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Writing an Effective Leadership Essay: Tips and Examples

definition of "leadership essay" that is restated in the article

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Whether you’ve led a horse to water or led your team to a victorious championship, you’re probably more of a leader than you give yourself credit for. It turns out, college admissions officers want to hear about that horse and/or championship in your application essay. The leadership essay is one of the hallmarks of college essays, but what’s the right way to do it?

What Is a Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a subset of college application essays that help college admissions officers understand your previous experiences as a leader. While that might seem extremely specific, it comes with the understanding that leadership looks and feels different based on the person and situation.

To give you a real world example: The president is ostensibly the leader of the United States. However, the president has a whole cabinet of other leaders for every other aspect of running a country. You might not be a leader of foreign policy, but you might be a leader on the football field or within your community volunteer group.

Leadership Essay Ideas and Topics

While you might see a few variations, almost all leadership essays go back to two main forms:

  • What is your leadership style?
  • Describe a moment when you showed leadership.

There’s inherently a bit of overlap with both of these. You’ll likely give an example of a leadership moment when talking about your leadership style, and you’ll probably talk about your leadership style when talking about a leadership moment.

In either case, the school will want you to use anecdotal evidence that demonstrates the idea. Go with what feels right, whether that’s leading a club or team in school or leading some ducklings across a busy highway. Even if your experience sounds cliché, it’s unique because it involves you.

How To Write a Leadership Essay

Probably the biggest trap that people fall into is “Well, I’ve never been a leader.” Even if you’ve never held some sort of leadership position at school or had an official title, chances are pretty high that you have exhibited some form of leadership at some point in your life. Beyond that, the actual writing of the leadership essay is fairly straightforward.

Formatting Your Leadership Essay

Your leadership essay will include an introduction paragraph, one or more body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Depending on the word or page limits, you can almost treat this like a five-paragraph essay .

  • Introduction - Capture the reader’s interest, define good leadership in relation to you, and directly address the given prompt
  • Body paragraphs - Give some background information using anecdotes to describe your leadership style or moment
  • Conclusion - End with a compelling statement about your leadership qualities and how you hope to apply them to your education, career, and the world in general

How Long Should a Leadership Essay Be?

The length of the leadership essay depends on what the college or application system says. Thankfully, this is the one part of the essay that you don’t need to question. Nearly every school will provide a word limit, typically ranging from 250 words (for supplemental essays) potentially all the way up to 1,000 words.

In the rare event that you don’t see an obvious word limit, stick to a maximum of about 500 to 600 words.

Tips for Writing a Leadership Essay

Unfortunately, we don’t know your personal life, and we certainly don’t know moments where you exhibited leadership. So we can’t write your essay for you, but we can give you some tips to at least guide your writing process.

Define Good Leadership Before You Start

Before you begin writing your essay, think about what qualities make someone a good leader, at least in your opinion. What great leadership qualities do you have? What makes a “good leader”? Make a list before you begin writing your essay. 

Leadership qualities can include:

  • The ability to motivate others
  • Personal integrity
  • Placing a value on relationships with team members
  • Prioritizing the larger good over any individual

Review your list and choose the qualities you want to highlight. Write your own definition of what makes someone a great leader as it relates to the quality you chose. It should be one or two sentences long. Use that definition as the backbone of your essay.

Tell a Story About Your Leadership

It’s time to turn that list of potential leadership qualities into something meaningful and interesting. The best way to do that is with an engaging narrative.

You should obviously state good leadership qualities, but that shouldn’t be your entire essay. Tell a story about your leadership.

  • Did you face a specific challenge?
  • How did you overcome that challenge?
  • How has your leadership style changed over the years?
  • Was there a specific moment or experience that caused that change?

Really ask yourself questions and dig into the concept of leadership as a real thing that has had real effects on your life.

Write With Your Own Voice and Style

Although you shouldn’t be super informal in college application essays, they are also designed to help you display your own voice and personality. College admissions officers want to learn about you, and your writing style is inherently a big part of that, whether that means using humor or puns, maintaining a unique level of sincerity throughout the essay, or being invitingly verbose.

Don’t Be Down On Yourself

Whether it’s your personal statement , a supplemental essay, or this leadership essay, avoid being too down on yourself. Admissions officers want to hear about all your successes, trophies, and kittens saved from trees. They really don’t want to read a whole essay about you saying you’re a bad leader.

Humility is definitely an important leadership trait, but there’s a fine line between being humble and being hurtful to yourself. Even if you’re normally prone to some self-deprecation, try to keep it at a minimum for this essay.

Leadership Essay Example

If you’re not sure where to start, take some time to brainstorm ideas. Even the weirdest idea can blossom into something neat. If you need inspiration, one of the best things is to look at other examples of leadership. That could be from your favorite show, a good nonfiction book about sailors, or the essay below.

full text essay example with labeled parts restated from the article

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Leadership Essay Introduction Example

The introduction should pull the reader in while directly answering the prompt. When in doubt, try to start with something concrete over something abstract. Or as writers and writing teachers like to say: Show, don’t tell.

The room was filled with the gentle hum of microphones and video cameras, cut only by the occasional cough or cleared throat. It was easy to feel out of place in this room full of wood furniture, leather seats, and powerful men capable of changing not just my life, but an entire sector of television programming as we knew it. I had never thought of myself as a leader, but I also knew that this was about something bigger than me, something that I could actually influence.

Leadership Essay Body Example

The body is where you’ll get more into the details of your narrative and connect it to ideas of leadership. Try not to get too hung up on the exact wording of what makes a leader. That can get far too abstract. Let your story speak for you.

I took a deep breath and began to talk. I wasn’t known to have a particularly commanding or powerful voice, but people always seemed to listen, including these men with their name placards and tall seats. They had been ready to cut funding for public broadcasting, which included programming that they had never seen. I was simply someone who lived in a neighborhood and cared about children’s education, beyond just math and reading. All I could do was be honest.

Leadership Essay Conclusion Example

Your conclusion considers the broader effects of your leadership. How might your leadership evolve or change? How can you apply that leadership to your education, job, or community?

To me, leadership is about connection. I know that I have a voice and an immense dedication to emotional intelligence in children. My ability to focus on other people goes hand-in-hand with my ability to speak through a tiger puppet. Both are about closing gaps and bringing people closer to a basic understanding. I hope to use my leadership abilities within the field of psychology to build more connections between people and communities.
  • How to Structure a Leadership Essay (Samples to Consider)

Leadership is a complex concept, but it’s essential for boosting your career. That’s why a leadership essay focuses on applying the theoretical models and concepts of successful management to real-life situations. 

If you don’t know where to start writing such a paper, please read on for professional tips!

What Is Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a paper that analyzes leadership concepts and their application to real-life situations that may involve everyday business management, crisis situations, and other scenarios. 

Every essay on leadership is about defining a concept. Then, it’s either comparing it to similar management tools or proving that it’s useful (or not).

While some students enjoy writing such papers, other learners hate them. The below samples will come in handy, no matter which group is yours.

What Does Leadership Mean to You? (Essay Sample)

It is one of the most popular topics for a leadership essay. If you need to write a paper like that, ask yourself:

  • Who is a good leader?  
  • What style do they use?  
  • What are the situations when they might switch styles?

You may take a more personal approach to such an essay if your professor allows you to. In the example below, you will see the academic approach to this topic. It analyzes three leadership styles to discover which one corresponds to the meaning of leadership if one thinks of it as guidance and support.

leadership-essay-sample

Why I Want to Participate in a Leadership Program (Essay Sample)

It’s another example of a popular topic. Such papers often have a meaning beyond the classroom since they may decide whether you plan to participate in a specific program. It’s critical to make them as effective and compelling as possible.

A personalized approach is the best when it comes to essays like this. In the example below, you will see the paper that relies on individual beliefs and a personal life story to explain why it’s so important for the specific student to participate in the chosen program.

How to Write a Leadership Essay

Like every other essay, this paper has an introduction, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion summarizing your thoughts. (1) The most important part of the introduction is the final sentence,  aka  a thesis statement. That’s where you state your claim to prove or develop in your leadership essay.

Each body paragraph should correspond to the purpose of your essay. To ensure you don’t stray from the aim you’ve established in the thesis statement, write the topic sentences for all your paragraphs in the outline . In simple words, write the first sentence of every paragraph to define its development in advance and see if you cover everything you need.

And now, to the conclusion:

Its most essential element is thesis restatement or the first sentence of that paragraph. It’s not just paraphrasing your thesis; it’s also considering the new information you’ve discovered while writing the essay.

leadership-essay-structure

Structure :

  • Introduction (End it with a thesis statement.)
  • Body paragraphs (Each one starts with a topic sentence.)
  • Conclusion (Start it with a thesis restatement.)

Understand the purpose of a leadership essay

When starting to write, think about why you’re creating this paper. Before you sit down and type the words, think about the ideas you want to convey and their meaning in your life:

Can this essay teach you to take responsibility? Or maybe will it help you understand how to be a leader in crisis situations? When you’ve answered the “why” question, begin outlining.

Build a strong thesis

Always start with your thesis statement. It will help incorporate your answer to that notorious “why” question into your essay. Once done, you can plan out the rest of the paper and start working on the body paragraphs as soon as you finish the introduction.

There’s another important tip —don’t rush into writing the conclusion before you finish everything else!

It might seem like a good idea to create a thesis statement and thesis restatement right off the bat. However, you’ll find yourself with more refreshing ideas after completing all the research and thinking necessary for the introduction and each body paragraph.

Decide on a structure; format accordingly

Even if your essay about leadership seems not so formal, and you can use personal pronouns, you still need a clear structure.

The best way to write any academic paper is to keep your introduction and conclusion as short as possible. (But no shorter than three sentences and four lines of text). 

Another important tip is to try making all your body paragraphs equal in length. That way, you’ll give the same attention to all the vital points of your essay.

Ready to Write Your Essay on Leadership Now?

Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the most critical elements of a leadership essay. 

Remember the structure, grammar, and appropriate academic style to create a top-level paper. Please don’t forget to answer the “why” question and remember  why  you’re writing. Then you’ll impress everyone with your results!

References:

  • https://lsa.umich.edu/onsf/news-events/all-news/directors-blog/writing-leadership-essays.html
  • Essay samples
  • Essay writing
  • Writing tips

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Leadership Essay

27 August, 2020

12 minutes read

Author:  Richard Pircher

As a college student, you must write essays on a regular basis since the latter is one of the most common types of home assignments. All this means is that in order to get good grades and be successful with writing the papers, you need to have a sound understanding of the structure. Additionally, what you should never neglect is the variety of essay types. Indeed, your essay will significantly differ from one type to another: description essay will most likely have a structure that is slightly different from an argumentative one.

Leadership Essays

What you may have already encountered in your academic life is the work on a leadership essay. Although it sounds pretty complicated and vague, it is mostly possible to master an essay on leadership. Below is a guide for you to get an insight into this particular essay type.

What is a good leadership essay?

A good leadership essay is the one in which the essay writer has fully covered the topic of leadership and understood its core ideas. More specifically, to end up with a flawless leadership essay, you will need to indicate what makes a person a good leader. For achieving the latter, you will most likely need to conduct research and trace how a particular person reaches his or her goals. In other words, the task is to discover which actions the person undertakes, what their followers say about him or her, and how the person organizes the work. So, a leadership essay implies providing real-life success examples and further revealing them.

Above all, a good leadership essay is the one that follows a precise, clear, comprehensive structure. Structuring your essay about leadership in the most coherent way leads to a win-win situation: you have fewer troubles and barriers to writing a brilliant essay, and your teacher is able to comprehend the essay easily. This guide is what you will need to refer to to get an insight into how the flawless structure for a leadership essay looks like and how it will let you take a benefit.

How to write a Leadership essay?

To write a leadership essay that stands out, you first need to brainstorm all the ideas that you have and come up with a topic for your essay. If you are struggling with this step, you may think of some of the most influential people, read about them, and find out what makes them unique. Or, you can pick any topic which is mentioned at the end of this article. After you have chosen an issue, it is time to structure your essay appropriately.

how to write a leadership essay example

As you already know, an essay constitutes three essential sections: introduction, main body, and conclusion. Below is the more detailed description of each of the parts.

Introduction

Of course, your leadership essay introduction will always vary depending on the topic of the essay. However, you can always begin by stating your vision of leadership regardless of the topic. Additionally, to motivate the reader and instantly catch his or her attention, you may use a quote of a famous leader, or simply a quote which you find relevant to the topic. Be aware that you should avoid outlining the essence and the role of the leadership in your introduction; leave it for the body paragraphs.

What you may also do in your leadership essay is ask a question, which will most likely intrigue the leader. Or it will at least give your reader an overview of what you will dwell on  in your essay.

