Kennedy Brown

Leadership Styles
BA 3500
02/06/2020
Provider
Leadership is an important topic and is used in everyone’s day to day life. As of right now I
have a couple different leadership roles in which I am in. My first leadership role is within my
internship. In my internship, I have to work in a team setting, yet I still have to be independent.
Every day there is something new. From working in a line and getting products shipped out, to
being by myself and talking to influencers and selling the products. I feel as though I am very
mindful of my actions and use my strengths in this role in order to succeed and hopefully move
up in the company in the future. On the other hand, I am in the Big Brother Big Sister program
and that is a completely different kind of leadership role for me. In this role, my more creative,
strategic, and organizational side comes out. This is because I know that I am very fortunate and
in order to make a difference I want to help out my little as much as possible so she can grow
and develop as a person. I want to make sure that I am creative by doing things that she has
never done before, yet still strategic in order to help her learn throughout this process as well.
These roles therefore help me work on my leadership style.
I would say that my leadership style is very hands on because that’s the way I personally best
learn. My learning style for things in which I don’t understand how to do, is that it needs to be
shown to me one time and then I can usually pick it up. I like having clear and deliberate paths
and so I try to do that in my roles as well. The assessment said that my go-to leadership style was
“Provider.” I would say this is pretty accurate for me because it seems like a leadership style in
which I got from my father. I feel as though I am a leader in things that I do and stand out, but I
do enjoy taking care of those around me, just like my dad does. I also think this is like me
because I love to coach children’s sports and give them guidance. I feel like I can make an
impact on them and mentoring is really important to me. In the assessment the supplemental
style I got was “Energizer.” I believe this is a huge part of mentoring and really represents who I
am. It says that I generate a lot of energy, I have a lot of determination, and build enthusiasm. I
think all of these are very important when I am coaching or even at work. The last supplemental
style in which I got was “Composer.”
I was actually surprised by composer the most out of any other styles. I agreed with parts of
the assessment and other parts I was unsure of. The main part I agreed with was problem solving.
I would say I have high problem-solving skills and it helps me succeed in school and work every
day. The part of the assessment that surprised me the most was when it said my potential blind
spots were remaining open and flexible and teambuilding. These really surprised me as areas I
need to work on because I have been on many sports teams throughout my life, so I don’t feel
like this is a weakness for me. In my personal opinion, it is an area in which I excel at. Lastly,
with regards to remaining open and flexible this surprised me as well because these are things I
would definitely put down as strengths. I feel as though I am really a person who goes with the
flow and am open to new ideas. This assessment really helped me to think and learn more about
myself and I believe impacted my leadership roles all together.
I think that people’s leadership style has an immense impact on their leadership roles.
Peoples leadership style is how they go about making decisions, talking to others, and applying
techniques in which they have learned. When you take those styles and learn which areas you
succeed in and which areas could use some help, you improve as an all-around person. These
skills are used in everyone’s day to day roles whether that be work, school, or personal lives.
You use what you are good at and apply that to everything in order to stand out and get ahead in
life. It is also very obvious on the other hand when you are lacking in an area because it is easy
for people to see that lack of understanding when you are the leader. I think that’s why you need
to be so mindful of your style of leading in order to succeed. The book on the other hand has a
different way in which they go about their leadership styles compared to the assessment.
I would say that my leadership style relates to the book because it talks about five
different main areas and how people can be a combination of all five. I would say from my own
personal thoughts and from the assessment, I see that there are many different sides to me just
like there is with everyone. I would say that authentic leadership best describes my leadership
style. I think this because in everything that I have done in life, I have had to build trust and have
open and transparent conversations in order to succeed. This was especially important in sports
and also in work. I also think this is a major aspect of being a leader because you need to act with
integrity and build that trust and I think that is one thing that I have done well in my life. It’s like
Murari said, “great leaders construct great business and ordinary leaders, create ordinary
business” (Murari 25). I think going from playing shortstop in high school and being in the state
championship to having my first job in Chicago, trust needed to be built in all aspects in order to
construct great business and that all starts with great leaders having integrity. That is why I think
this theory describes me so well. There are things I need to do to improve myself before I
graduate though.
During my time at Mizzou, I do understand that to improve my leadership skills, I need to
join a new club. I am looking into joining a business club in order to branch out and grow in
different ways. This will help me with things like patients, collaboration, and getting more ideas
for the future instead of thinking with my emotions. Immersing myself in a new and
uncomfortable area will allow me the opportunity to work on certain areas in which I may
struggle. A quote that helps me think in a positive way is “get from where you are to where you
want to be” (Murphy). This just reminds me that after I graduate these new skills will help me
get to where I want to be in my future career. Another way in which I will prepare myself for
graduation is by applying for grad schools. My major is international business and with that
having an MBA would really help me stand out compared to others who are just in marketing.
Getting the applications done early would allow me to have a stress-free last semester of college
and also help me for my future. These two goals would allow me to grow in different ways as a
person and hone in on some skills in which I personally think need some help.
Refrences

Murari, Krishna. Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Empowerment. Partridge Pub, 2015.

Murphy, Mark A. Leadership Styles: How to Discover and Leverage Yours. Leadership IQ Press,
2018.