that tackle the topic of effective leadership and stitch them together to make a comprehensive guide to effective leadership.

“Leadership is not a mystical quality, and anyone can become a more effective leader by developing some important skills.”

The author, Yashi Srivastava, defines what differentiates leaders from managers first. Then, she provides some dos and don’ts of an effective leader and how people could apply them in different situations. 

“Whereas as leaders, we need to be concerned about creativity and innovation, making positive changes, and seeking to challenge and push boundaries.”

Gyles specializes in leadership training for companies, so her approach to the essay is geared more toward company leaders. Nevertheless, it’s highly educational for all those interested in learning effective leadership meant for dealing with various people and guiding people to a direction or goal.

“Effective leaders don’t avoid the hard truths. Instead, they take responsibility for their decisions, maintain optimism, and focus on charting a new course of action.”

Landry’s essay focuses on her six top characteristics of an effective leader. Some of these characteristics are what you’d expect to see in an essay like this. Entries like transparency are less common but equally important in practicing effective leadership.

“Rolling your sleeves up with everyone else not only sets an example, it makes people want to follow you.”

Fiction mirrors life, and it’s one of the best sources to learn lessons that are otherwise too complex or vague to see in real life. Despite his penchant for crime and violence, Thomas Shelby is undeniably one of the most influential leaders on TV. This essay details the leadership skills used by a 1920s gangster character and how you can use them in modern life to become an effective and inspiring leader.

“Leadership is often associated with certainty; indeed, it is sometimes reduced to the decision-making process such that anything which smacks of uncertainty is categorized as weakness or a failure of leadership.”  

Grint’s essay on leadership explores the factors around leaders’ certainty or confidence. Of course, not all leaders have a clear answer to a problem, which is fine. The important thing is that they have a mindset to look for solutions and a modicum of honesty about their lack of uncertainty.

10 Essay Prompts on Effective Leadership

It’s your turn to express and explore your view of effective leadership. Use these prompts to work out your approach or steps to effective leadership. Here are ten prompts about effective leadership to help you get started on your essay.

Defining effective leadership is one way to explore your understanding of the idea. Remember that your definition of effective leadership could vastly differ from the other essays you’ve read. It’s also a great starting point for new people who want to warm up to the habit of writing essays about leadership.

Essay writing tip: If you’re new to writing essays, consider simplifying your essay. Try shortening it down to a five-paragraph essay .

Essays about effective leadership prompts: What does effective leadership look like in the corporate industry?

You can find many leaders in the corporate industry, but some are more effective than others. Use this prompt to work out how you envision effective leadership in the corporate world. You can also apply the same idea to other fields, like at school, among friends or peer groups, or in the family. Consider carefully the field or organization you’d like to use for the essay.

You may have personal experience with a person who could have been an effective leader if not for their bad habits. You might have been that person and realized how your bad habits had held you back from practicing effective leadership. This is your chance to write about your experience, whether via observing someone else or through personal growth.

Practicing effective leadership goes beyond having direction and a vision for the organization. Becoming an effective leader also takes time and patience. Use this prompt to discuss the habits of great leaders and how these habits make them effective in their leadership.

Get into the mind of a leader and explore how such a person might become more effective in their leadership. This topic may involve discussing various people, whether real-life persons or fictional characters. Research how they think, handle their role and manage the people they lead.

Understanding the benefits of effective leadership is one of the best ways to drive someone to practice and adopt it. Use this prompt to detail how an effective leader boosts morale, productivity, motivation, communication quality, and confidence in the people they lead. It applies to all organizations, like businesses, teams, and networks.

How do you know whether a person’s leadership style and approach are effective or not? Use this essay topic to discover the different methods of measuring effective leadership. Read about the different measurements and indicators of leadership used in corporations and organizations.

Leaders can be good, mediocre, or bad in their leadership approaches and styles. This essay prompt will push you to compare bad leadership and effective leadership. You can also add methods of improving one’s leadership style to become more effective.

You can find a lot of excellent leaders throughout history. This idea focuses on discussing different leaders, their leadership styles, and levels of effectiveness.

Interpersonal skills are vital to great leadership. Perception of others’ feelings and thoughts can help you become an even better and more effective leader. Discuss how intuitiveness positively affects one’s leadership style. 

Check out our list of great essay writing topics for students for more topics to improve your writing.

write an essay on leadership skills

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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  • How to Structure a Leadership Essay (Samples to Consider)

Leadership is a complex concept, but it’s essential for boosting your career. That’s why a leadership essay focuses on applying the theoretical models and concepts of successful management to real-life situations. 

If you don’t know where to start writing such a paper, please read on for professional tips!

What Is Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a paper that analyzes leadership concepts and their application to real-life situations that may involve everyday business management, crisis situations, and other scenarios. 

Every essay on leadership is about defining a concept. Then, it’s either comparing it to similar management tools or proving that it’s useful (or not).

While some students enjoy writing such papers, other learners hate them. The below samples will come in handy, no matter which group is yours.

What Does Leadership Mean to You? (Essay Sample)

It is one of the most popular topics for a leadership essay. If you need to write a paper like that, ask yourself:

  • Who is a good leader?  
  • What style do they use?  
  • What are the situations when they might switch styles?

You may take a more personal approach to such an essay if your professor allows you to. In the example below, you will see the academic approach to this topic. It analyzes three leadership styles to discover which one corresponds to the meaning of leadership if one thinks of it as guidance and support.

leadership-essay-sample

Why I Want to Participate in a Leadership Program (Essay Sample)

It’s another example of a popular topic. Such papers often have a meaning beyond the classroom since they may decide whether you plan to participate in a specific program. It’s critical to make them as effective and compelling as possible.

A personalized approach is the best when it comes to essays like this. In the example below, you will see the paper that relies on individual beliefs and a personal life story to explain why it’s so important for the specific student to participate in the chosen program.

How to Write a Leadership Essay

Like every other essay, this paper has an introduction, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion summarizing your thoughts. (1) The most important part of the introduction is the final sentence,  aka  a thesis statement. That’s where you state your claim to prove or develop in your leadership essay.

Each body paragraph should correspond to the purpose of your essay. To ensure you don’t stray from the aim you’ve established in the thesis statement, write the topic sentences for all your paragraphs in the outline . In simple words, write the first sentence of every paragraph to define its development in advance and see if you cover everything you need.

And now, to the conclusion:

Its most essential element is thesis restatement or the first sentence of that paragraph. It’s not just paraphrasing your thesis; it’s also considering the new information you’ve discovered while writing the essay.

leadership-essay-structure

Structure :

  • Introduction (End it with a thesis statement.)
  • Body paragraphs (Each one starts with a topic sentence.)
  • Conclusion (Start it with a thesis restatement.)

Understand the purpose of a leadership essay

When starting to write, think about why you’re creating this paper. Before you sit down and type the words, think about the ideas you want to convey and their meaning in your life:

Can this essay teach you to take responsibility? Or maybe will it help you understand how to be a leader in crisis situations? When you’ve answered the “why” question, begin outlining.

Build a strong thesis

Always start with your thesis statement. It will help incorporate your answer to that notorious “why” question into your essay. Once done, you can plan out the rest of the paper and start working on the body paragraphs as soon as you finish the introduction.

There’s another important tip —don’t rush into writing the conclusion before you finish everything else!

It might seem like a good idea to create a thesis statement and thesis restatement right off the bat. However, you’ll find yourself with more refreshing ideas after completing all the research and thinking necessary for the introduction and each body paragraph.

Decide on a structure; format accordingly

Even if your essay about leadership seems not so formal, and you can use personal pronouns, you still need a clear structure.

The best way to write any academic paper is to keep your introduction and conclusion as short as possible. (But no shorter than three sentences and four lines of text). 

Another important tip is to try making all your body paragraphs equal in length. That way, you’ll give the same attention to all the vital points of your essay.

Ready to Write Your Essay on Leadership Now?

Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the most critical elements of a leadership essay. 

Remember the structure, grammar, and appropriate academic style to create a top-level paper. Please don’t forget to answer the “why” question and remember  why  you’re writing. Then you’ll impress everyone with your results!

References:

  • https://lsa.umich.edu/onsf/news-events/all-news/directors-blog/writing-leadership-essays.html
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  • Essay writing
  • Writing tips

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How to write an essay about leadership

Leadership essays, or essays where you are asked about your work as a leader in your school or community, are not as common as you might imagine. Given all of the emphasis schools and clubs put on leadership roles and titles, essays asking students to dive deeply into this work are actually pretty rare in college applications. That said, it is important to consider leadership very broadly! You do not need to be the President or Founder of a club to write an effective essay for one of these prompts. In fact, sometimes the less common considerations and definitions of “leadership” can make for more compelling essays.

Example Leadership Essay Questions:

  • U of California: Describe an example of your leadership and a way that you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
  • U of Texas: How do you show leadership in your life? How do you see yourself being a leader at UT Austin?

LET'S BREAK DOWN THE ESSENTIAL POINTS YOU NEED TO HIT WHEN RESPONDING TO THIS SUPPLEMENT:

Leadership is more than titles – it is important, when you consider questions like these, that you reflect on activities where you have contributed to an accomplishment and learned something (about yourself, about your community). In fact, it would be a more powerful essay to reflect on a leadership contribution that was not connected to a title of leadership, but where you learned something important, than to reflect upon your activity where your leadership title is big “in name only.”

Sometimes leadership happens within your family – you do not need to limit your focus to leadership that happens during your school day.

You can consider this essay happening in two distinct ways: narrative structure – where you present a challenge you faced in a leadership role, actions you did that had an impact, and lessons you learned (skills you gained); OR montage structure – where you take on two different activities that both taught you a common lesson about leadership. Don’t muddle these together! Decide whether you want to write linearly (and chronologically in time) about one activity or if you want to write non-linearly about one leadership lesson.

THINGS TO AVOID:

Try to stay away from topics where your leadership takes the reader on a familiar journey. If you want to write about your leadership on an athletic team, that is wonderful, but try to avoid an essay about how your leadership of your team during The Big Game contributed to (winning/losing) The Big Game and the team becoming closer and being “one-strong-team.” Does that feel familiar to you? That’s because college admissions folks will have read thousands of essays that tell this type of story. If you select a common team to lead, take your essay in an uncommon direction.

Avoid lengthy introductions that take away from your word count and don’t actually support your essay response.

Avoid overemphasis on one aspect that detracts from your ability to talk about the other aspects of your story. In other words, if you spend half of your words outlining the challenge you faced, you only have ¼ of the remaining words to discuss your actions and ¼ to discuss the lessons you learned. This is not a good balance!

ADDITIONAL TIPS AND TRICKS:

  • What did you do?
  • What problems did you solve?
  • What lessons did you learn?
  • What impact did you have?
  • How have you applied these lessons?

Answering these questions (and in this order) actually builds you an outline for this essay!

Do you have an extracurricular activity where the character count really limits you in terms of describing your work and impact? Consider using this essay to further highlight your contributions!

Do you have an extracurricular activity that speaks directly toward your intended major or field of study? This might be a great time to make your application stand out by sharing your leadership and contributions to this field! What problems have you solved? How can you use this prompt to share these solutions?

write an essay on leadership skills

Elise holds a BA in Political Philosophy from Williams College and an MEd in Administration & Social Policy from Harvard. She has spent the past twenty years working in top-tier independent schools.

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A Blue Print for the best Leadership Essay

Leadership Essay writing Guide

Leadership encompasses a variety of tenets. It includes leadership approaches or styles, leadership development, types of leadership, leadership principles, leadership values, and leadership theories. These are but a few concepts that any college student must be acquainted with to be able to complete an essay on leadership.

As complex as writing a leadership essay sounds, it is simple when you know how to write an essay about leadership. You must begin by understanding who a leader is and the entire concept of leadership.

When writing an essay about a leader, it is akin to writing a profile essay about a certain leader or yourself. Leadership essays for college require a special type of keenness. While there are many scholarly sources you can use, it takes expertise to knit together a great leadership essay introduction.

This guide helps you write the ?what is leadership? essay effectively. It also enables you to write the best nature of leadership essay. If you are stuck with choosing leadership essay topics, our guide has over 89 essay topics on leadership and ideas that you can use to brainstorm. From today on, write the best leadership essay conclusion. And if it is a leadership essay for a scholarship, admission, or personal statement, we have experts that can help. We also have proofreading and editing professionals to help edit and proofread your leadership thesis and dissertation.

Read on and see what we have for you.

What is a Leadership Essay?

Defining a leadership essay

A leadership essay is somewhat a unique assignment assigned to college and university students. It can be part of the admission or scholarship essays or part of the coursework. Naturally, it is an assignment assigned to students pursuing different courses such as business, management, human resource, organizational behavior, economics, psychology, or political science, among others. A leadership essay encompasses exploration:

  • The concept of leadership
  • Nature of leadership
  • Stories on prominent leaders
  • Leadership traits and qualities
  • The link between leadership and development, success, performance, and improvement
  • Leadership abilities
  • Facts and events of an individual?s leadership experience

To write a good leadership paper, a student must begin by reading the essay prompt and the rubric. A student should then think critically and logically on what to include in their paper. Like other exceptional essays, a good essay on leadership must have credible facts from scholarly sources. The instructor/professor is always testing for your evaluation, assessment, analytical, and presentation skills.

Tips when Writing Leadership Essays for College

Tips for writing an essay about leadership

Creating a perfect leadership essay is easy when you follow these predetermined success-assured steps.

1. Choose a leadership Topic that interests you

When assigning leadership essays, most professors and instructors alike give prompts with a list of topics to choose from. Go for topics that impress you and ones that you can find great information from books, journals, credible websites, and other scholarly sources.

2. Research Online and Get enough insights

After selecting a particular topic, ensure that you go a step higher to conduct research online. Gather as much information from the available literature as possible. The research process, when writing leadership essays, helps in generating ideas for the introduction, body, and conclusion of the essay. It also helps define the scope of your essay and come up with a thesis.

3. Create an excellent thesis statement

Your thesis statement in your essay on leadership should reflect the outlook of the entire essay. Format it to feature your major argument in an intelligent and reasoned way. An excellent thesis statement defines a good essay any day.

4. Draft the Leadership Essay Outline

Every great essay begins with an outline. Creating an outline for your leadership essay helps you draft a blueprint for the entire essay. Outline what will go to the introduction, the thesis statement, and the background information.

5. Write your First Draft

With the arguments reflected on the outline, you can choose to use any format for the body paragraphs. A common approach is to use the PEEL writing strategy for coherence in your paragraphs. You can also use the Schaffer strategy. The choice is yours. Above all, ensure that facts from scholarly sources are cited in-text in MLA, APA, Harvard, or Chicago formats.

6. Edit, Proofread and Revise your Essay

After writing your essay, it is always great to edit and proofread. If you have no confidence in your leadership essay, you can hire someone to edit your leadership essays . If you are an MBA student, we can help you correct mistakes on your paper. Always submit a paper you are confident will pass Turnitin and get you great grades.

How to Begin a Leadership Paper - The Introduction

You are probably reading this because the question of ?how do I start my leadership essay?? is bothering you. Well, even though the question seems ambiguous, we have an answer for you right here.

Every great leadership essay has an excellent introduction. Your introduction should be well-written to the extent that it grabs the attention of the reader and entices them to stay through the end. Ideally, the introduction sets the mood of the entire paper.

