Alex Flint

MNGT 5560

What is a Leader

A leader in my eyes is a person who can influence others in a positive

manner. Leaders can also influence in a negative manner but when they do, I no

longer consider them a leader. A leader is someone who continues to do the correct

thing when they are alone and no one is watching. Leaders have the ability to keep

going when things don’t look the best on the outside, they still can stay on the path

they know can lead them to success.

Leaders are people willing to do what others wont and block out the noise

from the unsuccessful. People don’t always like a leader especially when a leader

works harder and makes others who do less look bad. Being a Leader is a hard task

they face criticism because of their success or their rightful doing and hear other

tell them they’re better. What makes someone a leader truly is their will for what

they believe. Leaders don’t search for what is the style of the world at the time.

They do what is the correct and moral thing they believe. They don’t try to gain

followers they just have a genuine faith to their goal and to their morals and others

see it.
 The Leaders who inspire me are ones who seem as if they aren’t human.

These leaders have worked hard and figured out the way that works best for them

to succeed and rather then telling everyone in the world they have to be just like

them they help show them how to achieve their best possible self. That is a true

leader, one who unlocks their full potential and doesn’t stand on a hill to flaunt

their success, instead they go right back to the bottom to bring others to the top so

they can be successful too.

A leader not only leads by example but listens to ones that need help also.

When a leader is approached and asked for help, they listen to the problems

stopping them from success and helps advise them the best ways to approach

success. A true leader is one who leads by example, sees themselves as equal to

others, and someone who has a servant heart and wants others to succeed just as

much as others want themselves to succeed.

So, what is a Leader? After a semester of learning about leadership I’ve

learned countless things about what a leader truly is. In my eyes a leader is

situational. Although all leaders share countless amount of quality’s a true leader is

determined when a situation arises and their leadership is set for the objective.

What do I mean by this? Ron Burgess had a long-time career in the military and

was very successful. When he spoke to us you could tell he was a hard working

and determined leader. While he had many great qualities of what a leader is would
he still be considered a leader in a separate environment? If Ron was head of a

company, would he be considered a good leader? If he applied his military

background to a white-collar company, would he still be considered a good leader

from his employees. Would he seam too hard to please? Would employees think

they weren’t good enough? Would Ron care to try new ideas like Patrick Lencioni?

With saying that could Patrick achieve Rons military career? Would Patrick be able

to live the lifestyle Ron had to, to be the Deputy Director of national intelligence to

the president?

I say this not to insult or degrade either of these two speakers I believe they

are both incredible leaders. What I mean by this is leaders are built through time

and passion. I agree with my first part of this paper of “What is a leader?”. I

believe it is more in depth though wrapping up the end of the semester. Leaders

become leaders because they want to do more and help others. This means their

passionate of what they do. Leaders are important because their different not

because their smart or easy to get along with. Every job, business, program or team

has a leader that fits their agenda. There is no perfect list of quality’s a leader must

have. You can’t force someone to be a leader either. Leaders are the ones who step

up whether they want to or not. That’s what makes a leader. Look at Donald Trump

for instance, he was a successful business man who stepped up when he thought he

could help America. He did a great job running the country financially, but was he
good with public relations? Does that ruin his quality of a leader overall? Does that

make him not qualified to lead? I don’t know. I believe there is no perfect leader

for anything in the world. Witch makes being a leader hard to accomplish but, I

know leaders are hardworking, obsessive with their work, and have a mission and a

vision keeping them on path to succeed.

Moving forward post-graduation I plan to one day be a leader in my field.

That doesn’t mean I am walking out of auburn dead set to be a leader. I plan to take

qualities from every speaker and use them in the workforce. From Ron I believe

the quality’s he has that I can use is Har work, Determination, and indifferent. Not

many people can wake up at 3-4 am daily and be sharp and prepared like he was.

From Patrick I plan to use the creative influence of knowing what your good at

makes you happy and push myself to do that every day. Rather than accepting a job

because money is good why not take a riskier job that I know I will enjoy. Kerry

Palmer taught me something of a leader that I never thought of. When you’re a

leader and your employees make a mistake its your fault. You didn’t prepare them

enough for this opportunity. That’s something I couldn’t believe I was hearing but

now I know that’s a leadership quality I want. Ownership is the most important

things. If a leader only wants to take ownership when they succeed and points

fingers when mistakes are made their selfish and not a true leader.
 A true leader is determined based on their job. What is a Leader? Its

different in every field, although leaders share similar quality’s every leader has a

different mission and vision their trying to achieve. Every student at auburn can

learn the qualities of what is takes to become a leader. Some might assume they

will become a leader because they have taken this class. In my eyes though its not

only about knowing these leadership qualities, it’s about using each quality

differently in every situation your faced in your career.