what is a good leader essay

Feb 15, 2023

Essays on Leadership for Students | 200 - 500 Word Essays

Are you writing an essay about leadership? Check out these examples!

Leadership is often defined as "the action of inspiring others to act in concert to achieve a particular goal." It signifies the harmony in actions that lead to a common objective. A genuine leader not only exudes confidence but also paves the way for their followers towards triumph. Over the years, various leadership styles have been identified and discussed by psychologists.

 Qualities such as intelligence, adaptability, extroversion, innate self-awareness, and social competence often emerge as the hallmarks of impactful leaders. There's a consensus that these traits mold an individual into an effective leader. Interestingly, some theories suggest that extraordinary situations can thrust an ordinary individual into the spotlight, bestowing upon them the mantle of leadership. It's also believed that leadership isn't a static trait but an evolving journey. It underscores the belief that with dedication and the right resources, anyone can hone their leadership abilities.

 True leadership goes beyond merely advocating for a cause. It involves taking responsibility, igniting motivation in others, and differentiating oneself from just being a 'boss'. A leader's essence lies in their ability to inspire and propel people towards grand visions, whereas a manager typically focuses on oversight and operational aspects.

What Is a Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay falls under the category of student application essays and serves to provide student admissions officers with insight into your past leadership experiences. Despite appearing to be very specific, this type of essay acknowledges that the nature and perception of leadership can vary significantly depending on the individual and the context.

 If you find yourself in need of further insights or a unique angle for your leadership essay, consider exploring an expert essay-writing tool designed to assist students in crafting compelling narratives by analyzing vast data and generating fresh ideas within minutes. In this article, we'll also delve into various leadership essay examples to offer a clearer understanding of the genre and inspire your writing journey.

4 Examples of Leadership Essays

Qualities of a good leader, introduction.

Confidence is the most important attribute first of all. One of the most important qualities in a leader is confidence in one's own abilities. A lack of self-assurance is fatal to a person's leadership potential. If you want others to follow you, you need to exude self-assurance. It's imperative for a leader to have faith in his own judgment and actions. How can people want to follow him if he doesn't even know what he's doing?

Every effective leader knows that they need to be an inspiration to their followers. A leader needs to set an example for his team. In addition, he ought to inspire them whenever feasible. A leader must also maintain optimism in trying times.

What qualities a good leader must have?

Leadership is the ability to influence and guide individuals or groups toward a common goal. A leader must possess several qualities to be effective, including:

Communication skills: A leader must be able to communicate their vision and goals clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing. This requires excellent listening skills, empathy, and the ability to adapt to different communication styles.

Emotional intelligence: A leader must be able to understand and manage their own emotions, as well as those of their team members. This includes being able to understand and respond to the emotions of others, and handling conflicts in a constructive manner.

Visionary: A leader must have a clear and inspiring vision of the future, and be able to articulate this vision in a way that motivates others to work towards it.

Strategic thinking: A leader must be able to think critically and creatively to identify and solve problems, make decisions, and develop plans and strategies to achieve their goals.

Flexibility: A leader must be able to adapt to changing circumstances and be open to new ideas and perspectives. This requires the ability to embrace change, be innovative, and continuously learn and grow.

Integrity: A leader must have strong ethics and values, and be willing to make difficult decisions that are consistent with their beliefs. This requires honesty, transparency, and accountability.

Decisiveness: A leader must be able to make tough decisions quickly, without undue hesitation or procrastination. This requires courage and the ability to take calculated risks.

Empowerment: A leader must be able to delegate responsibilities, give team members the resources they need to succeed, and foster a sense of ownership and accountability among their team.

Conclusion 

These qualities are essential for effective leadership, and when combined with hard work, determination, and a commitment to excellence, can help leaders to achieve great things.

How one can be a Great Leader?

Leadership is the act of performing the duties of a leader. In the business world, for instance, it is essential to have someone in charge of a team to ensure everything runs well. Effective leadership is essential for any group that wants to maximize its prospects of success.

Leadership Comes from Experience

As we've shown, leadership can be innate in some cases but is more often learned through practice and exposure. Sometimes the best traits of a leader must be learned over a lengthy period of time, so that one can become a notable one, proving that leadership is not always about a person's innate qualities. Leaders should continuously be on the lookout for opportunities to grow their leadership skills.

Nobody can disagree that experience is a key component of leadership. Numerous examples exist to back up this claim, such as:

Instance 1:

Our school's head boy or girl has traditionally been an older student who has been around for a while and thus has a better grasp of the ins and outs of school politics.

Instance 2:

When there is a vacancy for a team leader, it is common practice for the employee who has consistently put in the most effort and attention to the office job to receive a higher number of votes than their coworkers. 

“The best teacher for a leader is evaluated experience.” - John C. Maxwell

How one can be a Great Leader/Skills to be a Great Leader?

Effective leadership is a skill that develops through time. Developing into a leader with all the qualities that are needed takes a lot of hard work and potential. Being a prominent leader calls for a wide variety of traits. Some of these characteristics are addressed in further detail below:

One should be a Good Communicator

To be an effective leader, one must be able to convey his thoughts clearly to his/her/its subordinates.

Should have Confidence

The individual should have faith in what he says and does.

Give Credit to other Team Members too

A leader not only needs to impose his viewpoints and opinions instead he must also hear to the suggestions of other members of the team and offer them credit if their concept is appropriate.

Good Bond with the Team

A leader's ability to command respect from his team members depends on his ability to develop and maintain positive relationships with them.

Leads with Responsibility

A leader needs to be completely committed to his position. It's important that he takes on responsibility so that he can effectively deal with the various challenges he will inevitably face.

Any group or organization needs a leader above all else. Leadership development takes time and effort. One needs to have lived through a lot to be an effective leader. It's not enough to simply have years of experience in the field; one must also have the traits that make one an effective leader. You can't be a great leader unless you possess certain traits.

What makes a Good Leader?

Trying one's hand as a leader appears easy when viewed through this lens. Is that so tough? Of course not; leading is difficult, and not everyone aspires to be a leader. The vast majority of us have settled into well-established careers where we report to superiors and make a living. Still, not everyone is content to go along with the crowd. They become leaders in whatever field they pursue. A leader is an example to followers and will prioritize the needs of those around them.

Some Unique Qualities of a Leader

Many individuals resort to their leaders to vent their frustrations, therefore it's important for them to be good listeners.

A leader ought to be completely forthright; they can't play favorites or give anyone preferential treatment. One of the most essential qualities of a strong leader is the ability to make decisions with integrity.

They need to be aware of the bigger picture and understand what makes an individual stand out or become a leader. It's their expertise in addition to other distinguishing traits. Their awareness of current events and the results of recent studies is essential. In many ways, this is helpful, and it's the leader's responsibility to stay current.

Since some might not understand them, they should utilize straightforward, easily comprehended language. Leaders need to be able to communicate effectively at all times. In reality, what sets them apart is their exceptional communication skills. Adolf Hitler was such a gifted orator that his followers believed every word he said.

No matter how you're feeling or what's going on in the world, if you listen to a leader, they may make you feel energized. Since leaders are in charge of inspiring confidence in their followers, they can't afford to be wary or unsure of themselves. People tend to blindly follow their leaders.

Whether you're a leader or a doctor, you should devote yourself completely to your chosen field. Everything we do is for the benefit of others; engineers, for example, spend much of their time designing and constructing buildings for other people. So, take pride in what you do, and if you possess the aforementioned traits, you are also a leader who doesn't have to rely on others to succeed. No matter what you do, aspiring to leadership positions will always benefit others.

What is Leadership in Management and what are the weaknesses and strengths of a Leader?

Simply said, leadership is acting as a supervisor or manager of a group. Different mental pictures pop up when we hear the word "leadership" used in conversation. One might think of a political leader, team leader, corporate leader, school leader, etc. Leaders facilitate order and efficiency in the workplace. Teamwork and success are fundamental to effective leadership. Leaders utilize their managerial abilities to establish courses and guide their teams to success.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Leadership

Able to express oneself more clearly

Growth of character.

Self-awareness.

Possession of teamwork skills.

Gain assurance in yourself.

Weaknesses:

Acting favorably toward one's teammates.

Having no faith in the leader.

Thinks they're better than everyone else, but act hypocritically.

Not living up to the promised standard.

Insufficient morals.

Leadership and Management

Management and leadership are inextricably linked to one another. Leadership and management are both vital to the efficient operation of an organization; but, they accomplish very different things in the process. Leadership is a necessary skill for anyone aspiring to be an effective manager. The terms management and leadership are synonymous with one another. In this manner, we are able to draw the conclusion that a manager who demonstrates the traits of a successful leader is, in fact, a manager who is effective.

Leadership in School

Leadership is essential in nearly every group, as we've seen above. That group includes one's educational institution. Every school needs an outstanding figure to serve as its head of school. Class monitor, assembly captain, cultural leader, etc. are all examples of leadership roles that can be taken on at school, but this raises the question of what makes a person a successful school leader.

Any student hoping to be chosen as a student body leader will need to demonstrate a wide range of competencies. He or she needs to be a consistent student who pays attention in class and does well in extracurricular activities. For the simple reason that no intelligent and hardworking kid would ever be considered for leadership. Student leaders are most often selected from among those who participate fully in all activities.

Leadership in Organization

Leadership in an organization, also known as organizational leadership, is the process of establishing long-term objectives that further the company's mission and help it reach its ultimate destination. This is a classic illustration of how Bill Gates often works with his team: they agree on a strategy, and Gates implements it. To the same extent, it is the responsibility of the leader in each given organization to determine what it is that the group is trying to accomplish.

Leadership in Politics

Leadership in politics, also known as political leadership, is the process of becoming actively involved in a political party in the role of a party leader. Knowledge of political processes, their outcomes, and the political agenda is central to the idea of political leadership.

An effective leader can be developed in anyone who has the determination and drives to do so. Both the strengths and the areas for improvement should be nurtured. Whether in the classroom, the workplace, or the political arena, leadership is always necessary. Therefore, one can exercise leadership anywhere they like inside their own organization.

What are the types of Leadership?

The ability to lead is a rare trait that not everyone possesses. The ability to do so is a gift, so count your blessings if you possess it. It's recommended that you hone it even more so that you can propel your career forward and serve as an example to people around you. However, it is crucial to grasp the various leadership styles before you go ahead and polish your skills.

Types of Leadership Styles

Democratic Leadership

In this style of management, subordinates are given a voice in decision-making. Although the subordinates' efforts are highlighted, the leader is ultimately held responsible for the group's actions. Many people find this type of leadership to be effective.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders motivate and inspire others to adopt new behaviors and ways of thinking in order to improve their own performance and that of their teams and organizations. A transformational leader is someone who encourages their team to strive for greater things and works to boost morale and output.

Team Leadership

A good leader fully incorporates his team into the task at hand. Members of the team are motivated to reach their goals and advance in their careers thanks to the leadership of the group.

Strategic Leadership

It requires a chief executive who doesn't restrict himself to brainstorming sessions with his superiors. He contributes on every level of the team. He is well-liked for his ability to unite the need for fresh ideas with the necessity of grounding them in reality.

Autocratic Leadership

The leader in a command and control structure is the center of attention. The chief executive has absolute power in this setting. He decides things on his own, without polling his staff. He relays this information to his staff and stresses the importance of swift action. The buck stops with him, and he alone must answer for his actions. Not much room for negotiation exists. It's no secret that this method of leading has its detractors.

Visionary Leadership

This kind of leader appreciates the abilities and requirements of his team members. He describes his ideal outcome and the teamwork that will be necessary to attain it.

Coaching Leadership

Leaders who coach their teams do so regularly in an effort to raise output. He inspires his employees to do better and works to keep them motivated. This approach to leadership has been much praised.

Facilitative Leadership

With occasional guidance, a facilitative leader ensures that the process runs smoothly for his team. As a precaution in case his team is ineffective. If the team is highly effective, the leader will take a hands-off approach.

Cross-Cultural Leadership

The leadership of this type is necessary when interacting with people from various cultural backgrounds. Because of the wide variety of cultures represented in the workforce across the United States, many managers and executives hold cross-cultural positions.

Laissez-Faire Leadership

The members of the team are given responsibility in this style of management. They are free to choose how they spend their time at work, with minimal oversight from the boss. It's not a good way to lead, according to experts.

Transactional Leadership

An interactive approach is integral to this kind of leadership. When team members successfully implement their leader's ideas and choices, they are rewarded with immediate, material benefits.

Charismatic Leadership

In order to bring out the best in his followers, this kind of leader makes the effort to change their attitudes, values, and actions.

This article should dispel the notion that leadership qualities can't be further subdivided. It should also assist you in pinpointing your own personal brand of leadership so you can perfect it over time.

Final Words

In conclusion, leadership is a complex and multifaceted concept that involves various qualities and skills. Effective leaders possess traits such as integrity, vision, empathy, decisiveness, and the ability to inspire and motivate others. They are able to navigate challenges, make difficult decisions, and lead their team toward success. Leadership also involves continuous learning and self-improvement, as leaders must adapt to changing circumstances and remain relevant. Effective leadership can have a positive impact on both individuals and organizations, fostering growth and creating a culture of success.

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Leadership Essay

27 August, 2020

12 minutes read

Author:  Richard Pircher

As a college student, you must write essays on a regular basis since the latter is one of the most common types of home assignments. All this means is that in order to get good grades and be successful with writing the papers, you need to have a sound understanding of the structure. Additionally, what you should never neglect is the variety of essay types. Indeed, your essay will significantly differ from one type to another: description essay will most likely have a structure that is slightly different from an argumentative one.

What you may have already encountered in your academic life is the work on a leadership essay. Although it sounds pretty complicated and vague, it is mostly possible to master an essay on leadership. Below is a guide for you to get an insight into this particular essay type.

What is a good leadership essay?

A good leadership essay is the one in which the essay writer has fully covered the topic of leadership and understood its core ideas. More specifically, to end up with a flawless leadership essay, you will need to indicate what makes a person a good leader. For achieving the latter, you will most likely need to conduct research and trace how a particular person reaches his or her goals. In other words, the task is to discover which actions the person undertakes, what their followers say about him or her, and how the person organizes the work. So, a leadership essay implies providing real-life success examples and further revealing them.

Above all, a good leadership essay is the one that follows a precise, clear, comprehensive structure. Structuring your essay about leadership in the most coherent way leads to a win-win situation: you have fewer troubles and barriers to writing a brilliant essay, and your teacher is able to comprehend the essay easily. This guide is what you will need to refer to to get an insight into how the flawless structure for a leadership essay looks like and how it will let you take a benefit.

How to write a Leadership essay?

To write a leadership essay that stands out, you first need to brainstorm all the ideas that you have and come up with a topic for your essay. If you are struggling with this step, you may think of some of the most influential people, read about them, and find out what makes them unique. Or, you can pick any topic which is mentioned at the end of this article. After you have chosen an issue, it is time to structure your essay appropriately.

As you already know, an essay constitutes three essential sections: introduction, main body, and conclusion. Below is the more detailed description of each of the parts.