As with other types of essays, a leadership essay can commence with a great essay hook or a grabber . It could be an anecdote, a statistic, quote, phrase, or a catchy word.

The hook should be preceded by a few sentences that act as the background to your essay. The aim of the background sentences, in the introduction, is to set the context of the essay.

The background is then followed by an excellent thesis statement . The thesis statement gives a sneak peek into your essay in a snapshot. It can either be one or two last sentences in the introduction. The thesis differs depending on whether the essay is descriptive, classification, narrative, argumentative, or persuasive essay.

If you follow these steps, you will write an outstanding essay on leadership. Make it count right from the beginning.

How to Ace a Leadership Experience Essay

When writing application essays, scholarship essays, or school transfer essays, you can be asked to write an essay about your leadership experience. It is always imperative to make your essay as unique as the Costco application essay. Here are some tips to use when writing your leadership essay:

  • Begin by reading the leadership experience essay prompt to understand exactly what you are being asked to write about.
  • Come up with an excellent essay hook for your essay. It could be an anecdote, a quote from a great leader, a simple statistic, or an observation?.
  • Write the thesis of your leadership experience essay, which should cover the gist of the entire essay.
  • Write the introduction of the essay as though it is to be published among the best sellers.
  • Make sure each of the paragraphs outlines your leadership experiences. Each of the paragraphs should have leadership experience, illustrations, and examples.
  • Keep the flow within the paper by using appropriate transitions.
  • Avoid using jargon in your leadership essays. In most cases, simplicity wins the day, and after all, a successful leader expresses themselves in just a few words.
  • If there are references used, be sure to cite the essay in APA, MLA, Harvard, or Chicago.
  • Make the conclusion count. Restate the thesis and write a summary of the entire paper.
  • Most leadership essays can be anything between 150 words to 2000 words. Depending on the essay prompt, always be sure to meet the word count.

Remember, if the leadership experience essay is a scholarship essay, personal statement, statement of purpose, or an admission essay, it should be written in the first person. Otherwise, you must stick to the third person, which is a preference in academic writing.

Leadership Essay Topics and Ideas you can choose for your Paper

Leadership Ideas for an Essay

Are you wondering about the best leadership essay topics? We have your back on this. Here are some essay topics on leadership to kick start your topic choice process. We answer the question of ?what are some essay topics on leadership??

  • The ability of women in leadership to successfully steer progress and success in organizations.
  • Role of leaders in the community
  • Charismatic, transformational, and transactional leadership
  • Characteristics of a good leader
  • Features of supportive leadership
  • Leadership and Power
  • Women in leadership
  • Breaking the glass ceiling
  • Role of ethics in leadership
  • Gender differences in leadership
  • Importance of team leadership in virtual teams
  • Role of leaders in group formation
  • How leadership brings diversity in an organization
  • Corruption among public leaders
  • Are leaders made or born?
  • Can situations define a leader?
  • Leadership succession and its importance in organizations
  • Do you consider yourself to be a leader or a follower?
  • An example of a 21 st -century exemplary leader
  • Challenges leaders face
  • Importance of listening for leaders
  • Are transformational leaders better than transactional leaders?
  • How to improve leadership skills
  • Great leaders should be great communicators
  • Who do you look up to as a leader?
  • Importance of self-confidence among leaders
  • Which leader do you admire? Please write a letter to of gratitude for their influence on your life
  • The importance of leadership in schools
  • Historical leaders
  • Think of a leader you admire and list three of the qualities that make him or her a good leader. Which quality do you share with him or her? Which quality could you improve upon?
  • How can you improve your own leadership skills?
  • Role of military leadership
  • Do entrepreneurs need to be leaders?
  • An integrative theory of leadership
  • The impacts of national culture on corporate and public leadership
  • Leadership and organizational development
  • How leadership affects the morale of employees
  • Does leadership competence define the organization of choice for employees
  • The link between leadership and organizational citizenship behavior
  • Leadership and organizational loyalty
  • Variation of leadership behavior depending on the culture
  • Leadership processes and self-identity of followers
  • Leadership style and organizational commitment
  • The prospective of future leadership
  • Role of strategic leadership
  • The Influence of democratic leadership on Employee performance: A case in Saudi Public Sector
  • Business leadership and culture
  • The normative approach to business leadership
  • Comparative analysis of the world?s greatest military leaders
  • Understanding combat leadership
  • Role of military leaders in strategy and policy implementation
  • Meyers Briggs Type Indicator best for military leadership
  • Understanding the art of command in military leadership
  • How school leadership works
  • Does the leadership styles of a school principle define the success of a school?
  • Are collaborative school leaders successful?
  • The role of power, culture, and people in educational leadership
  • Leadership and policy implementation
  • Leadership style of educators
  • School leadership in the 21 st century
  • Teacher leadership for professional resilience
  • Qualities of exceptional school leaders
  • How professional school leaders deal with dilemmas
  • Leadership and the glass ceiling
  • The performance of indigenous communities in political leadership
  • Sustainable environmental leadership
  • Corporate leadership
  • The psychology of leadership
  • African-American women executives and organizational leadership
  • Ethics as the heart of leadership
  • Servant leadership
  • Leadership challenges in virtual teams
  • Leadership development and growth
  • Evolving human resource practices in succession planning
  • Contemporary issues of leadership
  • Leadership investment
  • Importance of leadership for nurses
  • Are leadership traits inherent, or can people be molded into good leaders?
  • Are meetings the only effective way for sound leaders to disseminate information?
  • Compare and contrast the effectiveness of dictatorial and servant leadership
  • Explore the church leadership approach
  • The foundation of biblical leadership
  • Compare business and political leadership
  • The bureaucratic structure of government and their impact on leadership in the public domain
  • Best leadership styles for diverse teams
  • Impacts of technology and social media on the leadership style of millennial leaders
  • Compare and contrast formal and informal leaders
  • The leadership philosophy of great leaders
  • Critical analysis of leadership styles and organizational culture that enables the implementation of a proposed local project of advancing the Nursing practice

Contact us for the best topics and help with your MBA leadership essays or essays for school on leadership. Our professional essay writers can always help.

Top 30 Leadership Qualities to Include in a Leadership Essay

Leadership Traits

As a student undertaking a leadership course, completing an essay, term paper, or a research paper on leadership is mandatory. When asked to write an essay on leadership, it would be best if you used some of the leadership traits.

The common traits include

  • Transparency
  • Conscientious
  • Excellent communication
  • Decision-Making Skills
  • Problem-solving capacity
  • Accountability and responsibility
  • Delegation and empowerment
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Creativity and innovation
  • Decisiveness
  • Unselfishness
  • Dependability

These are some of the powerful traits of successful leaders . Of course, there are many other traits that you can research and include in your leadership essays. Effective leaders need to be very tactical when influencing their followers. They need to foster teamwork where necessary and use their wisdom to solve conflicts among the followers. It is great to have empathy or fit in the shoes of a leader when writing your leadership essay. Sometimes, even as simple as a biography essay, a leadership essay needs to be well-organized such that there is flow and a good explanation of the traits is inevitable.

Help with Writing Leadership Essay for College

You might have read the entire article but still cannot comprehend how to write a leadership essay. It is always time to get a great leadership essay sample to understand how one is written. If, even with the leadership essay example, you cannot write the essay, you need help.

Related Reading: Descriptive essay writing process and topics .

Luckily, we have writers for hire who write various types of essays on leadership. The leadership essays we can help with include: narrative, how-to, compare and contrast, classification, exemplification, descriptive, persuasive, argumentative, and reflection essays on leadership.

You can pay our paper writers to write the best leadership essays for school. If you are doing an MBA leadership essay, you can always consult with our writers for the best insights and advice.

Even with this ultimate guide for writing a leadership, things can get thick. Getting help with writing college essays is not illegal. Get a great homework helper or an assignment helper from our website to help you write a custom leadership essay, today!

write an essay on leadership skills

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Your Complete Guide to Writing a Compelling Leadership Essay

  • Essay Writing Guides

Your Complete Guide to Writing a Compelling Leadership Essay

True leadership lies at the heart of human well-being and success. Every positive step humanity ever took required great and responsible leadership. Therefore, people have studied leadership for many edges to unravel its different underlying factors. 

But how do you write a great essay that demonstrates your grasp of this sacred call? This post shares practical insights on how to write a leadership essay . Keep reading it to sharpen your skills in this assignment niche. 

What Is a Leadership Essay ?

Before proceeding to see how best to draft a perfect leadership essay, let’s answer the big question, “ What is leadership essay ?” A leadership essay is an assignment that falls under student application essays. This paper provides student admission officers with insight into your previous leadership experience. 

While this assignment appears to be specific, it acknowledges that the nature and perception of leadership can greatly vary depending on context and individuals. 

Leadership Essay Ideas and Topics

Selecting the best topics for your essays on leadership is vital. When composing this paper, you will focus on two main areas revolving around your leadership style and the memorable moment when you demonstrated leadership. Please note that these two areas usually overlap because while recounting that moment you demonstrated leadership, you will also show your leadership style. 

Whichever area you choose to focus on, use anecdotal evidence that proves the idea. Here, you can freely go with what feels best for you. Just ensure that the instance you use to demonstrate leadership is a real-life experience. This way, you will be best placed to choose a topic that makes your readers enjoy your paper.

How to Write a Leadership Essay

While this paper might sound like an introduction on leadership essay , it doesn’t mean you aren’t a leader or can’t lead people. So, how do you compose a killer leadership essay that impresses student admission officials? Here are ideas on how to write leadership essay that fetches good grades and makes a positive impression of your leadership potential. 

  • As earlier hinted, you must research to choose a good topic that will impress your readers and portray you as an upcoming great leader.
  • When writing about a leadership concept, take notes of some credible sources of information. Find out what others have written about that topic.  
  • Outline your essay to organize all the details you want to include. This way, you won’t forget to include anything your readers need. 

Alternatively, you can check out past papers written on your chosen leadership topics. This way, you will have a strong basis for further expansion of your arguments and incorporating relevant ideas into your paper. However, remember to follow intellectual property laws to avoid plagiarism.

Formatting Your Leadership Essay

Your essay about leadership requires correct formatting to ensure everything flows well. Like other types of papers, leadership essays follow a five-paragraph pattern. It has an introduction, a body section, and a conclusion, depending on its word count or page limits.  

  • Introduction: This section captures the reader’s interest, defines good leadership in relation to you, and directly addresses the given prompt.
  • Body paragraphs: The body section gives some background information using anecdotes to describe your leadership style or moment.
  • Conclusion: This finishing section is a compelling statement about your leadership attributes and capabilities. It also shows how you hope to apply them to your life and solve other people’s problems.

Tips for Writing a Leadership Essay

Do you want tips to help you write the best leadership essays that will garner good grades? Here are tips and insights to help you compose excellent leadership essays .

Define Good Leadership First

It would be best to define good leadership before proceeding. Take time to think about the best attributes that make one a great leader. Of these qualities you have figured out, which ones do you have? Outline the qualities you demonstrated in your memorable leadership moment. These attributes could be, but aren’t limited to:

  • The ability to motivate and inspire others.
  • Valuing others.

Lastly, review your list and select the traits you would wish to focus on. 

Moderate Your Humility 

Humility is an invaluable virtue that needs to flow through your papers. However, don’t overdo it when highlighting your leadership moment. So, draw the line between humility and self-humiliation. Just let your readers know what you did to benefit other people’s lives—period.

Don’t Use Another Person’s Voice and Style

When highlighting your leadership abilities and experience, remember to use your personal style and voice. Admission officers want to hear your voice and “see you” in the essay. Thus, allow them to see your personality in the paper the best way you know how to put it. You can use your reasonable sense of humor without overstepping boundaries. 

Tell a Story About Your Journey 

When addressing college admission officers, use your storytelling skills to describe your leadership journey. Give them an engaging story that shows them your true leadership potential. Your story should exhibit the traits you believe are instrumental in helping you lead others. The narrative should tell the readers about the following:

  • That you faced a real-life challenge.
  • How you solved the problem. 
  • How your leadership style and potential have grown over the years.
  • Any specific challenge or moment that has helped you grow in your leadership. 

Choose a Case in Which You Played a Key Role

Your leadership doesn’t necessarily mean you are always at the help of things or people. Instead, it means that you helped solve a problem that affected others. Thus, don’t fear highlighting a moment just because you were not calling the shots. Why? Because the officials are looking for the results you helped bring to the table and not necessarily the position you occupied in the story. 

Thus, you should focus more on the improved position others found themselves in after your intervention instead of the position you occupied. Also, don’t mind more about the story’s title, especially when brainstorming. If you tell an impactful story, the title will automatically fall in place. 

Acknowledge Other People’s Contributions

We said in previous sections that you should tell the reader more about your leadership skills and journey. Up to this point, so good. However, you shouldn’t become so egoistic that you assume you aren’t an island. Your personal statement should indeed be personal, but it’s better to remember that other people still have a stake in your journey. 

So, give other people their deserved credit wherever they contributed to your success. Credit others for their loyalty, hard work, and any insights they offer. This way, you will portray your leadership as inclusive and not a one-man army that gives all the credit to one man. 

Solve Problems

Lastly, your essay should focus on solving problems. There is no point in telling a long story if it doesn’t bring out this element. Why? Because leadership essentially solves other people’s problems. If this element is missing, then you were not leading. Most likely, you were merely occupying a position or exercising authority but not leading. 

Do you remember how you solved that issue on your team amicably? Did you negotiate peace between team members whose rift was threatening to tear the team apart? Then, tell it out because that is all the admission officers are looking for in the narrative. 

Leadership Essay Example

Nothing will power your leadership writing skills like a perfect example of leadership essay . This section has three excellent excerpts from the introductions, bodies, and conclusions of leadership papers. 

  • Introduction 

The floor was full of press cameras and microphones ready to capture a critical event. The venue was filled with different types of furniture, leather seats, and the who-is-who in the media industry that could change the entire media industry. Until then, I never saw myself as a leader, although I knew that this event was bigger than me, a moment that I could positively influence for the benefit of everyone present.

Gaining experience is one of the pillars of growing up in one’s leadership journey. The reason is that leadership isn’t a theory or concept captured in the heads, arguments, or counterarguments of so-called leadership gurus. Instead, it’s about practical life engagements that solve people’s problems in the real world. Thus, experience is the best tool to provide leaders with the opportunities to face and solve problems, make sound decisions, and learn from their failures and successes. All great leaders cherish such experiences and use them to grow and develop their leadership. 

  • Conclusion 

In my view, leadership is about solving problems and meeting people’s needs, period. That’s the big picture, and the rest are minor details. My ability to empathize with others and give them a helping hand instead of pointing fingers at them summarizes my leadership philosophy. I hope to use this drive to be on the solution side of life, to prescribe solutions instead of just describing and decrying problems. 

Final Word 

Do you want to boost your writing skills on the topic of leadership? We’ve created this post to give you valuable and practical insights to accelerate your leadership research and writing journey. We hope you will use them to compose a perfect essay on effective leadership .

