My Leadership Philosophy

As long as I can remember, people have always referred to me as a leader. It was always me who organized and lead the weekly games of tag or hide and seek after church when I was in Kindergarten. Or in Middle School, I always made sure I captained one of the dodgeball teams and attempted to rally my team to glory every school day. The chaos often involved in groups of young children never stopped me from attaining everyone’s attention long enough to convince them to join in on whatever it was that I wanted to play. In high school, I went to a modest sized private school where there were only 9 other people in my class. Given the size of the class, I was able to form tight-knit relationships with my peers, and as the grew to know me and respect me, they naturally chose me as a sort of “leader” of the class. Whenever the class had a problem with one of our teachers or the school, they would come to me about it and expect me to personally take it to whomever it was that could solve the problem.

My role as a leader stretched outside of just my class.

In fact, the rest of the students at the school all looked to me as a leader as well. I don’t believe I would have ever realized it if it weren’t for multiple conversations with teachers and board members where they ensured I knew that I was always under a tighter watch and subject to harsher discipline due my status as a leader at the school. Because my fellow students looked up to me, they were more likely to mimic my actions, whether good or bad. My senior year of High School, I was made captain of my soccer team. I had expected to be made captain, due to the fact that no-one had been on the team longer than me, but it still felt incredible to be able to finally be the official leader of the

team.
Given my personality and upbringing I believe that I am an enterprising personality type. Growing up, I was subjected to social environments that involved smaller groups. I was always able to take control of the group and gain the recognition as a leader from my peers. I did this using my charisma and generally outgoing attitude to capture the attention and respect of those around me. However, when I lead, I always attempt to lead in the way that suits me best. That means that I often find rules and regulations that prohibit me from leading in my natural way off-putting. I feel as if rules that halt leaders from taking their groups in the direction they feel is best limits the effectiveness of the group as a whole.
Additionally, according the textbook (Manning & Curtis, 2015,) enterprising individuals struggle with routine and detail work. I strongly relate to this criterion because as long as I can remember, detail work has driven me batty. Upon completion, work that seems unimportant or repetitive leaves me feeling dissatisfied given the amount of time dedicated to this task when compared to the actual benefit of the task.
Finally, the text (Manning & Curtis, 2015,) lists multiple occupations that are the optimal jobs for those that fall under the “enterprising” personality. Among those is “business-executive.” Although that “occupation” is broad and ambiguous, being an executive at any company is a dream for me. As a Finance major, the corporate world seems to be my future. Rising to the top of that world is the ultimate goal of my career, and obtaining that position would be tremendously satisfying.