[CHEVENING LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCER] GREAT LEADER IS THE ONLY SOLUTION TO UNDERDEVELOPMENT

"Being a leader does not require a title"

Over the last sixteen months, I have been working as a commercial analyst who has a hand in company's hedging activity, which is truly a high-pressure task and overwhelmingly requires guts of taking risks and an ability to make quick decisions. Apart from fundamental skills that are essential to developing a sharp strategy, conveying information as an intelligible media, yet practical and effective, to a work group in order to bring minds together is deemed to be way more difficult.

As cliché as it sounds, however, the phrase "Being a leader does not require a title" remains one of my all-time favorite quotes due to the fact that it always makes hearers feel motivated and uplifted, thus becoming pumped to create something meaningful. In reality, despite not being in a management team, I have been a critical person to analyze data, interpret and communicate through the team to enhance understanding of the situation as to why the decision is made at certain times. Moreover, although convincing the team to believe and follow the action plan was not an absolutely easy thing to do, I eventually managed to accomplish the aim with good cooperation from the team. Regardless of the aforementioned difficulty, it is needless to say that the effort paid off nicely, the hedging performance of the products that I was in charge of turned out truly impressive, in that it was the most profitable amongst hedged products and, at the end of the day, met the objective of the hedging committee.

Personally, I have a strong belief that a leader should be able to turn complex knowledge into functional action and translate to the public effectively, so subordinates or beneficiaries can process further which will totally lead to success or change. As a Thai person who has been involved in many government actions or public hearings, specifically in energy department, I witnessed that a lot of information, plans, and analysis that are vital to people's living have generally been criticized or known among insiders, which could be the reason that hinders nation's development due to the lack of basic understanding from people. By receiving Chevening scholarship, I am wholeheartedly committed to utilizing the opportunity to gain as much knowledge in the field of interest and coming back to fix the flaws I have been seeing for a long time.

Well elaborated! Probably could add in what actions have been taken to convince the team to believe and follow the action plan.

Nat, you have too much telling and not enough showing in the essay. You merely imply certain leadership actions but you do not actually explain the motivation, objective, or purpose of the plan. You cannot infer leadership, specially since you claim that you are not really a leader but rather a subordinate with some leadership responsibilities. If you review the other essays here regarding this topic, you will find that they actually thresh out a detailed explanation of a work related problem that required them to step up to the plate as a leader and influencer. I don't get any idea of that in your essay. I suggest that you be more specific in your presentation. That means, you can use 2 different experiences to present the leadership (first) then the influencing (second). That normally helps to better address the prompt requirements and normally allows you to also strengthen your claims in the presentation. At the moment, the essay is weak as it lacks a true and essential background that would indicate an example of the prompt requirements in relation to your skills. Remember, the skill has to impressive enough to indicate that, with proper development, you will end up being a future leader in your field of work in your country in the future.