  • Academic Writing Guides
  • Citation Guides
  • Essay Samples
  • Essay Topics
  • Research Paper Topics
  • Research Paper Writing Guides
  • Study Tips and Tricks

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Your Complete Guide to Writing a Compelling Leadership Essay

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A Professional Guide to Writing an Inspiring Leadership Essay

Leadership Essay

Quick Navigation

  • 1. Leadership Essay – What it Means?
  • 2. What Makes a Good Leadership Essay?
  • 3. Topics You Can Explore for Writing Leadership Essays
  • 4. How to Write a Leadership Essay – Pre-Writing Stage
  • 5.1 Introduction
  • 5.3 Conclusion
  • 6. Leadership Essay Topic Ideas
  • 7. Write an Essay That Inspires!

The power of leadership stems from its ability to make an impact on people, earn respect, and put words into action. As a result, students in schools and universities are often tasked with writing leadership essays to recognize the importance of leadership in both personal and professional realms. This assignment not only helps improve writing skills but also challenges critical thinking abilities by encouraging reflection on personal experiences or evaluating the leadership qualities and styles of prominent figures.

This leadership essay writing guide offers suggestions and tips for mastering the craft of leadership essay writing, including focusing on essay structure, clarity of arguments, and content quality. Additionally, this guide provides appealing essay ideas, topic choices, an outline example, and other resources to assist in crafting a thoughtful leadership essay. In case you have no time to write your essay, you can give us a nudge by saying ‘ write my essay ‘ and get well-researched authentic papers crafted by our accomplished writers on any topic.

Leadership Essay – What it Means?

A leadership essay is a type of academic or personal writing that focuses on analyzing, evaluating, or discussing the concept of leadership, its various styles and theories, and the qualities and characteristics of effective leaders. The purpose of a leadership essay may vary depending on the assignment or context, but it typically aims to provide insights into leadership, its importance in organizations and society, and its impact on personal and professional development. A leadership essay may also require the writer to reflect on their own experiences as a leader or evaluate the leadership qualities and style of a prominent leader.

To write a perfect essay on leadership, the writer must define and apply the main concepts of leadership to real-life situations. This involves researching the history of the term and the various leadership styles employed worldwide. The essay must also evaluate the researched information and its application to human behavior and attitudes. Personal strengths and weaknesses in communication and daily interactions with others should be assessed. This format is commonly required for entering a business administration major in college, with the goal being to understand personal traits as a leader and explain them in writing. Remember, the key to writing a good leadership essay is to write about something that will inspire your readers.

What Makes a Good Leadership Essay?

A good leadership essay should have a clear and concise thesis statement that outlines the main argument of the essay. It should also provide relevant and credible evidence to support the argument, such as real-life examples and data. The essay should be well-organized, with a logical structure that guides the reader through the argument.

In addition, a good leadership essay should demonstrate the writer’s critical thinking skills and ability to analyze and evaluate information. The essay should also showcase the writer’s writing skills, including their ability to use appropriate language, grammar, and style.

Finally, a good leadership essay should offer insights and perspectives that are unique and thought-provoking. It should encourage the reader to think more deeply about the concept of leadership and its significance in personal and professional contexts.

Topics You Can Explore for Writing Leadership Essays

A leadership essay can cover a wide range of topics related to leadership. Here are some examples of potential topics:

  • Leadership styles and theories: Explore the different styles and theories of leadership, such as transformational, situational, autocratic, and democratic leadership, and discuss their strengths and weaknesses.
  • Qualities of effective leaders: Discuss the key qualities and characteristics that make an effective leader, such as integrity, empathy, vision, communication, and decision-making abilities.
  • Diversity and inclusion in leadership: Discuss the importance of diversity and inclusion in leadership, and analyze the impact that inclusive leadership can have on organizational culture, productivity, and innovation.
  • Leadership and ethics: Analyze the relationship between leadership and ethics, and discuss the importance of ethical leadership in creating a positive impact on society.
  • Women in leadership: Discuss the challenges that women face in leadership roles and analyze the impact that increasing gender diversity in leadership can have on organizations and society.
  • Leadership and innovation: Analyze the role of leadership in promoting innovation and discuss the qualities that effective leaders possess to foster a culture of innovation.
  • The role of leadership in change management: Discuss the importance of leadership in managing change within an organization, and analyze the strategies that leaders can use to effectively implement change.

These are just a few examples of potential topics for a leadership essay. Depending on your interests and experiences, you can choose a topic that resonates with you and allows you to showcase your knowledge and insights on leadership. Additionally, you can talk about your personal experience in your leadership essay. Here are some examples of how you can do that:

  • Using personal experiences to illustrate your points: Here you can discuss how personal experiences can be used to illustrate key points in your essay. For example, if you are writing about the importance of effective communication in leadership, you can draw on a personal experience where you witnessed or demonstrated effective communication skills.
  • Reflecting on what you have learned about leadership from your experiences: You can talk about the importance of reflecting on what you have learned about leadership from your personal experiences. For example, if you are writing about the qualities of an effective leader, you can reflect on how your own experiences have taught you the importance of those qualities.
  • Tying personal experiences back to the broader topic and argument of your essay: In this section, you can discuss how to ensure that your personal experiences are tied back to the broader topic and argument of your essay. For example, if you are writing about the role of leadership in promoting diversity and inclusion, you can use personal experience to illustrate how a leader’s actions can impact diversity and inclusion in the workplace or society.

Whether you need a hand with writing a critical essay or a thematic essay, let us know and we will assist you.

How to Write a Leadership Essay – Pre-Writing Stage

The first step in composing a leadership essay is to understand what leadership means. Leadership can be defined as the ability to influence others toward a common goal. A leader is someone who inspires, motivates, and guides others toward achieving success.

Step 1: Define Good Leadership

Before beginning to write an essay online , take a moment to contemplate the defining characteristics of exceptional leadership. Consider the essential and impactful qualities of a great leader, such as the ability to inspire and motivate others, lead by example, and possess integrity, empathy, accountability, responsibility, humility, resilience, vision, influence, and optimism. If you are writing about yourself, reflect on your qualities as a leader. On the other hand, if you are writing about a prominent leader, conduct thorough research on the individual to gain insight into what makes them a great leader and why they are so effective in their role. Additionally, when writing about a successful leader, be sure to analyze the various leadership styles they employ.

Step 2: Select an Inspiring Topic

The key factor in creating a good leadership essay lies in selecting an appropriate topic. If you are writing a biography of a successful and prominent leader, it is crucial to focus on their leadership qualities and on what makes them an effective leader. The topic should align with the objectives of the essay and highlight your writing strengths. Conducting thorough research and reflecting on your leadership traits can help you identify a suitable topic.

To make your essay more compelling, you can compare and contrast different leadership styles, such as authoritarian and democratic approaches. It is essential to choose a topic that emphasizes the importance and relevance of your essay. The essay should also focus on practical strategies that can be applied in real-life situations to develop effective leadership skills. Providing examples of how your essay can be used to support future practice and study can also be beneficial.

Step 3: Researching Your Topic

Once you have chosen your topic, the next step is to research it thoroughly. This will help you to develop a deeper understanding of the subject and to identify key ideas and arguments that you can include in your essay.

  • Determine your research question: Before conducting research, it’s essential to determine your research question. This will help to focus your research and ensure that you gather the information that is relevant to your essay topic. Your research question should be specific, clear, and concise.
  • Use credible sources: You can research your topic by reading books, articles, and other relevant sources, as well as by conducting interviews with experts in the field.
  • Consider multiple perspectives: When conducting research, consider multiple perspectives. This will help to provide a balanced view of your topic and ensure that you consider different opinions and viewpoints.
  • Take notes: Take notes while conducting research. This will help to keep track of the information you gather and ensure that you don’t forget any critical points.
  • Organize your research materials: It’s essential to organize your research materials to make it easier to access and use the information you gather. Some effective strategies for organizing research materials include creating an annotated bibliography or using a citation manager like Zotero or EndNote.
  • Review and analyze your research: After gathering your research materials, review and analyze the information. Identify key themes, arguments, and evidence that support your essay’s main points.

Step 4: Create an Outline and Write the First Draft

Once you have gathered your research materials, it’s time to organize them in the form of an essay outline . To organize your thoughts and prepare for writing your leadership essay, it’s essential to create an outline. This involves summarizing and arranging all the information you’ve gathered into an organized structure that will guide your writing. The essay can follow a standard five-paragraph format or have additional body paragraphs as required. The outline should include the following sections:

  • Introduction: Start with a hook to capture the reader’s interest and provide a clear thesis statement that highlights the main argument you’ll discuss in the essay.
  • Body paragraphs: Include three to four paragraphs, each presenting a unique perspective that supports your argument. Use examples, evidence, statistics, anecdotes, and other supporting details to connect each paragraph to the thesis statement.
  • Conclusion: Wrap it up by summarizing the key points discussed, reiterate the thesis statement, and with a strong statement that reinforces your opinion on what good leadership is and the importance of developing leadership skills.

Once you have organized your thoughts into an outline, you can begin writing your essay. In the next section, we have provided a thorough structure and an idea of how to write the introduction, body, and conclusion of a leadership essay.

Step 5: Editing and Proofreading

Once you have written your essay adhering to the outline, the next step is to edit and proofread it. This involves reviewing your essay for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors, as well as for clarity and coherence.

Crafting a Leadership Essay – Complete Structure

Introduction.

  • The introduction of a leadership essay is critical as it sets the tone for the entire paper and establishes the reader’s expectations. To make it engaging and persuasive, a hook sentence is essential. The first two sentences of the introduction should demonstrate the quality of the content and captivate the reader’s attention. It’s crucial to personalize the text by connecting it to your knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Incorporating a story in the introduction can also pique the reader’s interest by providing a background that will be further explored in the body paragraphs of the essay.
  • If you are wondering how to title an essay , keep in mind to choose a title that is both attention-grabbing and informative. You may include a hook phrase that accurately reflects the content and avoid clichés.
  • The introduction of a leadership essay should provide background information on the topic and set the stage for the rest of the essay. One way to do this is by providing a brief history of leadership and its evolution over time. This can help the reader understand how leadership has changed and developed, and how it is viewed in different contexts and cultures.
  • The thesis statement in a leadership essay introduction should clearly state the main point or argument that will be discussed in the essay. It should be concise and specific, providing a roadmap for the reader to understand what the essay will cover.
  • Example of a hook statement in a leadership essay:

Quotation hook: As John C. Maxwell once said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

Interesting Fact Hook: Did you know that Martin Luther King Jr. was only 26 years old when he led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and became one of the most iconic leaders of the civil rights movement?

Statistic Hook: According to a recent study, companies with a gender-diverse leadership team are 21% more likely to outperform their peers in profitability.

  • Background information on leadership:

The study of leadership and its evolution can be traced back to the ancient philosopher Socrates, but it wasn’t until the 1930s that scientists began delving deeper into its development and impact.

  • Thesis statement example for a leadership essay:

“Effective leadership requires a combination of personal qualities, such as integrity and empathy, and practical skills, such as communication and decision-making, to inspire and guide individuals towards a common goal.”

This thesis statement sets up the argument that leadership is a multifaceted concept that involves both personal and practical elements.

The body paragraphs of a leadership essay should contain the main arguments or points that support the thesis statement. Each paragraph should focus on a single idea and provide evidence, examples, facts, or statistics to support the argument. It is important to organize the body of the essay logically and clearly, such as through chronological order, cause and effect, or problem and solution.

Some possible topics for the body of a leadership essay could include discussing different leadership styles, examining the qualities of effective leaders, exploring the challenges of leadership, or analyzing a specific leader and their impact on their organization or society. Discuss respective topic sentences in individual paragraphs along with supporting statements and evidence and make sure to stick to the thesis statement.

The conclusion paragraph of a leadership essay should effectively summarize the main points of the essay and restate the thesis statement in a different way. It should also provide a final thought or message to the reader, leaving them with a lasting impression. The conclusion can also include a call to action, encouraging the reader to apply the leadership principles discussed in the essay to their own life or work. Additionally, it can suggest areas for further research or discussion on the topic of leadership. A well-written conclusion should leave the reader feeling satisfied and informed, with a clear understanding of the importance of good leadership.

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Leadership Essay Topic Ideas

Some various topics and sub-topics fall under the broad subject of leadership. If you are looking for some inspiration for your leadership essay, then here are some brilliant ideas that are worth exploring:

  • Authentic Leadership: What it Means and Why it Matters
  • A Comparative Analysis of Leadership Styles: Democratic vs. Authoritarian Leadership
  • Servant Leadership: A Model for Effective Leadership in Modern Organizations
  • The Importance of emotional intelligence in effective leadership
  • The Impact of Leadership on organizational culture and employee satisfaction
  • The challenges of ethical leadership in modern organizations
  • The Role of Resilience in effective leadership
  • The Impact of Diversity on Leadership and organizational success
  • The relationship between leadership and innovation in the workplace.
  • Overcoming Adversity: Lessons from Great Leaders Who Have Faced Challenges
  • Examples of effective and ineffective leadership in the history
  • The Role of Effective Communication in Leadership
  • Exploring Transformational Leadership in the Workplace
  • American Civil War Strategy and Leadership
  • Contemporary Issues in Management: Gender and Leadership
  • Impact of Gender Differences on Leadership Styles
  • Authentic leadership: being true to yourself while leading others
  • The Impact of Globalization on leadership practices
  • Cross-cultural leadership: adapting to different cultural norms
  •  A time when you displayed your leadership skills

Write an Essay That Inspires!

A well-crafted leadership essay should be inspirational and relatable. Writing such an essay requires a deep understanding of the subject matter and a careful selection of words and phrases that can effectively convey your ideas. At PenMyPaper, we understand the challenges of crafting a compelling leadership essay, and we are here to help. Our team of professional experts is dedicated to delivering high-quality essays that meet your specific requirements, exceed your expectations, and are delivered within your desired timeframe and budget.

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Writing an Essay About Leadership: A Complete Guide for Students

Janna Smith

Leadership is typically defined as the capacity of a person (as well as a group of people or organization) to “lead” others, influence their opinions, or guide them. A good leader must be able to rally people around a shared cause or goal, help shape a vision, and motivate and inspire others to attain that goal.

For decades, leadership has been one of the most sought-after abilities. It is considered one of the primary driving forces of humanity and progress. Leaders foster innovation, growth, and a goal-accomplishing attitude. So, this quality is highly valued in all areas of our lives, including in school, at work, and in one’s personal life as well.

Being such a pivotal skill, leadership often becomes a topic for academic essays. Although the topic is incredibly popular, writing a compelling paper on this subject might be uneasy. Yet, this doesn’t mean that there are absolutely no ways to ease the process.

In the guide below, we are going to answer some of your biggest questions about this type of assignment and provide actionable tips for writing a good paper. Also, we are going to give you some leadership essay examples and ideas that should help inspire your own writing.

What Is Leadership Essay?

The first big question students face when assigned this task is ‒ “What is a leader essay, in the first place?” So, let’s start from there.

In a nutshell, a leadership essay is a short piece of writing focused on the topic of leadership. Just like any other essay, it can serve multiple purposes. For example, if it’s written as a part of your class or homework, it can be:

  • Informative;
  • Persuasive;
  • Argumentative;
  • Compare and contrast, etc.

Depending on the type of assignment, your task might be to define leadership, compare different leadership styles, reflect on real-life applications of this skill, etc.