Introduction

Of course, your leadership essay introduction will always vary depending on the topic of the essay. However, you can always begin by stating your vision of leadership regardless of the topic. Additionally, to motivate the reader and instantly catch his or her attention, you may use a quote of a famous leader, or simply a quote which you find relevant to the topic. Be aware that you should avoid outlining the essence and the role of the leadership in your introduction; leave it for the body paragraphs.

What you may also do in your leadership essay is ask a question, which will most likely intrigue the leader. Or it will at least give your reader an overview of what you will dwell on  in your essay.

Body Paragraphs

You will need to divide the main body into 3-5 paragraphs to make the structure more comprehensive. What you have to do at this point  is  give your reader a sound understanding of your ideas. Therefore, try to fit each idea in a single body paragraph so that you do not confuse your reader. Do not hesitate to indicate your examples to strengthen your arguments. For instance, you may explain a fact that makes a particular person you are writing about a real leader.

Also, always stick to your thesis statement and don’t forget that the body paragraphs should reveal the parts of your thesis statement.

As you may already know, you need to restate your opinion and briefly summarize all the points from the main body in conclusion. For instance, if you wrote your essay on qualities of an effective leader, state the most fundamental qualities and indicate why they matter the most. Besides, try not to copy what you have already written in the body – it is better to restate your opinion using different words. And, of course, beware adding any new and extra information; indicate only those points that you have already outlined in the text. Finally, keep in mind that it is always favorable to keep your concluding remarks short.

Leadership Essay Examples

Writing a leadership essay requires some research and time. In case you feel the necessity to go through an essay example, below is a leadership essay sample you can refer to.

Is leadership an inborn or an acquired feature?

Is everyone capable of becoming a leader, or is this ability innate? A lot of researchers have been struggling to answer this question. One assumption about leadership implies that the leader is the person who possesses particular characteristics. Another assumption claims that leaders are capable of acquiring specific features over their life span. As the evidence shows, leaders own many features that distinguish them among others and make more and more people become their followers. These might be cognitive abilities, psychological traits, professional qualities, and a lot more, and all of them will be either acquired or innate. Based on the importance of leadership qualities, such as commitment, stress resistance, and the ability to make quality decisions, it is reasonable to claim that leaders are made, not born. 

One can deem commitment as one of the top fundamental qualities of the leader. In essence, such a feature indicates that a person is passionate about the common goal, strives to be a team player, and makes every effort to reach a shared goal. As the history shows, none of the successful companies was uncoordinated by an influential, committed leader: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft – all of these companies are examples of dominant teams led by a dedicated leader. A committed leader also inspires his or her team to achieve common goals and put more effort into the shared activity. Besides, commitment is unlikely to be an innate feature; it instead comes with experience. This is so, since commitment implies dedicating oneself to the shared task, and one can reach it only via learning and continuous self-improvement.

Stress resistance is another incredibly important feature that every good leader should possess. This is because only a stress-resistant leader has sufficient capabilities to overcome any complexity and not let the anxiety and stress prevent him or her from making proper decisions. Besides, such a leader will most likely have a positive influence on the team, as long as leading by example will motivate the team members to attain the same emotional stability. What is so far familiar about stress resistance as an effective leader’s feature is that it can be either innate or attained. However, although some researchers admit that emotional stability is something one is born with, it is not entirely true; many people still put a great effort into self-improvement, changing the attitude to unfortunate situations, and so on. Therefore, being resistant to stress can be mostly attributed to a personality.

An ability to make high-quality decisions most likely determines the chances for an enterprise’s success. In particular, such quality is incredibly fundamental for a company of any size and professional orientation. Additionally, it is one of the top tasks of a good leader to make final decisions. What he or she should do implies brainstorming, discussing various opinions in the group, making forecasts, analyzing all the pros and cons. However, the leader is the one to make a final decision. Thereby, he is in charge of researching the market, discovering all the hidden truths, and analyzing the organization’s potential and capabilities to result in the most effective decision. As it flows logically from the latter, an ability to make sound quality decisions is purely a professional quality. This leads to the conclusion that one has to work hard to become a genuine leader and master the skill of making effective decisions. 

Overall, the leader may possess a multitude of different skills and master them perfectly. However, what has so far become transparent is that any leader, regardless of which team he leads, must possess three essential qualities. These qualities are commitment to the common goal, ability to handle and resist stress, and, finally, an ability to make effective decisions. All of the three qualities are most likely to be acquired over a lifetime. The statement below leads to the conclusion that even though some qualities can be innate, most are not the ones that leaders are born with. Hence, this answers an essential question: leadership feature is acquired, and not necessarily inborn.  

20 leadership essay topics

When coming up with your next leadership essay topic, it is imperative to brainstorm ideas and think of what leadership might be related to. If you are struggling with a topic of the importance of leadership essay or any relevant type of essay, you may quickly take a look at some of the possible topics we prepared for you:

• What are the main qualities of the leader?
• Successful Time Management as a feature of an effective leader
• The role that rhetoric plays in leadership
• The most exceptional leader in the history of the 20-th century
• The role of female leadership
• What are the challenges of the leader of the 21-st century?
• How college helps students develop leadership skills?
• Qualities of the leader that motivate people to follow them 
• Top things to avoid doing to become a team leader
• Examples of effective and ineffective leadership in the history
• Top techniques for developing leadership skills
• The interconnection of creativity and leadership 
• Is a university’s role fundamental in developing leadership skills?
• Dictatorship as an anti-example of leadership
• Liberal vs Authoritative leadership: which one works better?
• The influence of the leader’s role model on the followers’ mindset
• Main difficulties that the new leader may face in a new team
• Leadership of today vs leadership of the past: what has changed?
• Reasons why I want to become a member if the leadership program
• The role of cognitive abilities for the leader 

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A Full Guide On How To Create Good Leadership Essay

Attempting a leadership essay isn’t such a daunting task, provided you have a grasp of the necessary information needed for a leadership paper. To write this special essay, you’ll need to redefine what exactly an essay on leadership is, how to choose the perfect topic, what should be in the content, and how to organize and structure the paper. Let’s delve deeper!

What Is A Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a well-formatted, organized and specialized type of formal writing which elaborates on a generic leadership topic or a superior human figure exercising a great influence on people and transmitting desire and optimism to achieve goals.

What Makes A Good Leader Essay?

There are some peculiarities needed to infuse in your write-up if, for example, you’re trying to learn how to write a leadership essay about yourself.

Also, if you’re just trying to produce leadership essays for college, then you’d first and foremost, learn  how to structure an essay , among other skills needed for this type of essay. Here are some qualities which can be found in a good essay about leadership.

• Choose a creative topic
• Avoid the passive voice (the active voice sounds stronger)
• Search for and study leadership essay examples
• Follow the appropriate essay style
• Focus on the essay structure
• Review the essay

How To Choose A Topic And Make A Great Title?

To choose a topic for a paper on leadership, you need to do some research on the concept of a leader (whether in the corporate industry, political society or even in the criminal world). You have to know the current leadership tendencies in organizational groups or society. You can choose to make a leader the point of your reference by explaining the consequences of their leadership abilities or inabilities.

In the body of your essay, don’t forget to mention several types of leadership styles and point out which one the subject portrays. Finally, you should not rule out making comparisons of famous leaders in the modern world or in history. An example of a great prompt for a leadership essay that deploys the comparison technique would be the leadership styles of President Trump and The Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte as both leadership styles have been subjected to political reviews in recent times since their emergence as president of their respective countries.

Outline For A Leadership Essay

When writing a college or professional essay such as -long and short essays on leadership, planning is the key to perfection. The general outline for any essay, including leadership papers, include an introduction, the body paragraphs (which must be properly linked with transition words and/or phrases) and a recapitulating or finding-based conclusions. Here’s what your outline should look like:

Introduction

Knowing how to start a leadership essay depends on your introduction writing ability. The introduction is the gateway to the essay. Aided by punchy opening words, which are the hook, the purpose of the introduction is to draw the reader’s attention. The introduction presents the thesis statement and leaves the body paragraphs to sustain the reader’s interest.

Body Paragraphs

Having informed the readers of the topic of the essay in the introductory paragraph(s), the body paragraphs follow immediately.

Here, you can elaborate on the concept of leadership and do a meaningful interpretation of the subject – the topic or the thesis statement. Don’t forget to talk about your leadership philosophies and leadership experience in whatever capacity you might have found yourself in. Remember, people are more interested in personal experiences. They are great in helping to sustain readers’ attention.

Remember to state a thesis or hypothesis in the opening paragraphs – which is the intro. In each of the body paragraphs of the essay, try to relate your points to the thesis and use each point to prove its validity.

The conclusion is the end part of any well-structured essay. Its purpose is a no-brainer. You don’t want to leave your reader hanging by ending the essay cold turkey. Any standard essay without a conclusion is just as useless as an essay with no purpose. However, be careful not to present new ideas not mentioned in the body.

As mentioned, the conclusion serves to summarize the developed points, restate the thesis and/or present the findings. It is your last opportunity to create an impression on the reader, and this is where they take the message away. If your conclusion is weak, then we might say the essay’s objectives are not achieved.

What To Include In A Leadership Essay?

Here are some tips on what your leadership essay should include.

Your Definition Of A Good Leader And Why He Or She Is Important

Since your essay revolves around leadership and the traits of a good leader, you’ll need to define what it takes to be one. You may also take this opportunity to trash some common myths on what a leader is (i.e., a manager being confused for a leader).

For reference purposes, the concepts of leadership and being a good leader are explained:

Leadership is the quality of a leader and is that person capable of exercising a great influence on people and transmitting desire and optimism to achieve goals. A leader is a guide; someone with ideas and goals that can spread to a large group of people who still believe he or she can lead them in the right direction.

There are many types of leaders and therefore, of leadership since people generally always look for a person or group that shows them a direction to follow. You can find religious, political, social, or philosophical leadership. Leadership can be exercised in a traditional way. In many countries, there is a monarchy. The king or queen is a leader with limited political power, at least in western democracies, but still have the respect and consideration of the people. Their words continue to be heard and taken into account, especially in problematic times. There are other types of leadership that are not given by birth, such as legitimate leadership exercised by, for example, political leaders freely chosen by their people, or charismatic leaders.

In a way, charismatic leaders are what many understand as leaders since they are people who, by their way of behavior and characteristics, get many people to follow and adhere to their ideas. Some charismatic leaders can become legitimate leaders if they choose the path of politics. A traditional leader can also be charismatic. There have always been kings loved by his people more than others. But it can also be a person who prefers independent movements outside of power.

Charisma is the personal magnetism a person has. It is something very difficult to define but makes one capable of convincing others without too much effort, making people follow and trust the leading figure. Charisma can be used positively or negatively. The leaders of the most destructive sects are very charismatic people that are capable of convincing their followers of the eeriest ideas, including donating all their belongings or committing collective suicide.

Examples Of Your Leadership Style

In the content of your essay, you may consider giving an interpretation to your (or your chosen leader’s) leadership traits. Below are some examples of leadership qualities that separate a good leader from a bad leader.

What qualities are necessary for leadership

• Communication
• Emotional intelligence
• Strategic thinking
• Commitment and passion
• Knowledge and experience
• Leading by example
• Active listening
• Ability to enhance talent
• Setting goals and expectations
• People investment
• Discernment
• Concentration
• Positive attitude
• Problem-solving
• Self-discipline

Leadership Essay Example

To know how to do essay fast, you’ll need some ready-made essay examples for the sake of guidance and inspiration. You may find below a leadership essay written by Oliver Smith useful in your leadership paper.

Writing a leadership essay should be easy. A good essay on leadership starts from the hook, and the thesis statement in the introduction. The points developed in the body paragraphs help affirm the hypothesis. Finally, the conclusion offers the reader a summary through the restatement of the essay’s main idea.

As required for every essay type, your essay on leadership has to follow a definite style and format. Examples are MLA, APA, Chicago and AP styles. Take your time in choosing a creative but new topic and also in writing the content. By following this guide, everything should be as perfect as possible.

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Essays About Effective Leadership: Top 6 Examples and Prompts

Effective leadership is an essential trait that all people should strive to develop; here are 6 examples and topic ideas essays about effective leadership .

Many qualities make an inspiring and effective leader, such as vision, focus, and motivation. Like other skills, effective leadership can be innate or learned and practiced. When writing about leadership, include the strengths of an effective leader and how these qualities positively impact their team. You can also discuss weaknesses that can make a poor leader and how to combat these issues.

Here are 6 examples and 10 essay prompts to get you started on your next essay.

1. What Makes an Effective Leader? by Tony Gill

2. a guide to becoming an effective leader by yashi srivastava , 3. leadership: 5 practices of effective leaders by yvette gyles, 4. 6 characteristics of an effective leader by lauren landry, 5. six leadership lessons by order of the peaky blinders by andrew denton mbe, 6. leadership and the quest for certainty by keith grint,  1. what is effective leadership, 2. what does effective leadership look like in the corporate industry, 3. what to avoid to become an effective leader, 4. habits of an effective leader, 5. studying the mindsets of effective leaders, 6. effective leadership and its benefits to an organization, 7. indicators of strong and effective leadership, 8. poor leadership vs. effective leadership, 9. real-life examples of effective leadership, 10. how perception creates effective leadership.

“Work at using leadership styles that do not come naturally, styles that you find difficult. By becoming a well-rounded leader, it is easier to adapt your leadership technique for different situations.”

Gill uses a research-based approach to answer the central question of his essay. He looks at various sources that tackle the topic of effective leadership and stitch them together to make a comprehensive guide to effective leadership.

“Leadership is not a mystical quality, and anyone can become a more effective leader by developing some important skills.”

The author, Yashi Srivastava, defines what differentiates leaders from managers first. Then, she provides some dos and don’ts of an effective leader and how people could apply them in different situations. 

“Whereas as leaders, we need to be concerned about creativity and innovation, making positive changes, and seeking to challenge and push boundaries.”

Gyles specializes in leadership training for companies, so her approach to the essay is geared more toward company leaders. Nevertheless, it’s highly educational for all those interested in learning effective leadership meant for dealing with various people and guiding people to a direction or goal.

“Effective leaders don’t avoid the hard truths. Instead, they take responsibility for their decisions, maintain optimism, and focus on charting a new course of action.”

Landry’s essay focuses on her six top characteristics of an effective leader. Some of these characteristics are what you’d expect to see in an essay like this. Entries like transparency are less common but equally important in practicing effective leadership.

“Rolling your sleeves up with everyone else not only sets an example, it makes people want to follow you.”

Fiction mirrors life, and it’s one of the best sources to learn lessons that are otherwise too complex or vague to see in real life. Despite his penchant for crime and violence, Thomas Shelby is undeniably one of the most influential leaders on TV. This essay details the leadership skills used by a 1920s gangster character and how you can use them in modern life to become an effective and inspiring leader.

“Leadership is often associated with certainty; indeed, it is sometimes reduced to the decision-making process such that anything which smacks of uncertainty is categorized as weakness or a failure of leadership.”  

Grint’s essay on leadership explores the factors around leaders’ certainty or confidence. Of course, not all leaders have a clear answer to a problem, which is fine. The important thing is that they have a mindset to look for solutions and a modicum of honesty about their lack of uncertainty.

