Kunal’s Leadership Philosophy

Throughout this semester I have learnt a lot of different life skills and tricks on being a successful leader. I have improved my listening skills and my verbal communication skills and many more. My opinion of a leader is not the smartest one in the group or the best looking one in the group, its the one who can keep the group together and get stuff done as one. A successful  leader is not out to prove his dominance against his team, he is there to listen to everybody and then take the final call. I am a leader and this class has helped me brush up and define those skills and traits that will help in future decisions and making a path to a successful  leader. Management and Leadership, even though it goes hand in hand it’s still not the same thing. The manager focuses on systems and structure whereas the leader focuses on people.

The number one key to being a successful  leader is the way you execute yourself in front of others.

1. Confidence

As a leader you have followers looking at every action you take, judging every shot you call but not breaking under that pressure is being confident. If you are confident about what you are doing than your team will trust you and follow you. In a company, a leader’s job is not to sit behind a desk and have stacks of paperwork to go through. A leader represents the company, him going up there in a board meeting or a press conference represents him, his team and his company. Confidence is one of the major qualities required to be a successful leader. Confidence is a charm and everybody loves someone who is charming. During that team building obstacle course we were all confident about our spotters being there because we know each other, we have interacted with each other, we are all comfortable with each other therefore we can be who we are whereas if it was with another class it would not have been the same. A successful leader is one whose team is confident with him and he is confident outside with everybody else.

2. Ability to Inspire / Passion

A successful  leader has the ability to inspire his team whether its by more money, a vacation or even a motivating talk. A successful  leader should be able to adjust with different types of audience too because not everybody is inspired or reached out to the same way. A leader who is passionate about what he is doing and is able to inspire his team to help follow that passion will be one of the most successful leaders. A leader’s job is not to boss his team around but to make them feel welcome and to stay humble but still let no who’s in charge. As a leader, doing something passionate is where a leader can use his leadership skills to the max because he wants to do that. Everybody has a drive. A drive is something that wakes you up in the morning excited to go start working on it, something you enjoy/look forward too. Having the ability to inspire people is one of the best gifts ever. Inspiring someone is the same as being a salesman, instead you are selling what you love to do and not a product. Communication is the single key in inspiring people. They way you execute yourself is what it’s all about.

3. Have a goal:

A successful  leader keeps his eye on the prize. A successful leader is one who sees how far he is from his goal and doesn't turn around to see how much more further his opponent is. A successful  leader has a goal to achieve for him and for his team. Having a goal is what keeps the leader motivated too!

Why have a goal?

As a leader if you are asked what your team should do, you will need to give them a goal to achieve. Your job is to give them goals to achieve, if they are making their own goals then you will never be a successful leader. And if they achieve their goals then you achieve yours. A leader is one who listens to everybody but is still the final decision maker and as long that boundary is there between a leader and a follower than that relationship will be successful. Some of the smartest people are not good leaders because they focus too much on other people’s jobs.

Major things I learnt:

1. Be yourself is not they way to go in business, to be a successful leader you need to be able to be compatible because sadly with a 318.9 million population in The United States there is no way you can please everybody.
2. Being a leader might seem easy but it is a risky job, you can take huge amounts of credit for your team’s work but you could also get a lot of hate for your team’s work, either way as a leader you represent the team so its mainly your reputation.