Alternatively, this type of work can be a part of the college admission process. Leadership is a common topic for admission essays. In this case, the primary goal of the paper is to show the admissions officers that you are a true leader. You might need to explain what personal traits make you a good leader and showcase real-life examples of situations when you demonstrated this skill.

In both cases, this type of essay requires you to understand the nature of leadership and communicate it in your paper, following the provided prompts and guidelines. 

Read on to learn how!

How to Write a Leadership Essay Step by Step

Typically, a leadership paper is a short essay that follows the traditional essay structure. It consists of three main components: an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Traditionally, an introduction and conclusion take up one paragraph each. The number of paragraphs in the body of your paper can vary depending on the given word count. In any case, there should be at least two body paragraphs.

The writing process for this type of paper is also pretty conventional. It requires decent planning and organization to convey your ideas efficiently. Here are the core steps that should be involved in the process:

  • Reading and analyzing the prompt and assignment guidelines;
  • Brainstorming ideas and selecting a relevant topic (unless you are assigned a specific subject);
  • Researching the topic and collecting valid sources of information that will help you answer the primary essay question and justify your ideas;
  • Crafting a detailed outline to organize your ideas and streamline the writing process;
  • Writing the essay following your outline;
  • Proofreading and editing your first draft until it looks perfect.

These are the main steps to handling this task, and they look pretty simple. Nevertheless, the task itself often turns out to be rather challenging. So, let us give you a few extra guiding tips to help you ace your essay.

How to Start a Leadership Essay

It’s hard to call a more crucial part of a leadership essay than its intro. This part of the paper aims to introduce the readers to your topic and make a logical transition to the ideas and arguments you are going to provide. But most importantly, this section should grab the readers’ attention and spark their desire to read your work to the end.

To grab the attention instantly, you should start your intro with a hook. Traditionally, there are six types of effective essay hooks:

  • A rhetorical question;
  • An impressive fact or statistic;
  • An anecdote (as long as it’s relevant and appropriate);
  • A common misconception about the topic;
  • An imagery description of the subject.

Depending on your task, pick a hook that has the highest likelihood of engaging your readers. Then, use a few sentences to create a topic onset and give your readers an idea of what you will be talking about in your paper:

  • If you are writing an admission essay, design the setting of your story.
  • If you are writing an informative or another type of work for the class, provide some background info on the subject matter and state your thesis.

Most importantly, keep your intro short and straight to the topic.

The Perfect Length of a Leadership Essay

Now that you know how to start your paper, we also need to take a moment to clarify the ideal length of your work.

The length of this type of work can vary significantly depending on its type and purpose. Most often, if you are writing for an admission committee, schools will ask you to stick with a 250 word essay on leadership. However, if you are writing for a class, the word count can go up to 1000 words.

As was mentioned earlier, your essay might come with a specific word count. Whether it’s written for admission or a class, you might be given a set of instructions with a specific limit of words. In this case, you should carefully study the guidelines and stick to the word count indicated in them.

In the rare case that the word count isn’t specified, stick to the general rule of thumb and limit your essay to 500 or 600 words.

How to Write a Killer Conclusion for Leadership Essay

While the body of your essay will be unique, which means we can’t give you much advice on how to handle it, the conclusion always follows a traditional structure.

The conclusion of a paper is its final clause. It aims to wrap up everything you’ve discussed in your paper and give it a sense of a logical ending. Often, you will also leave your readers with some food for thought to ensure that your essay makes a lasting impact. Now, let’s define how to write this part of your work in detail.

The first and most important rule for writing a conclusion is to summarize the information from your paper without introducing any new data. Providing new information will only make your readers confused and destroy the effect your essay has on them. So, keep this tip in mind.

Also, when writing a conclusion for your college essay, you should begin with a restatement of your thesis. This trick will logically link your conclusion to the intro.

If you are writing for a class, you can end your final clause with suggestions for further research. For students writing an admission paper, the best way to finish this essay is to emphasize how you plan to apply your leadership skills discussed in the paper to your education, future career, and community in general.

write an essay on leadership skills

Leadership Essays Examples: Ideas and Topics

Unless you are provided with a specific prompt, question, or topic that you need to address in your essay, you will have to generate ideas for your work on your own. This can feel rather overwhelming. So, let us give you a few thoughts on what you can write about in your paper.

If you are writing an admission essay, the best way to handle it is to tell a story about your own leadership skills. There are a few ways to do this. For example, you can talk about:

  • A specific challenge that you faced, overcoming which required you to demonstrate your leadership abilities;
  • Your leadership style and, if applicable, how it was shaping and changing throughout your life;
  • What, in your opinion, makes an effective leader, and how you relate to the qualities and personal traits you provide;
  • How your own leadership skills can be used to make a positive change in your community or the world in general, etc.

If you are writing a paper for a class, the choice of ideas can be even more extensive. Depending on the type of your paper, you can write about the great leaders from history, business, or other areas. Also, you can define and analyze different leadership skills, styles, theories, etc.

Winning Examples of Leadership Essay Titles to Consider

To help you get started with your paper, we compiled a list of good leadership topics that you can try for your essay:

Homework leadership essay topics

  • The Difference Between Ethical and Unethical Leadership
  • Leadership Throughout History
  • The Role of Gender in Leadership
  • An Evaluation of the Key Leadership Styles
  • Theories of Leadership
  • The Key Differences Between Autocratic and Democratic Leadership Styles
  • The Most Common Myths About Leadership
  • The Role of Leadership in Organizations
  • Different Styles of Leadership Adapted to Cultural Differences
  • The Role of Leadership in the Political Landscape
  • The Key Leadership Skills and How to Develop Them
  • The Roles of Ethics and Emotional Intelligence in Effective Leadership
  • Female and Male Leadership: Compare and Contrast
  • The Core Challenges of Leadership

Admission essay leadership topics

  • What Makes Me a Great Leader?
  • My Personal Model of Leadership
  • Changing My Leadership Style
  • A Challenge I Had to Overcome That Made Me a Leader
  • My Personal Leadership Role Model
  • How Can I Change the World With My Leadership Skills
  • The Most Valuable Leadership Experience I Had in My Life and How It Changed Me

Now that you have some general topic samples, let’s look at the complete essay example to help you find inspiration.

The Concept of Leadership: Common Styles and Qualities of a Good Leader

Introduction.

“Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths.” ‒ John Peter Zenger. Leaders motivate, inspire, and guide others to greater achievements. They foster innovation, communication, and progress in every landscape. But what exactly does it mean to be a great leader? From Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln to Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher ‒ these exceptional leaders have been shaping the history of humanity for many years. They all had different styles of leadership, values, and vision. Yet, they also had a lot in common. Regardless of the type and style of leadership one chooses, it’s personal skills and traits that make a true leader.

What Are the Main Leadership Styles?

It’s possible to define over ten different styles of leadership. These styles have been shaping and changing throughout history, affected by a variety of factors, including the overall structure of the world and the mood of society. In the 21st century, one of the most widespread types of leadership styles is democratic leadership. This style implies that the decision-making power is never concentrated in one person’s hands. Instead, all subordinates of the leader with this style are given a voice in the process of making decisions. Yet, the responsibility for the actions of the entire group is still on the leader. Throughout decades, this form of leadership has been considered one of the most effective and humane ones. No wonder so many impressive leaders in history relied on it, including Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F Kennedy, Mahatma Gandhi, Barack Obama, and many others. Due to its nature, the key characteristics of a good leader with this style include teamwork, empathy, and a fair mind.

An opposite of the democratic style is autocratic Leadership. This style implies that the entire control, command, and power are concentrated in the hands of a leader. In this setting, the leader makes all decisions on their own, without giving their subordinates much room for negotiation or objections. And the responsibility is also fully on the leader. Due to its somewhat tyrannic nature, this style of leadership has a lot of detractors, especially in the modern world. Nevertheless, it still has some adherents. Some of the most famous leaders who used this style and believed in its effectiveness include Queen Elizabeth I, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump, and others.

Apart from democratic and autocratic, there are also many other leadership styles, including transformational, team, visionary, strategic, and other types of leadership. Each of them has certain pros and cons. And each has its own adherents and detractors. Yet, in broader terms, it’s not a leadership style that determines a good leader but their qualities and the way they use their styles.

Top Qualities of a Good Leader

Regardless of the leveraged style of leadership, a good leader is determined by a set of personal traits, qualities, and skills. A good leader must be self-aware, resilient, accountable, and confident. Most importantly, they must possess such qualities as empathy and emotional intelligence. After all, a leader must motivate and inspire people to follow them, which is impossible without these two skills.

As for important leadership skills, they include decision-making, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Yet, the two essential skills are active listening and communication.

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How to Start a Leadership Essay for College?

How to write a leadership essay step by step, what skill makes a good leader.

Leaders come in many shapes and kinds. Some of them are in-born, whereas others overcome a long and thorny path of self-exploration and development. They also use a variety of leadership styles, such as democratic, autocratic, and others. Yet, if you have to describe a good leader, it’s their qualities and skills that matter the most.

write an essay on leadership skills

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How to Write an Essay on Leadership

Leadership essay

The world needs great leaders to move forward and progress, the type of people that can inspire others and make tough decisions. Great leadership is not only defined by the words they say, but even more so by the actions they take. Globally, leadership traits are hard to define because being a leader can mean so many different things. It’s no wonder that this topic is heavily explored by universities and professors and given as term papers to see how the youth defines great leadership. Learning how to write a leadership essay can be easy if you follow these steps. 

What is a Leadership Essay?

A leadership paper is a type of essay that asks the student to elaborate on the idea of leadership critically and subjectively. This entails research upon leadership styles and differences between leaders, managers, and followers. A deeper analysis of the type of leadership demonstrated in society is also essential for this paper. 

The questions asked in an essay on leadership varies. Some may ask you to give examples and personal experience of how others demonstrate leadership skills from everyday tasks at home, to academia and extracurriculars, and even at a community level. Some may ask you to describe a prominent leader that you know of, and define leadership. The point is to get you to think critically about a leadership trait is in a subjective manner. Writing a leadership paper seems just like any other paper, but there are certain nuances and tactics to maximize your effectiveness. 

Content 

Leadership Essays are usually discursive essays, asking you a question to discuss and analyze in detail. Discursive essays are very distinct in the way that your thesis statements and arguments should align with each other and lead the reader to a similar conclusion you have about the topic at hand, in this case, the definition of leadership. But similar to other essays, the organization stays true; an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

○  Introduction

A strong introduction includes your thesis that asks the question you are going to answer in your essay. What makes a leader a leader? What separates a good leader from a great one? What does it mean to be a leader? Questions like these have many different answers, but it is up to you to choose an answer and develop your reasonings behind it.

○  Body Paragraphs

Discursive essays on leadership traits need to have solid arguments, supported by evidence and examples. Each new paragraph should have a clear argument for your thesis and should have enough information to talk about. Here are some examples of topics that can help you define leadership.

○  Best Qualities of a Leader

Certain characteristics of people help them become better leaders and other characteristics allow them to make tough decisions. From empathy to charisma or competence to morality, a whole spectrum of leadership qualities are easily talked about and argued for or against. It’s important to elaborate on them, so think of examples you can pair with each trait. For example, charisma allows people to convince and communicate with people on a different level to follow and support, and Napoleon was able to charismatically lead the French Military across Europe earning many wins in battle because he could communicate well with the soldiers. Use traits that many leaders use so your argument can stand firmly; most leaders have “this characteristic” to allow them “to do this thing.” Do some research on which traits you’d like to write about. 

○ The single most important leadership trait

Choosing one trait out of all traits can exemplify what your definition of leadership is allowing a deeper analysis why this trait is important. Being able to elaborate on this can demonstrate your knowledge about the topic. Of course, one trait doesn’t completely define a leader, but if you are effective within your language and discourse, this one trait will become more important in the reader’s mind. 

○ Examples of Great Leaders in Society 

Using examples of real life leaders can strengthen your argument and show your critical thinking skills. Detailing the decisions that Napoleon made and the way he lead his armies, or why Mahatma Gandhi was so compelling to many other people globally are a great way to define great leadership and even leadership experience from a wide range of important people. 

○  Different Types of Leadership Styles 

Showing all the different types of leadership styles gives you room to talk about or criticize from different angles. This is important to include because it extends your knowledge on the topic and reader attention will be piqued because of the variety of ideas included. For example, speaking about Autocracy as an ideology and where it works and where it doesn’t can contrast with Democracy and how it applies to your work or life situations and even at a governmental level. There are a lot of types of leadership styles to analyze and compare, so make sure to do some research beforehand to create content for your essay. 

○  Bad Leadership Styles/Leaders

Great discursive essays are critical and can even include counter-arguments or the flipside to emphasize the difference between your ideas and others. Being able to show what constitutes bad leadership styles or leaders that led people astray demonstrates your ability to think critically about opposing sides. But don’t write too many paragraphs about bad leadership styles and leaders, you should limit to one paragraph for counter-arguments. 

○  Conclusion

The ending of your entire essay should be a summary of all the points you made about your thesis. Think of this as the bow that your wrap around a present it tie it all together. Reiterate your thesis statement. It should be a paraphrasing from your original thesis in your intro. 

Tips to Enhance your Essay

  • Keywords The topic is about leadership, and although it should be completely subjective, there are lots of things that people can agree upon that make a great leader. One important aspect is to include personal characteristics of great leaders such as empathy, determination, ability to follow and lead, motivation, and so on. These keywords will provide a strong idea of what you think is a great leader.
  • Active Voice Use some lexical skills to enhance the effect of your paper. Active voice puts a more positive position on your paper, as it makes you or the leader the important part of the sentence. Avoid using the passive voice as it shows that someone is not the main aspect of a sentence.
  • Use Linking Words: Organizing your thoughts is crucial for an essay. Using linking words to create more cohesion and coherence can provide a better flow of an essay. Instead of “first, second, and third” you could use terms like “To begin with, on the one hand, or consequently” to liven up your language.

Leadership is bred, not born, and your essay should highlight all the things you think about it. Writing an essay requires you to be analytical and critical. When you are faced with an important essay about leadership, keep in mind all of these tips and tricks so you’ll ace it. This is what separates you from the rest of the crowd. Don’t be a sheep!

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Leadership Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on leadership.

First of all, Leadership refers to the quality of leading people. Probably, it is one of the most important aspects of life. Above all, Leadership has led to the progress of human civilization . Without good Leadership, no organization or group can succeed. Furthermore, not everyone has this quality. This is because effective Leadership requires certain important characteristics.

Leadership Essay

Qualities of a Good Leader

First of all, confidence is the most quality. A leader must have strong self-confidence. A person lacking in confidence can never be a good leader. A person must be confident enough to ensure others follow him. The leader must have confidence in his decisions and actions. If he is unsure, then how can people have the desire to follow him.

A good leader must certainly inspire others. A leader must be a role model for his followers. Furthermore, he must motivate them whenever possible. Also, in difficult situations, a leader must not lose hope. How can a leader inspire people if he himself is hopeless?

Honesty is another notable quality of a leader. Honesty and Integrity are important to earn the love of followers. Above all, honesty is essential to win the trust of the people. Probably, every Leadership which loses trust is bound to fail. People will not work with full effort due to an immoral leader.