10 Essay Prompts on Effective Leadership

It’s your turn to express and explore your view of effective leadership. Use these prompts to work out your approach or steps to effective leadership. Here are ten prompts about effective leadership to help you get started on your essay.

Defining effective leadership is one way to explore your understanding of the idea. Remember that your definition of effective leadership could vastly differ from the other essays you’ve read. It’s also a great starting point for new people who want to warm up to the habit of writing essays about leadership.

Essay writing tip: If you’re new to writing essays, consider simplifying your essay. Try shortening it down to a five-paragraph essay .

You can find many leaders in the corporate industry, but some are more effective than others. Use this prompt to work out how you envision effective leadership in the corporate world. You can also apply the same idea to other fields, like at school, among friends or peer groups, or in the family. Consider carefully the field or organization you’d like to use for the essay.

You may have personal experience with a person who could have been an effective leader if not for their bad habits. You might have been that person and realized how your bad habits had held you back from practicing effective leadership. This is your chance to write about your experience, whether via observing someone else or through personal growth.

Practicing effective leadership goes beyond having direction and a vision for the organization. Becoming an effective leader also takes time and patience. Use this prompt to discuss the habits of great leaders and how these habits make them effective in their leadership.

Get into the mind of a leader and explore how such a person might become more effective in their leadership. This topic may involve discussing various people, whether real-life persons or fictional characters. Research how they think, handle their role and manage the people they lead.

Understanding the benefits of effective leadership is one of the best ways to drive someone to practice and adopt it. Use this prompt to detail how an effective leader boosts morale, productivity, motivation, communication quality, and confidence in the people they lead. It applies to all organizations, like businesses, teams, and networks.

How do you know whether a person’s leadership style and approach are effective or not? Use this essay topic to discover the different methods of measuring effective leadership. Read about the different measurements and indicators of leadership used in corporations and organizations.

Leaders can be good, mediocre, or bad in their leadership approaches and styles. This essay prompt will push you to compare bad leadership and effective leadership. You can also add methods of improving one’s leadership style to become more effective.

You can find a lot of excellent leaders throughout history. This idea focuses on discussing different leaders, their leadership styles, and levels of effectiveness.

Interpersonal skills are vital to great leadership. Perception of others’ feelings and thoughts can help you become an even better and more effective leader. Discuss how intuitiveness positively affects one’s leadership style. 

Check out our list of great essay writing topics for students for more topics to improve your writing.

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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A Blue Print for the best Leadership Essay

Leadership encompasses a variety of tenets. It includes leadership approaches or styles, leadership development, types of leadership, leadership principles, leadership values, and leadership theories. These are but a few concepts that any college student must be acquainted with to be able to complete an essay on leadership.

As complex as writing a leadership essay sounds, it is simple when you know how to write an essay about leadership. You must begin by understanding who a leader is and the entire concept of leadership.

When writing an essay about a leader, it is akin to writing a profile essay about a certain leader or yourself. Leadership essays for college require a special type of keenness. While there are many scholarly sources you can use, it takes expertise to knit together a great leadership essay introduction.

This guide helps you write the ?what is leadership? essay effectively. It also enables you to write the best nature of leadership essay. If you are stuck with choosing leadership essay topics, our guide has over 89 essay topics on leadership and ideas that you can use to brainstorm. From today on, write the best leadership essay conclusion. And if it is a leadership essay for a scholarship, admission, or personal statement, we have experts that can help. We also have proofreading and editing professionals to help edit and proofread your leadership thesis and dissertation.

Read on and see what we have for you.

What is a Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is somewhat a unique assignment assigned to college and university students. It can be part of the admission or scholarship essays or part of the coursework. Naturally, it is an assignment assigned to students pursuing different courses such as business, management, human resource, organizational behavior, economics, psychology, or political science, among others. A leadership essay encompasses exploration:

• The concept of leadership
• Nature of leadership
• Stories on prominent leaders
• Leadership traits and qualities
• The link between leadership and development, success, performance, and improvement
• Leadership abilities
• Facts and events of an individual?s leadership experience

To write a good leadership paper, a student must begin by reading the essay prompt and the rubric. A student should then think critically and logically on what to include in their paper. Like other exceptional essays, a good essay on leadership must have credible facts from scholarly sources. The instructor/professor is always testing for your evaluation, assessment, analytical, and presentation skills.

Tips when Writing Leadership Essays for College

Creating a perfect leadership essay is easy when you follow these predetermined success-assured steps.

1. Choose a leadership Topic that interests you

When assigning leadership essays, most professors and instructors alike give prompts with a list of topics to choose from. Go for topics that impress you and ones that you can find great information from books, journals, credible websites, and other scholarly sources.

2. Research Online and Get enough insights

After selecting a particular topic, ensure that you go a step higher to conduct research online. Gather as much information from the available literature as possible. The research process, when writing leadership essays, helps in generating ideas for the introduction, body, and conclusion of the essay. It also helps define the scope of your essay and come up with a thesis.

3. Create an excellent thesis statement

Your thesis statement in your essay on leadership should reflect the outlook of the entire essay. Format it to feature your major argument in an intelligent and reasoned way. An excellent thesis statement defines a good essay any day.

4. Draft the Leadership Essay Outline

Every great essay begins with an outline. Creating an outline for your leadership essay helps you draft a blueprint for the entire essay. Outline what will go to the introduction, the thesis statement, and the background information.

5. Write your First Draft

With the arguments reflected on the outline, you can choose to use any format for the body paragraphs. A common approach is to use the PEEL writing strategy for coherence in your paragraphs. You can also use the Schaffer strategy. The choice is yours. Above all, ensure that facts from scholarly sources are cited in-text in MLA, APA, Harvard, or Chicago formats.

6. Edit, Proofread and Revise your Essay

After writing your essay, it is always great to edit and proofread. If you have no confidence in your leadership essay, you can hire someone to edit your leadership essays . If you are an MBA student, we can help you correct mistakes on your paper. Always submit a paper you are confident will pass Turnitin and get you great grades.

How to Begin a Leadership Paper - The Introduction

You are probably reading this because the question of ?how do I start my leadership essay?? is bothering you. Well, even though the question seems ambiguous, we have an answer for you right here.

Every great leadership essay has an excellent introduction. Your introduction should be well-written to the extent that it grabs the attention of the reader and entices them to stay through the end. Ideally, the introduction sets the mood of the entire paper.

As with other types of essays, a leadership essay can commence with a great essay hook or a grabber . It could be an anecdote, a statistic, quote, phrase, or a catchy word.

The hook should be preceded by a few sentences that act as the background to your essay. The aim of the background sentences, in the introduction, is to set the context of the essay.

The background is then followed by an excellent thesis statement . The thesis statement gives a sneak peek into your essay in a snapshot. It can either be one or two last sentences in the introduction. The thesis differs depending on whether the essay is descriptive, classification, narrative, argumentative, or persuasive essay.

If you follow these steps, you will write an outstanding essay on leadership. Make it count right from the beginning.

How to Ace a Leadership Experience Essay

When writing application essays, scholarship essays, or school transfer essays, you can be asked to write an essay about your leadership experience. It is always imperative to make your essay as unique as the Costco application essay. Here are some tips to use when writing your leadership essay:

• Begin by reading the leadership experience essay prompt to understand exactly what you are being asked to write about.
• Come up with an excellent essay hook for your essay. It could be an anecdote, a quote from a great leader, a simple statistic, or an observation?.
• Write the thesis of your leadership experience essay, which should cover the gist of the entire essay.
• Write the introduction of the essay as though it is to be published among the best sellers.
• Make sure each of the paragraphs outlines your leadership experiences. Each of the paragraphs should have leadership experience, illustrations, and examples.
• Keep the flow within the paper by using appropriate transitions.
• Avoid using jargon in your leadership essays. In most cases, simplicity wins the day, and after all, a successful leader expresses themselves in just a few words.
• If there are references used, be sure to cite the essay in APA, MLA, Harvard, or Chicago.
• Make the conclusion count. Restate the thesis and write a summary of the entire paper.
• Most leadership essays can be anything between 150 words to 2000 words. Depending on the essay prompt, always be sure to meet the word count.

Remember, if the leadership experience essay is a scholarship essay, personal statement, statement of purpose, or an admission essay, it should be written in the first person. Otherwise, you must stick to the third person, which is a preference in academic writing.

Leadership Essay Topics and Ideas you can choose for your Paper

Are you wondering about the best leadership essay topics? We have your back on this. Here are some essay topics on leadership to kick start your topic choice process. We answer the question of ?what are some essay topics on leadership??

• The ability of women in leadership to successfully steer progress and success in organizations.
• Role of leaders in the community
• Charismatic, transformational, and transactional leadership
• Characteristics of a good leader
• Features of supportive leadership
• Leadership and Power
• Women in leadership
• Breaking the glass ceiling
• Role of ethics in leadership
• Gender differences in leadership
• Importance of team leadership in virtual teams
• Role of leaders in group formation
• How leadership brings diversity in an organization
• Corruption among public leaders
• Are leaders made or born?
• Can situations define a leader?
• Leadership succession and its importance in organizations
• Do you consider yourself to be a leader or a follower?
• An example of a 21 st -century exemplary leader
• Challenges leaders face
• Importance of listening for leaders
• Are transformational leaders better than transactional leaders?
• How to improve leadership skills
• Great leaders should be great communicators
• Who do you look up to as a leader?
• Importance of self-confidence among leaders
• Which leader do you admire? Please write a letter to of gratitude for their influence on your life
• The importance of leadership in schools
• Historical leaders
• Think of a leader you admire and list three of the qualities that make him or her a good leader. Which quality do you share with him or her? Which quality could you improve upon?
• How can you improve your own leadership skills?
• Role of military leadership
• Do entrepreneurs need to be leaders?
• An integrative theory of leadership
• The impacts of national culture on corporate and public leadership
• Leadership and organizational development
• How leadership affects the morale of employees
• Does leadership competence define the organization of choice for employees
• The link between leadership and organizational citizenship behavior
• Leadership and organizational loyalty
• Variation of leadership behavior depending on the culture
• Leadership processes and self-identity of followers
• Leadership style and organizational commitment
• The prospective of future leadership
• Role of strategic leadership
• The Influence of democratic leadership on Employee performance: A case in Saudi Public Sector
• Business leadership and culture
• The normative approach to business leadership
• Comparative analysis of the world?s greatest military leaders
• Understanding combat leadership
• Role of military leaders in strategy and policy implementation
• Meyers Briggs Type Indicator best for military leadership
• Understanding the art of command in military leadership
• How school leadership works
• Does the leadership styles of a school principle define the success of a school?
• Are collaborative school leaders successful?
• The role of power, culture, and people in educational leadership
• Leadership and policy implementation
• Leadership style of educators
• School leadership in the 21 st century
• Teacher leadership for professional resilience
• Qualities of exceptional school leaders
• How professional school leaders deal with dilemmas
• Leadership and the glass ceiling
• The performance of indigenous communities in political leadership
• Sustainable environmental leadership
• Corporate leadership
• The psychology of leadership
• African-American women executives and organizational leadership
• Ethics as the heart of leadership
• Servant leadership
• Leadership challenges in virtual teams
• Leadership development and growth
• Evolving human resource practices in succession planning
• Contemporary issues of leadership
• Leadership investment
• Importance of leadership for nurses
• Are leadership traits inherent, or can people be molded into good leaders?
• Are meetings the only effective way for sound leaders to disseminate information?
• Compare and contrast the effectiveness of dictatorial and servant leadership
• Explore the church leadership approach
• The foundation of biblical leadership
• Compare business and political leadership
• The bureaucratic structure of government and their impact on leadership in the public domain
• Best leadership styles for diverse teams
• Impacts of technology and social media on the leadership style of millennial leaders
• Compare and contrast formal and informal leaders
• The leadership philosophy of great leaders
• Critical analysis of leadership styles and organizational culture that enables the implementation of a proposed local project of advancing the Nursing practice

Contact us for the best topics and help with your MBA leadership essays or essays for school on leadership. Our professional essay writers can always help.

Top 30 Leadership Qualities to Include in a Leadership Essay

As a student undertaking a leadership course, completing an essay, term paper, or a research paper on leadership is mandatory. When asked to write an essay on leadership, it would be best if you used some of the leadership traits.

The common traits include

• Transparency
• Conscientious
• Excellent communication
• Decision-Making Skills
• Problem-solving capacity
• Accountability and responsibility
• Delegation and empowerment
• Emotional intelligence
• Creativity and innovation
• Decisiveness
• Unselfishness
• Dependability

These are some of the powerful traits of successful leaders . Of course, there are many other traits that you can research and include in your leadership essays. Effective leaders need to be very tactical when influencing their followers. They need to foster teamwork where necessary and use their wisdom to solve conflicts among the followers. It is great to have empathy or fit in the shoes of a leader when writing your leadership essay. Sometimes, even as simple as a biography essay, a leadership essay needs to be well-organized such that there is flow and a good explanation of the traits is inevitable.

Help with Writing Leadership Essay for College

You might have read the entire article but still cannot comprehend how to write a leadership essay. It is always time to get a great leadership essay sample to understand how one is written. If, even with the leadership essay example, you cannot write the essay, you need help.

Related Reading: Descriptive essay writing process and topics .

Luckily, we have writers for hire who write various types of essays on leadership. The leadership essays we can help with include: narrative, how-to, compare and contrast, classification, exemplification, descriptive, persuasive, argumentative, and reflection essays on leadership.

You can pay our paper writers to write the best leadership essays for school. If you are doing an MBA leadership essay, you can always consult with our writers for the best insights and advice.

Even with this ultimate guide for writing a leadership, things can get thick. Getting help with writing college essays is not illegal. Get a great homework helper or an assignment helper from our website to help you write a custom leadership essay, today!

Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.

What is leadership?

All leaders, to a certain degree, do the same thing. Whether you’re talking about an executive, manager, sports coach, or schoolteacher, leadership is about guiding and impacting outcomes, enabling groups of people to work together to accomplish what they couldn’t do working individually. In this sense, leadership is something you do, not something you are. Some people in formal leadership positions are poor leaders, and many people exercising leadership have no formal authority. It is their actions, not their words, that inspire trust and energy.

Get to know and directly engage with senior McKinsey experts on leadership

Aaron De Smet is a senior partner in McKinsey’s New Jersey office, Carolyn Dewar is a senior partner in the Bay Area office, Scott Keller is a senior partner in the Southern California office, and Vik Malhotra and Ramesh Srinivasan are senior partners in the New York office.

What’s more, leadership is not something people are born with—it is a skill you can learn. At the core are mindsets, which are expressed through observable behaviors , which then lead to measurable outcomes. Is a leader communicating effectively or engaging others by being a good listener? Focusing on behaviors lets us be more objective when assessing leadership effectiveness. The key to unlocking shifts in behavior is focusing on mindsets, becoming more conscious about our thoughts and beliefs, and showing up with integrity as our full authentic selves.

