Qualities Of Leadership Essay

714 Words3 Pages
What is a leader? According to the accomplished author of The 21 Indispensable Qualities of Leadership, John Maxwell, “A leader is one who knows the way and shows the way.”(Forbes Magazine) In 2007, I joined the Boy Scouts of America and throughout the years, I have practiced the ideals of scouting. It is in scouting that I feel I learned the most about leadership. While a leader should have an assortment of qualities, the three I believe to be most crucial are bravery, trustworthiness, and obedience. The first quality of leadership that I value is bravery. It is important to realize bravery doesn’t mean the ability to fight. A person is brave when they choose right over wrong in the face of adversity in any given situation. When a leader…show more content…
Being trustworthy is a necessary trait of a leader. As Barbra Brooks Kimmel, CEO and cofounder of Trust Across America, said, “ Trust starts with trustworthy leadership. It must be built into corporate culture.” Throughout my experiences as a leader in my troop, I learned that trust takes a long time to develop and can be lost in an instance. Before becoming the Senior Patrol Leader of my troop, I noticed that favoritism was a main compromise of a leader’s credibility. The older scouts would have their friends do little to nothing on campouts and meetings, expecting the younger scouts to do all the work. Favoritism like this did not benefit the groups. Actions like that break the bonds of trust and make group members feel undervalued and unappreciated. There a leader has lost their integrity with the group. In order to be trustworthy, one must build trust with others. One way trust can be built is by being honest even in challenging situations. Another way for an individual to develop their trustworthiness is by learning at an early age to take responsibility for their actions. A person can be forgiven when they have acknowledged what the have done wrong. The last component for cultivating trustworthiness is good communication skills. A leader needs to learn that communication is a two-way street. They must learn to listen and develop personal relationships with other
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