Good communication is a must for a good leader. This is because poor communication means the wrong message to followers. Furthermore, good communication will increase the rate of work. Also, the chances of mistakes by followers will reduce.

Another important quality is decision making. Above all, if a leader makes poor decisions then other qualities will not matter. Furthermore, good decision making ensures the success of the entire group. If the leader makes poor decisions, then the efforts of followers won’t matter.

A good leader must be an excellent innovator. He must display a creative attitude in his work. Most noteworthy, innovation is a guarantee of survival of a group or innovation. Without creative thinking, progress is not possible.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Real-Life Examples of Good Leadership

Mahatma Gandhi was an excellent example of a good leader. He was a staunch believer in non-violence. With his brilliant Leadership skills, he made the British leave India. Probably, this was the most unique independence struggle. This is because Gandhi got freedom without any violence.

Abraham Lincoln was another notable leader. Most noteworthy, he ended the slavery system in the United States. Consequently, he made many enemies. However, he was a man of massive self-confidence. His struggle against slavery certainly became an inspiration.

Sir Winston Churchill was a great patriotic Englishman. Most noteworthy, he led Britain in the 2nd World War. Furthermore, he was extremely inspirational. He inspired Britain to fight against Nazi Germany. His great communication motivated the entire country at a time of hopelessness.

To conclude, Leadership is required in probably every sphere of life. Good leadership is the door to success. In contrast, bad leadership is a guarantee of failure. Consequently, good leaders are what make the world go round.

FAQs on Leadership

Q.1 Which is the most important quality for being a good leader? A.1 The most important quality for being a good leader is self-confidence.

Q.2 Why Sir Winston Churchill is a good leader? A.2 Sir Winston Churchill is a good leader because he inspired Britain to fight in 2nd World War. Furthermore, his excellent communication also raised the motivation of his people.

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Essay Samples on Leadership

What type of leader i am: examining my leadership.

What type of leader are you? This question delves into the unique qualities, values, and approaches that define my leadership style. As a leader, I recognize that my actions and decisions influence others, and understanding my leadership style is crucial for effective collaboration and impact....

  • Leadership Styles

How to Be an Effective Leader: Guiding with Excellence

Becoming an effective leader requires more than just holding a position of authority; it entails embodying qualities that inspire and guide individuals toward shared goals. Whether leading a team, an organization, or a community, effective leadership is marked by the ability to foster collaboration, motivate...

  • Effective Leadership

How to Be a Good Leader: The Path to Effective Leadership

Leadership is a multifaceted skill that involves guiding and inspiring individuals or groups toward a common goal. While leadership styles may vary, there are essential qualities and practices that define effective leadership. In this essay, we will explore how to be a good leader, discuss...

Are Leaders Born or Made: the Nature vs Nurture Debate

Are leaders born or made? This age-old question has ignited debates, discussions, and exploration into the realms of leadership. The inquiry into whether leadership is an innate trait or a cultivated skill has intrigued scholars, practitioners, and curious minds. This essay delves into the heart...

  • Leadership Development

Analysis of President Barack Obama as a Leader

Successful leaders possess distinct traits and qualities that set them apart. One such leader is Barack Obama, who exemplifies several key leadership characteristics. Inspirational communication, unwavering conviction, and a willingness to take risks are among the qualities that have contributed to Obama's success. Furthermore, Obama's...

  • Barack Obama
  • President of The United States

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Leadership and Management: My Personal Philosophy of Leadership

Everybody can be a leader. Nevertheless, I feel that not every individual can lead effectively. I also believe that it is not a position but a process. Leadership is an action to influence other people to move and accomplish the same goal. Leaders are ineffective...

  • Leadership and Management

Leadership Development: Analysis of My Leadership Experience

This reflective essay is an analytical look into my leadership experience not only as a leader but also as a member of a group. I specifically adopted the situational approach and the path-goal theory when presented with different leadership challenges hence the adoption of changing...

My Chevening Leadership: Leadership Skills that I Developed

I acquired leadership skills from early adulthood based on my experiences in church and my family. I developed organisational, resilience and other leadership skills which have been honed over the years. My leadership skills continued in secondary school when I started volunteering and campaigning against...

What Is Leadership For You

It is a general term that can have very different meanings with broader possibilities and scales associated with it, and it goes through some evolution with constant permutations and combinations that go on forever. It starts from ancient times and then into the Middle Ages...

Important Role of Leadership Quality and Professionalism

Dedication, strength, honor, and integrity, are just a few of the descriptive words that can be used to define a leadership role. Accountability, knowledge, as well as integrity are words used to help describe professionalism. Notice how the words used to describe these roles are...

The Meaning Of Leadership To Me: Qualities That Create A Leader

For countless millennia, we had witnessed the birth of several societies and organizations that had flourished from successful leadership. Today, in modern businesses you could immediately tell how the leadership it had evolved into at present and the leadership it had decades earlier. Take for...

  • Personal Qualities

The Definition Of Leadership: What Does Leadership Mean To Me

My leadership philosophy is established about the need for a leader to encourage and inspire to do what motivates them. It can be accomplished by a leader and at the same time attaining the goals and the task of the team, department, institution, or corporation...

  • Personal Beliefs

Chelladurai's Model Of The Leadership

The model that is used for leadership in sports would be the Chelladurai's model of leadership. Chelladurai's model is a framework which builds on research from non-sporting settings in order to analyze effective leadership in sport. The fundamental target of the leader is to achieve...

Example Of Effective Leadership In Jeff Bezos Life Path

Since the beginning of people’s lives, everyone makes choices and decisions which gradually define a person itself. It is often difficult to identify whether the decision was good or bad because each person has a different level of awareness of the importance. Some things which...

Leadership Style Of Jeff Bezos

Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American technology entrepreneur and the founder, CEO, and president of Amazon.com. Since high school, he has had an interest in computer science which led to him pursuing a degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University in 1986....

Management Vs Leadership: The Good And The Bad Of Being A Manager

Being a manager is a job. Being a leader is a role. Increasingly companies are seeing that you need both skills for an effective work environment. In the article, “What Leaders Really Do” by John Kotter, John highlights the differences between a leaders and managers,...

Ender's Game Character Analysis Essay

A mission that decides the destiny of humanity, its survival or obliteration, is a challenge many will succumb to. Failure is not an option. Ender’s Game, a science fiction novel written by Orson Scott Card, tells the story of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin who fights in...

  • Ender's Game

The Rule of Charlemagne: The Development of Europe Under Successful Leadership

“Right action is better than knowledge; but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right.”- Charlemagne Charlemagne, also known as Charles I, Charles the Great and the Father of Europe was an important Germanic figure in medieval times and has...

  • Charlemagne

The Benefits and Disadvantages of Transformational Leadership Style

Transformational Leadership deals with the motivation, inspiration, and encouragement of the personnel in order to carry out the innovative and creative change. This change directly helps the company in the growth and allows the scope for development. This leadership style is based on improving the...

  • Charismatic Leadership

What Makes a Leader Charismatic

Leadership is a dense genre that had remained under debate regarding the difference in opinions of the definition and components of leadership, and either it is intrinsic quality or learned behavior. Despite all the debate, Leadership can be contributed as a personal impact that is...

The Influence of Mansa Musa's Leadership

The most important aspects of this topic would be the importance of Mansa rebuilding the Mali empire. After he helped rebuild the empire they were more powerful and had a more important standing within society. The emperor who came to make a difference within their...

My Motivation to Obtain the Darwin T. Turner Scholarship

The Darwin T. Turner Scholarship is a program of diversity and leadership initiatives. Hello, my name is Simratdeep Kaur and I believe I should be a Turner Scholar because I show great potential in the future. I have maintained great academics, participated in many school...

  • Scholarship

What Does Being Inducted into National Honor Society Mean to Me

From the time I was inducted into National Junior Honor Society in seventh grade, I had always dreamed of the day when I would walk across the stage to become a part of National Honor Society. I have been continuously determined to do my very...

  • National Honor Society

The Four Tenets of National Honor Society I Exemplify in My Everyday Life

Induction into the National Honor Society validates academic goals that I have worked extremely hard towards thus far. Membership would not only help maintain my academic performance, but assist me in accomplishing further goals of my school career. Getting accepted into NHS has been a...

A Brave Leader: The Success of Rosa Parks Leadership

Refusing to give up your seat on the bus; a seemingly trivial decision in the goings-on of everyday life. Maybe one would be considered rude, or irritate others – but beyond that, the effects of the refusal would seem relatively insignificant. How is it then,...

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Implementation of Leadership and Personal Development Planning in South Africa

Introduction Post-1994, the dream of the masses (previously disadvantaged groups), was a vision of self-governance, prosperity, equality, liberation and a sense of belonging and patriotism. Most of all, the yoke of Apartheid was demolished, it was a new future that held promise, a better life...

  • Personal Development Planning

The History of Syrian Leadership and Its Impact on the State of a Country

Syria became one of the most discussed and controversial countries in the world in recent years due to its ongoing armed conflict. Millions of Syrians escaped from their homeland looking for a shelter and a better future abroad causing internal conflicts in highly developed countries...

The Concept of Leadership and Mother Teresa as Its Vivid Illustration

Leaders have the power and the intellect behind the organization, and they have the capability to influence the ones working for the company to accomplish and reach the company’s goal. According to Patel (2017), a strong manager or leader must reach and develop eleven traits...

  • Mother Teresa

Investigating the Losses and Leadership Positions in Starbucks

The Starbucks brand started in 1971 by opening its to begin with store area in Seattle, Washington. Within the 1970s and 1980s, Starbucks Corporation experienced victory within the U.S. market. By 1987, Howard Schultz purchased Starbucks after serving for 5 years within the operation division...

The Humor Style Suitable for Leadership Positions

Throughout this report, the main topic in focus will be the Leader Humor Style. The definition of humor is not straightforward, “Over the years, researchers have been trying to arrive at one definition of humour which is both comprehensive and universal. All their efforts have...

The Results Of My S.M.A.R.T. Leadership Experience

Leadership, S.M.A.R.T. goals, and the Seven Habits profile are all interconnected in many ways. Throughout the course of this paper I will address the results of my Seven Habits profile, servant leadership, and make S.M.A.R.T. goals. They will assist me in becoming a better leader...

  • Emotional Intelligence

The Definition of Leadership: Barack Obama's Presidency

Leadership can mean various things a success, power, efficiency, andintelligence. Among other qualities. However, leadership is taken into accountwhen the leader or the person who is the heads of a movement has the abilityto influence others and make a positive impact on the world around...

Leadership Is My Strong Side

Mustering the courage, penetrating the challenge, and engendering the creativity are the abilities to define myself as a visionary leader. After the head of Corporate Social Responsibility of PT Pertamina Region VII awarded me as the best presenter in Pertamina Technology Challenge, an opportunity as...

  • About Myself

The Importance of Good Ethics and Leadership in Society

One of the most important, yet least understood phenomena on earth is leadership. The research was done to investigate leadership traits, activities, behaviour, and processes; yet, until Burns (1978), a few researchers were able to distinguish between leadership that is "transactional" and leadership that is...

  • Human Behavior

Change Management in Organizations Dependency on Leadership

This paper seeks to establish how change can be effectively introduced to the challenging global business environment of today. However, to establish this, one has to first understand what a change management strategy is and to critically analyze the key composition of an ideal change...

  • Change Management

Analysis Of Individual Aspects Of Leadership

The first factor for business success is empowering leadership. Leadership has taken companies to its peak of success. This report will look into the leadership style of Sandberg in the different companies she had worked. How her leadership skills influenced and impacted the people she...

Application Of Engineering Leadership To Improve Group's Performance

This case occurred during a practical lab session where my group and I were tasked with a graded lab report based on that session’s experiment. That week’s experimental procedure was knowledge-intensive and rigorous, requiring a good understanding of that week’s lecture content while involving many...

  • Engineering

Best Way For Society To Prepare It's Youth For Leadership

The provided memo brings a lot of questions to mind. These need to properly addressed before jumping to the conclusion that increasing the advertising budget will help increase the attendance of people in movies produced by Super Screen Movie Production Company. Firstly, the memo talks...

  • Modern Society

Classic Leadership And Organization Dilemmas

The main challenge of any organization is to perform tasks in the right time. If they cannot perform it within the prescribed time, their ongoing work can be interrupted. Therefore, if the job is to be executed at a given time, it is necessary to...

  • Organizational Behavior

Jim Davis Case Study Analysis: The Problem Of Leadership And Power

Leadership and power have a fine line in which they were most effectively together. In that relationship it is important that a good sense of credibility is established in order to achieve and maintain a status. The problem at hand is how Jim is going...

Leadership – The Art Of Managing People

The capacity to sort out a gathering of individuals or an organization is called leadership. The individual who directs the gathering is characterized as a Leader. Despite the fact that the bigger fault and less credit come to them, a pioneer is the foundation of...

Leadership And Management In International Hospitality Business

Introduction Leadership includes giving the data, information, and techniques to understand that vision, and organizing and adjusting the clashing interests of all individuals and partners. Be that as it may, the initiative has changed after some time and has made numerous difficulties for the individuals...

  • Hospitality
  • Marketing Management

Leadership In Different Aspects Of Life

Introduction Leadership is defined to be the action of leading a group of people or an organization. In the coaching profession, coaches lead their teams. If you were to ask me what my personal definition and general philosophy of leadership is, I would say, “Leadership...

  • Personal Life

The Challenges in the Leadership School: Stepping out of the Comfort Zone

I applied to leadership school and I was told it was going to easy but boy was I wrong. As soon we got on the bus things turned for worse. First, all phones were confiscated as we got on the bus then we to be...

Leadership Style And Influence Of Two Historical Figure

This is an extensive study of leadership styles and scope of influence of 2 historical figures of Nepal. “Siddhartha Gautama (Gautama Buddha) and Prithivi Narayan Shah. They can be seen as an effective and influential leader known to whole world. I found difference in their...

Leadership Theories And Personal Evaluation

Trait Theory Of the eight trait theories presented in the textbook I feel that I possess predominantly the desire to lead, honesty, integrity and emotional intelligence. In most jobs that I have been employed, I often find myself thinking of ways that the manager could...

Psychology Of Work: Organizational Leadership Theories

In lieu of the changing business environments globally, companies strive to be competent enough to be able to respond to customer expectations, have sound and healthy relationships with all the stakeholders, have operations that are transparent and accountable and increase their bottom line fulfilling their...

  • Social Psychology

Revitalization Through New Leadership For Success In Any Field

The topic presented here makes a very valid argument that revitalization through new leadership is crucial for success in any field, be it politics, education or government. I am in concord with the claim that those in power should graciously make way at regular intervals...

An Overview of the Five Levels of Leadership

Nowadays the word ¨leadership¨ is used in all spheres of society, from the political field to the business and religious fields. One of the modern precursors of the study of leadership is John C. Maxwell, who for years has used and taught an instrument of...

The Social Influence Of Leadership On Human

For many years, many people (scholars) have had lot of interest in leadership, there have been many debates and some occasional confusion explaining the concept of leadership or what it really means. (Bass 1981) (Northouse, P 2016) Even now, defining it is not as easy...

Value Proposition Of Investing In It Leadership

Companies that invests in IT leadership perform much better than the companies that don’t. IT Leadership development is very important for creating competition and having an upper hand over other companies. A standout amongst the most important internal features to implement change is IT Leadership...

