My Starting Point - wordsabre.com

An Identification of My Starting Point

Introduction

I guess I have been a student of leadership in a very informal way since I graduated with an undergraduate degree of Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical). I have always been passionate about personal growth, personal development and personal leadership; and this has translated into my professional life as a software engineer, software developer, technical lead and technical consultant. In this paper, I will examine my starting point – where I am at today concerning leadership. I will examine the following questions:

What concepts/assumptions of leadership do I bring into this unit (combining theory and practice)?
How do I see myself in relation to leadership; the characteristics I display that help and hinder?
What draws me to leadership and what pushes me away?
Where do I want to go with leadership?

Initial Concepts and Assumptions

My initial concepts and assumptions of leadership is in a general form of life leadership rather than in the context of a specific business leadership. As a human being, I am created with a unique true identity, true purpose and true destiny. Identity is who I am. Purpose is what I am here on earth to do. Destiny is where I am going. Our concepts of true identity, true purpose and true destiny may be distorted away from our created self by:

External culture of the community and the world
Parental upbringing and influence
Peer pressure

In my opinion and in my experience, personal growth, personal leadership and personal development is the journey from what may be a distorted sense of self back to our own true identity, true purpose and true destiny.

Together with our true identity, true purpose and true destiny, we are blessed with unique set of gifts, talents, strengths and weaknesses. We are shaped by both our strengths and our weaknesses. They are both useful to us. In the world, we tend to appreciate our strengths and under-appreciate our weaknesses. Certainly we should develop our gifts, talents and strengths. Buckingham (2007) emphasizes that we should develop our strengths, not our weaknesses. Through a lifetime of hard work, on a scale of 10, a person improves by 2 points. Say, I have a strength that is already a 7 on that scale of 10. If I work on that strength, it will become a 9. However, if I work on my weakness, which is at a 3, it will only ever become a 5. So, Buckingham concludes that it really pays to work on my strengths. By re-discovering my true identity, true purpose and true destiny, and by developing my strengths, I am able to carry heavy loads in the strategic direction of my vision and the dreams of my heart.

Lead and Collaborate

Since every single human being has a unique finger-print of true identity, true purpose, true destiny, gifts, talents, strengths and weaknesses, each of us must be gifted to lead in one or more areas of life – once we have re-discovered our true selves. We lead in the areas of our strengths and we collaborate in the areas of our weaknesses. These are the push and pull dynamics of leadership and collaboration in the modern 21st century organizations and/or communities and/or nations.

In the areas of our strengths, we lead by contributing and introducing new ideas and new strategies. In the areas of our strengths, we are able to innovate. In the areas of our strengths, we have unique perspectives that no one else has. This is our contribution into the community(ies) and/or organization(s) and/or nation(s) in which we live.

We collaborate by delegation. We collaborate by working with other people. We collaborate within the definition of the roles in the organization. We collaborate by bouncing ideas off one another. We collaborate when we accept input and feedback from others. We collaborate through teamwork.

The positional leader is able to lead and collaborate as well. S/he leads by delegating her/his authority. S/he leads by defining roles. S/he leads by keeping everybody focused on the end goal and/or vision. S/he leads by defining the boundaries of one’s delegated authority.

The 21st century organization or community or nation with long term vision and focused on growth can only function through freedom and empowerment from those in positional leadership. S/he shall have to be a leader of leaders. A myopic and micro-managing positional leadership will restrain and limit the growth of the people and the organization or the community. A myopic and micro-managing positional leadership are leaders of followers.

Learn and Perceive

In the age of information revolution, there is unprecedented growth in the amount of information simultaneously available to us on the internet, in the print media, on broadcast media, on magnetic media, etc. While there is a great quantity of information available to us, not all the information is legitimate or of a high quality. It takes wisdom to choose and discern the information we should receive and learn from the information that we should discard. The information is rapidly changing in a world of human beings who are comfortable with stability. Can we adapt? Should we adapt? Or should we stand firm on a rock solid foundation on unchanging and timeless truths. We don’t want to be blown this way and that like spineless jellyfish, resulting in chaos and instability in our communities and nations. We seek stability in rapidly changing times. We seek stable points in rapid change.