There are many contexts and ways in which leadership is exercised. But, according to McKinsey analysis of academic literature as well as a survey of nearly 200,000 people in 81 organizations all over the world, there are four types of behavior that account for 89 percent of leadership effectiveness :

• being supportive
• operating with a strong results orientation
• seeking different perspectives
• solving problems effectively

Effective leaders know that what works in one situation will not necessarily work every time. Leadership strategies must reflect each organization’s context and stage of evolution. One important lens is organizational health, a holistic set of factors that enable organizations to grow and succeed over time. A situational approach  enables leaders to focus on the behaviors that are most relevant as an organization becomes healthier.

Senior leaders must develop a broad range of skills to guide organizations. Ten timeless topics are important for leading nearly any organization, from attracting and retaining talent  to making culture a competitive advantage. A 2017 McKinsey book, Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths (Bloomsbury, 2017), goes deep on each aspect.

How is leadership evolving?

In the past, leadership was called “management,” with an emphasis on providing technical expertise and direction. The context was the traditional industrial economy command-and-control organization, where leaders focused exclusively on maximizing value for shareholders. In these organizations, leaders had three roles: planners (who develop strategy, then translate that strategy into concrete steps), directors (who assign responsibilities), or controllers (who ensure people do what they’ve been assigned and plans are adhered to).

What are the limits of traditional management styles?

Traditional management was revolutionary in its day and enormously effective in building large-scale global enterprises that have materially improved lives over the past 200 years. However, with the advent of the 21st century, this approach is reaching its limits.

For one thing, this approach doesn’t guarantee happy or loyal managers or workers. Indeed, a large portion of American workers—56 percent— claim their boss is mildly or highly toxic , while 75 percent say dealing with their manager is the most stressful part of their workday.

For 21st-century organizations operating in today’s complex business environment, a fundamentally new and more effective approach to leadership is emerging. Leaders today are beginning to focus on building agile, human-centered, and digitally enabled organizations able to thrive in today’s unprecedented environment and meet the needs of a broader range of stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers, and communities, in addition to investors).

What is the emerging new approach to leadership?

This new approach to leadership is sometimes described as “ servant leadership .” While there has been some criticism of the nomenclature, the idea itself is simple: rather than being a manager directing and controlling people, a more effective approach is for leaders to be in service of the people they lead. The focus is on how leaders can make the lives of their team members easier—physically, cognitively, and emotionally. Research suggests this mentality can enhance both team performance and satisfaction.

In this new approach, leaders practice empathy, compassion, vulnerability, gratitude, self-awareness, and self-care. They provide appreciation and support, creating psychological safety so their employees are able to collaborate, innovate, and raise issues as appropriate. This includes celebrating achieving the small steps on the way to reaching big goals and enhancing people’s well-being through better human connections. These conditions have been shown to allow for a team’s best performance.

More broadly, developing this new approach to leadership can be expressed as making five key shifts that include, build on, and extend beyond traditional approaches:

• beyond executive to visionary, shaping a clear purpose that resonates with and generates holistic impact for all stakeholders
• beyond planner to architect, reimagining industries and innovating business systems that are able to create new levels of value
• beyond director to catalyst, engaging people to collaborate in open, empowered networks
• beyond controller to coach, enabling the organization to constantly evolve through rapid learning, and enabling colleagues to build new mindsets, knowledge, and skills
• beyond boss to human, showing up as one’s whole, authentic self

Together, these shifts can help a leader expand their repertoire and create a new level of value for an organization’s stakeholders. The last shift is the most important, as it is based on developing a new level of consciousness and awareness of our inner state. Leaders who look inward  and take a journey of genuine self-discovery make profound shifts in themselves and their lives; this means they are better able to benefit their organization. That involves developing “profile awareness” (a combination of a person’s habits of thought, emotions, hopes, and behavior in different circumstances) and “state awareness” (the recognition of what’s driving a person to take action). Combining individual, inward-looking work with outward-facing actions can help create lasting change.

Introducing McKinsey Explainers : Direct answers to complex questions

Leaders must learn to make these five shifts at three levels : transforming and evolving personal mindsets and behaviors; transforming teams to work in new ways; and transforming the broader organization by building new levels of agility, human-centeredness, and value creation into the entire enterprise’s design and culture.

An example from the COVID-19 era offers a useful illustration of this new approach to leadership. In pursuit of a vaccine breakthrough, at the start of the pandemic Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel increased the frequency of executive meetings  from once a month to twice a week. The company implemented a decentralized model enabling teams to work independently and deliver on the bold goal of providing 100 million doses of vaccines in 12 months. “The pace was unprecedented,” Bancel said.

What is the impact of this new approach to leadership?

This new approach to leadership is far more effective. While the dynamics are complex, countless studies show empirical links among effective leadership, employee satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability.

How can leaders empower employees?

Empowering employees , surprisingly enough, might mean taking a more hands-on leadership approach. Organizations whose leaders successfully empower others through coaching are nearly four times more likely to make swift, good decisions and outperform other companies . But this type of coaching isn’t always natural for those with a more controlling or autocratic style.

Here are five tips to get started  if you’re a leader looking to empower others:

• Provide clear rules, for example, by providing guardrails for what success looks like and communicating who makes which decisions. Clarity and boundary structures like role remits and responsibilities help to contain any anxiety associated with work and help teams stay focused on their primary tasks.
• Establish clear roles, say, by assigning one person the authority to make certain decisions.
• Avoid being a complicit manager—for instance, if you’ve delegated a decision to a team, don’t step in and solve the problem for them.
• Address culture and skills, for instance, by helping employees learn how to have difficult conversations.
• Begin soliciting personal feedback from others, at all levels of your organization, on how you are experienced as a leader.

How can leaders communicate effectively?

Good, clear communication is a leadership hallmark. Fundamental tools of effective communication  include:

• defining and pointing to long-term goals
• listening to and understanding stakeholders
• creating openings for dialogue
• communicating proactively

And in times of uncertainty, these things are important for crisis communicators :

• give people what they need, when they need it
• communicate clearly, simply, and frequently
• choose candor over charisma
• revitalize a spirit of resilience
• distill meaning from chaos
• support people, teams, and organizations to build the capability for self-sufficiency

Learn more about our People & Organizational Performance Practice .

Is leadership different in a hybrid workplace?

A leader’s role may look slightly different in remote or hybrid workplace settings . Rather than walking around a physical site, these leaders might instead model what hybrid looks like, or orchestrate work based on tasks, interactions, or purpose. Being communicative and radiating positivity  can go a long way. Leaders need to find other ways to be present and accessible, for example, via virtual drop-in sessions, regular company podcasts, or virtual townhalls. Leaders in these settings may also need to find new ways to get authentic feedback. These tactics can include pulse surveys or learning to ask thoughtful follow-up questions that reveal useful management insights.

Additional considerations, such as making sure that in-person work and togetherness has a purpose, are important. Keeping an eye on inclusivity in hybrid work  is also crucial. Listening to what employees want, with an eye to their lived experience, will be vital to leaders in these settings. And a focus on output, outcomes, results, and impact—rather than arbitrary norms about time spent in offices— may be a necessary adaptation in the hybrid era .

How should CEOs lead in this new world?

Just as for leadership more broadly, today’s environment requires CEOs to lead very differently. Recent research indicates that one-third to one-half of new CEOs fail within 18 months.

What helps top performers thrive today? To find out, McKinsey led a research effort to identify the CEOs who achieved breakaway success. We examined 20 years’ worth of data on 7,800 CEOs—from 3,500 public companies across 70 countries and 24 industries. The result is the McKinsey book CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest (Scribner, March 2022). Watch an interview with the authors for more on what separates the best CEOs from the rest .

Getting perspective on leadership from CEOs themselves is enlightening—and illustrates the nuanced ways in which the new approach to leadership described above can be implemented in practice. Here are a few quotes drawn from McKinsey’s interviews with these top-level leaders :

• “I think the fundamental role of a leader is to look for ways to shape the decades ahead, not just react to the present, and to help others accept the discomfort of disruptions to the status quo.” — Indra Nooyi , former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo
• “The single most important thing I have to do as CEO is ensure that our brand continues to be relevant.” — Chris Kempczinski , CEO of McDonald’s
• “Leaders of other enterprises often define themselves as captains of the ship, but I think I’m more the ship’s architect or designer. That’s different from a captain’s role, in which the route is often fixed and the destination defined.” — Zhang Ruimin , CEO of Haier
• “I think my leadership style [can be called] ‘collaborative command.’ You bring different opinions into the room, you allow for a really great debate, but you understand that, at the end of the day, a decision has to be made quickly.” — Adena Friedman , CEO of Nasdaq
• “We need an urgent refoundation of business and capitalism around purpose and humanity. To find new ways for all of us to lead so that we can create a better future, a more sustainable future.” — Hubert Joly , former chairman and CEO of Best Buy

What is leadership development?

Leaders aren’t born; they learn to lead over time. Neuroplasticity refers to the power of the brain to form new pathways and connections through exposure to novel, unfamiliar experiences. This allows adults to adapt, grow, and learn new practices throughout our lifetimes.

When it comes to leadership within organizations, this is often referred to as leadership development. Programs, books, and courses on leadership development abound, but results vary.

Leadership development efforts fail for a variety of reasons. Some overlook context; in those cases, asking a simple question (something like “What, precisely, is this program for?”) can help. Others separate reflections on leadership from real work, or they shortchange the role of adjusting leaders’ mindsets, feelings, assumptions, and beliefs, or they fail to measure results.

So what’s needed for successful leadership development? Generally, developing leaders is about creating contexts where there is sufficient psychological safety in combination with enough novelty and unfamiliarity to cultivate new leadership practices in response to stimuli. Leadership programs that successfully cultivate leaders are also built around “placescapes”—these are novel experiences, like exploring wilderness trails, practicing performing arts, or writing poetry.

When crafting a leadership development program, there are six ingredients to incorporate  that lead to true organizational impact:

• Set up for success:
• Focus your leadership transformation on driving strategic objectives and initiatives.
• Commit the people and resources needed.
• Be clear about focus:
• Engage a critical mass of leaders to reach a tipping point for sustained impact.
• Zero in on the leadership shifts that drive the greatest value.
• Execute well:
• Architect experiential journeys to maximize shifts in mindsets, capabilities, and practices.
• Measure for holistic impact.

A well-designed and executed leadership development program can help organizations build leaders’ capabilities broadly, at scale. And these programs can be built around coaching, mentoring, and having people try to solve challenging problems—learning skills by applying them in real time to real work.

What are mentorship, sponsorship, and apprenticeship?

Mentorship, sponsorship, and apprenticeship can also be part of leadership development efforts. What are they? Mentorship refers to trusted counselors offering guidance and support on various professional issues, such as career progression. Sponsorship is used to describe senior leaders who create opportunities to help junior colleagues succeed. These roles are typically held by more senior colleagues, whereas apprenticeship could be more distributed. Apprenticeship  describes the way any colleague with domain expertise might teach others, model behaviors, or transfer skills. These approaches can be useful not only for developing leaders but also for helping your company upskill or reskill employees quickly and at scale.

For more in-depth exploration of these topics, see McKinsey’s insights on People & Organizational Performance . Learn more about McKinsey’s Leadership & Management  work—and check out job opportunities if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.

Articles referenced include:

• “ Author Talks: What separates the best CEOs from the rest? ,” December 15, 2021, Carolyn Dewar , Scott Keller , and Vik Malhotra
• “ From the great attrition to the great adaptation ,” November 3, 2021, Aaron De Smet  and Bill Schaninger
• “ The boss factor: Making the world a better place through workplace relationships ,” September 22, 2020, Tera Allas  and Bill Schaninger
• " Leading agile transformation: The new capabilities leaders need to build 21st century organizations ," October 1, 2018, Aaron De Smet , Michael Lurie , and Andrew St. George
• " Leading Organizations: Ten Timeless Truths ," 2017, Scott Keller  and Mary Meaney
• “ Leadership in context ,” January 1, 2016, Michael Bazigos, Chris Gagnon, and Bill Schaninger
• “ Decoding leadership: What really matters ,” January 1, 2015, Claudio Feser, Fernanda Mayol, and Ramesh Srinivasan

Want to know more about leadership?

Related articles.

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What is leadership: Moving beyond the C-Suite

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Cognition’s new ai tool devin is set to revolutionize coding industry, heated discussions erupt on reddit over chatgpt’s entry in scholarly publication, do you use quotation marks when paraphrasing, typely review, how to rewrite the sentence in active voice, leadership: what makes a good leader essay sample, example.

Though people who manage others are often self-serving, true leaders want those they work for to accomplish team goals. According to Meredith Moore Crosby from Leverette Weekes , “The jump from individual contributor to leader is a mindset shift to care about the broader organization outside of daily responsibilities. Leaders take on challenges instead of waiting for assignments. Leaders build organizations and help managers understand their function. Leaders study the organization and contribute beyond their role by developing managers” (Council, Forbes Coaches). Unlike managers, leaders are more holistic workers rather than micromanagers.

Leaders, besides wanting their teams to succeed, are also visionaries. Alan Zimmerman, with a PhD in Communication, notes that, “Many people would argue that the best CEO (maybe not the best person) of the 20th century was Jack Welch, the former chairman of General Electric . When asked for his thoughts on leadership, he echoed the same sentiment. Leadership starts with vision” (“Leaders Are Visionaries”). Real leaders seek to challenge the norm and look for fresh ideas in their sphere of work. Through these visions, they inspire their subordinates.

And speaking of inspiration, leaders are known to be profound inspirers. They can easily increase the morale of a group, and push those that are downtrodden towards a common goal. As leadership coach Kris McCrea Scrutchfield says, “A leader creates a path forward with people using curiosity to hear ideas from their perspective. They inspire themselves and others to be the best they can be while stretching beyond what’s comfortable. Being a leader begins from within, not outside ourselves” (Council, Forbes Coaches). Commonly, leaders begin by being self-inspiring. They know how to motivate themselves, and from this basis, they know how to motivate others.

In addition to motivation, leaders act as guides. Instead of being forceful with directions, leaders help others understand what they need to do complete certain tasks without being oppressive. They have the best in mind for their team, and want to bring out the best out of every individual. Another part of being a guide is that leaders are continuously examples of what to be within a company, an organization, or a team. This means that leaders need to be ethical, well-mannered, and diligent in order to impress upon his or her staff.

Despite all the amazing qualities leaders possess, they cannot do without self-assessment. According to the University of Notre Dame, “Knowing your areas of weakness does not make you weak; on the contrary, it allows you to delegate to others who have those abilities, in order to achieve the common goal. Rather than clinging to the false belief that they can do it all, great leaders hire people who complement, rather than supplement, their skills. Working on your areas of weaknesses will improve your leadership ability – and recognizing them makes you more human” (“What Makes an Effective Leader”). The worst thing for a leader is to get egotistic about his or her position, and to believe he or she can do it all, or that being in a position is all that matters.

Leaders come in all shapes and sizes, but there are several qualities that form what a great leader is. Commonly, competent leaders desire those under him or her to succeed, are visionary in their work and goals, are inspiring to the masses, guide others towards an end point, and are proficient in self-assessment. As mentioned before, there are many other characteristics that comprise great leaders. However, these are the main ones that appear in the majority of shining examples of leaders.