Body Paragraphs

You will need to divide the main body into 3-5 paragraphs to make the structure more comprehensive. What you have to do at this point  is  give your reader a sound understanding of your ideas. Therefore, try to fit each idea in a single body paragraph so that you do not confuse your reader. Do not hesitate to indicate your examples to strengthen your arguments. For instance, you may explain a fact that makes a particular person you are writing about a real leader.

Also, always stick to your thesis statement and don’t forget that the body paragraphs should reveal the parts of your thesis statement.

As you may already know, you need to restate your opinion and briefly summarize all the points from the main body in conclusion. For instance, if you wrote your essay on qualities of an effective leader, state the most fundamental qualities and indicate why they matter the most. Besides, try not to copy what you have already written in the body – it is better to restate your opinion using different words. And, of course, beware adding any new and extra information; indicate only those points that you have already outlined in the text. Finally, keep in mind that it is always favorable to keep your concluding remarks short.

leadership essay

Leadership Essay Examples

Writing a leadership essay requires some research and time. In case you feel the necessity to go through an essay example, below is a leadership essay sample you can refer to.

Is leadership an inborn or an acquired feature?

Is everyone capable of becoming a leader, or is this ability innate? A lot of researchers have been struggling to answer this question. One assumption about leadership implies that the leader is the person who possesses particular characteristics. Another assumption claims that leaders are capable of acquiring specific features over their life span. As the evidence shows, leaders own many features that distinguish them among others and make more and more people become their followers. These might be cognitive abilities, psychological traits, professional qualities, and a lot more, and all of them will be either acquired or innate. Based on the importance of leadership qualities, such as commitment, stress resistance, and the ability to make quality decisions, it is reasonable to claim that leaders are made, not born. 

One can deem commitment as one of the top fundamental qualities of the leader. In essence, such a feature indicates that a person is passionate about the common goal, strives to be a team player, and makes every effort to reach a shared goal. As the history shows, none of the successful companies was uncoordinated by an influential, committed leader: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft – all of these companies are examples of dominant teams led by a dedicated leader. A committed leader also inspires his or her team to achieve common goals and put more effort into the shared activity. Besides, commitment is unlikely to be an innate feature; it instead comes with experience. This is so, since commitment implies dedicating oneself to the shared task, and one can reach it only via learning and continuous self-improvement.

Stress resistance is another incredibly important feature that every good leader should possess. This is because only a stress-resistant leader has sufficient capabilities to overcome any complexity and not let the anxiety and stress prevent him or her from making proper decisions. Besides, such a leader will most likely have a positive influence on the team, as long as leading by example will motivate the team members to attain the same emotional stability. What is so far familiar about stress resistance as an effective leader’s feature is that it can be either innate or attained. However, although some researchers admit that emotional stability is something one is born with, it is not entirely true; many people still put a great effort into self-improvement, changing the attitude to unfortunate situations, and so on. Therefore, being resistant to stress can be mostly attributed to a personality.

An ability to make high-quality decisions most likely determines the chances for an enterprise’s success. In particular, such quality is incredibly fundamental for a company of any size and professional orientation. Additionally, it is one of the top tasks of a good leader to make final decisions. What he or she should do implies brainstorming, discussing various opinions in the group, making forecasts, analyzing all the pros and cons. However, the leader is the one to make a final decision. Thereby, he is in charge of researching the market, discovering all the hidden truths, and analyzing the organization’s potential and capabilities to result in the most effective decision. As it flows logically from the latter, an ability to make sound quality decisions is purely a professional quality. This leads to the conclusion that one has to work hard to become a genuine leader and master the skill of making effective decisions. 

Overall, the leader may possess a multitude of different skills and master them perfectly. However, what has so far become transparent is that any leader, regardless of which team he leads, must possess three essential qualities. These qualities are commitment to the common goal, ability to handle and resist stress, and, finally, an ability to make effective decisions. All of the three qualities are most likely to be acquired over a lifetime. The statement below leads to the conclusion that even though some qualities can be innate, most are not the ones that leaders are born with. Hence, this answers an essential question: leadership feature is acquired, and not necessarily inborn.  

20 leadership essay topics

When coming up with your next leadership essay topic, it is imperative to brainstorm ideas and think of what leadership might be related to. If you are struggling with a topic of the importance of leadership essay or any relevant type of essay, you may quickly take a look at some of the possible topics we prepared for you:

  • What are the main qualities of the leader?
  • Successful Time Management as a feature of an effective leader
  • The role that rhetoric plays in leadership
  • The most exceptional leader in the history of the 20-th century
  • The role of female leadership
  • What are the challenges of the leader of the 21-st century?
  • How college helps students develop leadership skills?
  • Qualities of the leader that motivate people to follow them 
  • Top things to avoid doing to become a team leader
  • Examples of effective and ineffective leadership in the history
  • Top techniques for developing leadership skills
  • The interconnection of creativity and leadership 
  • Is a university’s role fundamental in developing leadership skills?
  • Dictatorship as an anti-example of leadership
  • Liberal vs Authoritative leadership: which one works better?
  • The influence of the leader’s role model on the followers’ mindset
  • Main difficulties that the new leader may face in a new team
  • Leadership of today vs leadership of the past: what has changed?
  • Reasons why I want to become a member if the leadership program
  • The role of cognitive abilities for the leader 

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A Full Guide On How To Create Good Leadership Essay

Guide On How To Create Good Leadership Essay

Attempting a leadership essay isn’t such a daunting task, provided you have a grasp of the necessary information needed for a leadership paper. To write this special essay, you’ll need to redefine what exactly an essay on leadership is, how to choose the perfect topic, what should be in the content, and how to organize and structure the paper. Let’s delve deeper!

What Is A Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a well-formatted, organized and specialized type of formal writing which elaborates on a generic leadership topic or a superior human figure exercising a great influence on people and transmitting desire and optimism to achieve goals.

What Makes A Good Leader Essay?

There are some peculiarities needed to infuse in your write-up if, for example, you’re trying to learn how to write a leadership essay about yourself.

Also, if you’re just trying to produce leadership essays for college, then you’d first and foremost, learn  how to structure an essay , among other skills needed for this type of essay. Here are some qualities which can be found in a good essay about leadership.

  • Choose a creative topic
  • Avoid the passive voice (the active voice sounds stronger)
  • Search for and study leadership essay examples
  • Follow the appropriate essay style
  • Focus on the essay structure
  • Review the essay

How To Choose A Topic And Make A Great Title?

To choose a topic for a paper on leadership, you need to do some research on the concept of a leader (whether in the corporate industry, political society or even in the criminal world). You have to know the current leadership tendencies in organizational groups or society. You can choose to make a leader the point of your reference by explaining the consequences of their leadership abilities or inabilities.

In the body of your essay, don’t forget to mention several types of leadership styles and point out which one the subject portrays. Finally, you should not rule out making comparisons of famous leaders in the modern world or in history. An example of a great prompt for a leadership essay that deploys the comparison technique would be the leadership styles of President Trump and The Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte as both leadership styles have been subjected to political reviews in recent times since their emergence as president of their respective countries.

Outline For A Leadership Essay

When writing a college or professional essay such as -long and short essays on leadership, planning is the key to perfection. The general outline for any essay, including leadership papers, include an introduction, the body paragraphs (which must be properly linked with transition words and/or phrases) and a recapitulating or finding-based conclusions. Here’s what your outline should look like:

Introduction

Knowing how to start a leadership essay depends on your introduction writing ability. The introduction is the gateway to the essay. Aided by punchy opening words, which are the hook, the purpose of the introduction is to draw the reader’s attention. The introduction presents the thesis statement and leaves the body paragraphs to sustain the reader’s interest.

Body Paragraphs

Having informed the readers of the topic of the essay in the introductory paragraph(s), the body paragraphs follow immediately.

Here, you can elaborate on the concept of leadership and do a meaningful interpretation of the subject – the topic or the thesis statement. Don’t forget to talk about your leadership philosophies and leadership experience in whatever capacity you might have found yourself in. Remember, people are more interested in personal experiences. They are great in helping to sustain readers’ attention.

Remember to state a thesis or hypothesis in the opening paragraphs – which is the intro. In each of the body paragraphs of the essay, try to relate your points to the thesis and use each point to prove its validity.

The conclusion is the end part of any well-structured essay. Its purpose is a no-brainer. You don’t want to leave your reader hanging by ending the essay cold turkey. Any standard essay without a conclusion is just as useless as an essay with no purpose. However, be careful not to present new ideas not mentioned in the body.

As mentioned, the conclusion serves to summarize the developed points, restate the thesis and/or present the findings. It is your last opportunity to create an impression on the reader, and this is where they take the message away. If your conclusion is weak, then we might say the essay’s objectives are not achieved.

What To Include In A Leadership Essay?

Here are some tips on what your leadership essay should include.

Your Definition Of A Good Leader And Why He Or She Is Important

Since your essay revolves around leadership and the traits of a good leader, you’ll need to define what it takes to be one. You may also take this opportunity to trash some common myths on what a leader is (i.e., a manager being confused for a leader).

For reference purposes, the concepts of leadership and being a good leader are explained:

Leadership is the quality of a leader and is that person capable of exercising a great influence on people and transmitting desire and optimism to achieve goals. A leader is a guide; someone with ideas and goals that can spread to a large group of people who still believe he or she can lead them in the right direction.

There are many types of leaders and therefore, of leadership since people generally always look for a person or group that shows them a direction to follow. You can find religious, political, social, or philosophical leadership. Leadership can be exercised in a traditional way. In many countries, there is a monarchy. The king or queen is a leader with limited political power, at least in western democracies, but still have the respect and consideration of the people. Their words continue to be heard and taken into account, especially in problematic times. There are other types of leadership that are not given by birth, such as legitimate leadership exercised by, for example, political leaders freely chosen by their people, or charismatic leaders.

In a way, charismatic leaders are what many understand as leaders since they are people who, by their way of behavior and characteristics, get many people to follow and adhere to their ideas. Some charismatic leaders can become legitimate leaders if they choose the path of politics. A traditional leader can also be charismatic. There have always been kings loved by his people more than others. But it can also be a person who prefers independent movements outside of power.

Charisma is the personal magnetism a person has. It is something very difficult to define but makes one capable of convincing others without too much effort, making people follow and trust the leading figure. Charisma can be used positively or negatively. The leaders of the most destructive sects are very charismatic people that are capable of convincing their followers of the eeriest ideas, including donating all their belongings or committing collective suicide.

Examples Of Your Leadership Style

In the content of your essay, you may consider giving an interpretation to your (or your chosen leader’s) leadership traits. Below are some examples of leadership qualities that separate a good leader from a bad leader.

What qualities are necessary for leadership

  • Communication
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Strategic thinking
  • Commitment and passion
  • Knowledge and experience
  • Leading by example
  • Active listening
  • Ability to enhance talent
  • Setting goals and expectations
  • People investment
  • Discernment
  • Concentration
  • Positive attitude
  • Problem-solving
  • Self-discipline

Leadership Essay Example

To know how to do essay fast, you’ll need some ready-made essay examples for the sake of guidance and inspiration. You may find below a leadership essay written by Oliver Smith useful in your leadership paper.

Writing a leadership essay should be easy. A good essay on leadership starts from the hook, and the thesis statement in the introduction. The points developed in the body paragraphs help affirm the hypothesis. Finally, the conclusion offers the reader a summary through the restatement of the essay’s main idea.

As required for every essay type, your essay on leadership has to follow a definite style and format. Examples are MLA, APA, Chicago and AP styles. Take your time in choosing a creative but new topic and also in writing the content. By following this guide, everything should be as perfect as possible.

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Writing an Essay About Leadership: A Complete Guide for Students

Janna Smith

Leadership is typically defined as the capacity of a person (as well as a group of people or organization) to “lead” others, influence their opinions, or guide them. A good leader must be able to rally people around a shared cause or goal, help shape a vision, and motivate and inspire others to attain that goal.

For decades, leadership has been one of the most sought-after abilities. It is considered one of the primary driving forces of humanity and progress. Leaders foster innovation, growth, and a goal-accomplishing attitude. So, this quality is highly valued in all areas of our lives, including in school, at work, and in one’s personal life as well.

Being such a pivotal skill, leadership often becomes a topic for academic essays. Although the topic is incredibly popular, writing a compelling paper on this subject might be uneasy. Yet, this doesn’t mean that there are absolutely no ways to ease the process.

In the guide below, we are going to answer some of your biggest questions about this type of assignment and provide actionable tips for writing a good paper. Also, we are going to give you some leadership essay examples and ideas that should help inspire your own writing.

What Is Leadership Essay?

The first big question students face when assigned this task is ‒ “What is a leader essay, in the first place?” So, let’s start from there.

In a nutshell, a leadership essay is a short piece of writing focused on the topic of leadership. Just like any other essay, it can serve multiple purposes. For example, if it’s written as a part of your class or homework, it can be:

  • Informative;
  • Persuasive;
  • Argumentative;
  • Compare and contrast, etc.

