Developing Leadership: Characteristics for CFO in Business and Society

This report examines the essential characteristics of effective leadership, focusing on the perspective of a student aiming to become a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in a multinational firm. The author identifies three key characteristics: decision-making capabilities, creativity and innovation, and the ability to inspire others. The report emphasizes the importance of these traits and outlines a development plan that includes practicing discipline, taking on more projects, learning from other leaders, and cultivating situational awareness. The author provides insights into how these characteristics can be developed to achieve leadership goals, including references to relevant literature on leadership and management. This report is a comprehensive analysis of leadership development.

Running head: LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note

1LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
As I would like to hold the position of the Chief Financial Officer in a multinational
firm. Hence, this paper is prepared to analyse the essential three characteristics of an effective
leader which I need to develop as I think I do not have such characteristics to become the
Chief Financial Officer of a multinational organisation. Further, this report analyse the
importance of those characteristics and how can these help me to become a good leader. The
paper also analysis the methods and the steps which I need to follow to develop such
characteristics to be a good and effective leader.
A Good Leader
There is various definition of a good leadership as everybody define the leader or the
leadership in a different way but the most simple and effective definition of the leadership is
presented by the John C. Maxwell, he defines “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the
way and show the way”. A good leader is not only know the way but also go through such
way to show the others. Further, a good leader has the futuristic vision and know the possible
ways to convert their idea to a success story in the real world (Silva 2016).
Characteristics of a good leader
A good leader have various characteristics such as honesty and integrity, confidence,
ability to inspire others, commitment and passion, good communication skills, decision
making capabilities, creative and innovative and like (Henriksen and Børgesen 2016). These
are also the some essential skills to become a good leaders. Some of them like honesty and
integrity, confidence, commitment and passion are in my how far I believe. Though this
characteristics are not enough to become a good leader and to get my desired position in my
desired company. I strongly believe that I need to develop several other important
characteristics to become a good leader. The most important three characteristic which I need
to develop are explained below: -

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Decision Making Capabilities: - Making the right decision in the right time is the important
role and characteristic of a good leader. As the decision taken by the leader have a profound
impact on the followers. A leader need to think hard before taking any decision but once the
decision has been taken he to be stand by it (Laureani and Antony 2017). Mainly, the leaders
takes the decision by own but it is recommended that he must consult with the major
stakeholders before taking the decision. Hence, according to me decision making capabilities
is an important characteristics of a good leader.
Creativity and Innovation: - The innovation and the creativity is the most important thing
which separated the leader from the followers. It is very necessary for the leaders to be
creative and innovative at the same time in order to get ahead in today’s fast – paced world
(Kamarulzaman and Mohamed 2016). The creative thinking and constant innovation of the
leader makes the team stand out from the crowd. The best example of the good leader with
the creative and innovative characteristics is the Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple.
Inspire Others: - The last but the most important characteristic for a good leader is the
ability to inspire others. As this is the most difficult job for any leader. The leader must have
the ability to inspire the people to follow him. The leader need to put a good example by
performing hard in the tough situations (Cashman 2017). Be calm and keeping the motivation
level high in tough situation is also an important characteristics of a leader as it inspire their
followers. John Quincy says, “If your actions inspired others to dream more, learn more, do
more and become more, you are a leader”. If a leader is successful in inspiring their follows
then he will easily overcome a present of future tough situation.
The above are the three major characteristics of a good leader which I think I need to
develop in myself to become a successful leader in my desire post.
Plan for developing these characteristics

3LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
To develop the above stated characteristics of a good leader, I have developed a plan
in which I am going to perform the following activities: -
Practice discipline: - A good leader also be in discipline. Discipline in professional life is
must to become a good and effective leader as well as to learn something new also requires
the discipline (Sandridge 2019). Hence, my first move is to be in the discipline for
developing the leadership characteristics in me.
Take on more project: - I also try to take on more and new projects as taking the more
responsibilities is the great way to develop the leadership characteristics. Working in the
different type of projects will also help me develop my decision making capability in
different conditions and environments.
Learn to follow: - Another effective way to develop the leadership character is by following
the other great leaders and try to understand their skills and style. Hence, it is important to
learn to follow to become a leader as the good leader not have the issues to follow the others
who is performing well (Kouzes and Posner 2016). On other hand, following other leader
also help me to learn how they inspire their followers to follow them.
Situational awareness: - A good leader always have the capability of seeing the bigger
picture as well as they anticipate the problems before they occurs. This is an important skill
which helps the leaders while performing in the complex project having tight deadlines
(Ibarra 2015). Hence, this is another important thing which help me to develop the good
leadership characteristics.
Apart from above there are various other things and ways which I need to plan and
perform to develop the required leadership skill in me to become a good leader.
Lastly, the paper concludes that to become a Chief Financial Officer of an MNC,
which my desired leadership post, I need to develop the various leadership characteristics.

4LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
The most important characteristics are decision making capability, creativity and innovation
and ability to inspire other. For this I need to perform various activity which is the part of my
plan some of them are discipline, learn to follow, undertake more project and likes.

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References
Cashman, K., 2017. Leadership from the inside out: Becoming a leader for life. Berrett-
Koehler Publishers.
Henriksen, T.D. and Børgesen, K., 2016. Can good leadership be learned through business
games?. Human Resource Development International, 19(5), pp.388-405.
Ibarra, H., 2015. Act like a leader, think like a leader. Harvard Business Review Press.
Kamarulzaman, R. and Mohamed, S., 2016. Transformational Leaders and Organizational
Performance. In Proceedings of the 1st AAGBS International Conference on Business
Management 2014 (AiCoBM 2014) (pp. 647-653). Springer, Singapore.
Kouzes, J.M. and Posner, B.Z., 2016. Learning leadership: The five fundamentals of
becoming an exemplary leader. John Wiley & Sons.
Laureani, A. and Antony, J., 2017. Leadership characteristics for lean six sigma. Total
Quality Management & Business Excellence, 28(3-4), pp.405-426.
Sandridge, N., 2019. Becoming a leader in the ancient world: Athena’s mentoring of
telemachus in the odyssey. SAGE Publications: SAGE Business Cases Originals.
Silva, A., 2016. What is leadership?. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 8(1), p.1.