Leadership Philosophy: Personal Approach and Analysis Assignment

This essay delves into the author's personal leadership philosophy, emphasizing the principles of democratic leadership. The essay begins by differentiating between leadership philosophy and leadership style, highlighting the importance of a well-defined set of principles to guide actions and achieve goals. The author's approach is rooted in the belief that democratic or participative leadership, where leaders offer guidance and actively involve team members in decision-making, is the most effective approach. The essay contrasts this with an autocratic approach, illustrating the negative impact of forced decisions and a lack of consideration for team member input, using a personal experience of a group project. The author then provides a contrasting experience, where the author listens to their opinions and considers their comfort level, leading to improved project outcomes and a more collaborative environment. The author concludes that they aspire to continue practicing democratic leadership in future endeavors. The essay includes references to academic sources that support the principles of democratic leadership.

Running head: MY MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
MY MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1MY MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
Leadership philosophy is often confused with leadership style. Though a philosophy is
influenced by the style however, they are not the same. This aim of this paper is to analyse my
management or philosophy style that I adopt in my daily lifestyle to address daily life challenges.
A leadership philosophy according to me is a set of principles that govern our actions and
the direction of our end goal. Having an appropriate leadership philosophy will help a person to
attain his goals, be successful, happy and gratified with one’s life [1]. I believe that everybody
should have a leadership philosophy. I too have such a philosophy that governs my life that can
be democratic or participative leadership philosophy. According to me, this kind of philosophy is
the best kind of philosophy that can help people succeed. Such philosophy is focused on the
leader offering guidance to the organisational members instead of unpretentiously giving orders
to the employees. A sagacious leader takes active participation in group discussion, is
considerate and consultative in his approach. Such kind of leadership philosophy creates
trustworthy working environment that improves the relationship between the coworkers and the
leaders [2]. The members of the organisation are encouraged to participate actively, contribute to
the decision making process and the leader also encourages them by considering their input in
the process. As a result, the entire group is motivated, which inspires everyone in the group to be
innovative in their approach.
Personally, I try to follow the democratic leadership philosophy. From experiences in
school and college, I have realized that this kind of approach is the best way to cooperate with
the fellow members in order to accomplish any task. For example, while working on a group
project I tried to apply the autocratic leadership philosophy. Here I tried to control the members
of my group in which I forced my decisions upon them. I provided them the topics to work on
and did not contemplate whether they were comfortable with the work. I did not enquire about

2MY MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
their opinion and even when they raised questions, I did not pay any heed to them. Because of
such lack of coordination, we failed in our group project. I learned a lesson that forcing decisions
is not an appropriate way to progress. Therefore, on receiving another chance to work on a group
project, I tried to move forward with the democratic leadership philosophy. I listened to their
opinions, apprehended their comfort level about a particular topic that they would like to work
upon and then proceeded with the work [3]. We worked together and I could see the results in
the form of our success in our project. The competency of my group members was enhanced that
was exhibited in our achievement. The members of this group were much happier than the
previous group that I had worked with. Therefore, it can be said that my personal leadership
philosophy is democratic and I aspire to keep following it in the future.

3MY MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
References
1. Benson D. Creating your personal leadership philosophy. Physician leadership journal.
2015 Nov 1;2(6):64-7.
2. Wintrop N. Democratic Theory as Public Philosophy: The Alternative to Ideology and
Utopia: The Alternative to Ideology and Utopia. Routledge; 2017 Nov 1.
3. Fierke KK. Developing a Shared Leadership Vision in a College Setting. Journal of Case
Studies in Education. 2014 Sep;6.