Works Cited

Council, Forbes Coaches. “What Makes A Good Leader? Key Differences Between Management And Leadership.” Forbes , Forbes Magazine, 21 Nov. 2017,

Zimmerman, Alan. “Leaders Are Visionaries.” https://www.drzimmerman.com/leadership-motivation/leaders-are-visionaries.

“What Makes an Effective Leader.” Notredameonline.com , www.notredameonline.com/resources/leadership-and-management/what-makes-an-effective-leader/#.W5o1Mp9fjCI.

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Leadership Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on leadership.

First of all, Leadership refers to the quality of leading people. Probably, it is one of the most important aspects of life. Above all, Leadership has led to the progress of human civilization . Without good Leadership, no organization or group can succeed. Furthermore, not everyone has this quality. This is because effective Leadership requires certain important characteristics.

Qualities of a Good Leader

First of all, confidence is the most quality. A leader must have strong self-confidence. A person lacking in confidence can never be a good leader. A person must be confident enough to ensure others follow him. The leader must have confidence in his decisions and actions. If he is unsure, then how can people have the desire to follow him.

A good leader must certainly inspire others. A leader must be a role model for his followers. Furthermore, he must motivate them whenever possible. Also, in difficult situations, a leader must not lose hope. How can a leader inspire people if he himself is hopeless?

Honesty is another notable quality of a leader. Honesty and Integrity are important to earn the love of followers. Above all, honesty is essential to win the trust of the people. Probably, every Leadership which loses trust is bound to fail. People will not work with full effort due to an immoral leader.

Good communication is a must for a good leader. This is because poor communication means the wrong message to followers. Furthermore, good communication will increase the rate of work. Also, the chances of mistakes by followers will reduce.

Another important quality is decision making. Above all, if a leader makes poor decisions then other qualities will not matter. Furthermore, good decision making ensures the success of the entire group. If the leader makes poor decisions, then the efforts of followers won’t matter.

A good leader must be an excellent innovator. He must display a creative attitude in his work. Most noteworthy, innovation is a guarantee of survival of a group or innovation. Without creative thinking, progress is not possible.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Real-Life Examples of Good Leadership

Mahatma Gandhi was an excellent example of a good leader. He was a staunch believer in non-violence. With his brilliant Leadership skills, he made the British leave India. Probably, this was the most unique independence struggle. This is because Gandhi got freedom without any violence.

Abraham Lincoln was another notable leader. Most noteworthy, he ended the slavery system in the United States. Consequently, he made many enemies. However, he was a man of massive self-confidence. His struggle against slavery certainly became an inspiration.

Sir Winston Churchill was a great patriotic Englishman. Most noteworthy, he led Britain in the 2nd World War. Furthermore, he was extremely inspirational. He inspired Britain to fight against Nazi Germany. His great communication motivated the entire country at a time of hopelessness.

To conclude, Leadership is required in probably every sphere of life. Good leadership is the door to success. In contrast, bad leadership is a guarantee of failure. Consequently, good leaders are what make the world go round.

FAQs on Leadership

Q.1 Which is the most important quality for being a good leader? A.1 The most important quality for being a good leader is self-confidence.

Q.2 Why Sir Winston Churchill is a good leader? A.2 Sir Winston Churchill is a good leader because he inspired Britain to fight in 2nd World War. Furthermore, his excellent communication also raised the motivation of his people.

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Characteristics of a Good Leader Argumentative Essay

What makes a good leader of a country.

A leader can be defined as someone who leads others. According to Greer, “a leader can be someone who is in charge or commands others in an organization or a country” (30). Leadership cannot be based solely on an individual’s responsibility. It is important to add that a leader is not just about politics.

Thus, leaders can be found in every sector including sports, entertainment, and corporate sector among other areas. The argument about leadership focus on: what are the right qualities? What should the leaders do to strengthen these qualities? How are these qualities developed? This paper seeks to argue the qualities that ultimately define a good leader in a country.

To answer the question on what makes a good leader appropriate, it is important to acknowledge that traditional qualities that have defined a good leader such as aptitude, strength, determination, and vision are not sufficient in today’s world. In this changing world, a leader- in addition to the listed qualities- needs a high degree of emotional intelligence.

A look at history can reveal a number of highly skilled and intelligent leaders who took over leadership of their country only for them to perform dismally. Therefore, it can be concluded that finding the right leader is an art and science. Notably, “although leaders may share general qualities, each leader has a personal style of doing things. Some leaders are passive and analytical while others are very proactive and confrontational” (Daft and Lane 52).

Another important thing to acknowledge is that a leader, especially in a country or state, will often face different situations that will often require different approaches. While pursuing diplomacy, the leader will be required to be a sensitive negotiator; while consoling victims of a disaster, the leader will need to show empathy and comfort; when dealing with state enemies, the leader is needed to have a forceful authority.

The general conclusion, in my opinion, is that, to be leader, intelligence, hard work, and vision are important aspects to consider. However, even with all these, a leader should have the emotional intelligence to be successful and sustain the leadership status that is made possible by the primary characteristics listed.

There are various aspects of emotional intelligence that are critical to good leadership. According to Goleman, “they include self-awareness, enthusiasm and responsiveness. Others include group skills and self-regulation” (21). Researchers have carried out studies in the corporate world, and the results have shown that emotional intelligence is often what distinguishes the outstanding leader.

The first component I analyze is the aspect of self-awareness. This refers to the ability to have a deep understanding of one’s emotions, strengths, weaknesses, motivational factors. To be self aware means that one is honest with his or herself. It also implies that the individual is neither critical of others nor unrealistic.

Further, individuals who are self aware can predict how different emotions will affect them and the performance of their work. For example, a leader who has self awareness may know that interviews with the press often make him or her nervous. Therefore, it is prudent to avoid such interviews and choose other methods of communication.

The same self awareness can be applied when it comes to ideals and values in which an individual believes. It has often been said that a leader who does not believe in anything will fall for anything. Therefore, the leader with self-awareness will be able to turn down an investor’s request to set up a big industry in the country if that investment will hurt the environment.

Weak leaders who lack self awareness will accept to do something, but after two or three years down the line, they will rescind their decision. It can be noted that people who have self awareness are coherent and articulate. They are able to speak openly and precisely tackle the areas they are addressing. They are also able to describe themselves accurately (Northouse 154).

The other component of emotional intelligence is self regulation. From the onset, it is important to acknowledge that emotions are part human life. Although humans cannot do away with emotions, it is possible to control and manage them.

Self regulation is the ability to manage and control one’s feelings in order to make one free from distractions. In this case, individuals should also be able to direct these feelings to a useful channel. For example, a leader may witness a shambolic presentation by members of his cabinet to a key investor.

With the disappointment, the leader may feel the urge to kick a chair or bang the table which will bring a negative side of him to the investors. Therefore, self-regulation is the ability to apologize to the investor and carefully select the words that will authoritatively, yet humbly explain to the members of the cabinet the areas that will need to be corrected. Another example is when the leader of a country faces a threat of attack from another country.

In such a delicate matter, one wrong move can cost the country in many ways. However, if the leader maintains calmness, does not panic, and can prepare the relevant stakeholders to deal with the problem, then the effect is different, and the damage can be controlled.

Self-regulation is also a strong pillar of integrity. Thornton noted, “on many occasions, people with integrity are often caught in decisions that lack integrity” (p.13). Although such leaders have integrity, they lack self-regulation, which often enhances integrity. An example is a leader who is faced with a crisis and has no solution for the crisis.

In the heat of things, the leaders may decide to apply a solution that is outside the law. Thus, although the action may have been intended to help the country, lack of self regulation may lead the leader to undermine his own integrity. The third aspect of emotional intelligence is motivation. It is almost an unwritten rule that a good leader should have motivation. In this context, motivation refers to the urge to achieve.

A motivated leader is one who is never contented with the status quo. They are always striving to do better things and doing them differently. Such leaders often raise the performance bar, and they keep track of the scores. In this case, a good example is Thomas Sankara, the slain leader of Burkina Faso from Africa. Sankara became the leader of Burkina Faso at a time when the country was reliant on donor funds.

Uncomfortable, with the status quo, he led his countrymen on an overdrive to practice farming to a level that had hitherto been unseen. The country was for the first time able to feed all its population without the aid from foreign countries. The same leader introduced a government policy requiring all top government officials to stop the usage of the extravagant Mercedes Benzes. Instead, government officials were encouraged to use the modest Volkswagen vehicles so as to save money for increment of teacher’s salaries.

The fourth component of emotional integrity is empathy. The uniqueness of this component is that, unlike the aforementioned components, this component is very easy to identify and recognize. However, the modern world will rarely reward a leader in business or politics on account of empathy. In this case, the conventional understanding of empathy is to be able to take other peoples’ feelings and give them priority as if they were one’s own.

In this context, empathy refers to the ability of the leader to consider the interests of all stakeholders when making decisions. The last component is the idea of social skills. The two components are related as they are concerned with the ability to establish meaningful relationships with other people. A leader is always leading and managing people. Thus, a good leader should be able to get along with these people.

From the discussion, it is clear that, to lead a country, a great team is what will deliver great leadership. However, in every country, there is a leader. Some are led by a monarch, others by dictators, or others like the United States by a democratically elected leader. In monarchs and dictatorships, leaderships will tend to be highly concentrated around an individual.

On the other hand, democracies allow power to be decentralized to other institutions like the parliament, judiciary and the executive. The common denominator is that, whether the power is decentralized or centralized, the leader or leaders of the country need to possess certain qualities to lead the country effectively. The argument put forward is that, apart from the conventional qualities, a good leader of a country should possess the quality of emotional intelligence.

Works Cited

Daft, Richard, and Patricia Lane. The Leadership Experience . Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western, 2008. Print.

Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ . London: Bloomsbury, 1996. Print.

Greer, Eddie. “Dare To Lead: Continuous Learning Creates The Best Leaders.” Professional Safety, 56.6 (2011): 30-31. Print.

Northouse, Peter. Leadership: Theory and Practice . Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2010. Print.

Thornton, Grant. What makes a good leader? 2008. Web. www.grant-thornton.co.uk/pdf/20-leadership-report.pdf

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IvyPanda. (2020, July 8). Characteristics of a Good Leader. https://ivypanda.com/essays/qualities-of-a-good-leader/

"Characteristics of a Good Leader." IvyPanda , 8 July 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/qualities-of-a-good-leader/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Characteristics of a Good Leader'. 8 July.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Characteristics of a Good Leader." July 8, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/qualities-of-a-good-leader/.

1. IvyPanda . "Characteristics of a Good Leader." July 8, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/qualities-of-a-good-leader/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Characteristics of a Good Leader." July 8, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/qualities-of-a-good-leader/.

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Anyone Can Learn to Be a Better Leader

• Monique Valcour

You just have to put in the work.

Occupying a leadership position is not the same thing as leading. To lead, you must be able to connect, motivate, and inspire a sense of ownership of shared objectives. Heightening your capacity to lead others requires being able to see how you think and act, and how your behavior affects others. Leading well requires a continuous journey of personal development. Yet people in leadership roles often eschew the long and challenging work of deepening self-insight in favor of chasing after management “tools”— preferably the “quick ’n’ easy” kind, such as personality type assessments that reduce employees to a few simplistic behavioral tendencies. Tools can be handy aids to good leadership. But none of them can take the place of fearless introspection, feedback seeking, and committed efforts to behavioral change for greater effectiveness and increased positive impact on others.

When you’re an individual contributor, your ability to use your technical expertise to deliver results is paramount. Once you’ve advanced into a leadership role, however, the toolkit that you relied on to deliver individual results rarely equips you to succeed through others. Beware of falling into the logical trap of “if I can do this work well, I should be able to lead a team of people who do this work.” This would be true if leading others were akin to operating a more powerful version of the same machinery you operated previously. But it’s not; machinery doesn’t perform better or worse based on what it thinks about you and how you make it feel, while humans do .

• MV Monique Valcour is an executive coach, keynote speaker, and management professor. She helps clients create and sustain fulfilling and high-performance jobs, careers, workplaces, and lives. moniquevalcour

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• How to Structure a Leadership Essay (Samples to Consider)

Leadership is a complex concept, but it’s essential for boosting your career. That’s why a leadership essay focuses on applying the theoretical models and concepts of successful management to real-life situations. 

If you don’t know where to start writing such a paper, please read on for professional tips!

What Is Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a paper that analyzes leadership concepts and their application to real-life situations that may involve everyday business management, crisis situations, and other scenarios. 

Every essay on leadership is about defining a concept. Then, it’s either comparing it to similar management tools or proving that it’s useful (or not).

While some students enjoy writing such papers, other learners hate them. The below samples will come in handy, no matter which group is yours.

What Does Leadership Mean to You? (Essay Sample)

It is one of the most popular topics for a leadership essay. If you need to write a paper like that, ask yourself:

• Who is a good leader?  
• What style do they use?  
• What are the situations when they might switch styles?

You may take a more personal approach to such an essay if your professor allows you to. In the example below, you will see the academic approach to this topic. It analyzes three leadership styles to discover which one corresponds to the meaning of leadership if one thinks of it as guidance and support.

Why I Want to Participate in a Leadership Program (Essay Sample)

It’s another example of a popular topic. Such papers often have a meaning beyond the classroom since they may decide whether you plan to participate in a specific program. It’s critical to make them as effective and compelling as possible.

A personalized approach is the best when it comes to essays like this. In the example below, you will see the paper that relies on individual beliefs and a personal life story to explain why it’s so important for the specific student to participate in the chosen program.

How to Write a Leadership Essay

Like every other essay, this paper has an introduction, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion summarizing your thoughts. (1) The most important part of the introduction is the final sentence,  aka  a thesis statement. That’s where you state your claim to prove or develop in your leadership essay.

Each body paragraph should correspond to the purpose of your essay. To ensure you don’t stray from the aim you’ve established in the thesis statement, write the topic sentences for all your paragraphs in the outline . In simple words, write the first sentence of every paragraph to define its development in advance and see if you cover everything you need.

And now, to the conclusion:

Its most essential element is thesis restatement or the first sentence of that paragraph. It’s not just paraphrasing your thesis; it’s also considering the new information you’ve discovered while writing the essay.

Structure :

• Introduction (End it with a thesis statement.)
• Body paragraphs (Each one starts with a topic sentence.)
• Conclusion (Start it with a thesis restatement.)

Understand the purpose of a leadership essay

When starting to write, think about why you’re creating this paper. Before you sit down and type the words, think about the ideas you want to convey and their meaning in your life:

Can this essay teach you to take responsibility? Or maybe will it help you understand how to be a leader in crisis situations? When you’ve answered the “why” question, begin outlining.

Build a strong thesis

Always start with your thesis statement. It will help incorporate your answer to that notorious “why” question into your essay. Once done, you can plan out the rest of the paper and start working on the body paragraphs as soon as you finish the introduction.

There’s another important tip —don’t rush into writing the conclusion before you finish everything else!

It might seem like a good idea to create a thesis statement and thesis restatement right off the bat. However, you’ll find yourself with more refreshing ideas after completing all the research and thinking necessary for the introduction and each body paragraph.

Decide on a structure; format accordingly

Even if your essay about leadership seems not so formal, and you can use personal pronouns, you still need a clear structure.

