Leadership Characteristics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Leadership Characteristics - Research Paper Example â€Å"Student leaders who possess high self concept often strive for self-development† (Ahmad, Ghazali, and Hassan, 2011, p. 24). Trustworthiness of a leader plays an integral role in his/her success in the contemporary age of competition (Caldwell, Hayes, and Long, 2010, p. 497). Hence, both self-confidence and trustworthiness of an individual are equally important in making him/her effective as a leader. A leader has several motives. Drive means a leader’s motivation to achieve the goal. Tenacity means the leader’s strength or cohesiveness with the followers. Resilience means the power of a leader to take pressure and yet deliver the work. I believe that there are both positive and negative motives for leadership. â€Å"[Positive Leadership] motives that have received most attention are those of power, affiliation and achievement† (Marti, Gil, and Barrasa, 2009, p. 268). The negative motives for leadership include aggression, and authoritarian style. For example, tenacity helps a leader overcome obstacles. â€Å"[A]long with basic leadership essentials such as honesty and integrity, tenaciously seeking the truth is one of the most important characteristics a leader can have† (Harms, 2006, p. 49). Likewise, resilience helps a leader make informed decisions in the times of extreme pressure. Once, I was made the leader of a project in school. I had four members in my group excluding me. We had to make a group presentation. As the leader, factors that were within my control were roles of individual group members that I could assign as per my wish, the schedule for making the presentation, and the professional standards to be followed in the presentation. Factors that were beyond my control in that group project included occasional dissatisfaction of the group members with their roles, grudges between the group members leading them to interpersonal conflicts, and limitation of the resources for the project since we had to complete it within