Leadership Style and Development - University Assignment

This assignment delves into the realm of leadership, encompassing a reflection on personal leadership traits and a comparative analysis with influential figures like Bill Gates and George Washington. The student undertook a Leadership Traits Questionnaire to assess their strengths in areas such as relationship emphasis, skill emphasis, behavior emphasis, and process emphasis. The reflection paper discusses the student's leadership strengths and weaknesses, highlighting areas for improvement. The assignment further explores the integration of leadership traits from historical figures and case studies, such as incorporating integrity and accountability from George Washington and effective public speaking from Tim T. The student also identifies a need to modify their sociability, recognizing its potential impact on team performance. The analysis part involves a case study on Tim T., examining his leadership through the lens of various traits and approaches, as outlined in the course material. The document emphasizes the importance of continuous self-assessment and skill development in enhancing leadership capabilities.

Running head: LEADERSHIP STYLE AND DEVELOPMENT
LEADERSHIP STYLE AND DEVELOPMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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LEADERSHIP TRAITS REFLECTION
As opined by Northouse (2018), the construct of leadership had become an important one
within the framework of the modern world because of the diverse benefits that it offers to the
individuals. Antonakis, Cianciolo and Sternberg (2004) are of the viewpoint that the construct of
leadership helps the leaders to effective influence the behavior or the attitude of the followers for
the attainment of the goals or the objectives that had been outlined for them. However, in order
to effectively use the framework of leadership the individuals are required to have certain traits
like intelligence, charisma, determination, integrity sociability, confidence and others (Conger,
1999). In this relation, it needs to be said that the Leadership Traits Questionnaire is an important
since it helps the individuals to get idea regarding their leadership traits. It is with this objective
that I undertook the Leadership Traits Questionnaire so as to gain an insight regarding my own
leadership traits.
The Leadership Traits Questionnaire focuses on six different attributes, namely, trait
emphasis, ability emphasis, skill emphasis, behavior emphasis, relationship emphasis and
process emphasis. In this relation, it needs to be said that the results of the Leadership Traits
Questionnaire indicate that I have received the maximum score on the aspect of relationship
emphasis which is an indicative of the fact that I have adequate relationship building skills which
are likely to help me to establish effective relationships with my team members (Refer to
Appendix 1). On the other hand, the results of Leadership Traits Questionnaire indicate that I
have received equal scores on the attributes of skill emphasis, behavior emphasis and process
emphasis. The high score in the attribute of skill emphasis is indicative of the fact that I have the
required skills to effectively lead the different members of my team whereas the high score on

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the attribute of behavior emphasis is indicative of the fact that I have the right kind of behavior
which is needed for the purpose of influencing the behavior or the attitude of my team members
for the attainment of the goals or the objectives that had been outlined for my team. Furthermore,
the high score on the aspect of process emphasis indicates that I am capable to effectively
utilizing the different changes for the attainment of the goals or the objectives that my team
members are required to achieve. Lastly, the low scores that I have received on the attributes of
trait emphasis and ability emphasis indicates the fact that I need to work on these attributes for
the effective development of my leadership abilities.
I would like to say among the different leaders who have been discussed in the course I
personally find Bill Gates as the most appealing one. In this relation, I would say that the
effective usage of the transformational leadership style as well as the success that he had been
able to gain through the use of this leadership is one of the most appealing aspects regarding Bill
Gates. More importantly, his ability to influence the behavior or the attitude of the workers of the
business corporation of Microsoft by setting personal examples for the manner in which they
need to work or complete the different tasks that are being delegated to them is one of the most
remarkable aspect of the leadership style which is being followed by him (Nichols, 2016). In
addition to these, I personally find his time management skills, critical decision making,
intelligence, charisma, sociability and others the most remarkable aspects of his leadership traits
displayed by him.
On reflecting upon the leadership traits that I possess and comparing it with the ones
displayed by Bill Gates I believe that some of the leadership traits displayed by him are even
perceptible within the ones displayed by me. For example, just like Bill Gates I also display the
traits of charisma, intelligence, sociability, critical decision making and others. As a matter of

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fact, I believe that they are more authentic in my case than in the particular context of others
because of the effectiveness with which I display them. However, at the same time I would like
to say that I have not been the same kind of leader that I was earlier rather I would say that I have
developed my leadership skills or traits more effectively over the years. This transformation or
for that the development in my leadership abilities can be attributed to the different psychometric
tests that I undertook for finding out the inherent weaknesses of my leadership abilities and
thereby developing them through participating in various workshops and others. Furthermore, I
also participated in different kinds of skill development activities like effective communication,
critical decision making, time management and others which in turn contributed towards the
effective development of my leadership abilities or traits. Thus, I would say that the
conglomerate effect of all these aspects have made me a stronger or a better leader in the present
times than I was in the earlier times.
ACTION
Mendenhall et al. (2017) are of the viewpoint that the effectiveness of the leadership style
followed by the leaders is greatly determined by the leadership traits that they possess and thus it
becomes important for the leaders to possess effective leadership traits which in turn greatly
facilitates their ability to influence the followers who are associated with. In this relation, I
would like to say that I correlate with the historical persona of George Washington and the
leadership traits displayed by him. More importantly, I specially relate to the two most important
leadership traits displayed by him, namely, integrity and accountability for his actions which I
would like to integrate within the leadership style followed by me. Furthermore, just like George
Washington I would like to display integrity of character in all complex as well as the critical
situations with which I had to deal with while leading different individuals or for that matter in

