Philosophy of Leadership 1
Personal Philosophy of Leadership
Kelsey Nesnick
Liberty University
CJUS 610
Professor Lafond
March 28, 2024
Philosophy of Leadership 2
The personal philosophy of leadership is an aspect of an individual’s
thought process for the day or even as far out as their future. This
philosophy is seen through the actions and behaviors that an individual
makes throughout their lives. When creating a personal philosophy to follow
it is important to create your personal goals to your morals as well as set
forth goals that are attainable for the near future as well as dream goals. By
setting goals like these it ensures the individual to keep up with reaching
their goals because there are goals that will inherently be crossed off, due to
the nature of them being attainable, which in turn will help the individual to
continue striving towards their long-term goals. Through a vision statement,
ones’ morals and values, and mission statement; an individual can set forth
goals for themselves and have a sense of direction of how they want their
lives to turn out. Of course, this is all subjective and life happens, and plans
change, but by having a “goal life plan” provides some individuals the
motivation they need to keep going on.
Vision Statement
The aspects of life that are most important to me are my relationships
with my family and friends, creating new experiences in my life in order to
have lasting memories, and creating meaning throughout all aspects my life
with anything I set forth to do. The future allows me to envision the most
passionate aspects I have within my life and how to transpire that to the
various environmental factors that an individual is bound to occur in an
individual’s lifetime. By remaining resilient, compassionate, and kind-
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hearted; these aspects of my life can stay with me throughout my time on
earth. However, even with keeping these aspects within my life, there is
always a greater plan than what I can imagine for myself; this being God’s.
Plan. Jeremiah 29:11 states, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares
the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope
and a future.” No matter what happens in the future, it is all a small part of
God’s bigger plan for me and all I can do is trust in God’s word and follow
suit within his plan for me.
Mission Statement
The purpose that I envision I have in my life is that I have always
believed I was put on this earth to uplift others and help those who do not
have a voice for themselves. Because of this believed purpose, I have made
every decision throughout my life around this; it has shaped me as the
person I am today. Due to the nature of this purpose, is why I have chosen to
work within the field of Criminal Justice as well as currently working as a
Registered Behavioral Technician (RBT) for children with autism. These
professions allow me to follow God’s plan and his word by being a public
servant to other individuals. For my personal mission statement, I strive to
live by these core aspects in my life: As a friend and family member, I will
love and cherish those around me. As a leader, I will contribute my
experiences and knowledge to others as well as accept any and all criticism
from others, as this will help me stay grounded and grow as an individual.
The principles that I will use to guide me in my life are compassion,
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resilience, kindness, passion, and hard work. Upon the remainder of this
mission statement, I will go into greater detail of these five principles.
Family has always been a major point within my life as I have grown up
with a large family. My immediate family is just my mother, father, older
brother, and a younger sister but my father is one of eight children, so I grew
up around a lot of cousins around at all pivotal points of my life. I am
immensely blessed to have such a close-knit family that I can go to for
absolutely anything from just wanting to hang out with my siblings to have a
major crisis, someone is always present to help when needed. According to
Czarniecks-Skubina, Gutkowska, and Hamulka, the family environment plays
a crucial role in creating behaviors of children and youth. (2020) By instilling
a healthy relationship within an individual’s family fosters a healthy outlook
on life for those individuals that will ultimately help set them up for their
future endeavors. Because of this I am eternally grateful for my family as
they have established this healthy family dynamic in our giant cluster of
family members.
A core part of being a family member and friend is the ability to lean
on them when times become rough throughout your life. Personally, I have
struggled with eating disorders throughout my teenage years and currently
in my early twenties, and one thing for certain was my ability to lean on my
family members in this time of need. “Families play an important role in
eating disorder (ED) recovery, and it has been suggested that they can
ameliorate the loneliness associated with ED’S.” (McNamara et al., 2022) I
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can attest that having the support of family members does account for the
loneliness I felt. I use my struggle with ED’s as an example within my life
because there is always room and the ability to lean on your family and
friends as well as being a strong shoulder for them to lean on in their time of
need.
Leadership skills have been engraved into my life since early
childhood. Growing up I was always taken to do service projects and
missions with my church. By seeing all these adults and other children help
serve the community and the Lord was incredible to witness and be a part of.
I was fortunate enough to be around so many wonderful individuals with the
same mindset of wanting to help others, this molded me into the leader and
individual that I am today. Previously I mentioned that as a leader I want to
spread my knowledge and obtain it from others in order to grow and be the
best version of myself.
