Personal mission statement for leadership development
My mission is to utilize my potential in life to the most optimum level, acknowledging that God gave me unique talents and abilities-enough to succeed and be happy. I will demonstrate effective leadership and be accountable for everything that I do for myself and others. I will appreciate my abilities and be satisfied without ever comparing myself to others, respecting all persons for what they can do, always working in harmony with them and in balance with the environment. I shall accept my weaknesses but never use them as excuses for not doing what I must do. I will always acknowledge the fact that life is hard but if I do my best with all the energy, then I will never come to a point of regret.
Each and every person is always important and no one should ever be undermined and I will take it upon myself to recognize all people as equal and deserving equal treatment from me whenever I’m in any leadership position. Whenever in such a position, I will aspire to develop my leadership skills to the maximum level of effectiveness using every available chance and opportunity. I will not be proud regardless of my level of success. I will always be kind to the needy, empowering the less fortunate by sharing both in mind and material. The environment is crucial for our survival on earth and therefore I will make it my responsibility to ensure that my actions do not in any way lead to its deterioration. My words will always be filled with hope and optimism instead of hopelessness and pessimism.
I will endeavor to be happy every day of my life, stay determined even in the most difficult and challenging of conditions. Values i. Spiritual guidance from God This value is the most important and fundamentally vital among the other entire values and carries a greater portion in leadership development. God provided the life and He gives us the chance to wake up always and see a new day. I believe that everything I do is made possible by God and its success is determined by the will of God.
All my goals and aspirations are informed by God and for them to be accomplished, there has to be the ultimate spiritual guidance in God. By basing the foundation of everything in God’s guidance, I trust that all shall be a success for the will of God is the one and only determinant. ii. Excellent Health We can only engage our body and mind on anything worthy if and only if our health allows. Without an excellent heath, there is nothing much we can do and all our plans will become ineffective, always derailed.
In order to be in excellent health, I will observe the fundamental pillars of heath: eat well, keep the body fit, take enough rest, exercise, and always put preventive measures in place, among many others. By being in the best health possible, I’m sure to get the energy and passion to move on. iii. Good friendship Friends are very important and they provide a suppotive environment in whatever we do. I will keep friends that are understanding, always ready to listen, respectful and honest.
I will be equally honest and understanding, always building one another in the course of life. iv.Valuble knowledge It has always been stated that knowledge is power and this is a reality indeed. For me to fulfill my mission in life, I must get the necessary and relevant knowledge to propel me to the next level. I will use every opportunity in school, home, and work to learn as much as I can.
v. Comfort Lack of comfort can be detrimental and the presence of it is important for moving a head. In a life that is full of uncertainties, where no one knows what tomorrow holds, I will endeavor to keep the most comfortable environment around myself and be at peace in every moment. vi. Financial independence Most of the problems in many people’s lives can be traced to have rots in financial conditions. I will challenge myself to be financially independent, not by necessarily accumulating lots of money but by seeking the wisdom of finances, to enable me be realistic whenever dealing with any form of wealth.
Goals i. Rise to the top level of my career by the age of 30I will do all that is required in order to reach the maximum level of my career by the age of 30. I will undertake both masters and PhD studies and always ensure to excel starting right from my current university level. ii. Engage in a voluntary project Before the end of the year, I will volunteer in a community based project, specifically one that targets the needy in society.
During the period of volunteering, I shall put into practice my leadership skills especially the part of leading by example, stay humble and learn as much as I can. iii.Make one friend every month I have discovered that the right friends are the best people I can ever surround myself with especially to become an effective leader. I will make a friend every month for the next 8 months, meaning I will have made 8 friends by the end of this year. iv. Read widely for wisdom One fundamental feature of a successful life is wisdom and indeed there is a lot of wisdom in reading.
This is a long term goal and I plan to read one book within every three months for the rest of my life. Therefore, I purpose to read 4 books every year. v. Network with professional in my career I will embrace the power of networking by linking up with one professional every year while undertaking my studies. This will enable me interact and get a feeling of what is in the field Implementation In order to successfully implement, I will use my created model of “Finishing the race” which I have based on my knowledge and personal experiences so far. In this model, I consider three points as very important parts: Start, Path and End.
In start, I will bring together all my goals and write them down one by one. I will then proceed to analyze the resources I will need plus the challenges I expect. I will then proceed and arrange these goals in order of priority. For instance, my career is very important and therefore all goals related to career will come first. From here I will embark on implementing the first goal from the priority list, and continue with all the deadlines in mind. Therefore the parts of this section include collection of goals, analysis and prioritization.
The path will mainly be the daily actions that will be necessary to realize the goals and this is where maximum dedication will come in to tackle all challenges. The End is fundamental and the most important factor to consider here is that no matter how difficult a task is, it must be finished. The Start, the Path and the End, will definitely interrelate in order to eventually attain the overall goals.One outside perspective concerning effective leadership is that of the reasoning that it is actually what you do that establishes you as an effective leader, as opposed to what you are. This was originally put forward by John Adair in 1973 and it points out that as an effective leader, one needs to balance the team, needs and individuals (Stewart-associates 2010).
As DuBrin (2008) points out, an effective leader must be action oriented and ever focused on tasks and always recognizing people. For an effective leader to emerge successful there must be a clear definition of goals and good relationship with others (Avolio 2005). I personally believe that leadership is fundamentally and act of initiative and responsibility. I have done all my things bearing this in mind, taking initiative and being responsible for everything I my actions. While undertaking all this, I have appreciated that things may not necessary go they way they are seen in theory; and therefore one needs to expect failures in actual actions.
Fundamentally, there are really no major “disconnects” between my espoused theory and theory-in-use because. Other than the lack of total conformity in actual actions; they are aligned in all important areas and stress the same facts and factors.Conclusion In conclusion, using the single lop and double loop learning and in explicit consideration of my mental map, my desired vision of leadership is one that takes sensible steps at a time, accompanied by strong actions to complete them. Then the outcomes are considered critically but not taken as they are. They must be questioned in order to asses the factors that led to the outcomes, their relationships and implications.
This then gives way for the most optimum direction hence attaining effective leadership.
