1. Leadership, Leader, & Organization
As far as I am concerned, there are two perspectives to understand “leadership.” Individually, it talks about the interactions between the leader and the group members the leader is leading and cooperating with, how the leader helps the group members improve and has his or her leadership potential realized. Organizationally, it is all about the dynamics between the leader and the organization the leader is managing, how the leader leads the organization to a better ground.
2. Farsightedness & Creativity
An excellent leader should be equipped with a lot of qualities. The qualities I consider as highly important are farsightedness and creativity. Farsightedness is the ability to see things beyond what is in the eyes, using creativity; and creativity is about how one uses imagination to create new things, based on the his or her perception on how the world is going to be in the future, which is farsightedness.
A few days ago, I just saw a film, “The Social Network” by David Ficher, and was greatly shocked. Let alone the betrayal part of the story, I was greatly impressed by the farsightedness and creativity of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. Facebook is just like a magic and is now crazily attracting 5 billions users of the world.
When the world was still crazy about normal social networking sites of all kinds, Mark was thinking about “taking the entire social experience of college and putting it online.” He realized that people came to social networking sites was not because people loved to know more strangers, but was because they liked to get on the Internet and check out theirs friends. Thus, an excellent idea came to his mind, that’s to create a website which was all based on real personal information. People easily get to know what is going on with their friends and their privacy is greatly protected via a security system in which people are free to choose whom to “add.” Now, 60% of the people say that they are addicted to it and facebook on a daily base. I am also one of the Facebookers. When I am facebooking and enjoying the convenience of checking outing friends, I often think “Woo, what a Facebook!”
The greatest idea about Facebook, I think, is not the more advanced security system enabling the users to determine which part of their life to be exposed, but the concept of building a real social life on the Internet. In a common sense, we all know the Internet is unreal, and a large amount of the information seen requires the judgment of the users. It’s a virtual world. However, when Mark is thinking about moving the social network in the real life onto the Internet, the conventional idea is overturned. People feel their social network extended and more convenience is brought by it.
As the CEO of Facebook, let alone saying that Mark is leading his company, his colleagues and his team, I prefer to think that he is leading the world to a totally new perspective. And I believe that’s what an excellent leader should be able to do.
3. “To Give Is Better Than to Receive.”
I always think of the words by John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” And that’s what I expect to see from an excellent leader, always willing to sacrifice and devote, at the expense of his or her personal interests.
I expect to see a leader who is always willing to sacrifice his or her personal interests, to spend his or her time and energy to teach, to help others grow, and to do more.
An excellent leader should not always think about what he or she can receive from the external environment, but what he or she can give to it, what kind of contributions he or she is able to make, and what sacrifices he or she is willing to make to pursue a better situation.
4. The Leader That Impressed Me Most: The Charity Sale in 2006 I can still clearly the charity sale I participated in 2006, when I was in high school. That charity sale was organized by one of our senior students, Sandy, and she was the first person in my life that I would consider as a true leader.
The charity sale was organized to collect money to save a girl’s life. The girl was called Lian and was also one of our senior students. She got leukemia. Sandy initiated such a charity not because she wanted to improve her ability and collect experience of organizing activities, but just because she wanted to save Lian’s life by everything she could do. Sandy clearly broke down all the tasks and assigned them to us, her and my classmates. Some were responsible for preparing all those goods needed, some were for choosing and ordering the place for sale, and some were for propagating to make the activity known to the public via Internet and advertisements. The sale was organized in front of a shopping mall in order to attract more people. During the sale, Sandy was just the cheer leader to inspire all of us. When we were tired and depressed, she just encouraged us by being the most active one. And thanks to Sandy’s hard work and enthusiasm, we finally had collected 5500 Yuan. What I leant from Sandy, in fact, was not just her capacity to organize such a successful charity and her hard work, but also her great willingness to devote her time and energy to do something for her friend (in fact, to me, it was just more than something; however, Lian died one year later and Sandy burst into tears when she got that news), and the contagious enthusiasm she had displayed to us. Most importantly, that enthusiasm, that passion, just came from a loving heart.
5. My Own Experience as a Leader: CMSA
Now, I am the Vice President of China Mainland Students’ Association (CMSA), where I can greatly practice my leadership skills and have my leadership potential realized.
