Philosophy of Leadership

By: Alexis Seidl

Mr. Daniel Steckley

IDC 4U

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020

Marshall Goldsmith proudly states his perspective on leadership development; “Great

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leaders encourage development by openly developing themselves”. Leadership is like a puzzle,

various pieces come together to form a complete picture. In leadership, those puzzle pieces are

the skills and characteristics that mesh together to create a successful leader is in society. Every

leader is completely different and have their own set of diverse strengths and weaknesses.

Although, as an SJAM leadership student I have my own leadership philosophy which is a leader

must possess good teamwork/collaboration skills, a selfless attitude, and must be organized to

succeed in a position of leadership.

Leadership is not about being independent as leaders are constantly working with various

types of people in hopes to work together to reach a common goal and better our world.

Therefore, leaders must possess good teamwork and collaboration skills to succeed. At the

beginning of this semester, my grade 12 leadership class and I dug deep into the importance of

teamwork through our “Team Building Assignment”. The task required us to create five team

building activities one of which will be presented and completed by the class. We spent a few

weeks learning everyone’s unique and exciting games well also being taught a valuable lesson.

Through these team-building activities, it became clear that teamwork and collaboration are key

elements of leadership. Without these major skills, the team would crumble causing a toxic

environment where goals are not reached. I have also had many personal experiences regarding

this concept. An example that represents this important idea was the event I ran this year in

leadership class. Courtney, Jen, and I had the amazing opportunity to run SAJAK's annual “Send

a Smile”. Our event was extremely successful and it all came down to the fact that my group

members and worked very well together. There were no conflicts between Courtney, Jen, and I as

we all strived to make this “Send a Smile” the best one yet. I know for a fact that if my group

members and I didn’t get along our event would not have the same outstanding outcome. It has
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been proven that lack of teamwork and collaboration within a group leads to a decline in success.

Clearly, through the observation of team building activities and my personal experience with

events, it is safe to say that teamwork and collaboration play major roles in the success of a

leader.

A leader’s mindset should always be directed towards the needs and wants of others

rather than themselves as they are role models and the voice for those who can’t speak up. This is

why leaders need to possess a selfless attitude. In both grade 11 and 12 leadership class a key

concept that has been focused on is the idea surrounding servant leadership. Servant leadership

can be defined as; “A leadership philosophy built on the belief that the most effective leaders

strive to serve others, rather than accrue power and take control” (Rouse. M. N.D.). There are

many leadership theories and philosophies but SJAM leadership students are taught that servant

leadership is the best way to lead and I couldn’t agree more. There is a saying that has been

drilled into my mind that will stick with me forever, it is “leaders eat last”. This may seem

minimalistic but the deeper meaning represents servant leadership perfectly. This also relates to

having a selfless attitude which as mentioned previously is a significant characteristic for all

leaders to learn and apply to all aspects of their lives. A selfless leader that is a part of my life is

my Dad. I look up to my dad and consider him to be one of my biggest role models as I strive to

be like him as not only a leader but a person. My Dad has always put the needs and wants of

others before himself whether that be when he’s coaching a baseball team, managing employees

at work, or supporting my brother and I. His selfless attitude allows him to grow as a leader

leaving positive impacts on everyone he meets. Possessing this attitude leads to major success in

leadership and many aspects of life hence why it is such an important part of my leadership

philosophy.
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When it comes to leadership organization is a very important topic as it is a huge factor

that leads to success. I believe that as leaders it is our responsibility to always have a plan that

states our goals and how we will achieve them. In both grade 11 and 12 leadership class there

were various methods and activities to promote this skill. The first goal-oriented assignment took

place last year, it was “Top 19 of 2019”. Our task was to come up with a mixture of 19 long and

short term goals that we would attempt to complete by the end of 2019. Although we needed to

follow the five golden rules to goal setting, this concept was to ensure that our goals were

specific and reachable. This assignment promoted organization as it forced us to come up with a

plan for our 2019. Second, this year we were taught the S.W.O.T. analysis method, which stands

for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This was extremely helpful when it came to

event planning as it made sure we’d have the best plan possible to succeed. Lastly, as the

semester comes to an end, everything seems to get more stressful. So, Mr. Steckley created

calendars for us to plan out our workload in hopes it would relieve stress and give you a clear

plan to complete the tasks required of you. I was skeptical at first but the calendar seemed to help

me balance my workload and reach my goals. Personally, I will be using this technique in the

future. Clearly, organization is a key leadership skill as it is required to create legitimate goals for

yourself or a group which ultimately leads to success.

In conclusion, every human being is different and requires a personal set of skills

in order for them to succeed as life, leadership is no different. Leaders should create their own

personal philosophies that work best for them to accomplish their leadership goals. Although, in

my opinion, leaders must possess good teamwork/collaboration skills, a selfless attitude, and

must be organized in order to shape the individual into a successful leader society needs to make

a difference in our world.

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Works Cited

Lis Evenstad, Margaret Rouse, & Joseph Flahiff. (n.d.). What is servant leadership? -

Definition from WhatIs.com. Retrieved from https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/Servant-

Leadership