Depending on the type of assignment, your task might be to define leadership, compare different leadership styles, reflect on real-life applications of this skill, etc.

Alternatively, this type of work can be a part of the college admission process. Leadership is a common topic for admission essays. In this case, the primary goal of the paper is to show the admissions officers that you are a true leader. You might need to explain what personal traits make you a good leader and showcase real-life examples of situations when you demonstrated this skill.

In both cases, this type of essay requires you to understand the nature of leadership and communicate it in your paper, following the provided prompts and guidelines. 

Read on to learn how!

How to Write a Leadership Essay Step by Step

Typically, a leadership paper is a short essay that follows the traditional essay structure. It consists of three main components: an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Traditionally, an introduction and conclusion take up one paragraph each. The number of paragraphs in the body of your paper can vary depending on the given word count. In any case, there should be at least two body paragraphs.

The writing process for this type of paper is also pretty conventional. It requires decent planning and organization to convey your ideas efficiently. Here are the core steps that should be involved in the process:

  • Reading and analyzing the prompt and assignment guidelines;
  • Brainstorming ideas and selecting a relevant topic (unless you are assigned a specific subject);
  • Researching the topic and collecting valid sources of information that will help you answer the primary essay question and justify your ideas;
  • Crafting a detailed outline to organize your ideas and streamline the writing process;
  • Writing the essay following your outline;
  • Proofreading and editing your first draft until it looks perfect.

These are the main steps to handling this task, and they look pretty simple. Nevertheless, the task itself often turns out to be rather challenging. So, let us give you a few extra guiding tips to help you ace your essay.

How to Start a Leadership Essay

It’s hard to call a more crucial part of a leadership essay than its intro. This part of the paper aims to introduce the readers to your topic and make a logical transition to the ideas and arguments you are going to provide. But most importantly, this section should grab the readers’ attention and spark their desire to read your work to the end.

To grab the attention instantly, you should start your intro with a hook. Traditionally, there are six types of effective essay hooks:

  • A rhetorical question;
  • An impressive fact or statistic;
  • An anecdote (as long as it’s relevant and appropriate);
  • A common misconception about the topic;
  • An imagery description of the subject.

Depending on your task, pick a hook that has the highest likelihood of engaging your readers. Then, use a few sentences to create a topic onset and give your readers an idea of what you will be talking about in your paper:

  • If you are writing an admission essay, design the setting of your story.
  • If you are writing an informative or another type of work for the class, provide some background info on the subject matter and state your thesis.

Most importantly, keep your intro short and straight to the topic.

The Perfect Length of a Leadership Essay

Now that you know how to start your paper, we also need to take a moment to clarify the ideal length of your work.

The length of this type of work can vary significantly depending on its type and purpose. Most often, if you are writing for an admission committee, schools will ask you to stick with a 250 word essay on leadership. However, if you are writing for a class, the word count can go up to 1000 words.

As was mentioned earlier, your essay might come with a specific word count. Whether it’s written for admission or a class, you might be given a set of instructions with a specific limit of words. In this case, you should carefully study the guidelines and stick to the word count indicated in them.

In the rare case that the word count isn’t specified, stick to the general rule of thumb and limit your essay to 500 or 600 words.

How to Write a Killer Conclusion for Leadership Essay

While the body of your essay will be unique, which means we can’t give you much advice on how to handle it, the conclusion always follows a traditional structure.

The conclusion of a paper is its final clause. It aims to wrap up everything you’ve discussed in your paper and give it a sense of a logical ending. Often, you will also leave your readers with some food for thought to ensure that your essay makes a lasting impact. Now, let’s define how to write this part of your work in detail.

The first and most important rule for writing a conclusion is to summarize the information from your paper without introducing any new data. Providing new information will only make your readers confused and destroy the effect your essay has on them. So, keep this tip in mind.

Also, when writing a conclusion for your college essay, you should begin with a restatement of your thesis. This trick will logically link your conclusion to the intro.

If you are writing for a class, you can end your final clause with suggestions for further research. For students writing an admission paper, the best way to finish this essay is to emphasize how you plan to apply your leadership skills discussed in the paper to your education, future career, and community in general.

how to start a leadership essay

Leadership Essays Examples: Ideas and Topics

Unless you are provided with a specific prompt, question, or topic that you need to address in your essay, you will have to generate ideas for your work on your own. This can feel rather overwhelming. So, let us give you a few thoughts on what you can write about in your paper.

If you are writing an admission essay, the best way to handle it is to tell a story about your own leadership skills. There are a few ways to do this. For example, you can talk about:

  • A specific challenge that you faced, overcoming which required you to demonstrate your leadership abilities;
  • Your leadership style and, if applicable, how it was shaping and changing throughout your life;
  • What, in your opinion, makes an effective leader, and how you relate to the qualities and personal traits you provide;
  • How your own leadership skills can be used to make a positive change in your community or the world in general, etc.

If you are writing a paper for a class, the choice of ideas can be even more extensive. Depending on the type of your paper, you can write about the great leaders from history, business, or other areas. Also, you can define and analyze different leadership skills, styles, theories, etc.

Winning Examples of Leadership Essay Titles to Consider

To help you get started with your paper, we compiled a list of good leadership topics that you can try for your essay:

Homework leadership essay topics

  • The Difference Between Ethical and Unethical Leadership
  • Leadership Throughout History
  • The Role of Gender in Leadership
  • An Evaluation of the Key Leadership Styles
  • Theories of Leadership
  • The Key Differences Between Autocratic and Democratic Leadership Styles
  • The Most Common Myths About Leadership
  • The Role of Leadership in Organizations
  • Different Styles of Leadership Adapted to Cultural Differences
  • The Role of Leadership in the Political Landscape
  • The Key Leadership Skills and How to Develop Them
  • The Roles of Ethics and Emotional Intelligence in Effective Leadership
  • Female and Male Leadership: Compare and Contrast
  • The Core Challenges of Leadership

Admission essay leadership topics

  • What Makes Me a Great Leader?
  • My Personal Model of Leadership
  • Changing My Leadership Style
  • A Challenge I Had to Overcome That Made Me a Leader
  • My Personal Leadership Role Model
  • How Can I Change the World With My Leadership Skills
  • The Most Valuable Leadership Experience I Had in My Life and How It Changed Me

Now that you have some general topic samples, let’s look at the complete essay example to help you find inspiration.

The Concept of Leadership: Common Styles and Qualities of a Good Leader

Introduction.

“Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths.” ‒ John Peter Zenger. Leaders motivate, inspire, and guide others to greater achievements. They foster innovation, communication, and progress in every landscape. But what exactly does it mean to be a great leader? From Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln to Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher ‒ these exceptional leaders have been shaping the history of humanity for many years. They all had different styles of leadership, values, and vision. Yet, they also had a lot in common. Regardless of the type and style of leadership one chooses, it’s personal skills and traits that make a true leader.

What Are the Main Leadership Styles?

It’s possible to define over ten different styles of leadership. These styles have been shaping and changing throughout history, affected by a variety of factors, including the overall structure of the world and the mood of society. In the 21st century, one of the most widespread types of leadership styles is democratic leadership. This style implies that the decision-making power is never concentrated in one person’s hands. Instead, all subordinates of the leader with this style are given a voice in the process of making decisions. Yet, the responsibility for the actions of the entire group is still on the leader. Throughout decades, this form of leadership has been considered one of the most effective and humane ones. No wonder so many impressive leaders in history relied on it, including Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F Kennedy, Mahatma Gandhi, Barack Obama, and many others. Due to its nature, the key characteristics of a good leader with this style include teamwork, empathy, and a fair mind.

An opposite of the democratic style is autocratic Leadership. This style implies that the entire control, command, and power are concentrated in the hands of a leader. In this setting, the leader makes all decisions on their own, without giving their subordinates much room for negotiation or objections. And the responsibility is also fully on the leader. Due to its somewhat tyrannic nature, this style of leadership has a lot of detractors, especially in the modern world. Nevertheless, it still has some adherents. Some of the most famous leaders who used this style and believed in its effectiveness include Queen Elizabeth I, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump, and others.

Apart from democratic and autocratic, there are also many other leadership styles, including transformational, team, visionary, strategic, and other types of leadership. Each of them has certain pros and cons. And each has its own adherents and detractors. Yet, in broader terms, it’s not a leadership style that determines a good leader but their qualities and the way they use their styles.

Top Qualities of a Good Leader

Regardless of the leveraged style of leadership, a good leader is determined by a set of personal traits, qualities, and skills. A good leader must be self-aware, resilient, accountable, and confident. Most importantly, they must possess such qualities as empathy and emotional intelligence. After all, a leader must motivate and inspire people to follow them, which is impossible without these two skills.

As for important leadership skills, they include decision-making, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Yet, the two essential skills are active listening and communication.

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How to Start a Leadership Essay for College?

How to write a leadership essay step by step, what skill makes a good leader.

Leaders come in many shapes and kinds. Some of them are in-born, whereas others overcome a long and thorny path of self-exploration and development. They also use a variety of leadership styles, such as democratic, autocratic, and others. Yet, if you have to describe a good leader, it’s their qualities and skills that matter the most.

how to start a leadership essay

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  • Winning Leadership Essay Examples and Writing Tips

Winning Leadership Essay Examples and Writing Tips

What is a Good Leadership Essay?

What is effective leadership, writing essay on leadership qualities, how to write a leadership essay, leadership essay introduction, how to write the body paragraphs to leadership essay, leadership essay conclusion, 10 burning leadership essay topics, leadership essay sample, more examples of leadership essay, 1. how to write a leadership essay about yourself, 2. what is transformational leadership, 3. what is a short leadership essay.

A good leadership essay should include your own definition of leadership unlike a response essay . Also, express your views on how people become leaders. And don't forget to mention how society can benefit from its leaders. You need to outline essential leader qualities as you see them. Analyze the phenomenon from several distinctive perspectives. Feel free to use literary sources as an inspiration for your essay.

The definition of effective leadership had changed numerous times during human history. Most modern societies agree upon the most evident traits: 1. A leader knows how to preserve and increase the resources of the social group. 2. Effective leadership ensures that the common goals of the group will be reached. And the majority of the group will be satisfied with the results.  A true leader is an effective staff manager, smart businessman, and a good speaker.

You need to understand what makes a good leader before starting a leadership paper. Exploring this issue in detail may be time-consuming. That's why it will be much easier to pick some essential qualities listed below: 

  • Ability to inspire
  • Decision-making ability
  • Positive influence
  • Accountability
  • Ability to delegate
  • Transparency
  • Communication skills
  • Emotional intelligence

This case study should provide you with some traits and essential features. Let us proceed and explore top leadership essay writing requirements in detail.

If you need to write a leadership paper, but you have never done it before... Then check the comprehensive leadership essay guide below. It will help you to write a great paper.

Don’t know how to start a leadership essay? First of all, you need to come up with an intro and thesis. Good hooks for essays  and thesis statements are the two key features of any essay. Those are your primary ideas — make sure to compose them well. Both the hook and thesis statement have to be logical, convincing, and clear. The hook (up to 1-2 sentences) should grab the reader’s attention immediately. Here are some ideas:

  • Tell an anecdote . Laughter motivates reading more.
  • A quote : something from literature or said by well-known personas.
  • Ask a question about the role of leadership. You can answer it at the end or just leave it open.
  • Include an interesting fact or definition of “ leadership ”. It ought to be connected to the topic.
  • There are other hook types a writer can use. Didn’t find anything positive? Feel free to contact the writing service or check out our article about the funniest homework answers. 

Another important intro part is a thesis statement . It is your #1 idea that you are going to support through the text (only one sentence). It should be strong and debatable to set the tone of your leadership paper.

Consider this guide to writing body paragraphs:

  • Try including an argument and some evidence to support it in every paragraph. Use stronger words to show your personal skills as a true leader. Have you ever written an essay about yourself ? It may come in handy.
  • Outline the structure of body paragraphs. It is better to put your strongest argument in the first paragraph.
  • Add appropriate facts, anecdotes, and infographics examples . Writing about essential changes that true leaders make? Fetch an example of famous people’s influence on society.
  • Don’t forget the references to your thesis statement in each paragraph. Your goal is to show your ideas’ importance! But leadership paper’s key points will seem vague without reference to the point.
  • Include a topic outline in every paragraph of your paper. The top objective is to explain to readers what is going to be discussed in your text. Divide these traits into 3-4 paragraphs when you are describing leader qualities. Each of the topic sentences will present a new trait.
  • Share your experience. Don’t hesitate to talk about your life in the leadership essay. Sometimes we don’t know how valuable our experience can be. Have you ever run a successful event? Or performed in front of a big audience? Describe it!
  • Discuss only one main idea per paragraph. If there are too many ideas, the paper will be messy. This will have a negative impact on its readability in the end.
  • Make sure to cite all the borrowed ideas to avoid plagiarism.
  • Add transitional sentences — they make paragraphs easier to read.

