Reflective Essay: Analyzing Personal Leadership Style and Development

This reflective essay delves into the multifaceted aspects of dynamic leadership through a comprehensive self-assessment. The essay begins by exploring the student's personal values using Schwarz's theory, identifying honesty, broadmindedness, and true friendship as core values, and analyzing their impact on leadership style. The analysis extends to personality traits, utilizing the Big Five personality test to highlight extraversion and openness to experience. The report further examines strengths through the reflected self-best exercise and the Richard step strength finding questionnaire, revealing optimism, integrity, and self-motivation as key assets. Leadership capabilities are assessed using Zender's research, and emotional intelligence is evaluated to understand the student's capacity for emotional awareness and relationship management. Finally, the essay touches upon cultural intelligence and leadership styles, providing a holistic view of the student's leadership profile.

Running Head: Dynamic leadership
Dynamic Leadership
Reflective essay

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Leadership Discovery..................................................................................................................................3
Values..........................................................................................................................................................3
Schwarz’s values and motivational domains...........................................................................................3
1.2 Schwarz’s online survey (Appendices 2)...........................................................................................4
1.3: Consolidate values and domains.......................................................................................................6
1.4: My values and domain summary......................................................................................................6
Traits...........................................................................................................................................................8
2.1: The big five project personality test (Appendices 3)........................................................................8
3: Strengths................................................................................................................................................10
3.1: The reflected self-best (RBS) exercise............................................................................................10
3.2: The Richard step: Strength finding questionnaire...........................................................................11
3.3: Zender’s 16 leadership capabilities.................................................................................................12
4: Emotional intelligence...........................................................................................................................12
4.1: The quick emotional intelligence self-assessment..........................................................................12
5: Cultural intelligence..............................................................................................................................14
5.1 The dimensions of culture questionnaire.........................................................................................14
5.2 Diagnosing your cultural intelligence........................................................................................15
6: Leadership style: Task vs. Relationship.............................................................................................15

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Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................16
References.................................................................................................................................................16
Appendix...................................................................................................................................................19
Appendices 1.........................................................................................................................................19
Appendices 2.........................................................................................................................................20
Appendices 3.........................................................................................................................................20

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Introduction
Leadership is the capacity and the ability of a person to inspire, motivate and encourage a group
of followers. It is an important aspect with respect to an individual as well as an organization
(Bolman, 2017). The leadership abilities vary from person to person. There is a strong set of
values, traits and intelligence that define the kind of a leader a person will be (Northouse, 2015).
Leadership is a very crucial aspect of any individual as it largely defines with an individual’s
ability to lead, guide, motivate and inspire people (Fairhurst, 2014). It is considered to be an
important quality in one’s career. Hence it becomes imperative for individuals to identify and
work on their leadership abilities early in time.
In this course module, I have deeply reflected upon my leadership skills and the value set that
governs the same. I have been a part of various online surveys and taken a genuine and honest
feedback from my friends in order to understand my leadership abilities. In this report I have
attempted to understand and fully document the various aspects of my leadership style and
abilities.
Leadership Discovery
1: Values
Schwarz’s values and motivational domains
Schwarz has pioneered the study of values. He believes that values are long term and not mere
attitudes to different situations. Based upon this thinking, he came to build the “Schwarz’s theory
of basic value”. In this theory, he has reasoned that values are goals for motivation and therefore
basic values must be derived by basic needs of humans namely our biological needs, our need to
coordinate with others and the need for the group to survive and flourish (Marcus, 2017).
These basic needs of humans drive their basic values and shape the personality of an individual.
Schwarz identified 10 basic needs of a human and related various set of values with those 10
needs.

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I sincerely read the chapter 8 of Personal values from ‘Success with soul’ (Sun, 2014) and
established that my top 3 values are as below:
1. Honesty – One of my top most quality as per analysis is honesty. I have always been an
honest person and I really do not indulge in lying. Many of my friends have often lied in
order to get out of school or any such responsibility but I have ensured that I don’t lie. I
strongly believe that honesty is very crucial to develop and maintain trust. I have realized
that this value belongs to the domain of Benevolence (Schwarz, 2014).
2. Broadmindedness – My second most important quality is my broadmindedness which fits
under the module of universalism. Since my teenage years, I have been very liberal in my
views and I do not easily get offended. I do no judge people and I really understand that
every individual thinks, behaves and acts differently.
3. True friendship – For me friendship is very important. I am a very social person and have
a lot of friends. However, I have a set of 4 friends who are very close to me and I really
value their friendship. This is a part of the security module. I believe, these true
friendships provide a sense of security and safety.