The best way to write any academic paper is to keep your introduction and conclusion as short as possible. (But no shorter than three sentences and four lines of text). 

Another important tip is to try making all your body paragraphs equal in length. That way, you’ll give the same attention to all the vital points of your essay.

Ready to Write Your Essay on Leadership Now?

Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the most critical elements of a leadership essay. 

Remember the structure, grammar, and appropriate academic style to create a top-level paper. Please don’t forget to answer the “why” question and remember  why  you’re writing. Then you’ll impress everyone with your results!

References:

• https://lsa.umich.edu/onsf/news-events/all-news/directors-blog/writing-leadership-essays.html
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How to Write Leadership Essay in College

Table of contents

If there is one skill that is revered across educational institutions and organizations, it is leadership.

Being the boss or in a position of power is not enough to make you a good leader. Effective leadership comes from the impact you have on people, the respect you garner, and how you manage to walk the talk.

Owing how important the role leadership plays in our personal and professional life, it’s no surprise that students are asked to write leadership essays in college.

The purpose of this assignment is to get them to understand the concept of leadership, reflect on their own experiences, or even assess the leadership style of a prominent leader. Apart from writing skills, this assignment also puts students’ critical thinking skills to the test.

This article will tell you what goes into a good leadership outline, along with 12 practical essay writing tips.

12 Tips on How to Write a Good Leadership Essays

If you think you can go ahead and write an essay on your favorite leader, you are mistaken - grade 5 is long gone.

Leadership essay writing is a lot more layered. It requires you to demonstrate your understanding of the concept excitingly and back it up with solid examples and research.

Don’t panic. Here are 12 tips to help you write powerful and effective leadership essays.

Brainstorm interesting topic ideas

If you are fortunate, you will be given a specific leadership essay topic to write on, but most of the time, students are given the flexibility to come up with a topic of their choice.

Leadership essays need to be personal. By the end of it, the reader needs to understand your leadership abilities. Now you can throw light on that aspect of yourself by recounting your leadership experiences, relating it to the leadership style of a prominent leader, or even comparing two leaders. Regardless of your chosen topic, it’s important to connect it back to yourself.

So, start with enlisting potential topic ideas that would help you throw light on your leadership abilities. Don’t rush through this step - take your time to pick a suitable topic.

Think out-of-the-box

Surprise your audience by thinking of innovative topics and ideas for your leadership essay.

Plain and dull essays are predictable and can get boring after being overused by multiple students for their multiple essays. Your professors can also feel that you are trying to play it safe by not thinking outside the box and giving you an average grade for your essay.

Extraordinary and new ideas get the attention they deserve, and your readers are more likely to find them interesting and get hooked on your essay right at the beginning.

Hook the reader

The introductory paragraph is a crucial one as it lays the foundation for the rest of the essay. Does your introduction entice the reader to know more, or does it induce yawns? It all depends on how you choose to begin your essay.

It’s essential to start with a bang and write an interesting hook from the first sentence. A good hook is written in 1 - 2 sentences and manages to get the reader interested. You can start with a funny experience, raise a startling question, or state an interesting fact - there are various ways to begin your leadership essay and capture the reader’s attention.

Use active voice

“I performed the task with great precision” vs. “The task was performed with great precision” - what is more impactful in the context of leadership essays? The former one.

Unlike an essay or any other academic paper, leadership essays are meant to be personal. They are supposed to be about you. As you share your perspective or experiences, you should use an active voice to make a more significant impact and ensure your message reaches the reader.

Follow the format

Adhere to your academic institution's standards for formatting and styling your leadership essay because, first and foremost, your professors would want to see that you have tackled how to format your essay.

Secondly, it is always good practice to format your essays for an excellent structure and a good presentation of the content in the essay. Some institutions are very strict about their formatting standards and can choose to cancel or give unsatisfactory grades to students who do not follow their specific formatting guidelines.

Avoid cliches

Generally, in leadership essays, cliches are most commonly used to describe the person in the essay at large. Avoiding these set cliches will do you and your essay good.

Cliches like “leaves no stones unturned,” “ahead of the curve,” etc., have been used so much by students that they have become weak, lost their meaning, and have minimal effect on the essays.

Your professors are looking for originality and creativity, whereas an essay full of cliches will appear lazy and uncreative.

Select good references

Leadership holds a variety of sub-topics that addresses the quality of leadership, the style and attitudes that leaders have, historical references of the lifework of distinguished leaders, or how certain leaders influenced events.

That’s why researching is key for a thorough leadership essay. With credible sources and references to take inspiration and quotes from, your leadership essay will gain authority and stature. Each method, skill, or event can be further detailed through helpful resources such as Google Scholar, JSTOR, etc.

Ask questions

Ask yourself questions while re-reading your essay to identify any missing pieces you may have overlooked.

Asking questions also address your essay's efficiency and will help you figure out what your readers could ask while reading your essay. You can then confront each of these questions and create a more precise understanding for your readers.

Share anecdotes

Another element that can really strengthen your leadership essay and take it from good to great is anecdotes.

Yes, don’t shy away from sharing anecdotes and personal experiences related to leadership. It adds credibility to your writing and justifies the points you have made. It can be humorous or life-changing, but sharing anecdotes helps keep readers invested and adds immense value to the essay.

Here’s a helpful video by Matthew Singleton on how you can use anecdotes while writing essays

Focus on key qualities

We know how effective leadership constitutes certain key traits and qualities such as empathy, collaboration, good listener, visionary, ownership, decision-making capabilities, delegation, communicator, and more.

Your essay needs to reflect some of these traits. Instead of choosing to enlist all these traits and not focussing on either of them well, it’s important to first choose which are the traits you want to explore in your essay and then work towards highlighting them while writing.

Get feedback

It is always better to have more than one pair of eyes to read and evaluate your essay. Getting feedback on your writing is crucial for the betterment of your essay, as the limitations and problems that you may not have realized while writing your essay can be identified by a fresh set of eyes or a new perspective.

These errors or misses can be rectified, resulting in a quality, no-error leadership essay.

Edit and proofread

A leadership essay requires attention to detail, a set organized structure, and a logical flow of sentences. Editing your essay and proofreading it will overcome any misses that may come your way.

As you proofread, you can double-check the leader’s name and designation, dates, sources, factual, spelling, and grammatical mistakes, punctuation errors, out-of-place references, and transition flows.

So, now you know that leadership essays are not as ‘vanilla’ as they sound. They need to be descriptive and logical while capturing your leadership abilities.

If you don’t have the time to write a compelling leadership essay or doubt your writing skills, don’t worry. We at Writers Per Hour are pleased to write an essay for you that will get you noticed.

From choosing a suitable topic to outlining and writing a thoughtful leadership essay from scratch, our writing experts promise to deliver precisely what you need - high-quality essays that meet your budget and deadlines.

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The Best Leadership Essay Examples and Writing Guide

Whether for college admissions or scholarship applications, a successful leadership essay is intriguing and flawless. There are tricks and tips you can use to ensure your essays stand out and show you are a leader that inspires. Besides, leadership is a skill that is revered in academics. However, not all bosses are good leaders. 

Good leadership comes from the impact you have on those around you and the people you are doing a project or working with. The admissions or scholarship board understand this. That is why they ask applicants to write and submit a leadership paper. 

The board wants to understand whether the applicant understands the concept of leadership. They also want to gauge writing and critical thinking skills. This guide will tell you what makes a good leader essay, how to write it, and even give examples to help make your writing process easier. 

What is Good Leadership Essay?

A well-written leadership essay emphasizes leadership concepts and their impact on real-life situations. It should indicate what makes a good leader, follow a precise structure to create a logical flow of information, and be free of errors. Some crucial traits of a leader that are more likely to be described in this type of essay are:

• Communication skills
• Exceptional at delegating
• Emotional intelligence
• Accountability
• Self-confidence

This is not the only list of the qualities of a good leader. You only need to read personal leadership essay examples to get more characteristics. This can include charisma, impartiality, dedication, and influence. Much of the information you should include in your essay may come from your experience in a leadership role. 

How Do You Write a College Leadership Essay?

The first step is to come up with a good topic. The choice of topic can be based on a leadership style. For example, the servant leadership style, where the leader has a people-first mindset, emphasizes collaboration, teamwork, and employee satisfaction. 

You will know you are a servant leader if you often motivate your team, have excellent communication skills and commit to knowing the people around you personally and professionally. 

Another example of leadership style is hands-off leadership. In this case, the leader believes in freedom of choice; they effectively delegate and offer constructive criticism. This leadership style encourages creativity, accountability, and often leads to higher employee retention because of the relaxed work atmosphere. An example of an essay would be:

Is leadership an innate skill or a result of experience? Many people, including researchers, have been struggling to answer this question. One assumption is that leaders acquire specific skills over time. Another assumption is that some people are built for leadership, or leadership is built around inborn personality traits.

You can then use this introduction to create an essay that makes a stand on whether a leader is born or made. Here are more useful tips on how to write a leadership essay.

Have a Good Structure for the Essay

Look at any sample essay on leadership, and you will see that it is organized to have three main crucial parts:

• Introduction
• Body section made of three or more paragraphs

So how do you start a leadership essay? Use the first sentence to grab attention. To further enhance interest and connect with the reader, personalize the text and integrate a story that will further unravel in the body section. 

Ensure your leadership essay introduction has a hook or an attention grabber, which can be a thought-provoking question, intriguing fact, a famous quote, or shocking statistics. A thesis statement should follow and set the tone for the essay. 

The Body Should Back Up the Story

Use the body paragraphs to support the claims to the main idea/thesis statement. Focus on leadership qualities and how they are important to you or how they relate to your core values. Use examples to strengthen your arguments. 

End With a Compelling Conclusion

The final paragraph should provide an overview of each main point discussed in the essay. Restate the leadership values and make them personal by talking about what you have learned. Wrap up the essay with an inspiring sentence about leadership. 

Think Outside the Box

What is a leadership short essay? This is a short essay, preferably one page long, that is personal and showcases the writer’s leadership abilities. Whether you are writing a short or long essay to ace a leadership essay, you should think out of the box to avoid handing in predictable or, worse, boring essays. 

If you play it safe, you might end up with an average grade. So come up with new and innovative topics that get the reader's attention.

Stick to the Point

You will quickly confuse the reader if you digress from your topic. That is why you should always give yourself a break after completing the essay then come back and edit it. With a relaxed mind and a fresh pair of eyes, you will notice points that are off-topic. 

In case you have included different opinions, use transitions to create cohesion. Don’t forget to remove unnecessary facts and remain within the specified word count limit. 

Follow All the Instructions

Adhere to all the requirements for a leadership essay; otherwise, your paper will end up in the rejection pile or get a low grade. So before submitting it, read the instructions again and check that your essay adheres to all of them, including the formatting, tone, and style. 

Final Thoughts

A good leadership essay gives practical experiences in a relatable manner and connects to the audience on a deeper level. It shows the qualities you denote with leadership and allows your writing skills to shine. 

Even after reading this post and several examples writing a leadership essay could prove to be difficult. Luckily, we have writers experienced in writing leadership essays. We never miss a deadline. All essays are original and free of errors. So contact us today and let our writer give you a stellar leadership essay.

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What Makes A Good Leader: Essay Hints

Table of Contents

In this essay, you need to discuss the essential qualities needed for becoming an effective leader. In fact, different situations require different types of leadership styles, so it may be hard to choose the qualities that define good leaders admired by people from bad ones.

Besides, there are common misconceptions about their role. In this article, we will try to answer the question of “what makes a good leader essay” and give you some recommendations about the aspects you should focus on.

Essay structure and key points to cover

Wondering what the best way to approach an essay on leadership qualities is? Leadership essays can be written in the expository style and structured to include different subtopics:

• Discussion of major leadership theories.
• Personality traits defining great leaders.
• Leadership styles and how they work.
• Leadership principles and core values.
• Examples of leaders in different spheres of society.
• People you consider to be leaders in your life.
• Leadership skills you have.

It’s important to demonstrate an original personal understanding of leadership concept and provide impressive illustrative examples taken from today’s real life or history. That’s the best thing to do when reviewing various leadership qualities.

What are the qualities of a good leader: essay ideas

When we take an in-depth look at history, we see countless leadership qualities that were adopted by both good and bad leaders. When writing what are the qualities of a good leader essay, you should focus on the characteristics and strengths of a leader, and how they help influence and motivate other people along with achieving own goals.

These are emotional and behavioral characteristics of well-known leaders that helped them succeed:

• Vision – effective leaders have exciting ideas, they usually are forward-looking, and have excellent strategic planning skills.
• Communication – communicating ideas clearly and concisely is essential to ensure teamwork towards the same goal.
• Integrity – they are honest and can always tell the truth in any situation.
• Confidence – they dare to take risks to achieve their goals and never give up.
• Responsiveness – good leaders value their team, listen to people they lead, and quickly change their behavior to match different situations.
• Determination – good leaders are passionate about what they do and can motivate people by demonstrating their own commitment.
• Empathy is the most important skill which allows to create strong bonds of trust and build successful teams.

Tips on writing a winning essay on leadership

When working on what makes a good leader essay, students should follow certain basic steps.

• Research relevant sources on the internet to get a better understanding of the concept, read a lot, and make notes of interesting ideas which can be used in your paper.
• Brainstorm ideas to write about, formulate a strong thesis statement and create a detailed working outline. Organize information in a logical order.
• Start writing a draft with an introduction. Engage readers with a hook – provocative question, anecdote, stunning fact, convincing statistics. Introduce a subject, providing relevant background information. End introductory paragraph with a specific thesis that sums up your ideas.
• Devote separate body paragraphs to specific points supporting the main argument. Begin paragraphs with topic sentences, presenting key points, give detailed explanations, and provide additional evidence and examples. Include appropriate citations with proper referencing. Sum up and demonstrate how each paragraph contributes to the logical argument.
• Create a convincing conclusion to wrap up the paper’s key points.
• Revise the first draft , make improvements in content, logic, and sentence structure. Edit to improve word choice and clarity.
• Proofread the final version – fix minor errors and typos. Create references list and check the formatting of the entire paper.

The use of a leadership essay sample

Still not sure that you can write a good leader essay that will impress your readers? Read biographies of famous people who played crucial roles in human history, created big successful businesses, managed large corporations to learn which qualities contributed to their success.

Besides, you may want to check out some good paper examples.

Find out how powerful papers on this topic are structured and what interesting points they cover. Use essay samples as templates or models to follow.

See this short sample paragraph which discusses one of the leadership qualities for inspiration.

Empathy, an ability to recognize other’s feelings and perspectives and understand other people’s needs is crucial in leadership. Being empathetic means you can step into another person’s world and this character trait is essential for success due to several reasons. It’s impossible to effectively lead people you don’t understand. You can effectively motivate and influence someone if you know their feelings. Empathy is one of the keys to successful leadership because it helps build relationships with people they lead and create an environment of open communication. Luckily, empathy is natural for humans and we can even learn to be more empathetic and demonstrate this ability to people around us.

No time to write your essay on leadership? We’ve got plenty of time here! Our writers strive to help you out. Click the button faster and get yourself a perfect essay with no struggle!

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12 Characteristics of a Good Leader

Leaders shape our teams, organizations, communities, and world.