Do your own research! Find more hints on writing a leadership essay. You can also consider contacting a writing service to get some help. In any case, there are more useful hints you need to check out. So just read further!

Here we have gathered several tips on how to end a leadership essay . Find hints on leadership paper conclusion below.

  • Include a brief overview of the entire essay. For instance, you are stating the importance of time management for a leader. Review key ideas and state why managing time matters.
  • Restate your key idea, i.e., thesis statement. But don't repeat them using the same words every time. Use synonyms as much as possible without losing the general sense.
  • Don’t present any new information in conclusion. All the terms must be defined in the intro or the body paragraphs.
  • Return to theme from the introduction. If you asked a provocative question there, you could answer it here.  
  • Give your audience a broader picture of leadership. Show how it can be interpreted on many levels.
  • Make your conclusion relatively short. A good ending should be neither too long nor too short: between 5-7 sentences. It’s best to finish with a nice outline than to bore your reader with long talks.

A conclusion is the part of the essay where you sum up all of your statements. It has to be less emotive and more logical. Keep those rules in mind when you write a conclusion. 

Many leadership paper topics can be challenging to discuss. Yet, students will never lack a variety of excellent topics. The issue of leadership can be researched in different contexts - business, studies, sports. Or you can just define what leadership means to you (otherwise, just contact writing service). 

Leadership essay topics all college students could use are:

  • Key challenges of a leader in a new team.
  • Top 10 do’s and don’ts to effectively guide by example.
  • Why is leadership good for college?
  • Leadership skills - can they be acquired, or one has to be born with them?
  • My favorite female leader in world history.
  • Top 3 reasons why I want to participate in a leadership program.
  • Essay writing skills – are they important for a future leader?
  • Why do people prefer to follow a leader?
  • Which leadership values are most relevant for society today?
  • The role of self-development in leadership.

A good leadership essay example will help you to get a better view on the structure and style. Pay attention to the details and means of expression. Think if you agree with the author and develop your own point for this issue. Check out our essay sample in the text document below.

Can powerful leadership skills be actually acquired? It is a crucial problem for everyone who is interested in mastering them. Let us define the leader notion and try to understand. A perfect leader is supposed to be influential, persuasive, trustworthy, and honest towards followers. Any of these qualities seems to be inherent for many. However, it is easy to see that not everybody can really become a leader.  Looking back at the history of our civilization, we can see numerous leaders: Caesar, Genghis-Khan, Tokugawa, Napoleon. It is often said that most of such persons were born leaders. However, a closer analysis of a historical figure’s well-documented biography – such as Caesar’s – displays a long path of struggle, sometimes followed by failures. Thus, history teaches us that even if some qualities are natural for a true leader, it is hardly possible to achieve significant results without a lot of effort. What is definitely crucial for a leader are abilities to plan and reach personal goals. You should be able to lead yourself in order to provide a fine example for others. Self-analysis, planning, and self-management are attainable for every grown-up human being. Therefore, the first step towards leadership can surely be taken by a properly motivated person. So, the dilemma whether true leader skills can be acquired is complicated. Of course, if you are born with proper abilities, this will make it easier for you. On the other hand, one can reach nearly anything with proper development and motivation. 

An essay on leadership for students is one of the many ways to create a thorough research paper, raise your voice in a group, or obtain students’ personal goals. In case of any difficulties with topics, just use this guide! Or pick a writing service and ask for help — our experienced authors can help you finish your leadership essay as well. Our top-notch writing platform is always at your service!

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To write a leadership essay about yourself, you need to narrow the topic down. For instance, “Why I want to become a leader”. You can also tell about the place of leadership in your life, etc.

Transformational leadership is aimed at the development of group members. A transformational leader unravels and actualizes the potential of the group members.

A short essay on leadership is a classwork assignment designed for 25-45 minutes. The short essay is about 500 words long. It has a classic 3-part structure just like the regular one. A short essay still has to feature multiple facts and points to prove your idea.

“Today, I would like to introduce several facts about myself you did not know. For instance, I had never told before that I used to volunteer my first salary to the organization that helps mentally sick children? I am a great painter. Out of all memories, I will share the most vivid episodes of my l...

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how to start a leadership essay

August 8, 2022

Writing a Powerful Leadership/Achievement Essay [Sample Essay]

Writing a Powerful Leadership/Achievement Essay

Essays that ask you to write about significant achievements fall under the category of

what are known as behavioral or experiential questions . The basic assumption behind these questions is that past behavior is a great predictor of future behavior . They are all varieties on the theme of “Tell us about a time when you…” These questions are meant to take the measure of your managerial potential.

Let’s look at how one candidate effectively addressed this essay question from  Stanford GSB  (*this question is not from the current application):

Tell us about a time when you made a lasting impact on your organization.

This writer avoids writing about leadership in any generic way and zeroes in on the specific aspects of his contributions and their impact:

Leadership essay example: The Change Agent

When I was invited to become the Vice President and General Manager at Third Way Associates (TWA)* two years ago, the company was in financial and administrative disorder. Employee retention was poor, and TWA took too long to pay vendors because of poor communication and accounting processes. Cash flow was managed based on immediate needs rather than by the logic of budgets planned by project and city. Sloppy expense reports that were turned in with no receipts were reimbursed to employees.

TWA founders Scott W ____ and Glenn L ____ had good intentions, but spent most of their time selling sponsorships and getting new clients rather than directing and managing the company. As we begin 20XX, TWA is much healthier in every way. Under my direction, vendors are paid in an average of 20 days from date of invoice, instead of 60 days or more. Our cash flow is better administered since I introduced very specific detailed area budgets with over 125 budget lines per city. Because I can give the company founders much better stability and macromanagement vision, the three of us are able to look more to the future rather than simply put out fires.

Despite the difficult economy in 20XX, we not only retained our same clients but also signed several new client agreements for three years or more, including a two-year contract with Big Shoe Company worth $1.3 million. I’ve brought fresh accounts and industries into TWA, including ____ Airlines and Drink Y, among others. Combined, these accounts generated more than $500,000 in 20XX, and we estimate close to $1 million dollars in the following year.

Since my arrival, we have a much wider and broader sales menu which has been crucial to generate more revenue. I’ve expanded our most popular sports events to 25 cities, giving our clients new investment opportunities. These events range from recreational soccer clinic tours to professional soccer games broadcast on TV.

I also expanded our field staff, and at present we have 25 strong and reliable managers who report directly to me from each city. Despite the economy, 20XX was not a bad year for TWA, and this year promises to be even better if we continue our current strategy and continue to work as a team.

Leadership essay analysis

In every paragraph, this writer mentions concrete measures he took to introduce order to a chaotic company that was trying to grow. From instituting budgets with line items, an improved accounts payable system, and recruiting additional big-name accounts, the writer proves how his efforts strengthened the organization.

How can you maximize on your thought leadership experiences?

As you choose among your own experiences as essay material, think about these questions to help you frame answers of substance:

  • What was the obstacle, challenge, or problem that you solved in this accomplishment? A tight client deadline? A complex merger transaction? A new product launch amidst fierce competition?
  • What did you do to rise to the challenge you are writing about? Motivate your team to work overtime? Sell senior management on the deal’s long-term upside? Identify a marketing profile for your product that no competitor can match?
  • What facts demonstrate that your intervention created a happy ending? Did your team submit the project deliverables three days early despite being 20% understaffed? Your client approved the $500 million merger, the largest ever in its industry? Your new product has 20% market share after only one year? What was the impact of your leadership?

Don’t forget about your people leadership skills

What we’ve spoken about until this point revolves mostly on skilled problem-solving, or “thought leadership.” But respected businesspeople need to be equally or even more talented at something we didn’t have a formal name for: people leadership. By effectively leading the thinking of client firms’ problems as well as motivating them to work long hours to develop solutions to these problems and collaborate with clients on implementing them, these businesspeople prove to have what it takes to be exemplary leaders.

So don’t forget to include strong elements of people leadership in your essays. Here are several to keep in mind:

  • Rallying others around a vision. Did you convince your team or group to follow a specific path/solution? How did you do it? Successful clients have talked about handling dissenting opinions diplomatically or presenting their teams’ detailed quantitative evidence for a recommendation. The more you can show that you understood your audience and tailored the content and form of your message to them, the better.
  • Harnessing others’ strengths – and expanding them. Did you provide team members tasks they could handle comfortably based on their capabilities, as well as opportunities to broaden their skills? For example, you may have handed your quant jock teammate the most complicated operations analysis as well as responsibility for leading a key client meeting. In this way, you leverage teammates’ strengths while helping them develop new ones.
  • Getting through tough times. Did you model for your team enviable cool in pressure-cooker situations, maybe helping them keep the big-picture goal in mind or lightening the mood with humor? Did you reward teammates with praise, pizza, or both for working long into the night? Did you pitch in on others’ responsibilities as deadlines loomed? Helping your team handle stress while managing your own is a cornerstone of strong leadership.

Use your words

Another tip: Look for opportunities to incorporate strong verbs that illustrate your strengths in these areas. Good examples of leadership might incorporate several of the following:

  • Establishing a goal or vision
  • Obtaining buy-in
  • Taking responsibility

The old adage, “Show, don’t tell,” remains a classic bit of wisdom in the writing process. Make that a guiding principle not only in your leadership/achievement essays, but throughout your application.

For personalized advice tailored just for you, check out our MBA Admissions Consulting & Editing services and work one-on-one with a pro who will help you discover your competitive advantage and use it to get accepted.

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• School-Specific MBA Application Essay Tips • Tone Up Your Writing: Confidence vs Arrogance • “I’m Smart, Really I Am!” Proving Character Traits in Your Essays

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Leadership Essay: What To Write To Put Your Best Foot Forward

EssayEdge > Blog > Leadership Essay: What To Write To Put Your Best Foot Forward

Because schools are looking for applicants who will make a contribution, it is becoming increasingly common for programs to specifically ask for essays on leadership. In this type of essay, the admissions officers are asking you to go beyond your resume, CV or activities list and provide them with a meaningful example that not only demonstrates your skills as a leader but reflects your values, ability to manage setbacks, and resilience in overcoming dilemmas. Therefore, I created these tips to guide you in writing the kind of leadership essay that will help you get noticed in the admissions process.

Table of Contents:

Choose an anecdote where you played a significant role

If you haven’t decided how to write a leadership essay. Your best anecdote may not necessarily be one where you were at the helm. Just because you didn’t have the title of President, Coordinator or Leader doesn’t mean that you didn’t take a strong leadership role in the project. The admissions officers are looking for results, and that means a situation where you were able to ensure outcomes, overcome obstacles, foster team cohesiveness, and exceed expectations. When brainstorming for your leadership essay, think more about the criteria of leadership rather than the title. The title and introduction to leadership essay will come up in your mind as soon as you understand what you want to write about.

Tackle dilemmas

An essay where you were in charge and everything went smoothly doesn’t make for the most compelling narrative. Instead, focus on anecdotes where you had to face tough choices. This could refer to interpersonal situations regarding assigning tasks, making budgetary decisions that might have displeased certain team members or even superiors, navigating contract negotiations between parties that did not trust each other or even dealing with unethical behaviors. Show the admissions officers that you can persevere despite setbacks and find a way forward to realize success in your endeavors.

Acknowledge the contribution of others

This is the most common pitfall that I see in leadership essays. Yes, a personal statement should be personal. However, when writing about leadership, it is impossible to demonstrate this if you write as if no one else was part of the situation. Be gracious in giving praise to team members for their insights, loyalty, and hard work. Let the admissions officers envision you as someone who can inspire others to collaborate and work as a cohesive whole to achieve common goals.

Need help? Check out EssayEdge editing services:

Highlight organization skills and interpersonal acumen

Depending on your personality type and individual leadership style, applicants tend to focus on either the technical aspects of leadership or the more interpersonal ones. In creating your leadership essay, remember to include both in a way that is as balanced as possible. Usually, I will recommend applicants write an opening paragraph that sets the stage, a paragraph about technical aspects such as assigning tasks and coordinating resources, a third paragraph that discusses obstacles encountered in the project, and then a concluding paragraph. The two middle paragraphs should be approximately the same length. By following this basic outline, applicants are sure to cover all bases and formulate a leadership essay that has a strong logical flow from start to finish.

Check some leadership application essay examples to understand what exactly has to be written in your paper.

Reflect on what you would have done differently

If, given the opportunity to do it again, you would have done everything exactly the same, I would advise writing about a different situation. Anecdotes where everything works out perfectly don’t typically provide the admissions officers with the information that they need to help them make a choice about your application. They will want you to engage in self-reflection either in the penultimate paragraph or the concluding paragraph. The admissions officers want to see both growth and willingness to grow. For this reason, be sure to discuss ways that you would like to continue to develop your personal leadership style so that you will be a more prepared and effective leader in the future.