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my own personal life as well. Moreover, just like George Washington I would also like to
accountability for all actions as well as decisions which I not only make for myself or for that
matter for the members of the team with which I am associated with. These in short are the two
most important leadership traits which I would like to integrate within the leadership style that is
presently being followed by me.
On the basis of the case of Tim T. , the most important leadership trait shown by him that
I would like to integrate within the leadership traits that I possess is the attribute of effective
public speaking. Ghasabeh, Soosay and Reaiche (2015) are of the viewpoint that effective public
communication is one of the most important traits that the leaders are required to have and this in
turn helps the leaders to effective cascade different important information to their followers and
also to influence their behavior or attitude in the best possible manner. More importantly, as
discussed by Lussier and Achua (2015), the attribute of effective public communication also
helps the leaders to effectively persuade the followers who are associated with them to perform
the tasks or the job roles that they find difficult to perform or for that matter are unwilling to
perform. It is on the score of these benefits offered by the attribute of effective public
communication that I would like to incorporate this particular trait within the domain of the
leadership style followed by me. In addition to this, I would also like to incorporate the trait of
the ability to motivate others within the domain of the leadership style followed by me.
According to Ong et al. (2016), the leaders are required to effectively motivate the followers or
the subordinates who are associated with through the usage of adequate motivation skills so as to
help them to achieve the targets or the work that had been given to them. In this relation, I would
like to say that in the past I had struggled to effectively motivate my team members for the
achievement of the targets which were given to them or for that matter for the completion of the

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job roles that were assigned to them. It is in the light of these aspects that I want to incorporate
this particular leadership trait within the spectrum of the leadership style which is being followed
by me presently.
I personally believe the fact that it is not easy for an individual to change or modify the
leadership traits that they have since it takes a great deal of practice or perseverance to acquire
the different leadership traits. Having said this, I would like to change one particular leadership
trait that I have, that is, the trait of sociability. In this relation, I want to say that I have noticed
that often while leading the teams and the team members I become too sociable with my team
members, which in turn adversely hampers the nature or the quality of the work which is being
performed by them. More importantly, I have found that although the leaders are required to
establish strong ethical relationship with their followers yet at the same they are required to
maintain a firm stance or authority which in turn will influence the followers to follow the
instructions or the job roles that are being given by the leaders to their follower. Furthermore, for
the effective modification of this leadership trait I personally feel that I need to attend different
kinds of workshops wherein I would be able to learn the proper manner or the authority with
which the leaders are required to behave or manage the diverse team members who are
associated with them. However, at the same time I would like to say that the modification of this
particular leadership trait would not be an easy task and I would work really hard to modify this
particular aspect of my leadership style.
An important problematic trait which hinders the effective usage of my leadership traits
is my tendency to get easily distracted by the things that are going on around me. This I
personally believe is one of the most important negative aspects of my character that I need to
work. However, I would say that this aspect of my character or personality can be modified by

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increasing my concentration level which could be done by attending different kinds of
workshops, performing yoga or mediation and others. These will help me to improve the level of
concentration and thereby help me not to get distracted by the things which are going on around
me and thus effectively focus on the things or the jobs that are really important.

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References
Antonakis, J., Cianciolo, A. T., & Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.). (2004). The nature of leadership.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Brookhiser, R. (1996). Founding father: Rediscovering George Washington. New York, NY:
Free Press.
Burns, J. M., & Dunn, S. (2004). George Washington. New York, NY: Times Books.
Conger, J. A. (1999). Charismatic and transformational leadership in organizations: An insider’s
perspective on these developing streams of research. Leadership Quarterly, 10(2), 145–
170.
Ghasabeh, M. S., Soosay, C., & Reaiche, C. (2015). The emerging role of transformational
leadership. The Journal of Developing Areas, 49(6), 459-467.
Lussier, R. N., & Achua, C. F. (2015). Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development.
Nelson Education.
Mendenhall, M. E., Osland, J., Bird, A., Oddou, G. R., Stevens, M. J., Maznevski, M., & Stahl,
G. K. (Eds.). (2017). Global leadership: Research, practice, and development.
Routledge.
Nichols, A. L. (2016). What do people desire in their leaders? The effect of leadership
experience on desired leadership traits. Leadership & Organization Development
Journal, 37(5), 658-671.
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.

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Ong, C. W., Roberts, R., Arthur, C. A., Woodman, T., & Akehurst, S. (2016). The leader ship is
sinking: A temporal investigation of narcissistic leadership. Journal of personality, 84(2),
237-247.

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Appendix 1
Results of Leadership Traits Questionnaire