We need good leaders to help guide us and make the essential decisions, big and small, that keep things moving forward.

Our society is usually quick to identify a bad leader, but how can you identify a good one? What would most people say are the qualities of a good leader?

What Good Leadership Looks Like

Based upon our decades of research and experience working with leaders at thousands of organizations around the world, we’ve found that the best leaders consistently possess certain fundamental qualities and skills. Here are 12 essential leadership traits.

12 Essential Leadership Qualities

• Self-Awareness
• Communication
• Learning Agility
• Collaboration

TIP: Download an action guide & summary of these essential characteristics of a good leader in PDF format to keep this list of leadership qualities at your fingertips as a reminder.

1. Self-Awareness

While this is a more inwardly focused trait, self-awareness and humility are paramount qualities of leadership. The better you understand yourself and recognize your own strengths and weaknesses, the more effective you can be as a leader. Do you know how other people view you and understand how you show up at work and at home? Take the time to learn about the 4 aspects of self-awareness and how to strengthen each component.

Treating people with respect on a daily basis is one of the most important things a leader can do. It helps ease tensions and conflict, fosters trust, and improves your effectiveness.  Creating a culture of respect  is about more than just the absence of disrespect. Respectfulness can be shown in many different ways, but it often starts with showing you truly value others’ perspectives and making an effort to build belonging in the workplace — both critical components of supporting equity, diversity, and inclusion.

3. Compassion

Compassion is one of the most powerful and important acts of leadership. It’s more than simply showing empathy or even listening and seeking to understand — as compassion requires leaders to act on what they learn. After someone shares a concern or speaks up about something, they won’t feel truly heard if their leader doesn’t then take some type of meaningful action on the information, our researchers have found. This is the core of compassionate leadership , and it helps to build trust, increase collaboration, and decrease turnover across organizations.

Motivating others and garnering commitment are essential parts of leadership. Purpose-driven leaders ensure they connect their team’s daily tasks and the values of individual team members to the overall direction of the organization. This can help employees find meaning in their work — which increases engagement, inspires trust, and drives priorities forward. You’ll want to communicate the vision in ways that help others understand it, remember it, and go on to share it themselves.

5. Communication

Effective leadership and effective communication are intertwined . The best leaders are skilled communicators who can communicate in a variety of ways, from transmitting information and storytelling to soliciting input and using active listening techniques . They can communicate well both orally and in writing, and with a wide range of people from different backgrounds, roles, levels, geographies, and more. The quality and effectiveness of communication among leaders at your organization will directly affect the success of your business strategy, too.

6. Learning Agility

Learning agility is the ability to know what to do when you don’t know what to do. If you’re a “quick study” or are able to excel in unfamiliar circumstances, you might already be learning agile. But anybody can foster and increase learning agility through intentional practice and effort. After all, great leaders are really great learners.

7. Collaboration

The most effective leaders can work with a variety of colleagues of different social identities , locations, roles, and experiences. As the world has become more complex and interconnected, good leaders find themselves spanning boundaries and learning to work across various types of divides and organizational silos. When leaders value and embrace collaboration, whether within their teams or cross-functionally, several benefits arise — including increased innovation, higher-performing teams, and a more engaged and empowered workforce.

8. Influence

For some people, “influence” may sound unseemly. But as a leader, you must be able to influence others to get the work done — you cannot do it all alone. Being able to persuade people through thoughtful use of appropriate influencing tactics is an important trait of inspiring, effective leaders. Influence is quite different from manipulation, and it needs to be done authentically and transparently. It requires high levels of emotional intelligence and trust.

9. Integrity

Integrity is an essential leadership trait for the individual and the organization. It’s especially important for top-level executives who are charting the organization’s course and making countless other significant decisions. Our research has found that leader integrity is a potential blind spot for organizations , so make sure you reinforce the importance of honesty and integrity to managers at all levels.

10. Courage

It can be hard to speak up at work, whether you want to voice a new idea, provide feedback to a direct report, or flag a concern for someone above you. That’s part of the reason courage is a key leadership trait — it takes courage to do what’s right! Leaders who promote high levels of psychological safety in the workplace enable their people to speak up freely and share candid concerns without fear of repercussions. This fosters a  coaching culture that supports courage and truth-telling . Courage enables both team members and leaders to take bold actions that move things in the right direction.

11. Gratitude

Being thankful can lead to higher self-esteem, reduced depression and anxiety, and better sleep. Sincere gratitude can even make you a better leader. Yet few people regularly say “thank you” in work settings, even though most people say they’d be willing to work harder for an appreciative boss. The best leaders know how to show frequent gratitude in the workplace .

12. Resilience

Resilience is more than the ability to bounce back from obstacles and setbacks — it’s the ability to respond adaptively to challenges. Practicing resilient leadership means you’ll project a positive outlook that will help others maintain the emotional strength they need to commit to a shared vision, and the courage to move forward and overcome setbacks. A good leader focuses on resilience, both taking care of themselves and also prioritizing leading employee wellbeing , too — thereby enabling better performance for themselves and their teams.

Download a PDF action guide and summary of these characteristics of a good leader, so you always have a visual reminder available of these 12 qualities of good leadership.

Develop the Characteristics of a Good Leader in Yourself & Others

Our 3 core beliefs about leadership & leadership development.

At the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)®, we’ve been researching the qualities of a good leader and the role of leadership for over 5 decades. Here are 3 of our core beliefs about good leaders and effective leadership.

Good leaders are made, not born.

First, we believe that leaders are made, not born. Put another way, leadership is a skill that can be developed . Good leaders are molded through experience, continued study, intentional effort, and adaptation. So you can strengthen any of these 12 characteristics of a good leader, if you’re open to growth, use your experiences to fuel development , and put in the time and effort toward self-improvement.

Similarly, organizations can help their people hone these top leadership qualities by providing ample opportunities for training, offering support for learning from challenges, and providing access to coaching and mentoring programs .

Leadership is a social process.

It’s also essential to recognize that  leadership is less about one strong or charismatic individual, and more about a group of people working collectively to achieve results together . If you demonstrate several of the characteristics of a good leader, but fail to grasp this key point, chances are you won’t get very far on your own. You may be well-liked and respected, but it will be challenging to accomplish team or organizational goals. At CCL, we like to say that the  outcomes of leadership are about creating direction, alignment, and commitment, or DAC , within a group.

Good leadership never stops.

Also, we believe that leadership isn’t a destination, it’s a journey   — it’s something that you’ll have to work at regularly throughout your career, regardless of what level you reach in your organization or what industry you work in. Different teams, projects, and situations will provide different challenges and require different leadership qualities and competencies to succeed. So you will need to be able to continue to apply these leadership characteristics in different ways throughout your career. Just continually keep learning and growing, and you’ll be an agile learner with a long career .

We Can Help You Develop the Qualities of a Good Leader

Organizations can strengthen leadership qualities and foster deeper levels of engagement at work through providing a variety of on-the-job learning experiences, mentoring, and formal development opportunities. At CCL, we have many award-winning leadership solutions with clients around the world, and we’d be honored to work with you and your organization as well.

But individuals don’t have to wait to begin strengthening these leadership characteristics within themselves. If you decide you want to work proactively on developing your leadership qualities and skills,  download our action guide & visual summary  of this content. And get our tips on how to  convince your boss to make an investment in you  and your future. We’re here to support you every step of the way on your journey to becoming a better leader!

Ready to Take the Next Step?

After you download the 12 Characteristics of a Good Leader , keep on learning and growing: never miss our exclusive leadership insights and tips — subscribe to our newsletters to get our research-based articles, webinars, resources, and guides delivered straight to your inbox. 

Keep these qualities of a good leader top of mind in the future: download a PDF summary of this article as an action guide and visual reminder of the leadership qualities to nurture in yourself, on your team, and at your organization in the future.

This article was written by our Leading Effectively staff, who analyze our decades of pioneering, expert research and experiences in the field to share content that will help leaders at every level. Subscribe to our emails to get the latest research-based leadership articles and insights sent straight to your inbox.

Table of Contents

Don’t miss a single insight! Get our latest cutting-edge, research-based leadership content sent directly to your inbox.

Related Topics

What to explore next.

With over 30 pages of insights gleaned from our research, this collection of resources includes actionable tips and team discussion questions to help you become a (better) leader with a focus on compassion, wellbeing, and belonging.

This introduction to our leadership philosophy explains how direction, alignment, and commitment (the elements of our DAC framework) are key in how leadership works, connecting exponential potential with collective progress.

Want to set yourself apart as a leader? Arm yourself with these 6 essential skills. Our global research study found that organizations will need these 6 key qualities that their leaders presently lack.

Do you know how to effectively communicate at work? It's the core of everything we do, and yet many of us have significant room for improvement. Get our top tips for leaders.

Stepping into a management role requires a fundamental shift of identity. Learn how to be an effective boss and succeed in your new role with our leadership tips for first-time managers.

Related Solutions

Learn more about our flagship Leadership Development Program (LDP)®, the most widely known and longest-running leadership development training in the world.

Professional leadership coaching deepens and sustains leadership development. Learn more about our world-class leadership coaching services.

Learn more about our leadership training courses, which are targeted to develop the skills leaders need to succeed at all levels of your organization.

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)® is a top-ranked, global, nonprofit provider of leadership development and a pioneer in the field of global leadership research. We know from experience how transformative remarkable leaders really can be.

Over the past 50 years, we’ve worked with organizations of all sizes from around the world, including more than 2/3 of the Fortune 1000. Our hands-on development solutions are evidence-based and steeped in our work with hundreds of thousands of leaders at all levels.

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Great Leader Essay

Leadership is not a notion but a quality in itself. It is easy to be the boss and give orders but equally difficult to be a part of the process and lead it. As a leader, you should know the pros and cons of each of your team members and simultaneously ensure that your team keeps on growing. And remember, as a leader, it becomes your job to maintain unity in your team and ensure that your team is guided by mutual respect. Here are a few sample essays on great leader.

100 Words Essay on Great Leader

A good leader is very much needed in this world . The greatest quality that any leader can have is vision, the ability to see the future of their organisation or team, its capability, and what it will take to achieve that position. The ability to convey the vision to others holds the same importance as having a vision. This means maintaining a positive view of the organisation, helping team members stay focused, motivated, and engaged, and remembering the field they are working in. A good leader should also have critical thinking towards his work and be mindful about the opinion of their own team members.

200 Words Essay on Great Leader

Based on several qualities such as determination, perseverance, charisma, over time, we have found that several leaders have taken over a place in the hearts of the people by not only sympathising with them but empathising as well. Unless and until you put yourself into the shoes of others, you won't be able to relate to their situation. Thus, the situation itself would remain unaddressed and the problem unsolved. Mahatma Gandhi didn't lead India to its freedom by wearing his lawyer's cloak and enjoying the money that he earned. He understood that to make people do what you want, you must step in their shoes and that is exactly what he did.

Nelson Mandela knew that there had to be someone who would raise their voice to address the discrimination against Blacks, and he took the responsibility into his own hands. The position you stand in doesn't give you the qualities of a great leader, but the qualities you imbibe and the way you implement decisions are what is needed.

A good leader must undoubtedly motivate their supporters. A leader must serve as an example for his subordinates. Additionally, they ought to inspire them whenever possible. A leader must also maintain hope in trying times.

500 Words Essay on Great Leader

Let us delve deeper into the details of a few great leaders of all times who have not only inspired us to date but will keep on doing so in future as well.

Gandhi | Let us begin the journey with Mahatma Gandhi or Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi, whose knowledge and great endeavours led India to its long-desired freedom. What makes him different from others is his fight using non-violent methods and how these methods themselves were quite persuasive in favour of India. His resilience, determination and willpower sustained him through all thick and thin. The Civil Disobedience movement, the Dandi March and the Non- cooperation movement are examples of his efforts. Despite being a popular leader, he excelled in academics as well. And thus, knowledge combined with empathy earned him the title of 'Father of the Nation' .

Nelson Mandela | Next on the list is the African leader Nelson Mandela, whose 'Long walk to Freedom' is not unknown to the world. Mandela's fight and determination had also led him behind bars, yet not even for a second did his determination dwindle. Mandela appealed to the masses, not because he was a philanthropist or a politician, but because he understood their needs and issues and addressed them with utmost sincerity. His long struggle against apartheid earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Mandela did not just fight evil from the outside and had first-hand experience with it.

Martin Luther King Jr. | Martin Luther King Jr. did not just have a dream but had the vision of putting it into reality, which is what he worked for. Like Gandhi's beliefs and ideals, Martin Luther King Jr. was a Civil Rights Activist who envisioned an equal world and thus fought for the rights of African-Americans. His vision was not blurred, and his resilience was not unstable. Though America is still struggling with these anti-black sentiments, the percentage has declined to a very low level. Luther's dream is slowly and gradually taking the shape of reality.

Lincoln | The 16th President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln , cannot be left off the list. His fight against slavery and his leadership in the Civil war all have been successful to get America a united front. Lincoln's name has often come coupled with democracy because he gave this idea for the world to follow to date.

Mother Teresa | In this list, next comes the name of the Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa , whose selflessness, empathy and dedication won over the hearts of everyone. Mother Teresa worked for the vulnerable, the orphans and those whose own families had been denied help. She has been called 'Mother' because of her pure love and dedication towards all.

Though not elaborated upon, many other leaders have inspired the world. Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, Winston Churchill, Julius Caesar, and Dalai Lama are other prominent names of world-renowned leaders.

Qualities Of Great Leaders

The one thing that makes great leaders amazing is that they want their people to grow into better people, which makes them better employees. They encourage employees to participate in discussions, submit their ideas, and learn new skills.

Great leaders are very clear with their vision and incredibly focused on achieving that vision. They know how to make decisions at the right time and move towards the goal.

Great leaders indirectly create loyal customers by creating an environment for employers to shine. A great leader who understands sharing of ideas, collaboration and transparency will automatically create a culture for employees where they will be able to please the customers.

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Bio Medical Engineer

The field of biomedical engineering opens up a universe of expert chances. An Individual in the biomedical engineering career path work in the field of engineering as well as medicine, in order to find out solutions to common problems of the two fields. The biomedical engineering job opportunities are to collaborate with doctors and researchers to develop medical systems, equipment, or devices that can solve clinical problems. Here we will be discussing jobs after biomedical engineering, how to get a job in biomedical engineering, biomedical engineering scope, and salary. 

Data Administrator

Database professionals use software to store and organise data such as financial information, and customer shipping records. Individuals who opt for a career as data administrators ensure that data is available for users and secured from unauthorised sales. DB administrators may work in various types of industries. It may involve computer systems design, service firms, insurance companies, banks and hospitals.

Ethical Hacker

A career as ethical hacker involves various challenges and provides lucrative opportunities in the digital era where every giant business and startup owns its cyberspace on the world wide web. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path try to find the vulnerabilities in the cyber system to get its authority. If he or she succeeds in it then he or she gets its illegal authority. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path then steal information or delete the file that could affect the business, functioning, or services of the organization.

Data Analyst

The invention of the database has given fresh breath to the people involved in the data analytics career path. Analysis refers to splitting up a whole into its individual components for individual analysis. Data analysis is a method through which raw data are processed and transformed into information that would be beneficial for user strategic thinking.