Make a difference. That’s what you should do to be sure that your essay will be noticed by the admissions board. The combination of your writing skills and our guidelines must help you craft a winning paper. Keep in mind that you can always find an assistant on our essay proofreading service, trust proofreading them, and submit a high-quality leadership essay.

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Anyone Can Learn to Be a Better Leader

  • Monique Valcour

how to start a leadership essay

You just have to put in the work.

Occupying a leadership position is not the same thing as leading. To lead, you must be able to connect, motivate, and inspire a sense of ownership of shared objectives. Heightening your capacity to lead others requires being able to see how you think and act, and how your behavior affects others. Leading well requires a continuous journey of personal development. Yet people in leadership roles often eschew the long and challenging work of deepening self-insight in favor of chasing after management “tools”— preferably the “quick ’n’ easy” kind, such as personality type assessments that reduce employees to a few simplistic behavioral tendencies. Tools can be handy aids to good leadership. But none of them can take the place of fearless introspection, feedback seeking, and committed efforts to behavioral change for greater effectiveness and increased positive impact on others.

When you’re an individual contributor, your ability to use your technical expertise to deliver results is paramount. Once you’ve advanced into a leadership role, however, the toolkit that you relied on to deliver individual results rarely equips you to succeed through others. Beware of falling into the logical trap of “if I can do this work well, I should be able to lead a team of people who do this work.” This would be true if leading others were akin to operating a more powerful version of the same machinery you operated previously. But it’s not; machinery doesn’t perform better or worse based on what it thinks about you and how you make it feel, while humans do .

how to start a leadership essay

  • MV Monique Valcour is an executive coach, keynote speaker, and management professor. She helps clients create and sustain fulfilling and high-performance jobs, careers, workplaces, and lives. moniquevalcour

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How to Effectively Demonstrate Leadership in MBA Essays

May 14, 2021

how to start a leadership essay

UPDATE: This article was originally posted on April 12, 2019. It has been updated with new information and tips below. 

Sitting down to compose your MBA admissions essays, you may be wondering what you should write about in the first place. While there are many different strategies that can lead to an effective essay , there is one thing that you definitely need to include: a will and capability for leadership .

Leadership, more than almost any other single quality, is one of the top things schools look for in their candidates. Some schools have even decided to dedicate an entire essay to their value of strong leadership. Take Kellogg’s essay A prompt, for example, which reads:

“Kellogg’s Purpose is to educate, equip & inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. Tell us about a time you have demonstrated leadership and created lasting value. What challenges did you face, and what did you learn?” (450 words)

Other schools, on the other hand, specifically ask about leadership as an element of essays or understand leadership to be an implicit part of the answer they are looking for, like Chicago Booth’s essay 2 prompt: 

“Chicago Booth immerses you in a choice-rich environment. How have your interests, leadership experiences, and other passions influenced the choices in your life?” (250 word minimum) 

This means that it is absolutely imperative that you clearly demonstrate your leadership capabilities in your essays . 

Your essay may be a masterful piece of writing, but only with the element of leadership is it likely to be successful and land you a spot in your top MBA program. 

Why is demonstrating leadership so important for elite MBA programs?

All business schools value leadership in their candidates. However, leadership has many different facets and forms , a fact that becomes clear when looking at schools – and what they value – in depth. 

Berkeley Haas, for example, connects leadership with their value of innovation . Specifically, Berkeley’s full-time MBA program features four Defining Leadership Principles . These include Confidence without Attitude, Question the Status Quo, Students Always , and Beyond Yourself . Berkeley sees each of these as an integral part of good leadership.

London Business School , on the other hand, sees leadership as an inherent and essential value for a global outlook,  one of their most important values. They write : 

“We nurture our students to challenge the status quo, to question the norm and to develop the skills to become the world’s best business leaders. Over the years we have adopted a truly global outlook tackling challenges faced by international businesses and their leaders.” ​  

For LBS, the qualities of leadership and having a global mindset go hand-in-hand.

how to start a leadership essay

This list goes on and on. IESE sees leadership as an essential prerequisite for impact , one of their greatest focuses; Wharton specifically offers training for global leadership capabilities through their Leadership Ventures ; Booth – a school heavily focused on community – views leadership as a fundamental element of that value . 

Given the different forms of leadership that each school values, how you showcase your own will change depending on which application you’re completing. So be sure to choose stories and lessons learned that align with the school you’re applying to. 

Of course, not only do these schools look for leadership in their candidates, they also offer explicit opportunities for developing and polishing leadership skills in their students. 

It is clear that leadership is extremely important in MBA programs, the work you do post-MBA, and of course, to the MBA admission committee. 

Leadership comes in many different forms

As you can see from above, there is no one definition of leadership that schools adhere to . In fact, because leadership can be tied into so many different values, there are many different ways to demonstrate it effectively in your MBA admissions essay. 

Here are some ideas about how to show leadership:

1. Innovative ideas

Leadership can be shown through an ability and desire to innovate . This can be coming up with a new product at a company, developing a new idea for a business, or helping an existing company capture a market opportunity that may not have been obvious before. By coming up with a creative new idea, you can show that you took the lead to help a company become more successful. 

how to start a leadership essay

Take a look at this example. Here, in his essay for Harvard Business School , our client Bruno demonstrated his capacity for leadership by applying data: 

“While working on a marketing and sales project for a large telecommunications company in Brazil, I was responsible for translating all the knowledge we had created with machine learning into segmented offerings, client retention actions, and up-selling initiatives. Combining industry expertise with the insights generated, I identified a 10% margin increase in the company’s mobile business, a market that is highly competitive and usually seen as margin-deteriorating. This experience made me realize that corporations need people who can guide them to make intelligent use of data.”

As you can see, identifying an opportunity to grow a business can be used to help show off your potential as a leader, especially as an entrepreneur. 

2. Helping others

This can be applied to both personal or professional situations. Maybe there was a time when your family was struggling financially, so you stepped in to offer your support? Maybe you had a colleague who couldn’t get their work done on time, so you helped them organize their priorities better and grow as a professional? Both of these instances show how you guided others through challenging experiences by relying on your leadership skills. 

This value can also be strongly related to impact and community , ideas that are becoming increasingly important within MBA programs . In many instances, leadership skills can be connected to a professional endeavor that helped a company create value for others. This is a great way to show how helping others revealed or helped you train your own leadership skills. 

how to start a leadership essay

Take a look at this example from a client’s application to Wharton last year:

“To escape Rio de Janeiro’s perilous, impoverished favelas, education and employment are the only way out. During university, I came to understand this while mentoring a group of underprivileged students. Despite wanting to attend school, my students often missed class due to active shootouts between gangs and police, on top of the many other challenges of living in favelas. Through this experience, I became aware of my role in society and how I could directly impact other’s lives.”

Here, our client Conrado used his experiences of mentoring others to understand his ability for impactful leadership. Not only does this help you underline the impact of your achievements, but also reveals a deeper aspect of your personality.

3. Taking initiative

Showing your desire and ability to be proactive can easily overlap with either of the two suggestions above. Often, recognizing a problem – either in your personal life or professional environment – and deciding to do something about it is a great way to demonstrate leadership. 

This is especially true if the problem was something nobody else had identified – or even blatantly denied existed. Here, your will to take the steps to fix it might be the perfect way to show your potential as a leader and self-starter while highlighting your drive and motivation.

4. Community and teamwork

A sense of community and working in teams is an essential value for many top MBA programs. Highlighting your leadership role does not mean you were working individually or only at the head of a team. Leadership can be also demonstrated through your ability to promote teamwork and collaboration. 

An important part of teamwork is being a team member who is not afraid to speak up, proactively solve problems, include others, or put new ideas on the table . 

By taking on a leadership role, even a minor one, within your community or team, you help further collective success and often multiply your impact. This is an awesome quality to demonstrate in your MBA essay. 

This can be a great opportunity to utilize extra-professional examples in your MBA essays. Take a look at another strategy Bruno used in one of his Columbia Business School essays:

“We’ve just stopped to catch some air, a scarce resource above 6000 meters. All members of the expedition are feeling mental exhaustion, but we fight it with team spirit. I nod heads with each member, making sure signals are clear. Each and every one of us is responsible for encouraging the others not to give up and for knowing when to tell a teammate to stop because going forward might risk their life. Lucky for all of us, now is not that time.”

Here, Bruno does an excellent job utilizing storytelling to help show how he is a leader within the group. As you can see, leadership can be evident even in stories of personal and group achievement.

how to start a leadership essay

5. Taking a leap of faith

Good leadership is not just about making data-backed decisions. Much more, it entails taking risks and using your intuition to navigate the complicated worlds of interpersonal communication, timing, and networking. 

This can not only highlight your courage but also your ability to push the envelope and create new solutions and possibilities.

For example, you could demonstrate leadership by telling the story of how your confidence in a subordinate helped them grow to become a more mature professional and enrich your team as a whole. It may also manifest itself through the idea to start a new business, despite not knowing if you will reach success. 

6. Getting out of your comfort zone

Leadership can also be recognized in the desire to get outside one’s comfort zone. Adcoms are looking for individuals who are ready to take full advantage of their MBA programs, which requires a willingness to learn and grow. This is an especially good tactic if you want to show attributes of global or international leadership, a characteristic that is especially valuable for European schools like LBS, INSEAD, or IESE. 

For example, spending a year in a foreign country can help you understand intercultural connotations of business in ways you could never have experienced before or how to communicate in completely new ways. 

Demonstrating leadership by getting out of your comfort zone can be expanded to experiences about polishing foreign language skills, helping international colleagues understand your home region, or expanding a business internationally. All of these can reveal and train global leadership skills and intercultural competencies – something all schools are looking for in their candidates. 

7. Straightforward leadership positions

Of course, we cannot forget the most obvious way to demonstrate leadership. If you have taken on an explicit leadership position within your company or organization, this is a great way to express this value to the admissions committee. 

Professional leadership positions can include leading teams, guiding clients through transformation processes, presenting results to senior leadership, or taking on a senior leadership position itself. If you have had experiences like this, be sure to include them – and the challenges you faced – in your MBA admissions essay. 

These ideas not only help you demonstrate leadership in your MBA essay, they might also give you bonus points for connecting leadership to other values a school might share, like community, innovation, teamwork, creativity, and a drive to make an impact. 

Tips for demonstrating effective leadership

Naturally, just explaining one of the above situations in your essay will not cut it. There are a few other things that you should keep in mind and try to apply when focusing on leadership in your MBA essay. 

Use the STAR method

Telling a story that thoroughly highlights your leadership role does not automatically mean it will be compelling. Often, candidates fail to show how leadership was necessary – in other words, what the problem was that required them to take on a leadership position in the first place.

That is where storytelling – and specifically the STAR method – comes in. The STAR method will help you highlight not just the problem that you faced, but also your specific role in solving it that led to success. 

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action , and Results . If you want to make your story about leadership convincing, you must include all of these elements. This translates to:

how to start a leadership essay

Situation – clearly presenting the context for your story.

Task – demonstrating that there was a problem to be solved or a challenge to be faced.

Action – showing exactly what you did to solve that problem or overcome that challenge.

Results – the outcome of your actions. This can range from personal growth to helping other individuals to producing company-wide results. 

In this example, our client Karen effectively used the STAR method in her Kellogg essay to show leadership initiative at her mother’s store:

“I learned the value of hard work early, as a child helping in my mother’s gift shop, serving customers and wrapping gifts. (Situation) Once the boom of social media started, I saw the opportunity to leverage this technology to improve our business – this could attract more customers, increase revenues, and keep our financials organized. Simultaneously, I realized I wouldn’t be able to help in the store once I left for university (Task) , so I taught my mom to use the computer to manage our Facebook page and financials (Action) . The fulfillment of providing my mother with the tools and skills necessary to run and improve her business – increasing sales by 10% – is indescribable (Results) .”

Using STAR is a great way to make your leadership role very clear throughout your essay and utilize storytelling strategies successfully. 

At Ellin Lolis Consulting , we believe that one of the keys to a compelling essay is effective storytelling. This technique transforms your example of leadership from a stale image that adcoms have heard a thousand times to a colorful journey that highlights you as unique and valuable to their community.

Highlighting your role

Your MBA essay is the place to discuss your personal achievements . Don’t sell yourself short in your essay! Telling a story about leadership that does not thoroughly explain your part will not be a good demonstration of leadership. 

This means that it is important to show the admissions committee what you specifically did in your story. Just saying that you were part of a team that produced fantastic results will not achieve this. Instead, you must show them how your work – what you did and how you did it – was essential for collective or individual success. 

