Not everyone is a leader. If you
look at any industry you can see that the people within it are structured
similar to a pyramid. Employees have supervisors, supervisors have supervisors,
and so on until you reach the tip of the network. The heads of any industry
share similar qualities, which can be summed up in words like “hard working”, “risk
taker”, “strong willed”, etc, and have the right combination of certain traits,
as well as luck, to reach those positions. The cool thing is that these words
are directly related to the individual’s personality which we can now test and categorize
with an internet connection, and honesty, using the typology test. While any
type may be able to become a good leader, I believe certain types may be more
prone to becoming a great one.
After taking the test three times,
to ensure accuracy, I wrote a list of what I felt my strengths and weaknesses
are, similar to Harry R. Carter’s “Developing a Plan for Self-Evaluation”. As an ESTP,
my strongest traits are honesty, loyalty, confidence, humor and a dash of
intelligence. My weaknesses are procrastination, poor time management (I’m
writing this blog past its due date), impulsiveness, being overly critical, and
a lack of attention to how my actions affect others. While my positive traits
are desirable for a leadership position, my current negatives would hold me
back. If I were to supervise a team my inability to empathize as well as being
overly critical would soon become my downfall. I would lose respect, which would
destroy overall performance.
To work on these, I’ve created a
plan for self-empowerment! I will read at least two other blogs and not close
the window to find another at the first grammatical error. Instead, I shall
read through the entire post and find the deeper meaning in the words posted,
proper punctuation or not! In regards to my shortcoming in empathy, I shall henceforth
actively try to be more understanding towards others during any conversation or interaction. Time management and procrastination will have to wait, I’m a
college student, they won't be fixed anytime soon.
Should I reduce my negative traits,
I believe my personality type would enable me to become a great leader, not just a
good one. With age comes wisdom, so hopefully over time they will become
non-existent. Whether I end up as a career fireman, soldier, pilot or manager
at McDonalds, I won’t stop until I reach the top.
I really enjoyed this read Ben, it sounds like you have a solid plan for overcoming your weaknesses and putting you on the path to becoming a great leader. Like it said in this weeks reading everything starts with a plan so you have taken that critical step in becoming a great leader. Keep striving for more until get to the top, and once you are there keep reaching for more!
ReplyDeleteI would like to encourage you to always stay grounded. In my experience that is the one trait that all great leaders I know have. While we have been told that procrastination is a bad thing I think that it can be more of a protective measure. It helps protect us from getting over whelmed at the time. Yes, in the long run if we procrastinate to much on to many things we will be even more overwhelmed, but that is a risk we must take. I also believe that it can help guide us to realize that we may be over whelmed and need to maybe not take on so many things. Life is not meant to be a race to the end where we must do as much as we can as fast as we can. One of my best mentors told me if your going to do something, do not do it 50% give it 110%. If you stick to you can stick to your plan, always keep your goals in sight, and also be flexible then the sky is the limit. Have a fun trip as you make it to the top.
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