Like Me or Not like Me?

I spent a good hour reading through everyone's blogs to find some sort of similarity between myself and others based on leadership views. I think I have a very different leadership outlook in the sense it is about you and accomplishing something that gives personal gratification. I have done this my whole life and I never thought I was a "leader" until I came to college and people started nominating me for leader positions on groups and having a professor say to my face that "its hard to see great natural born leadership". You can argue I am for trait based theory and I do agree with it since I see it in myself and others I know but I also feel it can be learned. That is why I feel Melanie and I have similar blogs. We did have the exact same PMAI results and agree on similar aspects of a leader we admire. What is interesting to me though is she never thought she was a born with leadership traits and had to learn them. I feel I was the type of person to always take control but like I said it is college where I learned that is my leadership shining through. Like Melanie I had to learn to work with what I was give to mold myself into what I am today.

For someone who also had similar PMAI results as mine, I would say Caroline and myself are very different when it comes to leadership. She feels she is a relationship based leadership style and I believe I am task oriented. For similar results on a tests you could slightly assume we would have a some parallel views. But I believe that is the beauty in all of this. You really get to see a side of someone that doesn't get to be expressed and once its out there its undeniable. I hope that people don't get offended when someone claims their views are mismatched but it should open your eyes in to other perspectives that can potentially improve your own. 

The Most Inspriational Speech for Me....

“Somewhere along the line you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you’re no good and things got hard, you started looking for things to blame. Like a big shadow. Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s very mean and nasty place. And I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep amoving forwards, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now if you know what you’re worth, you gotta be out there willing to take the hits and not point fingers ‘cos of him or her or anybody if you aint’ where you wanna be. Cowards do that. That ain’t you. You’re better than that.” -Rocky Balboa

Picutres and Quotes...

“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet.”

-Theodore M. Hesburgh

“The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it.”

-Elaine Agather

“Leadership is not magnetic personality, that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not "making friends and influencing people", that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.”

- Peter F. Drucker

My PMAI

The results of my PMAI assessment didn’t quite surprise me. My major archetypes are the Ruler, the Jester and the Warrior. The warrior and the ruler were the two I would expect from myself at this give time in my life. I am taking control of my life and personal situations and given the environment I grew up in would definitely make me a warrior! I feel I can see how those relate to my parents and how a bit of each of them come together with me. I was surprised by the Jester but reading the leadership style of the Jester I can see it in myself. I like to laugh and I feel everyone gets a long better if the mood was light and fun. I feel maybe I use the jester to hide my ruler side. The Orphan was my suppressed archetype and I was thrown off about it at first. Seeing that the orphan focuses on being realistic I totally see myself being that way. Sometimes I catch myself in lala-land and have to drag myself out. I feel this assessment was a good glimpse of myself and it was accurate in its findings.

Archetypes

After reading the archetype introduction book, I find it sort of interesting that you can change archetypes throughout your life. Based on what you go through can determine the archetype you display. This doesn’t sit very well with me. I feel like you have characteristics that stick out and make you who you are. Shouldn’t you always be the same archetype because it reflects your personal characteristics? I can understand experiences shape you as a person and can change you for the better or worse. Maybe over there could be a slight shift in a person’s archetype but he or she would still hold close to his or her’s original one. The book made a comment about every six months taking this assessment to see which type you are displaying or story you are living at that time in your life.  I think that would make you not identify with a specific archetype and not be able to truly fine tune your leadership style. Reading the different type of archetypes it is clear to see how each displays different leadership types. It was obvious for me to see which I identified with and which ones people I am close to could represent.

My Trait Base Theory

The trait base theory feels people are born with the ability and will to lead. Though this may be true it has a few pros and cons. A pro would be the person’s innate ability to use these traits whenever necessary. A major con would be using them for the wrong reasons and we all know the prime example for this is Hitler. A second positive is there will always be someone to step up the plate when a problem arises. The con attached to it makes it so no one else is allowed to provide a solution and must follow with the leader’s orders. I feel some are born with a natural ability to lead but its being about to exercise those abilities is where it matters. Any one can develop the skill to leader it is just recognizing what needs to be there to make it happen.

My Leadership Style...

My leadership style is more about myself and setting an example for others. I have a strong will and like to push myself to reach goals whether it is with a group or for myself. Things I possess as a leader is integrity, discipline, and respect. I like to model my leadership style as a strong individual who owns their beliefs and encourages those around them to do the same. Being told I can not do something only fuels me to push harder and prove someone wrong. To be a good leader you must believe in yourself before you can believe in anyone else.