Even if a success was only possible due to the work of your entire team, it’s still important to show how your actions complemented those of your colleagues. Not only does this allow the readers to see your contributions, but also demonstrates your capacity for collaboration!

how to start a leadership essay

Combining personal and professional examples

We have already established that leadership can manifest itself in many different forms, and that admissions committees see it that way, too. 

This means that the adcom is not only looking for your professional leadership experiences – or that they will condemn you for demonstrating leadership in your personal life. In fact, a good mix helps the adcom understand that you have a well-rounded, flexible understanding of what leadership means. 

For example, last year, our client Thais wanted to show leadership via the theme “grow by growing others”. To do so, she included the following stories in her Berkeley Haas essays :

  • Teaching fellow children how to read as a child
  • Mentoring younger students during university
  • Professionally mapping NGO efforts to coordinate the distribution of their impact more evenly throughout Brazil

Don’t be afraid to include personal examples of leadership – this may help to reinforce your multi-faceted capabilities as a leader even more in your MBA essay. This is also a great way to show a clear pattern of leadership.

Show a pattern of leadership

When writing your MBA essay, it is good to not just show a single instance of leadership, but instead to demonstrate how your tendency for leadership is part of your brand using multiple stories. 

Of course, this only applies to prompts that do not ask for only a single experience (unlike Kellogg’s essay B!)

For example, you could show how you led a school club as a teenager, started a project at an NGO during college, and went on to lead recruiting initiates at your current consulting firm. This way, the adcom has a number of examples to go on to understand that you will make for a good leader in the future. 

Often, the greatest way to demonstrate a pattern of leadership is by establishing it via your central theme .

Leadership and theme

A theme is a great way to connect your message to your reader. A theme is a central topic that is reinforced throughout your essay via one or more stories. If you are curious about how to effectively apply a theme in your MBA essay, check out this article .

how to start a leadership essay

Many candidates decide to use leadership as their central theme in one or more of their essays. This is a great strategy and is definitely a winning possibility. However, you can also choose a theme with a bit more subtlety and still create an effective argument for leadership. 

To demonstrate, let’s take another look at Kellogg’s essay B. Their question specifically asks candidates to talk about a (single!) past leadership experience.

Last fall, our client Carolina began her essay with: 

“While the choreographed movements of a ballet dancer are polished and graceful, the journey to reach this result is full of setbacks. Although I no longer practice ballet, I have benefited from the discipline and determination I developed as a ballet dancer, applying these strengths to my professional and personal life.”

Here, Carolina uses ballet to help the reader visualize discipline and determination. She goes on to explain that she later used these traits to successfully demonstrate her leadership capabilities to overcome hurdles while implementing a membership program at her company. 

She ends her essay like this: 

“Although the membership program was successful, it required overcoming many setbacks through a rigorous execution process. Like ballet dancing, the completed project shows little of the work that went into it or the learnings I acquired along the way. Ultimately, it gave me the opportunity to lead a very diverse team, learn about a new industry, and strategically collaborate to achieve impressive results.”

As you can see, she uses the theme ballet to focus the reader on specific leadership qualities (discipline and determination) that helped her succeed in her career.

This strategy will work for other schools and essay prompts just as well. If your answer to Stanford’s What Matters Most to You and Why is quality leadership, you may be able to express that best with a metaphor. 

Our client Isabella, for example, began her essay like this: 

“What matters most to me is watering plants. Not any plant, but the ones that insist on growing, even when lacking nutrients and sunshine.” 

She continues her essay by explaining how, by overcoming bias and obstacles in her own life, she was able to grow into a leader who helped others overcome their own obstacles as well, thus “watering plants that insist on growing.”

how to start a leadership essay

As you can see, it is possible to demonstrate leadership in your MBA essay indirectly and implicitly – and even in unique, creative ways. Choosing your theme like this may even help reveal a new side of your personality that the admissions committee might not have otherwise been exposed to.

Don’t be afraid of conflict

In life, we work hard to avoid conflict as much as possible, yet when it comes to stories, conflict and tensions are not only important, but essential to captivating attention. 

Would Breaking Bad have been as interesting if Walter White was already an established drug lord when the show started? Probably not. Watching him take the news of his cancer diagnosis and find an unusual way to drum up the money for treatment is just what makes the show so addictive. 

Conflict and how our “hero” (in this case, you!) solves the challenge is at the core of any good story, so make sure you use the STAR method to clearly set up the conflict you needed to navigate and then show how you took steps to turn this roadblock into one of your standout moments. 

Let’s take this essay for example. In an early version, the story was conflict-free. 

Upon joining MBB after graduation, another experience inspired personal growth. While abroad, I participated in recruiting processes for top consulting firms, and saw firsthand that MBB lagged behind in recruiting students pursuing dual degrees abroad. After joining, I created a dedicated process to recruit these top performers. Four months later, we had the first online connection event, which attracted more than 40 interested students. The program has since become an essential recruiting tool. I am proud to lead this internal team in contributing to MBB’s long-term success as we attract the talent we need to deliver high-impact results to clients.

Though this shows initiative on the applicant’s part, it is far less compelling than this version of events:

After graduating, I joined MBB, as it allowed me to channel my intellectual curiosity, explore various sectors and be an agent of change. While abroad, I participated in recruiting processes for other top consulting firms, and saw firsthand that MBB lagged behind in recruiting dual-degree students. After joining, I spoke with several partners about creating a program to solve this issue. The partners were hesitant, however, concerned they could not adequately evaluate candidates remotely. After demonstrating the implications of overlooking these high-potential candidates, I received permission to create a dedicated dual-degree recruiting process. Four months later, I had mobilized 10 colleagues, leading them in organizing BCG’s first online connection event. The program has since become an essential recruiting tool, bringing in more than 10% of our hires since inception.

Here, not only does she show initiative, she also shows she has an ability to clearly communicate and add value to her firm , even when the odds are stacked against her. This tactic shows development and engages the reader, making your story more memorable.

So, when writing your leadership essays, make sure to give your stories some much-needed drama to really demonstrate how much impact your actions generated!

Still struggling with leadership in your MBA essays?

There are many factors to consider when deciding how you will demonstrate leadership in your MBA essay. 

On the one hand, it is good to consider the multi-faceted nature of leadership. You will want to demonstrate multiple environments and ways in which you have been able to create impact. And just because you have never managed a team or become the leader of a school club does not mean you cannot show your leadership capabilities to the admissions committee. 

In fact, you may be able to prove to them that you are a leader through a number of other situations, like taking the initiative or innovation, and even simultaneously connect those situations to other things the school values. 

On the other hand, just selecting a story that demonstrates leadership is not enough – you must also present it in a way that is convincing . Using strategies like STAR, a mix of professional and personal examples, and reinforcing the message through your theme, you can make sure that the admissions committee remembers your unique value as a leader. 

Of course, understanding these concepts and applying them is not the same thing. 

Even more importantly, we can help you effectively highlight your desire to grow as a leader in your top MBA program and the global world of business beyond. After all, as Kellogg’s admissions point out , growth is a challenge confronted by every organization – and every leader. 

how to start a leadership essay

If you still find yourself struggling with these issues, we are happy to help! Our MBA essay editors at Ellin Lolis Consulting have the expertise you need to identify the right stories and approaches to discussing leadership for each school you’re applying to. We can help you polish your essay to really make your leadership experiences shine. 

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How to Write Leadership Essay in College

Adela B.

Table of contents

If there is one skill that is revered across educational institutions and organizations, it is leadership.

Being the boss or in a position of power is not enough to make you a good leader. Effective leadership comes from the impact you have on people, the respect you garner, and how you manage to walk the talk.

Owing how important the role leadership plays in our personal and professional life, it’s no surprise that students are asked to write leadership essays in college.

The purpose of this assignment is to get them to understand the concept of leadership, reflect on their own experiences, or even assess the leadership style of a prominent leader. Apart from writing skills, this assignment also puts students’ critical thinking skills to the test.

This article will tell you what goes into a good leadership outline, along with 12 practical essay writing tips.

12 Tips on How to Write a Good Leadership Essays

If you think you can go ahead and write an essay on your favorite leader, you are mistaken - grade 5 is long gone.

Leadership essay writing is a lot more layered. It requires you to demonstrate your understanding of the concept excitingly and back it up with solid examples and research.

Don’t panic. Here are 12 tips to help you write powerful and effective leadership essays.

Brainstorm interesting topic ideas

If you are fortunate, you will be given a specific leadership essay topic to write on, but most of the time, students are given the flexibility to come up with a topic of their choice.

Leadership essays need to be personal. By the end of it, the reader needs to understand your leadership abilities. Now you can throw light on that aspect of yourself by recounting your leadership experiences, relating it to the leadership style of a prominent leader, or even comparing two leaders. Regardless of your chosen topic, it’s important to connect it back to yourself.

So, start with enlisting potential topic ideas that would help you throw light on your leadership abilities. Don’t rush through this step - take your time to pick a suitable topic.

Think out-of-the-box

Surprise your audience by thinking of innovative topics and ideas for your leadership essay.

Plain and dull essays are predictable and can get boring after being overused by multiple students for their multiple essays. Your professors can also feel that you are trying to play it safe by not thinking outside the box and giving you an average grade for your essay.

Extraordinary and new ideas get the attention they deserve, and your readers are more likely to find them interesting and get hooked on your essay right at the beginning.

Hook the reader

The introductory paragraph is a crucial one as it lays the foundation for the rest of the essay. Does your introduction entice the reader to know more, or does it induce yawns? It all depends on how you choose to begin your essay.

It’s essential to start with a bang and write an interesting hook from the first sentence. A good hook is written in 1 - 2 sentences and manages to get the reader interested. You can start with a funny experience, raise a startling question, or state an interesting fact - there are various ways to begin your leadership essay and capture the reader’s attention.

Use active voice

“I performed the task with great precision” vs. “The task was performed with great precision” - what is more impactful in the context of leadership essays? The former one.

Unlike an essay or any other academic paper, leadership essays are meant to be personal. They are supposed to be about you. As you share your perspective or experiences, you should use an active voice to make a more significant impact and ensure your message reaches the reader.

Follow the format

Adhere to your academic institution's standards for formatting and styling your leadership essay because, first and foremost, your professors would want to see that you have tackled how to format your essay.

Secondly, it is always good practice to format your essays for an excellent structure and a good presentation of the content in the essay. Some institutions are very strict about their formatting standards and can choose to cancel or give unsatisfactory grades to students who do not follow their specific formatting guidelines.

Avoid cliches

Generally, in leadership essays, cliches are most commonly used to describe the person in the essay at large. Avoiding these set cliches will do you and your essay good.

Cliches like “leaves no stones unturned,” “ahead of the curve,” etc., have been used so much by students that they have become weak, lost their meaning, and have minimal effect on the essays.

Your professors are looking for originality and creativity, whereas an essay full of cliches will appear lazy and uncreative.

Select good references

Leadership holds a variety of sub-topics that addresses the quality of leadership, the style and attitudes that leaders have, historical references of the lifework of distinguished leaders, or how certain leaders influenced events.

That’s why researching is key for a thorough leadership essay. With credible sources and references to take inspiration and quotes from, your leadership essay will gain authority and stature. Each method, skill, or event can be further detailed through helpful resources such as Google Scholar, JSTOR, etc.

Ask questions

Ask yourself questions while re-reading your essay to identify any missing pieces you may have overlooked.

Asking questions also address your essay's efficiency and will help you figure out what your readers could ask while reading your essay. You can then confront each of these questions and create a more precise understanding for your readers.

Share anecdotes

Another element that can really strengthen your leadership essay and take it from good to great is anecdotes.

Yes, don’t shy away from sharing anecdotes and personal experiences related to leadership. It adds credibility to your writing and justifies the points you have made. It can be humorous or life-changing, but sharing anecdotes helps keep readers invested and adds immense value to the essay.

Here’s a helpful video by Matthew Singleton on how you can use anecdotes while writing essays

Focus on key qualities

We know how effective leadership constitutes certain key traits and qualities such as empathy, collaboration, good listener, visionary, ownership, decision-making capabilities, delegation, communicator, and more.

Your essay needs to reflect some of these traits. Instead of choosing to enlist all these traits and not focussing on either of them well, it’s important to first choose which are the traits you want to explore in your essay and then work towards highlighting them while writing.

Get feedback

It is always better to have more than one pair of eyes to read and evaluate your essay. Getting feedback on your writing is crucial for the betterment of your essay, as the limitations and problems that you may not have realized while writing your essay can be identified by a fresh set of eyes or a new perspective.

These errors or misses can be rectified, resulting in a quality, no-error leadership essay.

Edit and proofread

A leadership essay requires attention to detail, a set organized structure, and a logical flow of sentences. Editing your essay and proofreading it will overcome any misses that may come your way.

As you proofread, you can double-check the leader’s name and designation, dates, sources, factual, spelling, and grammatical mistakes, punctuation errors, out-of-place references, and transition flows.