Essay About What Leadership Means To Me

For me, leadership means not only pursue success for myself but also to motivate and empower others to do the same by setting the perfect example to follow. For me, leadership means knowing where to go, leading the right path, taking new challenges and not...

Best topics on Leadership

1. What Type of Leader I Am: Examining My Leadership

2. How to Be an Effective Leader: Guiding with Excellence

3. How to Be a Good Leader: The Path to Effective Leadership

4. Are Leaders Born or Made: the Nature vs Nurture Debate

5. Analysis of President Barack Obama as a Leader

6. Leadership and Management: My Personal Philosophy of Leadership

7. Leadership Development: Analysis of My Leadership Experience

8. My Chevening Leadership: Leadership Skills that I Developed

9. What Is Leadership For You

10. Important Role of Leadership Quality and Professionalism

11. The Meaning Of Leadership To Me: Qualities That Create A Leader

12. The Definition Of Leadership: What Does Leadership Mean To Me

13. Chelladurai’s Model Of The Leadership

14. Example Of Effective Leadership In Jeff Bezos Life Path

15. Leadership Style Of Jeff Bezos

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Transformational Leadership and Management Skills Essay (Critical Writing)

Introduction, transformational leadership, prerequisites for transformational leadership, motivational theory, critique on my leadership principle and others’.

Leadership is defined as “influence” and “relationship” between constituents and leaders. An essential principle of leadership is serving others. I perceive my own leadership as an activity that involves honesty, integrity, character, effort, responsibility, and patience. These traits demystify the glamorous ideology of being a leader. But leadership is also described as art and science where creativity, skills, and talent can be cultivated to produce both short- and long-term improvement and results.

This essay is about leadership theory and my experiences of leading a team in the workplace. Transformational leadership is usually practiced in my organization – it is an effective method of leadership. This activity has made our team different from the others.

Transformational leadership is derived from motivational theory. Transformational leaders motivate others, especially followers, to do more than what is expected, or more than what they thought is possible. I do this and am proud to be called a part of a pool of transformational leaders providing necessary motivation that has led to organisational performance.

Along with the practice and observance of transformational leadership in our organisation is the study we regularly conduct about this kind of leadership. From what I learned from the literature, transformational leaders provide “challenging expectations” and expect greater performances from their followers (Bass 1998). Transformational leaders stimulate followers’ intellect and motivate their level of consciousness regarding the relevance and value of possible outcomes and ways of attaining them.

There might be disadvantages in being a transformational leader, but I don’t want to delve in that. It is advantageous to see the light in people who become inspired working for transformational leaders, because we transform not just behaviour but personality. Should that be the case, then I don’t think we can get away with teams without transformational leaders. This is a necessity in the twenty-first century, in a material world bereft of spirituality. Having said this, I would like to lay bare my own philosophy – to be spiritual in a material world. Organisations with teams working for this philosophy will surely experience transformation, and you experience no problems about job satisfaction, organisational performance, or employee turnover.

In the workplace, before I am entrusted a high position I should know how to lead myself, or discipline myself. Drucker’s concept of self-management powerfully reinforces this principle. It prompts leaders to gain critical understanding on self-management, as they address the internal foundations of leadership (Darling & Nurmi 2009).

Referred to as the charismatic leader, the transformational leader has specific behaviours that are unique – in addressing conflict and coping with stress, as they possess strong self-control, conviction, and “locus of control” (Romano 2007). Transformational leaders have strong self-confidence, and show complete confidence when leading people. Leaders who are confident in what they are can translate these success outlooks in their followers. When it comes to personality, a study by Bono and Judge (cited in Romano 2007) found extraversion to be strongest and most constant.

Some few decades ago, leadership was a trait or characteristic needed by supervisors or middle-managers, and top management was assigned complex roles like strategic management, and must pass these strategies to low-level managers (McFarland, cited in Darling & Nurrmi 2009). In turn, middle managers and supervisors have to possess leadership skill to get things done. We can cite the military hierarchy, where the generals formulate strategies and manage soldiers, who should not mess around with the generals’ command. This concept came from the Aristotelian type of vertical management. The word strategy originated from the military strategy of fighting and the art of war (Koh 2008).

Some people are natural leaders; others are made. Process leadership refers to people who become leaders in the process. As long as leaders are effective, there’s no problem whether they are born or made. Understanding the process of an individual leader is the key to understanding the larger phenomenon of leadership. Understanding leadership is to see how people are transformed, not just how they follow. For at first, they may follow, but will complain the second time around. When a team is transformed, what you get but a motivated force, like a driven horse all ready to work gargantuan tasks. If you are working as top management in an organisation with such a team working for you, would you not be alive all day long, and be happy that you have a workable team and a transformed organisation?

Erikson’s (cited in Whitney 2007) eight developmental stages of life explained each of Freud’s stages in terms of ego development, and he expanded the discussion of stages beyond the adolescent with young adulthood, adulthood, and old age stages. The notion that leadership begins with the individual has been established in the social change model and was supported by many current leadership authors and theorists (Bennis, cited in Whitney 2007). The trait theory states that leaders possessed certain qualities or natural abilities. Self-confidence and personal identity are characteristics of leadership.

The psychodynamic approach espoused by Freud states that leaders are more effective when they understand their psychological makeup and the makeup of the team members (Northouse, cited in Whitney 2007). John F. Kennedy can be described as a trait leader because he was born from a family of leaders. Charismatic leaders were born, like Obama. Charismatic leaders are transformational leaders. They transform people by their charisma, or charm, but there has to be more than that. It is not enough to have charisma, but it helps. Transformational leadership has requirements.

Transformational leadership is defined as the ways in which leaders influence followers who then respect, trust, and appreciate the leader (Bass 1985). Transformational leaders influence their members by letting them know that work should be their priority, and motivating them to work for the success of organizational objectives. Transformational leaders use their charisma to lead teams in looking for effective solutions to problems of the team and even of individual members (Carson 2011). Having learned such ‘traits,’ transformational leaders entice others, or the members of the team, to be transformational themselves, i.e. be spiritual, be mindful of others, be encouraging models for the betterment of the team and the entire organisation.

Moreover, this kind of leadership is fundamentally social, because it necessitates that leaders interact dynamically with followers, transform their behaviour according to the workplace environment, and relate with subordinates in a way that provokes desired emotional responses. In order to do this, they must know how to understand their member’s personal lives. Thus, we can deduce that these particular skills are needed in effective leadership (Riggio & Reichard 2008). Considering this factor, leaders should look at how their members act in different situations, and act accordingly. This means they have to play the role of immediate family.

An antecedent of leadership behaviour is self-awareness, which has been viewed in terms of self-evaluation. Leaders with this trait are skilful in evaluating team members and supervisors. Transformational leaders must be able to provide higher-level performance, which reflects his/her self-awareness. Some studies indicate that self-awareness is associated with higher levels of managerial performance (Church, cited in Carson 2011).

Transformational leadership has been the subject of numerous studies. Authors suggest that the positive behaviour of a leader is an important factor. This positive relations with subordinates can result in good job performance, trust between the two sides, higher level of job performance, high rating of satisfaction towards the leader (Seltzer & Bass, cited in Carson 2011).

Of the leadership behaviours explained by Bass and Avolio (cited in Carson 2011) (e.g. “idealized influence, individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, and inspirational motivation”), individualised consideration is the most significant predictor of employee behaviours, role perceptions, and attitudes. Most of the explanations are centred on these four types of behaviours.

Idealised influence is also called “charisma” in common language. It suggests strong emotions in subordinates and allows them to identify with their leader. Individualised consideration emphasises the need of followers and helping them (materially or spiritually). Intellectual stimulation allows followers to think about solutions to problems, or draw in new perspectives for the challenges in the work environment. Additionally, inspirational motivation is about the leader’s skill to provide spiritual inspiration to followers, or the leader’s modelling of desired behaviours.

Transformational leadership can be described through leaders’ personality factors, behaviours, and thoughts (Bass 1998). Studies also reveal leaders’ personal characteristics which can be acquired intelligence, kind-heartedness, ability in dealing with subordinates, emotional intelligence, and other traits that enhance peer-to-peer relationships (Carson 2011). Transformational leaders must intermingle with subordinates and adopt their behaviour in order to get desired social responses from these subordinates or followers.

Bass (1985) discussed the theories of leadership that explain the factors that led to the development of leadership or the different aspects of leadership and the challenges involved. On this context, we discuss first how transformational leadership is driven, or becomes an effective kind of leadership.

What motivates me and the people with me in my workplace? Or, how am I motivated, as well as the other employees? This is the simple and fundamental basis of my essay. I am proud to state that I practice transformational leadership, which is derived from motivational theory. However, I also want to express my sentiments that at first I did not know I was a transformational leader, not until this study came which asked me to discuss and research on the subject. Being transformational was not my intention, but being concerned for people whether they are going fine not only in the workplace, but in their home with their families has been my intention. That to me is to be transformational all your life.

Motivational theory falls under the psychological theory, which is classified into: natural theories that emphasise desire, need, and driver; and, rational theories that focus on need for being rational (meaningfulness or self-identity) (Perrin, cited in Romano 2007). A concept of worker motivation states that challenges in motivating people are uncertain. This ambiguity can lead to related theories and constructs in trying to decipher what really motivates people.

Motivation refers to ‘influence on direction, vigour, and persistence of action’ (Atkinson, cited in Downing 2015). Research has determined four motivational drives in leaders of this type: 1) the drive to attain, 2) the drive to be attached or to be related with, 3) the drive to know and understand, and 4) the drive to defend (Nohria, Groysberg & Lee, cited in Downing 2015). Employees’ motivational behaviour is influenced by the desire to satisfy these inside emotions, and it is possible that there could be a combination of these inside drives.

A person’s motivation to acquire mainly focuses on obtaining items that are difficult to get in order to secure one’s personal sense of well-being. The drive to have close relationship with others can have positive emotional outcome when this is fulfilled, but it displays negative behaviour when the individual cannot satisfy the desire to bond.

The drive to know and understand refers to an individual’s desire to know how things work in this world. The drive to defend has to fulfil the inner ‘fight-or-flight’ desire in ourselves. When a potential leader is able to fully satisfy his/her drive to defend, an aura of security and confidence is felt, but denial of this desire results in negative emotions like fear and resentment (Nohria et al., cited in Downing 2015).

Numerous researches have been conducted to understand and explain the characteristics that can be considered as motivators for individual employees within organisational behaviour literature by studying intrinsic and extrinsic distinctions (Amabile et al. 1994). These two terms are usually found in the topic of organisational behaviour; however, the distinction is not clearly stated. Intrinsic and extrinsic distinctions usually refer to ‘trait’, or an individual personality characteristic on which people differ. Authors, in examining relevant material in their research, refer to traits when they mean characteristics, which are found in subjects of work orientation, achievement motivation, personal need satisfaction, behaviour in the workplace, and so forth.

Many factors can influence the motivation of employees as a way of studying their situations. In my work environment, we find that employees’ motivation can be affected by the type of rewards, work-content structure, or exposure to different types of leaders. Researchers classify characteristics of motivation into two: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and then determine how management influence a specific employees’ motivation by focusing on each particular individual variable and finding out whether such motivational variable can be manipulated or driven by external factors (extrinsic) or internal ones (intrinsic).

Intrinsic motivation refers to ‘an activity performed for itself for the individual performing the activity to derive satisfaction that is inherent in the activity’ (Downing 2015, p. 23). On the other hand, extrinsic motivation refers to a wider variability of actions and behaviours, to which the motivation for action includes benefits beyond ‘the performance of the activity itself’ (Deci & Ryan, cited in Downing 2015, p. 23).

Extrinsic motivation can be defined as a framework where an activity is aimed at attaining some different outcome (Ryan & Deci 2000). The extrinsic model aims for individuals to display behaviours that are rewarded by accruing external benefits that improve either power or position. Rewards can be in various forms or typology, such as: ‘task-noncontingent, task-contingent, and performance-contingent rewards’ (Ryan & Deci 2000, p. 25. Task-noncontingent rewards are given for a task that does not involve a specific activity. Task-contingent can refer to those given for a specific activity. A performance-contingency reward is given when an individual achieves a certain standard of excellence or exceeding in working on a particular problem in the office.

The intrinsic motivation has four behaviours that are chosen by employees mainly for the value that they represent to the intrinsic character of the individual. These are: relatedness, helpfulness, physical fitness, and growth of the individual (Kasser & Ryan 1996).

Solutions needed to address the challenges faced by leaders in the workplace should focus on collaboration of leaders and teams. How leaders do it will require skill and experience. Owens and Valesky (cited in Cojocar 2008) cited one solution found in transformational leadership – teamwork, which is a factor in both transformational and “adaptive” leaderships. Adaptive leadership is most common in contemporary scientific paradigm, but transformational leadership is one of a kind because it is common in traditional and today’s paradigms (Cojocar 2008).

In our work environment, we leaders (managers) have to interact with co-employees in order to evoke emotional responses among followers or subordinates. Social and emotional skills are important antecedents of leadership; this is the reason why I call our leadership transformational, because that is one of the primary characteristics of transformational leadership. Leaders should hold a great deal of emotional intelligence in order to effectively deal or address the different issues, personal or business wise, in the work environment.

A leader who displays higher emotional intelligence can clearly read and understand his and others’ emotions and use this ability to reason out properly. These emotional abilities consist of identifying emotions, using these feelings to enable mental processes, understanding and managing emotions. Emotional intelligence refers to several innate traits of an individual about talents and potentials that can develop into special intelligences when driven some external factors (Carson 2011).

By determining emotional intelligence as a factor in transformational leadership we have focused on , we have to study its theoretical underpinnings. Many authors find emotional intelligence to be positively related to transformational leadership. I sense this many times in the workplace.

A good leader should be able to understand the verbal and bodily actions of his/her subordinates that usually take place in the workplace. This activity relies on knowledge of socially suitable behaviours and the skill to adaptably regulate these behaviours in harmony with changing situations.

Social skill refers to how effective an individual deals with subordinates in the workplace (Carson 2011).

Another term is emotional expressivity which can be about seemingly unimportant events in the work environment. Leaders who have high emotional expressivity can be referred to as “emotionally charged”. A leader with good emotional sensitivity can easily understand the actions of his followers. Emotional control refers to the ability to control one’s emotional responses to co-employees or subordinates. These people high in emotional control can easily detect against the manifestation of too much or spontaneous presentations of emotion by just knowing their own feelings, or what they call self-monitoring, and adjusting their actions depending on the situation.

Moreover, social expressivity (SE) is about a leader’s skill to efficiently involve in social interaction. Leaders with this quality are the outgoing type; they are confident because of this ability to start conversations with co-employees and followers. Social sensitivity, on the other hand, is an individual’s ability to discern a fellow worker’s words and expressions, and allowing him/her to express the feelings about home and work.

Social control refers to the leader’s ability to be presentable at the sight of others. Leaders high at social control are able to best cope with social demands in every aspect of the work environment. Social skills are an important element of effective transformational leadership.

My leadership and philosophy

From the description of transformational leadership relative to motivational theory, I want to state my philosophy and how my co-employees and subordinates perceive of me in my work environment.

