Leadership and Influence essay for Chevening
From my childhood, I knew that leadership skills are crucial for both professional and personal sides of human life. In my opinion, leadership is more than having authority over other people. There are many examples from world's history, such as Rosa Parks, Mother Theresa, Stephen Hawking, Jeanne d'Arc, who became leaders and influencers in certain missions without official titles and senior positions. These people influenced, inspired and connected people by their words and mostly actions for achieving a certain goal.
In the present time, I cannot boast of rich experience in my career and life that can inspire the world. However, there are many little examples from my life when I felt myself a good influencer to my community. I remember one of my summer vacations in my childhood when my parents took me to visit my distant relatives in a local village. The aim of this visit was to mastery my native Kazakh language communication skills with villagers. At the end of the summer when my parents came to pick me from the village back home, they were amazed by my speech. Moreover, I taught the Russian language to my cousins, neighbors and new friends who did not speak the language before. Other memories about my leadership were from my school and university years, when I used to be a member of Student's Council and Vice President of our class. I participated in Volleyball games and Chess competitions, Book clubs, Dance performances, Holiday celebrations, and involved my friends and classmates to be a part of social activities.
There are also examples of leadership and influence in my professional life. My first job was as a translator in a local translation agency. The CEO of the agency began to give me more responsibilities after only several months since I started to work. I also substituted the CEO, when she was not at work place that helped me to improve my management and leadership skills. My second job as a Secretary in a bank was connected with everyday stress and negativity at workplace. However, after several months of work I decided to change the environment at workplace in a better way by adding some new little traditions, organizing corporative events for colleagues and managing conflicts that aroused during work processes.
At my present job as a legal assistant apart from doing my legal work, I am also a member of voluntary Initiative group, which helps workers of our company stay integrated and happy at work place. We organize little events, games and initiate new useful traditions and habits at work for making workers feel comfortable at their places.
In conclusion, being a part of positive changes at my work influences my life in a good way. I think that life is like a boomerang; whatever you throw out there will always return. It is one of my goals to become a great influencer, who will be able to change the world into a better place.