So, now you know that leadership essays are not as ‘vanilla’ as they sound. They need to be descriptive and logical while capturing your leadership abilities.

If you don’t have the time to write a compelling leadership essay or doubt your writing skills, don’t worry. We at Writers Per Hour are pleased to write an essay for you that will get you noticed.

From choosing a suitable topic to outlining and writing a thoughtful leadership essay from scratch, our writing experts promise to deliver precisely what you need - high-quality essays that meet your budget and deadlines.

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Leadership Essay Writing Tutorial and Useful Tips

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Any essay writing service normally implies the availability of good knowledge about the topic, as well as the ability to prove your ideas and claims and convince the readers. That is why, before beginning your leadership essay, it is highly recommended to undertake detailed research on the chosen topic in order to build a logical structure of your future paper and make it convincing. First of all, figure out what the terms “leader” and “leadership” mean and what part they play in society’s life. Think of how you could beat those definitions in your work.

To start with, remember that your essay must consist of an introduction, the body, and a conclusion. One more essential thing you need to keep in mind is that the thesis statement you will put into your introduction has to be laconic and clear and describe the whole topic in just a few words. To do that, get together all the research you have done and figure out what your basic point will be. And note that the thesis statement must not be longer than two sentences!

Ready to Write: How to Organize Your Essay Properly

The second your topic is defined, information is collected and the thesis statement has done, you can start writing. Composing a good leadership essay depends on how thoroughly you will work through all the essay’s components.

  • The most essential details at the beginning

This is what your readers will see first, and what makes a good leader essay, so the introduction must be really catchy in order to get them interested and involved. Your goal here is to present your work, so use descriptions and examples from your own experience to attract people’s attention.

Write a short overview of leadership in general and your personal leadership experience. Include all the arguments you are going to discuss within the paper’s body. If any additional information is needed, feel free to place it here. And don’t forget to add the thesis statement! But don’t get carried away! An introduction consists of three to four sentences only.

  • A Body of an Essay. Developing your topic and giving arguments

It is the body where you need to substantiate the main claim of the paper. Your essay’s body must contain several paragraphs each describing the topic in detail and presenting another argument and evidence to support it. Here you can start with defining the qualities and characteristics of a good leader. Also, it would be useful to highlight the importance of knowledge and leadership experience in leading others.

An important thing to remember about the body is that all its parts must be logically united so that the reader could trace the connections between different sections. Using transitional sentences will greatly help you with that. Also, when writing about the main points of the essay, use a new paragraph for each new point.

  • Last but not least important

Though it is the last part of your leadership essay, it is the same important as the previous two.In conclusion, it is time, to sum up, all the significant features of a leader and add your thesis statement (in a rephrased way) to call the audience for action. This is literally the last chance for you to convince your readers, so you must be very persuasive and do your best to incline them. The only thing you shall not do when writing a conclusion is to add any new ideas or claims that were not mentioned in the paper above.

Final Strokes to Make Your Essay Perfect

It is not enough to simply compose a good essay; you have to check whether it is written properly and neatly. Revising may not be the most favorite part for you, but it will contribute to making your essay about a leader even better than it is right now. So don’t be lazy and check your paper for grammar and punctuation mistakes, as well as misspellings. Revise its structure and formatting, and read the whole essay once again to make sure that it is properly composed and all the paragraphs are in their places.

It would also be nice if you could find someone who could read your essay with the fresh eyes – sometimes it helps to find some hidden errors that you might miss. So, following these simple rules presented above, you can achieve a brilliant result – a well-written and professionally structured leadership essay that will amaze everyone.

how to start a leadership essay

Feb 15, 2023

Essays on Leadership for Students | 200 - 500 Word Essays

Are you writing an essay about leadership? Check out these examples!

Leadership is often defined as "the action of inspiring others to act in concert to achieve a particular goal." It signifies the harmony in actions that lead to a common objective. A genuine leader not only exudes confidence but also paves the way for their followers towards triumph. Over the years, various leadership styles have been identified and discussed by psychologists.

 Qualities such as intelligence, adaptability, extroversion, innate self-awareness, and social competence often emerge as the hallmarks of impactful leaders. There's a consensus that these traits mold an individual into an effective leader. Interestingly, some theories suggest that extraordinary situations can thrust an ordinary individual into the spotlight, bestowing upon them the mantle of leadership. It's also believed that leadership isn't a static trait but an evolving journey. It underscores the belief that with dedication and the right resources, anyone can hone their leadership abilities.

 True leadership goes beyond merely advocating for a cause. It involves taking responsibility, igniting motivation in others, and differentiating oneself from just being a 'boss'. A leader's essence lies in their ability to inspire and propel people towards grand visions, whereas a manager typically focuses on oversight and operational aspects.

What Is a Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay falls under the category of student application essays and serves to provide student admissions officers with insight into your past leadership experiences. Despite appearing to be very specific, this type of essay acknowledges that the nature and perception of leadership can vary significantly depending on the individual and the context.

 If you find yourself in need of further insights or a unique angle for your leadership essay, consider exploring an expert essay-writing tool designed to assist students in crafting compelling narratives by analyzing vast data and generating fresh ideas within minutes. In this article, we'll also delve into various leadership essay examples to offer a clearer understanding of the genre and inspire your writing journey.

4 Examples of Leadership Essays

Qualities of a good leader, introduction.

Confidence is the most important attribute first of all. One of the most important qualities in a leader is confidence in one's own abilities. A lack of self-assurance is fatal to a person's leadership potential. If you want others to follow you, you need to exude self-assurance. It's imperative for a leader to have faith in his own judgment and actions. How can people want to follow him if he doesn't even know what he's doing?

Every effective leader knows that they need to be an inspiration to their followers. A leader needs to set an example for his team. In addition, he ought to inspire them whenever feasible. A leader must also maintain optimism in trying times.

What qualities a good leader must have?

Leadership is the ability to influence and guide individuals or groups toward a common goal. A leader must possess several qualities to be effective, including:

Communication skills: A leader must be able to communicate their vision and goals clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing. This requires excellent listening skills, empathy, and the ability to adapt to different communication styles.

Emotional intelligence: A leader must be able to understand and manage their own emotions, as well as those of their team members. This includes being able to understand and respond to the emotions of others, and handling conflicts in a constructive manner.

Visionary: A leader must have a clear and inspiring vision of the future, and be able to articulate this vision in a way that motivates others to work towards it.

Strategic thinking: A leader must be able to think critically and creatively to identify and solve problems, make decisions, and develop plans and strategies to achieve their goals.

Flexibility: A leader must be able to adapt to changing circumstances and be open to new ideas and perspectives. This requires the ability to embrace change, be innovative, and continuously learn and grow.

Integrity: A leader must have strong ethics and values, and be willing to make difficult decisions that are consistent with their beliefs. This requires honesty, transparency, and accountability.

Decisiveness: A leader must be able to make tough decisions quickly, without undue hesitation or procrastination. This requires courage and the ability to take calculated risks.

Empowerment: A leader must be able to delegate responsibilities, give team members the resources they need to succeed, and foster a sense of ownership and accountability among their team.

Conclusion 

These qualities are essential for effective leadership, and when combined with hard work, determination, and a commitment to excellence, can help leaders to achieve great things.

How one can be a Great Leader?

Leadership is the act of performing the duties of a leader. In the business world, for instance, it is essential to have someone in charge of a team to ensure everything runs well. Effective leadership is essential for any group that wants to maximize its prospects of success.

Leadership Comes from Experience

As we've shown, leadership can be innate in some cases but is more often learned through practice and exposure. Sometimes the best traits of a leader must be learned over a lengthy period of time, so that one can become a notable one, proving that leadership is not always about a person's innate qualities. Leaders should continuously be on the lookout for opportunities to grow their leadership skills.

Nobody can disagree that experience is a key component of leadership. Numerous examples exist to back up this claim, such as:

Instance 1:

Our school's head boy or girl has traditionally been an older student who has been around for a while and thus has a better grasp of the ins and outs of school politics.

Instance 2:

When there is a vacancy for a team leader, it is common practice for the employee who has consistently put in the most effort and attention to the office job to receive a higher number of votes than their coworkers. 

“The best teacher for a leader is evaluated experience.” - John C. Maxwell

How one can be a Great Leader/Skills to be a Great Leader?

Effective leadership is a skill that develops through time. Developing into a leader with all the qualities that are needed takes a lot of hard work and potential. Being a prominent leader calls for a wide variety of traits. Some of these characteristics are addressed in further detail below:

One should be a Good Communicator

To be an effective leader, one must be able to convey his thoughts clearly to his/her/its subordinates.

Should have Confidence

The individual should have faith in what he says and does.

Give Credit to other Team Members too

A leader not only needs to impose his viewpoints and opinions instead he must also hear to the suggestions of other members of the team and offer them credit if their concept is appropriate.

Good Bond with the Team

A leader's ability to command respect from his team members depends on his ability to develop and maintain positive relationships with them.

Leads with Responsibility

A leader needs to be completely committed to his position. It's important that he takes on responsibility so that he can effectively deal with the various challenges he will inevitably face.

Any group or organization needs a leader above all else. Leadership development takes time and effort. One needs to have lived through a lot to be an effective leader. It's not enough to simply have years of experience in the field; one must also have the traits that make one an effective leader. You can't be a great leader unless you possess certain traits.

What makes a Good Leader?

Trying one's hand as a leader appears easy when viewed through this lens. Is that so tough? Of course not; leading is difficult, and not everyone aspires to be a leader. The vast majority of us have settled into well-established careers where we report to superiors and make a living. Still, not everyone is content to go along with the crowd. They become leaders in whatever field they pursue. A leader is an example to followers and will prioritize the needs of those around them.

Some Unique Qualities of a Leader

Many individuals resort to their leaders to vent their frustrations, therefore it's important for them to be good listeners.

A leader ought to be completely forthright; they can't play favorites or give anyone preferential treatment. One of the most essential qualities of a strong leader is the ability to make decisions with integrity.

They need to be aware of the bigger picture and understand what makes an individual stand out or become a leader. It's their expertise in addition to other distinguishing traits. Their awareness of current events and the results of recent studies is essential. In many ways, this is helpful, and it's the leader's responsibility to stay current.

Since some might not understand them, they should utilize straightforward, easily comprehended language. Leaders need to be able to communicate effectively at all times. In reality, what sets them apart is their exceptional communication skills. Adolf Hitler was such a gifted orator that his followers believed every word he said.

No matter how you're feeling or what's going on in the world, if you listen to a leader, they may make you feel energized. Since leaders are in charge of inspiring confidence in their followers, they can't afford to be wary or unsure of themselves. People tend to blindly follow their leaders.

Whether you're a leader or a doctor, you should devote yourself completely to your chosen field. Everything we do is for the benefit of others; engineers, for example, spend much of their time designing and constructing buildings for other people. So, take pride in what you do, and if you possess the aforementioned traits, you are also a leader who doesn't have to rely on others to succeed. No matter what you do, aspiring to leadership positions will always benefit others.

What is Leadership in Management and what are the weaknesses and strengths of a Leader?

Simply said, leadership is acting as a supervisor or manager of a group. Different mental pictures pop up when we hear the word "leadership" used in conversation. One might think of a political leader, team leader, corporate leader, school leader, etc. Leaders facilitate order and efficiency in the workplace. Teamwork and success are fundamental to effective leadership. Leaders utilize their managerial abilities to establish courses and guide their teams to success.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Leadership

Able to express oneself more clearly

Growth of character.

Self-awareness.

Possession of teamwork skills.

Gain assurance in yourself.

Weaknesses:

Acting favorably toward one's teammates.

Having no faith in the leader.

Thinks they're better than everyone else, but act hypocritically.

Not living up to the promised standard.

Insufficient morals.

Leadership and Management

Management and leadership are inextricably linked to one another. Leadership and management are both vital to the efficient operation of an organization; but, they accomplish very different things in the process. Leadership is a necessary skill for anyone aspiring to be an effective manager. The terms management and leadership are synonymous with one another. In this manner, we are able to draw the conclusion that a manager who demonstrates the traits of a successful leader is, in fact, a manager who is effective.

Leadership in School

Leadership is essential in nearly every group, as we've seen above. That group includes one's educational institution. Every school needs an outstanding figure to serve as its head of school. Class monitor, assembly captain, cultural leader, etc. are all examples of leadership roles that can be taken on at school, but this raises the question of what makes a person a successful school leader.

Any student hoping to be chosen as a student body leader will need to demonstrate a wide range of competencies. He or she needs to be a consistent student who pays attention in class and does well in extracurricular activities. For the simple reason that no intelligent and hardworking kid would ever be considered for leadership. Student leaders are most often selected from among those who participate fully in all activities.

