What Makes an Effective Leader

20130723 Leadership: The sum of those qualities of intellect, human understanding, and moral character that allow a person to inspire and control a group of people successfully. Leadership can generally entail a lot of different aspects, however the most influential leaders I have had in my life had been people that inspire me to be better than I am. I feel as though the majority of people today have a misconstrued definition of leadership because they usually associate leading with commands and authority. While those traits do have a lot to do with leading, they should be preceded by traits such as dependability, integrity, and loyalty. If you look at the most successful leaders throughout history, you rarely find people that were followed because they were given a position of authority. You look at people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Abe Lincoln not because people had to follow them, but because people wanted to follow them. They were people with outstanding character. One of my most memorable moments at boot camp was when one of my Drill Instructors got on to one of the squad leaders for calling another recruit derogatory names. Our Drill Instructor told us that people will never follow you because they have have to. They will follow you because they want to, and that is what leadership means to me. The most effective form of leadership to me is not asserting dominance, but rather leading by example. I follow the man conducts himself in the manner that I wish I could. When I see someone who does everything they are supposed to, do it in the most ethical and effective manner, and go above and beyond I usually always look up to them. I as a Marine feel that it is my job to be the best. I don’t expect people to respect me just because I am a Marine, I expect people to respect me because I conduct myself in such a manner that I earn their respect. That to me is leading by example. Nobody should have to explain to me the correct way to conduct myself