Question

, write a leadership biography describing yourself 20 years from now.
In your biography highlight the following:

Describe what you have accomplished as a leader.

Explain how you have used principles of leadership and management to accomplish the your professional goals.

Analyze the expectations and responsibilities of leadership.

Describe how you have met these expectations and responsibilities.

Explain what you had to do to develop your abilities to meet the expectations and responsibilities in the future.

Use two to three scholarly resources to support your explanations.

Answer 1

Before we start with the biography, let's address some basics to keep us guided and focussed.

1. A leader’s accomplishment is context specific. However, all accomplishments have the following aspects in common-
   • Inspiring people
   • Leading successful change
2. Principles of leadership & management
   • Quality to introspect and self-improve
   • Technical and tactical proficiency
   • Awareness, alertness. Knowing when situations are difficult/dangerous
   • Great decision making capabilities
   • Time and team management capabilities
   • Leading by example
   • People management capabilities - quick assessment of personalities and skills
   • Great communication skills
   • Ability to influence/inspire and invoke responsible behaviour
   • Ability to visualise and direct people along a vision
3. Expectations and responsibilities of leadership.
   • Proactiveness
     • Strategic thinking
     • Building and leveraging relations
     • Talent development and management
     • Strong financial and business acumen
   • Responsiveness
     • Adept in conflict management
     • Great decision-making abilities
     • Great level of functional expertise
   • Trustworthiness
     • Shows honesty and courage
     • Inspires people
   • Capability to execute plans
     • Strong communication skills
     • Ability to convert strategies into workable plans/solutions
     • Driving results
4. Developing abilities to meet expectations
   • This is personal experience - completely context driven. People learn by exposing themselves to challenging situations and/or by taking leadership trainings etc.

Let's begin- (NOTE: Everything below is fictional)

Chosen example: Environmental Leadership

Today, as I complete 20 years of my leadership journey, I am reminded of the past and the various circumstances and people - who've brought me here.

I was born in a small village, in north-east India by the Brahmaputra River, in 1965. My parents worked for the Forest department, as junior level managers. I have three elder siblings, two sisters and a brother. I was educated at St. Christine's Convent High School where I first discovered my calling as a naturalist. I went on to do engineering in the field of Biotechnology in 1983, and after a brief stint at the North-eastern Agricultural Research Centre, I moved to Canada to pursue a Masters in Science (on scholarship) and a Phd subsequently.

I have always been close to nature and can't describe my love for it in words. Coming from a country where food security is a huge issue (despite the fact that it's among the largest food producers in the world), I've always been inclined towards environmental causes and conserving nature. Perhaps my experience of spending days and nights in hunger as a child have driven me to this path. But today, as I see our organisation "Prakriti Kalyanama" grow and prosper, and so many people and organisations from around the world join us in our mission, I feel tremendous joy and satisfaction.

I still remember when I started out - there was hardly any support. After completing my studies I came back to India, wanting to make a difference, unlike most others who go to never return. I didn't have any money of my own and all of my parents savings were exhausted in getting my sisters married. I had to re-join the agricultural department to make ends meet. But I kept researching and writing - something that paid off 3 years later - when I was contacted by one of our founding members Ms. Kamala Deviji in 1997. I joined "Prakriti Kalyanama" as a research associate and then in a year and a half had my own team of researchers and writers. I always encouraged people to speak up their minds. My team and I had the same vision - a food secure India. We worked like a family - sharing our beliefs and knowledge, setting and chasing our targets relentlessly and together always. I remember how we organised ourselves. Initially when there weren't many of us, each member was taking up several work responsibilities... researchers would also do the marketing to attract charitable contributions, channelize money meaningfully etc. I was at the forefront of course but without my team, I don't think I could've done much!

I remember I had to take up various certificate courses - on management, finance etc. along the way...and they paid off greatly. We expanded to a team size of 100 in 2 years, and things were moving very very fast for us. People and charitable organisations were contributing to our cause and wanted to be associated with us.

But the real turning point came with the lawsuit we filed against S.S.M.N Devikarma Foundation, in 2002, on the bio-piracy of basmati rice and wheat. The publicity was a gift for Prakriti Kalyanama. The case went on for 7 years - and we faced many threats and personal & professional challenges. The lawsuit was costly - and we had many exits in 2006 and 2007. But those who stayed had a new sense of determination and commitment. I was leading the lawsuit. My marriage suffered a lot because of it. I got divorced in the 5th year, in 2007, but nothing stopped me from pursuing my goals. I remember, I was made fun of in the newspapers and the society at large. But I also remember that I won a lot of support and sympathy from my team. People said I inspired them. We finally came through in 2009, with the court’s ruling in our favour. Things changed for the better. Today we have 250 staff and five offices nation-wide. Our food security mission has achieved important milestones. We've manged to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in over 30 villages in 12 states. I'm sure that with concerted efforts and togetherness there's much more that we can achieve for the nation in the coming years.