Take the K-Final Singing Contest as an example. I have seen a lot of singing contests and also have participated in quite a few. Most singing contests are just no more than contests, in which the participants sing one by one, get comments from the judges and rated, the result comes out, winners are awarded and everything is done. Except for the fans of the participants, the audience feels the contest less attractive and boring. Singing contest requires a transformation or even a “revolution.” And this time, when I also am charge of the K-Final Singing Contest, I am thinking that more elements can be added to make it more interesting and turn it into more like a show, rather than only a competition. Thus, quickly, our team discusses about the idea, creates a new rundown for the Final quite different from the previous ones held by our association and have started to implement it. And I believe we are just following the principle of “creativity” and trying to make a difference.
When implementing the idea, it’s like we have created a brand new vision and we need to spread it to our whole association, let everyone realize it and feel the commission to achieve it. And I learn that the very key to successfully implementing it and mobilizing every group member is communication. The communication channels start from the department heads to the members of different departments, till it comes to every member of the organization. We have to tell people what the show should be like, what one can do to accomplish it and how we will feel about it after a great success, which it’s just a sense of self-fulfillment. When the communication is fully done and everyone comes to understand the vision better, the final success is getting closer and the team is more like a team, rather than a combination of individuals.
However, the transformation should not be restricted to the part of activities a student association hold, but extended to other aspects. I can still remember one sentence I receive from our former Secretary General, “a top-ranking student association should be one striking for the interests of students.” And I believe that’s where a student association should be located. We should build an association more than providing entertainment, but struggling to maximize the interests of people we represent.
I, with other teammates, often talks about a new orientation of our organization at night in the dorm. I think that’s a kind of practice of my conceptual thinking skills.
6. My Strengths & Talents: Enthusiastic & Sharing
As a leader, I confidently believe I am person full of enthusiasm and energy. When I was leading the Singing Department to give a performance on the celebration show for National Day, I was willing to practice with the members, who were really talented, again and again. During that month, we practiced almost three times a week since I was sure that “Practice makes perfect.” and only when we persisted in our goal could we succeed.
We often practiced till late at night. And after group practice, I would also practice with group members individually. I would give sincere comments on their performance. When they did a good job, I clapped for them; when they were tired and depressed because of a lack of significant improvement, I inspired them and pointed out where they could do better. I was also willing to share my experience on singing and the skills I’d learnt from others. I believe my passions for singing and for the team did spread to them. We gave a great performance on the show. And after I “retired” from that position, they still often come to me to share their singing experience with me and ask for suggestions. I am really happy to see that and hoping that the passions will pass on to “generation” and “generation.”
7. My Area of Improvement: Assertiveness
I believe I am a person not assertive enough and that’s my area of improvement.
When faced with a new situation, I always hesitate too long and consider too much. Every coin has two sides, and longer and more thorough consideration may help me understand the situation better and increase the likelihood to make an effective decision. However, the longer I hesitate, the more time I waste and the higher possibility of missing the opportunity for the whole team.
Thus, I need to be more assertive and decisive. Assertiveness, for a leader, is all about making a quick and efficient decision confidently. However, it’s not all about the speed, and the quicker, the better; it’s about the efficiency. Being an assertive leader requires higher analytical intelligence and higher capacity to fully understand and conceptualize the situation and external context that the organization is embedded in.
8. Concrete Resolutions to be More Assertive
To be more assertive, firstly, I need to enhance my analytical ability and insights into situations and people. I need to perceive the situations and problems faced with more precisely. If a leader only wants to make a “fast” decision, rather than a good one, then the leader probably has become a doubtable one and the organization is in high risk of declining productivity or even collapse. Thus, it’s really necessary for me to enhance my analytical intelligence before I pursue the speed of making a decision.
Secondly, I need to realize the importance of making an efficient decision. I need to quickly think of the consequence following each decision and try to balance all the benefits and weaknesses of each consequence within a shorter time. And I should consider the worst situation if I spend too much time hesitating and miss the chance, which is a kind of psychological pressure. Also, I need to realize sometimes a decision is not black and white and I should make the best out of whatever paths I have chosen.
Thirdly, I should focus on some particular settings and opportunities to enhance my assertiveness. For example, I should try to deal with an emergence in a live show, in which I can learn to face a situation which is not prepared in advance; I should also be more active on those urgent meetings, deciding whether passing a plan or budget, to force me to come up with a proper solution; what’s more, I should learn how to negotiate with sponsors and other agencies outside of campus, to improve my confidence in such formal occasions.