Being a transformational leader makes me feel whole, makes me feel fulfilled as a human being. I want to inspire people – I want to let them feel that I am with them, and I am influenced very much by my social skills. This is how I deal with followers and co-middle level managers and employees. I am inspired myself when I see them satisfied in their job.

I have to adjust myself personally in order to have a good conversation with my co-workers. Leaders high in social and emotional expressiveness have a big reserve of expressive behaviours and can adjust their behaviours according to the demand of the time. This flexibility is very important to me if I have to display individualised consideration, because there are some followers who may show outgoing appeals, while others may be too aloof and secretive of their feelings.

Leaders can lead effectively with important qualities like social skill. Other elements of social skills are also related to transformational leadership. To be effective in my work as a leader and manager, I have to become a transformational leader and help transform people into achieving our goals in the workplace. Emotional components of social skill should help leaders understand the needs and feelings of followers and better motivate and inspire followers, behaviours that are the main elements of individualised consideration and inspirational motivation elements of transformational leadership. I must also be a good listener and an inspirer in teaching what is best for the team. My charismatic talent should help me and my team move forward for the good of the organisation and for each and every member of my team. I should be able to comfort them in times of family problems and inspire them to be back with team.

In the study – and actual practice – of transformational leadership, we have to take into consideration the agreement between the ‘self and others’ – this is important as it can lead to understanding of how things work in and the outcomes of introducing transformational leadership.

Some studies provided this concept – that there must be ‘self-other’ agreement in order to have performance outcomes (Atwater et al.; Gentry et al.; Sosik; and Tekleab et al., cited in Carson 2011). But it is not just theoretical – I have proven it in actual situations. In our work environment, I have attained good ratings in work performance, and this has helped me to transform my own team and to work harder.

‘Self-other’ agreement is theory that has been introduced and practiced in the real world of transformational leadership. Leaders have to think of others before thinking of themselves – that is an antecedent of self-other agreement, which can also lead to transformational leadership. People are transformed, teams work out solutions, and organisational performance is not far behind.

In Carson’s (2011) study, she used empirical data to prove the effectiveness and positive outcomes of transformational leadership. Data were sourced from mid- to upper-level management relative to their reports at a medium-scale company in the United States. The study used a traditional hierarchical method, with managers providing responses. She examined transformational leadership and the variables of social skills and perceptions of leader effectiveness, and gave practical implications, one of which is training. I have also noted my research and can apply all these to my ‘practice’ as a transformational leader.

Organisations should continuously conduct training and development in order to produce or inspire leaders. Transformational leadership is not inborn; it requires experience. Training is very important for leaders who wish to make their teams continuously effective. Transformational leaders will always look for ways to make their teams united despite adversities (Barling, Slater & Kelloway 2000).

Training must include topics important for leaders, such as emotional sensitivity and control, even if training is for team members or followers of the transformational leader. What is more important in training is to allow leaders and members to mingle and learn together about team building. This will allow and inspire members to become leaders themselves, and leaders will have more time to lead and be a part of the team.

Followers will provide a positive response to the positive actions of their leaders. Many theories point to this positive outcome introduced by leaders in the work environment. Motivational theorists suggested the motivational paradigm, and other theoretical constructs came to fore, to include transformational leadership.

I try to understand my subordinates and their personal sentiments, and their need in the workplace and personal life; in doing this, some Force from above helps me to discern my role in life and the pleasant environment where I am in. Sometimes they talk about personal problems that affect their work, which I take it as an opportunity to help. Giving time to an employee to solve whatever personal problem that he/she has always gets reciprocated in the form of job performance later on. Job satisfaction can be attained if workers are not so much disturbed because of personal problems. Allowing for a little time of sharing experiences, perhaps a few minutes or an hour after work in the afternoon, with some prayer thanking God for having guided us the whole day and asking more blessing for the next day of work is a big encouragement for my co-employees, and for me as a team leader to be more inspired to lead a team that we have all felt has become an extended family.

My philosophy, or principle, in life has been combined (scattered around) with my analysis and critique of leadership of self and others in this paper. My recommendation is provided in the literature and in the concluding part of this essay. Truly, we become blessed with knowledge and discernment if we surround ourselves with positive things in life. Others call it good ‘karma,’ that begets positive ‘karma’. Can an organisation ask for more?

Amabile, T, Hill, K, Hennessey, B & Tighe, E 1994, ‘The work preference inventory: assessing intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , vol. 66, no.5, pp. 950–967, viewed 19 November 2016, via ProQuest database.

Barling, J, Slater, F, & Kelloway, E 2000, ‘Transformational leadership and emotional intelligence: an exploratory study’, Leadership and Organization Development Journal , vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 157-161, viewed 20 November 2017, via EBSCOHOST database.

Bass, B 1985, Leadership and performance beyond expectations , Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah.

Bass, B 1998, Transformational leadership: industrial, military, and educational impact, Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah.

Bennis, W 2009, On becoming a leader: the leadership classic , Perseus Books, New York.

Carson, M 2011, Antecedents of effective leadership: the relationships between social skills, transformational leadership, leader effectiveness, and trust in the leader , PhD Thesis, The University of North Carolina and Charlotte, 2016, Web.

Cojocar, W 2008, Adaptive leadership: leadership theory or theoretical derivative? , PhD Thesis, Capella University, Web.

Darling, J & Nurmi, R 2009, ‘Contemporary paradigms of management and leadership’, European Business Review, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 201-214, viewed 17 November 2016, via ProQuest database.

Downing, E 2015, The role of inherent motivation as a determinant of leadership style preference , PhD Thesis, Creighton University, Web.

Kasser, T & Ryan, R 1996, ‘Further examining the American dream: differential correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic goals’, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 280–287, viewed 20 November 2016, via EBSCOHost database.

Koh, S 2008, Leadership and management skills of preservice teachers, PhD Thesis, Claremont Graduate University, Web.

Riggio, R & Reichard, R 2008, ‘The emotional and social intelligences of effective leadership: an emotional and social skill approach’, Journal of Managerial Psychology , vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 169-185, Web.

Romano, R 2007, Motivational predictors of leadership effectiveness: a transformational framework exploring motivation to lead , PhD Thesis, Illinois Institute of Technology, Web.

Ryan, R & Deci, E 2000, ‘Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: classic definitions and

new directions’, Contemporary Educational Psychology , vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 54–67, viewed 20 November 2016, via ProQuest database.

Whitney, R 2007, What community leaders say about the leadership process: a mixed methods study of identity, resilience, and self-efficacy, PhD Thesis, University of Nevada, Web.

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The Importance of Leadership

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Leadership as a set of skills and qualities, the ability to create a vision and set goals, empowering and developing others, driving innovation and change, leadership in everyday life, in conclusion.

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Essay on leadership: Ranging from 50 Words to 900 Words

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Essay on leadership: – Leadership is a special quality or skill that is possessed by very few people in this world. Today Team GuideToExam has crafted a number of essays on leadership for you. You can also use these leadership essays to craft a paragraph on leadership or an article on leadership as well.

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Essay on Leadership (Very Short)

(Leadership Essay in 50 Words)

Leadership is a quality that makes a man special than others. Every man doesn’t have leadership skills. A leader possesses many great skills and qualities that make him popular in society. A man needs leadership qualities in him to start a business or to run an organization.

A good leader must have some leadership qualities. A good leader is always courageous, punctual, hardworking, fluent, wise, and flexible. He/ She leads his/her followers using his leadership qualities.

Essay on Leadership

(Leadership Essay in 350 Words)

Introduction to Leadership essay: – Leaders are considered inspirational characters for society. A leader has the quality to not only lead a group, but a good leader also keeps a constant eye on his followers so that his troops don’t slip from the track.

Characteristic of a Leader: – Generally a leader is full of some leadership skills. To be a successful leader a person need to have some special skills. Some of them are as follows: –

  • Good Personality
  • Communicative Skills
  • Self Confidence
  • Friendliness
  • Broader Minded
  • Problem Solving Ability
  • Approachable
  • Hard Working

How leadership is necessary for different fields

Leadership on the battlefield: – It is believed that a battle can be won through the mind, not with weapons. The victory of a war depends on good leadership skills. A good captain can lead his army/troops easily towards victory.

Leadership in Sports: – Leadership skills are a much-needed ornament for any team game. So in every team sport, a captain is chosen to lead the team. The player who has leadership skills in his character is given the opportunity to lead the team. Leadership styles are different from person to person.

Leadership in management: – Good management can’t be imagined without a leader. Leadership and management are the terms that can be compared with both sides of a coin. For effective management, a good leader who is full of leadership skills is required. An efficient leader can drive a company to the top with his leadership qualities.

Conclusion to leadership essay: – Leadership skills are a much-needed skill in any field – whether it is an organization or an institution. Students can learn leadership skills from their school days. School or college unions have produced many efficient leaders in our country.

Essay on Science and Technology

  Long Essay on Leadership

(Leadership Essay in 600 Words)

Introduction to leadership essay: – There are many definitions of leadership. The word leadership has a broader meaning itself. Simply leadership is the action of leading a group of people or an organization. Again it can also be said that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people in order to achieve a common goal.

Leadership qualities

In order to be a good leader, one needs to have some unique leadership qualities or leadership skills. First of all, honesty is the foremost quality that a leader needs to be a successful leader. A good or successful leader is always honest in nature. A dishonest person can’t lead his group smoothly.

On the other hand, a good leader always inspires his followers and motivates them in achieving their goals. He also possesses good communication skills so that he can communicate with his group. He keeps a constant eye on his followers too. Simultaneously an efficient leader has decision-making capabilities too. He can take a quick decision as per situation demands.

Some leadership skills or qualities in points:

  • A good leader possesses many skills. Some leadership skills are as follows: –
  • Creativity and Innovation
  • Honesty and loyalty
  • Power to take responsibility
  • Instant decision-making capability
  • Problem-solving capability

Different types of leadership styles

There are different types of leadership styles in different situations. In total there are seven types of leadership styles. Laissez leadership, autocratic leadership, and participative leadership are known as the classic styles of leadership. There are some other leadership styles too such as situational leadership, transactional leadership, transformational leadership, and strategic leadership.

How leadership works in different fields

Leadership in Education: – Leadership in education or educational leadership is a combined process that unites the wisdom of the triangle i.e the teachers, parents, and students. The main goal of educational leadership or leadership in education is to strengthen the quality of education.

In educational leadership, the teachers, students, parents, and those who are involved in the process put their efforts together to upgrade the quality of education. A dream of success is prepared through educational leadership. On the other hand, educational leadership also prepares a good learning environment for the students. The teachers are considered the founder of educational leadership

Leadership in an organization: – An organization can’t be imagined without a leader. Leadership in the organization creates a crystal clear vision for the organization. A leader in an organization motivates the employees to reach the goal. He also shows them the vision of success.

The growth of the organization solely depends on the influence of leadership in the organization. As a whole leadership plays a vital role in the success and development of an organization.

Leadership in management: – Leadership in management and leadership in an organization sounds almost the same. But both are a little different from each other. Management is a part of an organization. To manage an organization in a smooth way a good leader is required.

Leadership in management is required to maintain a smooth relationship between the authority and the employees. In an organization, it is almost impossible for the higher authority to maintain a relationship or to motivate the employees all the time. The leader does it and leads the employee towards the goal.

To sum up: – It is a naïve task to write an essay on leadership in limited words as it is a vast topic to discuss. We have crafted this leadership essay for the students. We have tried to highlight the maximum points in this leadership essay.

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Very Long Essay on Leadership

(Leadership essay in 900 Words)

“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of credit” – Arnold H. Glasow

Leadership is the art of leading a group of people or an organization and influencing others to follow that direction. It may be defined as a position held by an individual in a group.

A leader is responsible for guiding a group of employees and developing and implementing a timeline for his team to reach their goal.

Leadership Qualities – Must have qualities of a great leader

Great leaders choose their group very carefully. They normally select members for their team that are well–organized and self–disciplined. They prefer skills, knowledge, and experience rather than a certificate which states the achievement of finishing a course or a university degree.

Great leaders inspire others. According to John Quincy Adams, if the action of a person inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more he is called a great leader. A great leader should always think positive and his positive approach must be visible through his actions.

A great leader should be always committed and passionate about his job. A committed leader always finds value and purpose in his organization and shares that commitment with his other team members.

It also helps him to gain the respect of his other team members and boosts extra energy to his team members which inspires them to perform better.

Another great skill for effective management and leadership is decision making. A great leader must have the ability to make the right decisions at right time. Leaders, who have well-developed decision-making ability, can make the perfect choice from a number of options.

Great leaders are also great communicators. If a leader wants to get results as early as possible, he must know how to communicate with his team and tell them the strategy to achieve the goal. If a person doesn’t know how to communicate with his team members effectively, he can never be a good leader.

Leadership Styles – Here, we are trying to cover 5 different types of ways people tend to lead an organization called Leadership Styles.

Democratic Leadership – In democratic leadership, a leader makes decisions based on the suggestions taken from each team member. This type of leadership is one of the most effective styles of leadership. A true democratic leader must have some qualities like distribution of responsibility among the group members, empowering group members, etc.

Autocratic Leadership – It is completely different from Democratic Leadership. Here, the leader makes decisions without taking any input from the members of the team. Leaders of this style typically make choices based on their own idea and choices and they don’t want to take suggestions from others in decision-making.

Laissez-faire Leadership – In this type of Leadership Style Leaders generally allow other team members to make the decisions. It is also known as Delegative Leadership. It is directly opposite to Autocratic Leadership as in this leadership style the Leaders make few decisions and allow their team members to choose the appropriate one.

Strategic Leadership – Strategic Leaders have the ability to influence other team members to willingly take decisions that enhance the prospects of the long-term success of the organization by keeping in mind short time financial stability. This type of Leadership style can be treated as one of the best Leadership styles as strategic thinking plays an important role in making a Business successful.

Transformational Leadership – Transformational Leadership is defined as a Leadership approach in which a leader works with his team to identify the most needed change. This type of leadership style is always transforming and improving upon the Company’s conventions. This highly encouraged leadership quality motivates the employees to see what they are capable of.

So, we have gone through different Leadership Styles and qualities. The above points are very important for students who want to write an in-depth Essay on Leadership. Now let’s read how leadership works in different fields and sectors.

Leadership in Education OR Educational Leadership – Leadership in Education or Educational Leadership is a combined process that unites the talents and energies of teachers, students, and parents towards achieving a common educational goal.

The primary goal of educational leadership is to create of vision of academic success for all students through collaboration with different individuals. There are different types of educational leadership styles like Servant Leadership, Transactional Leadership, Emotional Leadership, Transformational Leadership, etc.

Leadership in Organization OR Organizational Leadership – In Organizational Leadership, the leader motivates the people to a higher level of performance by setting up goals for both individuals and for a group of people. Leadership in an organization is nothing but an attitude that empowers an individual in the team to lead from the top, middle, or bottom of an organization.

Leadership in Psychology – Psychological Leadership is the process of influencing the team members of an organization in a different way so that it boosts their contribution to the realization of team goals. Successful leaders are psychologically stronger than other leaders and they also tend to symbolize integrity and emotional intelligence.

Conclusion of Leadership Essay – According to Warren Bennis “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”. In this Leadership essay, we have tried our best to give an idea about some of the leadership qualities, and leadership styles along with a brief note about how leadership works in different fields like education, organization, etc.