Data are collected and examined to respond to questions, evaluate hypotheses or contradict theories. It is a tool for analyzing, transforming, modeling, and arranging data with useful knowledge, to assist in decision-making and methods, encompassing various strategies, and is used in different fields of business, research, and social science.

Geothermal Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as geothermal engineers are the professionals involved in the processing of geothermal energy. The responsibilities of geothermal engineers may vary depending on the workplace location. Those who work in fields design facilities to process and distribute geothermal energy. They oversee the functioning of machinery used in the field.

Remote Sensing Technician

Individuals who opt for a career as a remote sensing technician possess unique personalities. Remote sensing analysts seem to be rational human beings, they are strong, independent, persistent, sincere, realistic and resourceful. Some of them are analytical as well, which means they are intelligent, introspective and inquisitive. 

Remote sensing scientists use remote sensing technology to support scientists in fields such as community planning, flight planning or the management of natural resources. Analysing data collected from aircraft, satellites or ground-based platforms using statistical analysis software, image analysis software or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a significant part of their work. Do you want to learn how to become remote sensing technician? There's no need to be concerned; we've devised a simple remote sensing technician career path for you. Scroll through the pages and read.

Geotechnical engineer

The role of geotechnical engineer starts with reviewing the projects needed to define the required material properties. The work responsibilities are followed by a site investigation of rock, soil, fault distribution and bedrock properties on and below an area of interest. The investigation is aimed to improve the ground engineering design and determine their engineering properties that include how they will interact with, on or in a proposed construction. 

The role of geotechnical engineer in mining includes designing and determining the type of foundations, earthworks, and or pavement subgrades required for the intended man-made structures to be made. Geotechnical engineering jobs are involved in earthen and concrete dam construction projects, working under a range of normal and extreme loading conditions. 

Cartographer

How fascinating it is to represent the whole world on just a piece of paper or a sphere. With the help of maps, we are able to represent the real world on a much smaller scale. Individuals who opt for a career as a cartographer are those who make maps. But, cartography is not just limited to maps, it is about a mixture of art , science , and technology. As a cartographer, not only you will create maps but use various geodetic surveys and remote sensing systems to measure, analyse, and create different maps for political, cultural or educational purposes.

Budget Analyst

Budget analysis, in a nutshell, entails thoroughly analyzing the details of a financial budget. The budget analysis aims to better understand and manage revenue. Budget analysts assist in the achievement of financial targets, the preservation of profitability, and the pursuit of long-term growth for a business. Budget analysts generally have a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or a closely related field. Knowledge of Financial Management is of prime importance in this career.

Product Manager

A Product Manager is a professional responsible for product planning and marketing. He or she manages the product throughout the Product Life Cycle, gathering and prioritising the product. A product manager job description includes defining the product vision and working closely with team members of other departments to deliver winning products.  

Underwriter

An underwriter is a person who assesses and evaluates the risk of insurance in his or her field like mortgage, loan, health policy, investment, and so on and so forth. The underwriter career path does involve risks as analysing the risks means finding out if there is a way for the insurance underwriter jobs to recover the money from its clients. If the risk turns out to be too much for the company then in the future it is an underwriter who will be held accountable for it. Therefore, one must carry out his or her job with a lot of attention and diligence.

Finance Executive

Operations manager.

Individuals in the operations manager jobs are responsible for ensuring the efficiency of each department to acquire its optimal goal. They plan the use of resources and distribution of materials. The operations manager's job description includes managing budgets, negotiating contracts, and performing administrative tasks.

Bank Probationary Officer (PO)

Investment director.

An investment director is a person who helps corporations and individuals manage their finances. They can help them develop a strategy to achieve their goals, including paying off debts and investing in the future. In addition, he or she can help individuals make informed decisions.

Welding Engineer

Welding Engineer Job Description: A Welding Engineer work involves managing welding projects and supervising welding teams. He or she is responsible for reviewing welding procedures, processes and documentation. A career as Welding Engineer involves conducting failure analyses and causes on welding issues. 

Transportation Planner

A career as Transportation Planner requires technical application of science and technology in engineering, particularly the concepts, equipment and technologies involved in the production of products and services. In fields like land use, infrastructure review, ecological standards and street design, he or she considers issues of health, environment and performance. A Transportation Planner assigns resources for implementing and designing programmes. He or she is responsible for assessing needs, preparing plans and forecasts and compliance with regulations.

An expert in plumbing is aware of building regulations and safety standards and works to make sure these standards are upheld. Testing pipes for leakage using air pressure and other gauges, and also the ability to construct new pipe systems by cutting, fitting, measuring and threading pipes are some of the other more involved aspects of plumbing. Individuals in the plumber career path are self-employed or work for a small business employing less than ten people, though some might find working for larger entities or the government more desirable.

Construction Manager

Individuals who opt for a career as construction managers have a senior-level management role offered in construction firms. Responsibilities in the construction management career path are assigning tasks to workers, inspecting their work, and coordinating with other professionals including architects, subcontractors, and building services engineers.

Urban Planner

Urban Planning careers revolve around the idea of developing a plan to use the land optimally, without affecting the environment. Urban planning jobs are offered to those candidates who are skilled in making the right use of land to distribute the growing population, to create various communities. 

Urban planning careers come with the opportunity to make changes to the existing cities and towns. They identify various community needs and make short and long-term plans accordingly.

Highway Engineer

Highway Engineer Job Description:  A Highway Engineer is a civil engineer who specialises in planning and building thousands of miles of roads that support connectivity and allow transportation across the country. He or she ensures that traffic management schemes are effectively planned concerning economic sustainability and successful implementation.

Environmental Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as an environmental engineer are construction professionals who utilise the skills and knowledge of biology, soil science, chemistry and the concept of engineering to design and develop projects that serve as solutions to various environmental problems. 

Naval Architect

A Naval Architect is a professional who designs, produces and repairs safe and sea-worthy surfaces or underwater structures. A Naval Architect stays involved in creating and designing ships, ferries, submarines and yachts with implementation of various principles such as gravity, ideal hull form, buoyancy and stability. 

Orthotist and Prosthetist

Orthotists and Prosthetists are professionals who provide aid to patients with disabilities. They fix them to artificial limbs (prosthetics) and help them to regain stability. There are times when people lose their limbs in an accident. In some other occasions, they are born without a limb or orthopaedic impairment. Orthotists and prosthetists play a crucial role in their lives with fixing them to assistive devices and provide mobility.

Veterinary Doctor

Pathologist.

A career in pathology in India is filled with several responsibilities as it is a medical branch and affects human lives. The demand for pathologists has been increasing over the past few years as people are getting more aware of different diseases. Not only that, but an increase in population and lifestyle changes have also contributed to the increase in a pathologist’s demand. The pathology careers provide an extremely huge number of opportunities and if you want to be a part of the medical field you can consider being a pathologist. If you want to know more about a career in pathology in India then continue reading this article.

Speech Therapist

Gynaecologist.

Gynaecology can be defined as the study of the female body. The job outlook for gynaecology is excellent since there is evergreen demand for one because of their responsibility of dealing with not only women’s health but also fertility and pregnancy issues. Although most women prefer to have a women obstetrician gynaecologist as their doctor, men also explore a career as a gynaecologist and there are ample amounts of male doctors in the field who are gynaecologists and aid women during delivery and childbirth. 

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

Hospital Administrator

The hospital Administrator is in charge of organising and supervising the daily operations of medical services and facilities. This organising includes managing of organisation’s staff and its members in service, budgets, service reports, departmental reporting and taking reminders of patient care and services.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs. 

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Videographer

Multimedia specialist.

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications. 

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook. 

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion. 

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article. 

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

Linguistic meaning is related to language or Linguistics which is the study of languages. A career as a linguistic meaning, a profession that is based on the scientific study of language, and it's a very broad field with many specialities. Famous linguists work in academia, researching and teaching different areas of language, such as phonetics (sounds), syntax (word order) and semantics (meaning). 

Other researchers focus on specialities like computational linguistics, which seeks to better match human and computer language capacities, or applied linguistics, which is concerned with improving language education. Still, others work as language experts for the government, advertising companies, dictionary publishers and various other private enterprises. Some might work from home as freelance linguists. Philologist, phonologist, and dialectician are some of Linguist synonym. Linguists can study French , German , Italian . 

Public Relation Executive

Travel journalist.

The career of a travel journalist is full of passion, excitement and responsibility. Journalism as a career could be challenging at times, but if you're someone who has been genuinely enthusiastic about all this, then it is the best decision for you. Travel journalism jobs are all about insightful, artfully written, informative narratives designed to cover the travel industry. Travel Journalist is someone who explores, gathers and presents information as a news article.

Quality Controller

A quality controller plays a crucial role in an organisation. He or she is responsible for performing quality checks on manufactured products. He or she identifies the defects in a product and rejects the product. 

A quality controller records detailed information about products with defects and sends it to the supervisor or plant manager to take necessary actions to improve the production process.

Production Manager

Merchandiser.

A QA Lead is in charge of the QA Team. The role of QA Lead comes with the responsibility of assessing services and products in order to determine that he or she meets the quality standards. He or she develops, implements and manages test plans. 

Metallurgical Engineer

A metallurgical engineer is a professional who studies and produces materials that bring power to our world. He or she extracts metals from ores and rocks and transforms them into alloys, high-purity metals and other materials used in developing infrastructure, transportation and healthcare equipment. 

Azure Administrator

An Azure Administrator is a professional responsible for implementing, monitoring, and maintaining Azure Solutions. He or she manages cloud infrastructure service instances and various cloud servers as well as sets up public and private cloud systems. 

AWS Solution Architect

An AWS Solution Architect is someone who specializes in developing and implementing cloud computing systems. He or she has a good understanding of the various aspects of cloud computing and can confidently deploy and manage their systems. He or she troubleshoots the issues and evaluates the risk from the third party. 

Computer Programmer

Careers in computer programming primarily refer to the systematic act of writing code and moreover include wider computer science areas. The word 'programmer' or 'coder' has entered into practice with the growing number of newly self-taught tech enthusiasts. Computer programming careers involve the use of designs created by software developers and engineers and transforming them into commands that can be implemented by computers. These commands result in regular usage of social media sites, word-processing applications and browsers.

ITSM Manager

Information security manager.

Individuals in the information security manager career path involves in overseeing and controlling all aspects of computer security. The IT security manager job description includes planning and carrying out security measures to protect the business data and information from corruption, theft, unauthorised access, and deliberate attack 

Business Intelligence Developer

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Essay on Leadership: Samples in 100, 200, 300 Words

• Updated on  
• Oct 7, 2023

The concept of leadership has been known to us since ancient times, from Ashoka: The Great to modern-day democratic leaders. Whether it’s politics or business, sports or entertainment, leadership is an essential part of human society, Leadership is the art of inspiring and guiding people towards a common goal. 

Critics might argue that being a leader is just about holding a prestigious position and living a fancy life. That might be 1 in 1000 cases, as leaders across the globe work for the welfare and development of their people and country. Below we have discussed some essays on leadership where the multifaceted roles of this position are highlighted. 

This Blog Includes:

Essay on leadership in 100 words, essay on leadership in 200 words, essay on leadership in 300 words.

Also Read – Essay on Summer Vacation

Leadership involves a set of qualities, values and actions, which are focused on the benefit of people and their country. A person holding the position of a leader plays a pivotal role in every facet of life, influencing the direction and success of organizations, communities, and nations. To become a leader, one must have a clear vision to understand a future state that is better than the present and communicate that vision to their team or followers.

A leader’s actions should be aligned with their words, and they must demonstrate their honesty, transparency and ethical behaviour. Trust is the foundation for any successful leadership, and it is built through consistent ethical conduct. 

Leadership is a complex and multifaceted concept and is an essential part of developing a society or organisation. Leadership can involve various positions and types, from democratic to autocratic, where the leaders inspire and empower their teams, fostering an environment where individuals can thrive and achieve their fullest potential.

Effective leadership involves skilled communicators to can convey ideas, expectations, and feedback clearly and persuasively. They also listen actively to their team’s input and concerns. A great leader empowers a team of professionals by entrusting them with responsibilities and decision-making authority. With the formation of delegates, the power of leadership is divided among different authorities who are responsible for fostering growth and development among team members, making the organization more robust.

Some of the fundamentals of leadership are authenticity, integrity, ethical behaviour, a clear vision and other vital traits. Trust is the bedrock of leadership, and it is built through honesty, transparency, and consistency in actions and decisions. A leader who understands and cares about the needs and concerns of their team fosters strong relationships, promoting collaboration and cohesion.

At last, leadership is more than a title; it’s the embodiment of vision, integrity, empathy, communication and resilience. Effective leaders work to bring positive changes, inspire people around them and create a sense of purpose and direction in their terms and organizations.

Also Read – Essay on Cricket

Leadership is a vital concept for the welfare of a society, community or country, depending on what the leadership is about. A leader transcends boundaries and is fundamental to human endeavours in various domains. Their job involves the ability to influence and guide a group of individuals toward achieving a common objective. Effective leadership is characterized by a combination of qualities, skills, and behaviours that inspire, motivate, and empower a team.

The first and most important aspect of a successful leader is having a clear vision. A clear vision works as a guiding light, outlining the desired future and providing a sense of purpose and direction for the team. Leaders with a compelling vision can inspire and rally their followers, creating a shared sense of purpose. 

The other cornerstone of leadership is integrity. Leaders must demonstrate honesty, transparency, and ethical behaviour. Trust, which is essential in any team or organization, is built on the foundation of integrity. When people believe that their leader acts with integrity, they are more likely to follow willingly and commit to the cause. 

Another trait that is essential for effective leadership is empathy. Leaders with empathy understand and connect with the emotions, needs, and perspectives of their team members. By showing compassion and actively listening, they create a supportive and inclusive environment that fosters trust and collaboration.

Apart from these traits, other important qualities for effective leadership include effective communication and interpersonal skills. A leader must be able to articulate their vision, goals, and expectations clearly and persuasively. 

In conclusion, leadership is a multifaceted concept that plays a pivotal role towards the positive growth and development of organizations, communities, and societies. Effective leaders inspire their teams, create a sense of purpose, and drive positive change. Leadership is not merely a position; it is a journey of personal growth and a commitment to serving the greater good.

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Some of the synonyms for a leader are: Coach, Captain, Principal, Chairman, Kingpin, Boss, CEO, etc.

What makes a good leader is their ability to persuade people using their effective communication skills, having a clear vision working towards the welfare of society, and taking responsibility for their actions.

Writing an essay on leadership in 200 words must include the fundamental aspects of leadership and the qualities they must possess. Effective leaders around the world create a supportive and inclusive environment where people can thrive and contribute their best efforts. They inspire a shared sense of purpose, foster collaboration, and guide their teams toward achieving collective goals.

For more information about such informative articles, visit our essay writing page and make sure to follow Leverage Edu .

Shiva Tyagi

With an experience of over a year, I've developed a passion for writing blogs on wide range of topics. I am mostly inspired from topics related to social and environmental fields, where you come up with a positive outcome.

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