Stretch and Grow

In order to grow, we must be stretched. In order to grow without breaking and carry the heavy loads that we may be required to carry, we must be stretched in the areas of our strengths. As we stretch, our personal capacity grows to accommodate our new capabilities and we are able to carry bigger loads. The stretching and growing should take place while a person is experiencing internal and emotional rest and peace. It does not mean that we have to be busy and have frenetic schedules to stretch and grow. On the contrary, the best stretching and growing happens when one is at rest. In my experience, I know when I am stretching in the areas of my strengths when my creative juices are flowing. One of my strengths is writing. When I am stretching, the words are flowing strongly, my thoughts are inspired and my ideas are innovative. In this state, I am able to lead and inspire others. I am challenged beyond my known world, and I journey into the unmapped territories and uncharted waters of the unknown world. I experience freedom and my boundaries expand.

What Helps My Leadership?

When I am focused on what I do and I am in the flow, I am blessed by many original ideas and perspectives. They are frequently practical and pragmatic ideas that improve what is already there. I am patient at explaining new ideas until other people understand the concepts. I wait until people are ready to come on board and collaborate. I come from the school of thought where I don’t have to sell a good idea. They sell themselves.

In working on my personal growth and personal leadership, I have been majoring in an important thing. I have to be happy in my own skin. I have to be an authentic and congruent leader.

What Hinders My Leadership?

I lead when I write. I lead when I generate new ideas. I lead when I innovate. I lead when I am able to interact with other people. I lead in my professional life when I am interacting with many people involved in doing something of common interest. In my personal life and manner, I am not an extrovert. I don’t do a lot of small talk that opens the way for me to demonstrate my leadership potential. In this characteristic, I am hindered in my leadership potential.

What Draws Me To Leadership?

I am almost an accidental leader. I did not ask to be a leader. I did not realize I wanted to be a leader. Yet, when I am operating in the areas of my strengths, I become a leader automatically. It is exciting and innovating, and I am creating new ideas. It is exciting making new paths off the beaten track. It is exciting making new paths for the team. It is exciting doing things that no one has ever done before and thinking things that no one has ever thought of before.

What Pushes Me Away From Leadership?

My leadership style is freedom and empowerment. I am put off when I am confronted with an autocratic style of leadership. I do not like control and manipulation in leaders and in people in general. My communication style is straightforward and forthright. I am automatically de-motivated by control and manipulation, the silent treatment and passive aggression. I am also de-motivated by an autocratic style of leadership. This pushes me away from leadership more than anything.

Where Do I Want To Go With Leadership?

Firstly, I want to continue writing. That still continues to inspire me, and continues to stretch and grow me. With writing, I can discover and explore new fields of learning. I want to develop my writing as a craft to be a skillful communicator of words and a freelance writer. Secondly, I want to study and continue to grow in areas of personal leadership. I have had a career break and experienced a career change mid-life. I find that I have re-discovered the strengths of my youth. I am rejuvenated and re-invigorated in my personal and career vision. Thirdly, I would like to teach and equip other people on personal leadership through writing. I would like to push the boundaries of personal leadership and personal growth.

I would like to be more extroverted in my personal life. I would like to connect with more people from various walks of life. I would like to have more variety in my friendships rather than just IT people.

I would like to grow in thought leadership and life leadership. I would like a life lived well and with no regrets.

Conclusions

I discovered late in life that leadership is another of my strengths. I do not have a conventional style of leadership that is encountered in the world today. The opportunity to just work on my strengths has presented itself. And I would like to do just that. I would like to work on my writing and I would like to work on my leadership, specifically my strategic leadership.

Leadership, for me, leads me to find fulfillment and satisfaction in my personal and professional life. It leads me to achieving the visions and the dreams of my heart. It leads me to find meaning and purpose in what would have been a meaningless existence. It leads me to find authenticity and congruence within myself. It leads me to find what is doable within myself and what is not. It drives me to do and develop my strengths. I am strengthened and feel strong when I exercise and develop my strengths.

Bibliography

Marcus Buckingham: Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance (Hardcover), London : Simon & Schuster, 2007

John C. Maxwell: No leader rides alone, February 28, 2011. Web. (accessed March 5, 2011).

Joey Smith: Everything Rises and Falls on Leadership, July 24, 2006. Web. (accessed March 5, 2011).