This essay on leadership is composed by taking into consideration different examination criteria. We hope, the students from different standards get benefited from this essay.

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write an essay on leadership skills

10 Ways On How To Develop & Improve Leadership Skills 2024

As they say in the classics, in business there are leaders and then there are followers. And you'd rather be a leader as it brings with it a plethora of advantages. True leaders tend to be visionaries, ‘bigger picture’ kind of people.

A good leader is a perfect team member that has the ability to look ahead and is focused and goal orientated. Leaders bring products to market first, are ahead of others in their industry, have solid communication skills, develop new revenue streams, and by creating a great company culture, they can motivate people to assist with employee retention, and very importantly, aid in better decision-making. 

Decision-making is one of the most important leadership skills. Successful leaders makes the best decisions for the company in all situations. Leaders are experts in making the right decisions based on the then circumstances, weighing the strengths and weaknesses of their institution to make sure that their choices create and opportunity to build growth now and in the future.

If you have not thought about good leadership before, it's time to improve your leadership skills by finding ways to develop leadership skills sooner rather than later.

10 Ways On How To Develop And Improve Leadership Skills 2024

1. develop active listening to understand .

Becoming a great leader means we need to improve our listening skills to truly listen to and get feedback from others, and even read between the lines to understand our team's needs and what is "meaningful" to our direct reports. Sometimes the answer is simple and will help you develop your leadership skills and maybe inspire others to follow in your footsteps.

2. Focus on continuous improvement

Instead of staying current, a good leader is someone who looks to continuous improvement and skill building to help improve their leadership style. Achieving that outcome should involve reading leadership books, having mentors teach and guide you and getting feedback from those you are in charge of leading.

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3. Understand other's perspectives

Much as we'd like to think it, we are not always right. So you need to learn how to listen to others and not be draconian in your leadership approach. Understanding other's perspectives is essential for leaders to communicate effectively, demonstrate empathy, make inclusive decisions, resolve conflicts, build trust, and embrace diversity. By incorporating different viewpoints, leaders can enhance their own leadership skills, promote collaboration, and create a positive and productive work environment.

Business Perspectives

4. Hold quarterly individual meetings

Holding quarterly individual meetings is a valuable practice for leaders to develop and improve their leadership skills. By holding quarterly individual meetings, leaders can strengthen relationships, practice active listening, provide feedback and coaching, align goals, offer support, motivate team members, and engage in self-reflection. These practices contribute to leadership development, fostering a positive and productive work environment.

5. Practice empathy

Practicing empathy is instrumental in developing and improving leadership skills. Empathy refers to the ability to understand and share the feelings, perspectives, and experiences of others. By practicing empathy, leaders can build trust, enhance communication, resolve conflicts, engage and motivate employees, make inclusive decisions, support employee development, and promote well-being. These empathetic leadership qualities contribute to a positive and productive work environment, fostering the growth and success of both individuals and the organization as a whole.

6. Build emotional intelligence

Building emotional intelligence is highly beneficial for developing and improving leadership skills. Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognize, understand, and manage one's own emotions and the emotions of others. By building emotional intelligence, leaders can enhance self-awareness, develop self-regulation skills, demonstrate empathy, improve communication, resolve conflicts, make informed decisions, build relationships, foster team engagement, and cultivate adaptability. These qualities contribute to effective leadership, promote a positive work culture, and drive the success of individuals and the organization as a whole.

Build emotional intelligence

7. Seek out professional development

Seeking out professional development is a proactive approach that greatly contributes to the development and improvement of leadership skills. Here's how engaging in professional development activities can benefit leaders. Overall, seeking out professional development enables leaders to enhance their skills, gain diverse perspectives, expand their network, receive feedback, learn from best practices, engage in coaching or mentoring, and embrace a mindset of continuous improvement. These activities contribute to the ongoing development and improvement of leadership skills, enabling leaders to excel in their roles and drive success within their organizations.

8. Adjust with changing values

Adjusting with changing values is crucial for leaders to develop and improve their leadership skills. It enables leaders to adapt to diversity, enhance employee engagement, embrace innovation, build trust, foster inclusive decision-making, exhibit ethical leadership, and engage in continuous learning. By adjusting their approach to align with changing values, leaders can navigate complex challenges, inspire their teams, and lead their organizations effectively in an ever-evolving world.

9. Self-reflect, then adapt

Self-reflection and adapting are powerful tools for developing and improving leadership skills. It is essential for developing and improving leadership skills. They promote self-awareness, continuous learning, adaptability, improved decision-making, relationship building, personal growth, resilience, authentic leadership, and feedback-driven development. By engaging in self-reflection and adapting their approach, leaders can cultivate their skills, drive their own growth, and positively impact their teams and organizations.

10. Find a mentor

Landing a leadership position that feels like sink or swim with no support doesn't require drowning. Look toward your professional network and upwardly within the company to find a mentor relationship that can keep you on the fast track to leadership success.

Looking To Further Develop Your Leadership Skills?

Leadership skills are extremely important to excel in a career. However, other soft and hard skills are also needed.

Discover how you can acquire the most in-demand skills with our free report, and open the doors to a successful career.  Download the free report  today!

Why not also check out our leadership and organization development course , which will give you skills need to be confident in leadership within an organization!

What is the difference between a leader and a manager?

While both leaders and mentors play important roles in guiding and supporting others, there are distinct differences between the two. A leader is responsible for providing direction, making decisions, and overseeing the work of a team or organization, whilst a mentor on the other hand, serves as a trusted advisor and guide to an individual or a protégé. It's worth noting that leaders can also serve as mentors, and mentoring skills can enhance a leader's effectiveness. However, the primary distinction lies in their roles, scope of influence, relationship dynamics, and focus.

Why are leadership skills important in the workplace?

Leadership is a vital component of management that helps to direct an organization's resources to improve efficiency and achieve business goals. Effective leadership means providing clarity of purpose, motivating and guiding the organization to realize its mission. Regardless of your position, understanding the role of a leader can help you to make a more meaningful contribution to the accomplishment of your company's objectives. In this article, we discuss the importance of leadership and its impact on the fortunes of an organization.

How do you improve leadership skills in the workplace?

Leadership and management skills are essential for anyone who wants to be successful in business or their career. The good news is that effective leadership is a skill that you can learn. There are six effective ways to improve your leadership skills. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Take management and leadership courses. Brush up on your hard and soft skills. Find a mentor. Determine your goals. Last but not least, admit when you fail and move on.

How to develop new leaders within your company?

Many employees in management positions demonstrate leadership qualities to their teams, such as delegating tasks and creating goals for a department. As a manager, it's important to observe all the members of your team to determine who might be a suitable candidate for a potential leadership role. Understanding more about what it takes to be a leader in the workplace can help you implement strategies to develop more effective leaders. There are tried and trusted ways to do this. Recognize people with leadership potential. Mentor potential leaders. Highlight the importance of hard and soft skills . Give constructive feedback. Provide opportunities for development. And provide leadership development at an early stage.

Why should companies have leadership development programs?

Independent studies by the Conference Board, Bersin by Deloitte, HR analytics experts McBassi & Company, and our own researchers consistently reach the same conclusion: Leadership development is one of the most pressing issues facing organizations today. Leadership skills are vital and are essential in the modern workplace, and if your business commits to developing its leaders, you can expect to gain a significant competitive advantage by improving the bottom line; attracting, developing, and retaining talent; driving strategy execution; and increasing your success when navigating change. There are four reasons why leadership development should be high up on any organization's to do list. It helps improve bottom-line financial performance, attract and retain talent, drive strategy execution, and increase success in navigating change.

Conclusion 

There can be no doubt that having an effective leadership strategy in place can be mutually beneficial to the business and people's individual growth. No company can afford to stagnate or not use career development to develop a positive work environment, or they will be swallowed up by companies that do so and breed effective leaders. Developing strong leadership skills can be taught on the job, but to build leadership skills is to take courses at online universities such as  Nexford . 

What many companies are finding that instead of training people on the job, the best course of action is to enroll chosen members of staff on courses such as ' leadership and organizational development ' at online universities such as Nexford. This can help fast-track and enhance your leadership skills and provide vital skills needed to take your career to the next level.

Nexford's leadership and organizational development course examines individual and group interaction and helps learners gain a deeper understanding of how human behavior drives organizational behavior and development.

Drawing from neuroscience and cognitive science perspectives, learners transition from manager to leader through the lens of managing self, others, teams, and relationships. On the course learners will examine principles of motivation, communication, leadership, organizational development and change relevant to contemporary issues.

Looking to potentially take your career even further? Consider how an  Online BBA  or  Online MBA  can help you develop these skills and increase your earning potential.

Mark Talmage-Rostron

Mark is a college graduate with Honours in Copywriting. He is the Content Marketing Manager at Nexford, creating engaging, thought-provoking, and action-oriented content.

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COMMENTS

  1. Writing an Effective Leadership Essay: Tips and Examples

    A leadership essay is a college application essay that requires you to share your previous experiences as a leader. We've got examples to help you write one. ... Make a list before you begin writing your essay. Leadership qualities can include: The ability to motivate others; Personal integrity; Courage; Placing a value on relationships with ...

  2. Essays About Effective Leadership: 6 Essay Examples

    Practicing effective leadership goes beyond having direction and a vision for the organization. Becoming an effective leader also takes time and patience. Use this prompt to discuss the habits of great leaders and how these habits make them effective in their leadership. 5. Studying the Mindsets of Effective Leaders.

  3. Leadership Essay: Format and Samples to Check for A+

    How to Write a Leadership Essay. Like every other essay, this paper has an introduction, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion summarizing your thoughts. (1) The most important part of the introduction is the final sentence, aka a thesis statement. That's where you state your claim to prove or develop in your leadership essay.

  4. What Are Leadership Skills, and Why Are They Important?

    Reliability and trust. Trust is the cornerstone of a successful organization. Trust, or belief in another person's skills, integrity, and character, is frequently thought of as something built upon in personal relationships. Leadership develops best through reliability. Leaders must ensure their words and deeds are consistent if they want to be ...

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    If you select a common team to lead, take your essay in an uncommon direction. Avoid lengthy introductions that take away from your word count and don't actually support your essay response. Avoid overemphasis on one aspect that detracts from your ability to talk about the other aspects of your story. In other words, if you spend half of your ...

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    1. Choose a leadership Topic that interests you. When assigning leadership essays, most professors and instructors alike give prompts with a list of topics to choose from. Go for topics that impress you and ones that you can find great information from books, journals, credible websites, and other scholarly sources. 2.

  7. Your Guide to Writing an Excellent Leadership Essay

    Outline your essay to organize all the details you want to include. This way, you won't forget to include anything your readers need. Alternatively, you can check out past papers written on your chosen leadership topics. This way, you will have a strong basis for further expansion of your arguments and incorporating relevant ideas into your ...

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    Step 2: Select an Inspiring Topic. The key factor in creating a good leadership essay lies in selecting an appropriate topic. If you are writing a biography of a successful and prominent leader, it is crucial to focus on their leadership qualities and on what makes them an effective leader. The topic should align with the objectives of the ...

  9. Leadership Essay

    How to Write a Leadership Essay Step by Step. Typically, a leadership paper is a short essay that follows the traditional essay structure. It consists of three main components: an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. ... How your own leadership skills can be used to make a positive change in your community or the world in general, etc.

  10. How to Write an Essay on Leadership

    Active voice puts a more positive position on your paper, as it makes you or the leader the important part of the sentence. Avoid using the passive voice as it shows that someone is not the main aspect of a sentence. Use Linking Words: Organizing your thoughts is crucial for an essay. Using linking words to create more cohesion and coherence ...

  11. Leadership Essay for Students and Children

    Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas. Real-Life Examples of Good Leadership. Mahatma Gandhi was an excellent example of a good leader. He was a staunch believer in non-violence. With his brilliant Leadership skills, he made the British leave India. Probably, this was the most unique independence struggle.

  12. Leadership Essays: Samples & Topics

    Leadership is a multifaceted skill that involves guiding and inspiring individuals or groups toward a common goal. While leadership styles may vary, there are essential qualities and practices that define effective leadership. In this essay, we will explore how to be a good leader, discuss... Effective Leadership.

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    Leadership Essay (Free Example) This essay describes the meaning of leadership and defines the characteristics and qualities of effective leaders. It discusses the manner in which leadership skills can be developed and assesses the importance of leadership in organizations seeking to achieve specific aims. Leadership styles, such as servant ...

  14. 627 Leadership Essay Topics & Examples

    To get more familiar with the subject of leadership, research various leadership styles, such as transformational, autocratic, and servant leadership. Tip 4. Pay attention to the structure. In a great essay, ideas are always well-organized and follow one another in a logical sequence.

  15. My Leadership Experience and The Lessons I Learned

    In conclusion, my leadership experience has been a transformative journey filled with valuable lessons and personal growth. From my early involvement in student organizations to my professional roles, I've learned the importance of effective communication, adaptability, and servant leadership.I've witnessed the growth of team members, navigated complex challenges, and embraced the idea that ...

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    Leadership is defined as "influence" and "relationship" between constituents and leaders. An essential principle of leadership is serving others. I perceive my own leadership as an activity that involves honesty, integrity, character, effort, responsibility, and patience. These traits demystify the glamorous ideology of being a leader.

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    A successful relationship between the servant leader and followers is a two-way process and followers must be accepting of the principles of empowerment and the opportunity to grow. A characteristic of leaders which seems to be related to good leadership is emotional intelligence. Goleman (1998, p.317) defines emotional intelligence as 'the ...

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    Leadership is not just a title or position; it is a set of skills and qualities that enable individuals to motivate and guide others towards a common objective. It is the ability to influence and inspire, to bring out the best in people and to create positive change. Whether it is in a business setting, a community organization, or even within ...

  19. Essay on leadership: Ranging from 50 Words to 900 Words

    Essay on Leadership (Very Short) (Leadership Essay in 50 Words) Leadership is a quality that makes a man special than others. Every man doesn't have leadership skills. A leader possesses many great skills and qualities that make him popular in society. A man needs leadership qualities in him to start a business or to run an organization.

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    Related: The Importance of Human Relations 8. Problem-solving Good leaders are skilled at problem-solving issues that arise on the job. Effective problem-solving often requires staying calm and identifying a step-by-step solution. Problem-solving skills can help leaders make quick decisions, resolve obstacles with their team and external teams alike, and ensure projects are finished on time ...

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    The different types of leadership skills are, communication, motivation, creativity, positivity, feedback, delegating, trustworthiness, work ethics, conscientiousness. and dispute settlement. The ...

  22. 10 Ways On How To Develop & Improve Leadership Skills 2024

    By adjusting their approach to align with changing values, leaders can navigate complex challenges, inspire their teams, and lead their organizations effectively in an ever-evolving world. 9. Self-reflect, then adapt. Self-reflection and adapting are powerful tools for developing and improving leadership skills.

  23. Teamwork And Leadership Skills Management Essay

    Teamwork And Leadership Skills Management Essay. An organization is a formal group of people with one or more shared goals. Organisation has people working for them with the sole motive of making profits for the company. It is rightly said by Lewis B. Ergen, "The ratio of We's to I's is the best indicator of the development of a team".