It is important to continuously search for growth as one never stops
growing, there is always room for improvement due to the new knowledge
that is learned every day in our earthly world. Being a good role model
means to keep on growing and learning as it is important to match your
actions and behaviors to what you are saying. Leaders do not create more
followers, instead they help foster more leaders. For example, “when
discussing the key characteristics of an effective leader, the focus primarily
is on 'character' and not strategies to meet organizational objectives.”
(BADAL, 2022) When focusing on one’s character instead of what an
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individual “can do for you”, there is likely more capability of developing the
best versions of the individuals the leader is leading; it fosters a “we” not
“me” attitude amongst the group.
To have the ability to help others and provide guidance to them as well
is a self-less act. “Those who are generous will prosper; those who refresh
others will themselves be refreshed.” (Proverbs 11:25) Personally, my goal is
to always act in a self-less manner in order to help benefit the lives of all of
God’s children. Characteristics like these are how I want to be remembered
when I am no longer on Earth by leaving the Earth in a better place than
when I was created.
Values
My values have developed based upon the way I grew up. Some of
these values have been passed down from my family and others have
developed upon my journey in finding a true relationship with God. My values
include family, inspiration, kindness, wisdom, and integrity.
Family
oThe importance family has on my life is the reason why I try my
hardest to remain kind and compassionate in all things I do. I
want to prove myself as an individual that can always be counted
on in a time of need, like others have been for me. By living this
way through the word of God, my family and the Lord can help
keep me grounded and allow me to grow through our family
values.
Philosophy of Leadership 7
Inspiration
oTo be an inspiration to others is self-gratifying and is done
without needing any form of recognition. I hope to have been
and strive to be an inspiration to others, that will help leave this
world in a better place than before I contributed to society for
others to model their livelihoods after. Inspiration is motivational
to help individuals bring their ideas to life, by seeing that
anything is possible when they put their all into it.
Kindness
oKindness as a life value means to be friendly, generous, and
considerate of other individuals. When it comes to being kind in
today’s society, there is always temptation to waiver away from
this value, but it is important to remain true to yourself and have
the courage and strength to treat others with kindness. By
showing kindness to others, I strive to make the world a happier
place for everyone. We all are children of God who deserve to be
loved and treated kindly and fairly.
Wisdom
oWisdom is a trait that I am fortunate enough to understand that
all knowledge and wisdom comes with time. Any great thing that
has happened before our time and even after has been carefully
cultivated to flourish as what it is now. As I become older, I have
begun to realize that the older generations do know what it is
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like to be in your shoes, so asking for advice is not seen as you
not knowing how to “be an adult”, but instead asking for advice
actually helps set you up for success while navigating through a
new chapter in your life. Wisdom is having experience,
knowledge, and good judgement, all of which is a recipe for
making sound decisions.
Integrity
oIntegrity is all about being honest and having strong moral
principles to follow throughout one’s life. Integrity also means to
demonstrate moral strength through all situations, and it cannot
waiver for any curve ball that gets thrown at you. Having
integrity is a good value to have when working in the Criminal
Justice field as an individual is put into hard situations all the
time.
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References
BADAL, A. (2022). INCLUSION + RESPECT ≥ EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP.Cross -
Cultural Management Journal,Xxiv(1), 59-64.
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proqu
est.com/scholarly-journals/inclusion-respect-≥-effective-leadership/
docview/2805451010/se-2
Czarniecka-Skubina, E., Gutkowska, K., & Hamulka, J. (2023). The Family
Environment as a Source for Creating the Dietary Attitudes of Primary
School Students—A Focus Group Interview: The Junior-Edu-Żywienie
(JEŻ) Project.RNutrients,R15(23), 4930.
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15234930
Gateway, B. (2011).RJeremiah 29:11 NIV - - Bible Gateway.
Www.biblegateway.com. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?
search=Jeremiah%2029%3A11&version=NIV
McNamara,RN.,RWakefield,RJ. R. H.,RCruwys,RT.,RPotter,RA.,RJones,RB. A.,
&RMcDevitt,RS.R(2022).RThe link between family identification,
loneliness, and symptom severity in people with eating
disorders.RJournal of Community & Applied Social
Psychology,R32(5),R949–962.Rhttps://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2606
Proverbs 11:25 NIV - - Bible Gateway. (n.d.). Www.biblegateway.com.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?
search=proverbs+11%3A25&version=NIV