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1.2 Schwarz’s online survey (Appendices 2)
While in the process of understanding my values, I also took the online survey of Schwarz’s
value scale. The findings of which were as below. This survey made me realize that I score
highest in Hedonism and Self-direction. This implies that I am a very motivated person but I also
believe strongly in my personal pleasure and happiness (Caprara, 2016). As a person I don’t
value traditions much as I believe they pull us down. Also these traditions and customs probably
suited ancient times but are not necessarily valid today.
Domain Score
Power 3.7
Achievement 4.2
Hedonism 5
Stimulation 3
Self-direction 5
Universalism 2.2
Benevolence 4.2
Tradition 0
Conformity 4
Security 2.8

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1.3: Consolidate values and domains
CONSOLIDATED VALUES & DOMAINS
TOP 3 VALUES
Highest Value (1 )__________ HONESTY ___________________: Domain is ___
BENEVOLENCE ___
Second highest Value (2) is ________ BROAD MINDEDNESS ______: Domain is ___
UNIVERSALISM __
Third highest Value (3) is ____ TRUE FRIENDSHIP __: Domain is _______ SECURITY
_______
NEXT 3 VALUES
Fourth Value (4 )__________ INDEPENDENCE ________________: Domain is ___ SELF
DIRECTION____
Fifth highest Value (5) is ________ EQUALITY______: Domain is ___________
UNIVERSALISM _____
Sixth highest Value (6) is _____ HELPFULNESS ______: Domain is ____ BENEVOLENCE
________

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1.4: My values and domain summary
My Values and Domain Summary – Impact Consideration
Individual
Value
Motivational
Domain
Impact on My
Self – Personal
Impact on My
Career Choice
Impact on My
Leadership Style/
Behaviour
1 Honesty Benevolence I am always
honest.
Sometimes
people find me
too straight
forward
I will be able to
work in the
department of
business ethics and
efficiently work to
As a leader, I will
be able to give
genuine and honest
feedback to my
team members
2
Broadmindednes
s
Universalism I don’t judge
people and I
respect people’s
opinions even if
they don’t match
with mine
I will be able to
work in training
and development
where I will
I will be able to
consider
everyone’s
perspective before
making a decision
3 True friendship Security I value true
friendships and
put in efforts to
build genuine
friendships with
people
I can work in
teams and enhance
my social network
owing to my
friendship skills
I will be able to
develop and
encourage team
spirit and enhance
personal
relationships within
the team

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4 Independence Self-direction I am very
independent and
tend to take
responsibility of
small tasks by
myself
Entrepreneurship
can also be a
chosen career
option for me as I
am very
independent
I will be able to
take quick
decisions at the
time of a conflict.
5 Equality Universalism I treat everyone
equally and do
not discriminate
I can effectively
work in
organizations that
have a flat
hierarchy
I will be able to
treat my team
members with
equality and create
no biasness.
6 Helpfulness Benevolence I have always
been helpful and
try to do my best
to help people in
need
I will be able to
help my team
members and instil
a sense of
helpfulness within
the team
2: Traits
2.1: The big five project personality test (Appendices 3)
In order to gauge my traits as a leader, I took the big five personality test. This test made me
realize my top traits and I scored highly on extraversion and openness to experience (Judge,
2015). This is true because I really enjoy the company of others and I am always open to new
experiences. This is evidenced by the fact that I travel a lot and indulge in various sports and
event. I scored low on neuroticism because my temperament is very moderate. I tend to remain

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calm in different situations and avoid getting angry or feeling depressed. Whenever I feel angry,
I try to compose myself.
Personality/ trait dimension Score Rank (1-5)
Openness to experience/ intellect 95 2
Conscientiousness 75 4
Extraversion 99 1
Agreeableness 85 3
Neuroticism 41 5
Result of my reflective partner
Personality/ trait dimension Score Rank (1-5)
Openness to experience/ intellect 78 4
Conscientiousness 82 3
Extraversion 94 2
Agreeableness 99 1
Neuroticism 44 5

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3: Strengths
3.1: The reflected self-best (RBS) exercise
With an aim to identify my biggest strengths, I took the RBS test wherein I asked my friends to
email me my biggest strengths. I also asked them to enlist why they thought I possessed those
particular strengths. Once I received their feedback, I started evaluating exactly how these
strengths would help me become a better leader and impact my leadership style. The following
table, shows the result of the exercise.
Strengths from feedback Examples cited Interpretation to my life
Helpful Always helping friends I would be keeping the team
together and helping my team
members as a leader
Optimistic Always smiling and hoping
for the best
I will not easily panic is case
of a crisis and will be able to
look at the best for my team
Creative Looking at things from a new
perspective
I will be able to handle
situations with a fresh
perspective and try to be
different than others
Honest Cannot take lies. Does not lie
ever
I will ensure complete
transparency and
communication in my team
and encourage complete
honesty. I will also be able to

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prove genuine feedback to
my team members
Hard working Gives 100% to any task I will not give up even if
things get tough. I will
encourage my team to work
hard and lead the same by my
own example
3.2: The Richard step: Strength finding questionnaire
Top 5 Strengths
1. Optimism: I always look for the positive in every situation. I can hence work in sales or
marketing as I don’t get easily demotivated.
2. Integrity: I keep my commitments and value honesty. I stick to programs. However, I
need to learn to say ‘no’.
3. Purpose: I like being busy and having a sense of purpose in everything I do. I get rather
annoyed when I do not know the ultimate aim of doing a particular task
4. Salesmanship: I love meeting new people and becoming the initial point of contact in
various groups.
5. Self-motivation: I read and watch a lot of inspiring books and movie. I read about
successful people and hence remain motivated. The kind of life that I have planned for
myself, requires me to work hard. And I keep thinking of a successful future every time I
feel demotivated.
Next level strengths
Richard Step strength listing