Essay Prompt

Introduction:
Throughout your life, you have been under the leadership of both effective and ineffective leaders.
You have also been part of both effective and ineffective organizations. Those memories (both
pleasant and painful) are deeply ingrained in your mind, but you may have never stopped to consider
why you loved or hated a particular persons style or a particular organizations policies.
Well, here is your chance! In this class, we have been examining human nature and leadership from
several perspectives. Your task is to apply that academic knowledge to your own history.

Source Material:

You may include any leaders that you served under in any formal organization. Some examples
might include: former teachers, college professors, coaches, bosses, pastors, and church elders. If
you served in the military, superior officers would be good choices as well. Try to think of specific
leaders that you either loved or hated, and then try to identify specific incidents that illustrate why
you feel that way.
You may also include specific organizations when their policies, structure, or culture helped or
hindered your success.

Assignment:

Your task is to explain what you liked and didnt like about leaders in your past using the concepts
and theories from the course. Be sure to include the following elements:
Examples of both effective and ineffective leaders and/or organizations.
Connections to course material to help make sense of why these leaders were or were not
effective. Tie specific examples to specific course content.
As a conclusion, what lessons you have learned that you want to make sure to apply in your
own leadership.
The product is an 6-page paper in APA format. Due to the nature of the assignment, citations and a
reference page are NOT necessary. You may organize this paper in whatever order works well for
you. Some options might include: chronological, compare/contrast, or key themes. This paper
should be written in first-person.

Introduction

In school I have had good and bad experiences in dealing with leaders. Two good experiences I had with professors at the University were in classes where the professors recognized for me being an international student. I appreciated their recognition because I feel like it is something that is obvious but not always recognized. One bad experience I had with a professor was a situation where the professor did not care to get to know the students and seemed to be there just because it was a job and not because he loved to do it. My favorite teachers have been those who show an interest in the students. To me, they possess leadership qualities like Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence. They also sometimes show servant leadership skills, which I like because it makes me think they really care about helping me to achieve my goals. When the teachers act like they are the best and know everything and that we students are unintelligent because we do not have degrees, I feel like the teacher is trying to compensate for some absence inside and that the teacher is not really being a good leader. Bad leaders bring negative energy to an environment and they can pull down morale (Schyns, Schilling, 2013)and that is what happened with me in this one case of being in a classroom with a teacher who did not show that he cared about students.

The Two Good Professors

The two good professors that stand out in my experience at the university appealed to me because from the first day of class they... I am also interested in getting to know the professors, so I liked that we did not just dive right into the class material and ignore the fact that we are strangers. We will be investing time together in one another so why not take a little while to know one another and share some things about each other. I used to not like to do this because I was shy and embarrassed about sharing information about myself because I did not know what I wanted to do with my futurebut that was a while ago and I have since made up my mind and decided who I want to beso I am more confident now. Sometimes in class it happens that a student is like the old me and is uncomfortable talking. What I liked about these two professors was that they did not try to make fun of the student or make the student feel strange. Instead they showed their sensitivity and expressed interest in what little the student had to say. One of the professors would ask some good questions or show good humor and that would help the student open up. The student would laugh and feel more comfortable. Another time, a student did not laugh and the teacher saw that this was not a good way to get the student to open up and instead said something serious to show the student that he was respectful of the students ideas. This worked and the student sat up and began to feel good that the professor was taking him seriously. I liked this about the professor. Both professors had this ability to be effective communicators.
When it came to me, they saw that I was an international student and they took interest in where I am from and they asked questions. What I also liked was that they did not show any greater interest in any one student than they did in another. So it was not easy to say that, oh, this teacher likes this kind of student more than that kind. No, it could not be said. The professors were very genuine and kind to everyone as they got to know us, and I did not feel out of place but felt much more connected to everyone. I think everyone felt easy and comfortable about being in the class after taking the first class just to get to know one another. We realize that we are all there together to get the same job done. We all want good grades and to be successful, so after that first day, in both of these classes we realize that we can help each other and talk to one another very freely, asking questions and offering solutions.

I later realized that these two teachers are friends and that helped me to see why they had such similar styles: they seemed to be part of this same attitude of servant leadership and want to express this style in their own lives. I really appreciated this the most and wish that all my teachers were showing thisand not just showing it but really embracing it and believing in it. Sometimes a teacher can show it but not really believe it or even be interested in it. This is a problem because it makes me feel like I am just being used so as to be part of a silly formula that the teacher feels he must follow in order to get through the process of teaching. I do not like feeling that our contact and communication is just formulaic for forms sake. I want to believe that there is genuine interest and regard when I am speaking with someone.

The One Bad Professor

That is what brings me to my bad experience with a teacher. This teacher did this same method of getting to know the studentsbut it went very quickly and there was not much ease or comfort about it. The teacher did not show any signs of enthusiasm for getting to know the students and it just seemed very perfunctory and not even of interest to her. I dont know why she had us introduce ourselves…