Leadership in Organization

Leadership in an organization, also known as organizational leadership, is the process of establishing long-term objectives that further the company's mission and help it reach its ultimate destination. This is a classic illustration of how Bill Gates often works with his team: they agree on a strategy, and Gates implements it. To the same extent, it is the responsibility of the leader in each given organization to determine what it is that the group is trying to accomplish.

Leadership in Politics

Leadership in politics, also known as political leadership, is the process of becoming actively involved in a political party in the role of a party leader. Knowledge of political processes, their outcomes, and the political agenda is central to the idea of political leadership.

An effective leader can be developed in anyone who has the determination and drives to do so. Both the strengths and the areas for improvement should be nurtured. Whether in the classroom, the workplace, or the political arena, leadership is always necessary. Therefore, one can exercise leadership anywhere they like inside their own organization.

What are the types of Leadership?

The ability to lead is a rare trait that not everyone possesses. The ability to do so is a gift, so count your blessings if you possess it. It's recommended that you hone it even more so that you can propel your career forward and serve as an example to people around you. However, it is crucial to grasp the various leadership styles before you go ahead and polish your skills.

Types of Leadership Styles

Democratic Leadership

In this style of management, subordinates are given a voice in decision-making. Although the subordinates' efforts are highlighted, the leader is ultimately held responsible for the group's actions. Many people find this type of leadership to be effective.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders motivate and inspire others to adopt new behaviors and ways of thinking in order to improve their own performance and that of their teams and organizations. A transformational leader is someone who encourages their team to strive for greater things and works to boost morale and output.

Team Leadership

A good leader fully incorporates his team into the task at hand. Members of the team are motivated to reach their goals and advance in their careers thanks to the leadership of the group.

Strategic Leadership

It requires a chief executive who doesn't restrict himself to brainstorming sessions with his superiors. He contributes on every level of the team. He is well-liked for his ability to unite the need for fresh ideas with the necessity of grounding them in reality.

Autocratic Leadership

The leader in a command and control structure is the center of attention. The chief executive has absolute power in this setting. He decides things on his own, without polling his staff. He relays this information to his staff and stresses the importance of swift action. The buck stops with him, and he alone must answer for his actions. Not much room for negotiation exists. It's no secret that this method of leading has its detractors.

Visionary Leadership

This kind of leader appreciates the abilities and requirements of his team members. He describes his ideal outcome and the teamwork that will be necessary to attain it.

Coaching Leadership

Leaders who coach their teams do so regularly in an effort to raise output. He inspires his employees to do better and works to keep them motivated. This approach to leadership has been much praised.

Facilitative Leadership

With occasional guidance, a facilitative leader ensures that the process runs smoothly for his team. As a precaution in case his team is ineffective. If the team is highly effective, the leader will take a hands-off approach.

Cross-Cultural Leadership

The leadership of this type is necessary when interacting with people from various cultural backgrounds. Because of the wide variety of cultures represented in the workforce across the United States, many managers and executives hold cross-cultural positions.

Laissez-Faire Leadership

The members of the team are given responsibility in this style of management. They are free to choose how they spend their time at work, with minimal oversight from the boss. It's not a good way to lead, according to experts.

Transactional Leadership

An interactive approach is integral to this kind of leadership. When team members successfully implement their leader's ideas and choices, they are rewarded with immediate, material benefits.

Charismatic Leadership

In order to bring out the best in his followers, this kind of leader makes the effort to change their attitudes, values, and actions.

This article should dispel the notion that leadership qualities can't be further subdivided. It should also assist you in pinpointing your own personal brand of leadership so you can perfect it over time.

Final Words

In conclusion, leadership is a complex and multifaceted concept that involves various qualities and skills. Effective leaders possess traits such as integrity, vision, empathy, decisiveness, and the ability to inspire and motivate others. They are able to navigate challenges, make difficult decisions, and lead their team toward success. Leadership also involves continuous learning and self-improvement, as leaders must adapt to changing circumstances and remain relevant. Effective leadership can have a positive impact on both individuals and organizations, fostering growth and creating a culture of success.

You can use Jenni.ai to quickly compose an essay on leadership, or any other topic, of your choosing. It's a fantastic choice that promises convenience and relief. Create an essay on any topic in a matter of minutes with the help of our AI-powered program. Membership is immediately available upon your free registration here.

You can use Jenni.ai to quickly compose an essay on leadership, or any other topic, of your choosing. It's a fantastic choice that promises convenience and relief. Create an essay on any topic in a matter of minutes with the help of our AI-powered program. Sign up on Jenni.ai and get a free trial.

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how to start a leadership essay

How to Write the UC Essay on Leadership Experience

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Vinay Bhaskara in a CollegeVine Livestream. You can watch the full Livestream for more info.

What’s Covered:

What exactly is leadership, consider different types of leadership, mistakes to avoid.

The first of the University of California’s essay prompts states: 

Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.

This prompt is all about conveying your leadership experience. However, keep in mind that your essay does not need to be limited to an example of school-based leadership. Many of the better versions of this essay convey leadership in ways that are about neither academic leadership nor direct or positional extracurricular leadership.

It’s really easy to get lost in a definition of what leadership means with this prompt. Remember that leadership has a very expansive definition. What leadership looks like to each student will vary drastically, but, in other words, the prompt is asking you to describe how you have utilized your personal experience for the betterment of yourself and others. 

This prompt focuses on concrete actions that create tangible benefits for members of an organization, or even for an individual within the organization. Many students focus on how they have inspired their classmates or helped to resolve a conflict. While these are good examples of being a leader, try not to limit yourself to formal leadership positions and actions when brainstorming your response.

Leadership can range from formal leadership positions, such as being president of a club, to informal positions, such as mentoring a younger peer. Some examples of more formal leadership would be leadership positions in extracurricular activities including athletics , academics, and even work with non-profit organizations. Informal leadership, on the other hand, is leading in any capacity that is out of the ordinary, specifically when you do not have an official title.These are events or instances that you may not think of as leadership, but discussing such examples may actually help your essay stand out even more. 

A really powerful example of this could be a student helping peers deal with and overcome mental health struggles. Another example could be a student taking on more responsibility within their family by helping a sibling with their homework. The most compelling essays tend to be about informal examples of leadership, which are then supplemented by the formal leadership positions on your resume . 

Though there is no right or wrong answer for this essay prompt, here are a few things that you should avoid in your response.

Cliche Responses

A cliche essay response is any topic that reviewers may see repeatedly, and therefore is something you want to try and avoid in order to stand out among the applicant pool. Cliche responses for this essay prompt generally include examples about a club, such as a sports team, orchestra, or group, failing at something initially, and then the student helping the group succeed. It is possible to tackle such topics if you are an incredible writer, but if you aren’t then it may be hard for your essay to really make a lasting impact.

Restating Your Resume

Always avoid using the leadership experience prompt to restate your resume! It often seems that the most direct way to complete this essay is to speak about the leadership that can be found in your Activities section. Remember, however, that colleges already can see what’s on your resume. Therefore if you’re only expanding on the information in your application and using your essay to further list the clubs you led or your accomplishments, you’re not conveying anything new. You are missing an opportunity to add additional context to your application by doing this.

What the schools are really looking for are the qualities of leadership demonstrated through your experience – not the accomplishments or awards that you’ve accumulated from leadership positions. Instead of focusing on a title, focus on the impact of your leadership on others or on the approach used to build personal dynamics and relationships in leadership. Remember you want your essay to show which of your concrete actions have driven tangible benefits for others.

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

how to start a leadership essay

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Essays About Leadership: 5 Essays And 10 Simple Prompts 

If you’re writing essays about leadership, this article will help you realize what it’s all about and find helpful examples and writing prompts .

Behind the most successful groups and organizations is an excellent leader. We can see this in politics, big corporations, and even one-day events such as weddings or graduations. Someone needs to be in charge to shepherd the others in reaching objectives. And that someone should have the qualities of an effective leader. 

Before writing about the skills and qualities of a great leader, you need to read about what makes them one. Below are 5 examples you have to see to accumulate knowledge about leadership to better relay your thoughts on your essay paper.

1. Long Essay on Leadership by Prasanna

2. meaning, nature, and importance of leadership by smriti chand, 3. strength and weakness of leadership and leadership in management by harshita pandey, 4. effective leadership by tanuja a, 5. short essay on mahatma gandhi and his leadership by sarathi, top 10 writing prompts on essays about leadership, 1. your definition of leadership, 2. your great leader, 3. are leaders born or made, 4. the qualities of a good leader, 5. power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, 6. leadership in different situations, 7. influence of a leader, 8. gender differences in leadership, 9. leaders are good listeners, 10. challenges faced in leadership.

“A leader is simply not someone who will please everyone on his way. A leader is someone who has the courage and intent of mind to take tough decisions.”

Prasanna discusses how leaders are put in their positions to achieve goals, not to please their followers. The author digs into how functional leaders can also be unloved by the people they lead.  Some good qualities of a leader are also mentioned, such as confidence, integrity, being inspirational, and having clear goals.

“The leader is at the centre of group’s power structure, keeps the group together, infuses life into it, moves it towards its goals, and maintains its momentum.”

Chand explains the importance of leadership and what a leader should be. This essay relays how the power and influence of a leader depend on the group’s size. The writer also describes the roles of leaders and followers. They need to work together to reach their goals. 

“It is not impossible for anyone to become an efficient leader if he or she has the strong willpower and desire to be one.”

Pandey believes that working and winning as a team is good leadership. She also discusses how different leadership is practiced in politics, school, organization, and in managing a business. Finally, Pandey’s essay lists the strengths that should be developed and weaknesses that a leader should improve and turn into other strengths.

“If subordinates carry out instructions because of legitimate reward or coercive power of leaders, they would treat them as successful but not effective leaders.”

This essay considers that successful and effective leaders aren’t always the same. They differ in power, goals, influence, and actions towards their subordinates. The author also lists and describes the factors contributing to effective leadership, such as suitable leadership styles for each group and expectations from both sides.

“The new leader made good one of the basic weaknesses of the previous leadership… He had moreover, a basic sympathy for and understanding of the problems.”

This essay by Sarathi shows how Gandhi used his beliefs and knowledge and turned the previous leader’s weaknesses into strengths to free his country from the British. With his outstanding leadership skills, he united all Indian people.

After reading the essay examples above, you’re now ready to write your paper about leadership. If you don’t know where to begin, below are 10 prompts you can use.

If you want to make sure you have a high-quality, grammar-free essay, try these 20 best grammar checker tools .

Essays about effective leadership prompts: What does effective leadership look like in the corporate industry?

Go with the basics and define leadership based on what you learned or experienced. This prompt covers a lot, so you can write down characteristics, habits, importance, and leadership styles and give examples. Use this prompt to expand your reader’s understanding of leadership.

Have you met or known people with spectacular leadership? It can be a historical figure, politician, artist, family member, or others. You should write this topic according to your personal experience, description, and opinion. Explain why you think they are great leaders and share how they have inspired you to be a good leader.

One of the popular discussions about leadership is whether a person is born or designed to be a great leader. You can use this prompt to share your beliefs or findings on the topic. Just make sure that your arguments have a sufficient and reliable basis to avoid misinformation that can affect the quality of your essay.

Leaders possess many traits that you can’t possibly pinpoint all of them in your essay. Thus, you can share certain qualities that you believe make up a great leader. Since this is a standard prompt, you can make yours stand out by picking unexpected qualities such as Openness About Their Weaknesses and the Ability to Doubt Themselves.

Leaders have good and bad characteristics. One way to illustrate these qualities is to use proverbs. Use this prompt to explain the harmful effect of power on leadership. You can give an example where the leader becomes too powerful to the point that they become corrupt or a situation where a leader is unaware that they’re already abusing their power. 

A true leader will come out in fire, floods, accidents, or bullying situations. Write about what you would do in cases like this to help others. If you are a member or leader of an organization, consider adding a few personal experiences that show how good leadership enables you to reach your goals in different situations.

A leader influences others. However, many music artists, celebrities, and politicians significantly influence the public nowadays. Are they considered leaders even if they are not suitable or do things that can cause harm to their followers? Write an essay about what you think of this case and incorporate comments about what authentic leadership looks like.

Many studies show that women are better leaders than men , but how accurate are these results? You can use this prompt to support or challenge the scientific findings related to leadership and gender and expand on how these affect leadership in different aspects of life, such as at home or the office. You can also add what qualities a female leader has that men don’t and vice versa.

Active listening skills are vital to ensure a thriving workplace, group, organization, or nation. To have teamwork and be united in reaching a goal, members and leaders should listen to each other. Use this prompt to show the positive and negative effects of a leader who will or will not listen to other people, and add your personal view.

Many challenges in leadership test a person’s character and success. For example, a decision had a bad result and negative feedback. If you were the leader in this situation, what would you do? Will you wallow in despair and give up your position as a leader, or would you learn from your mistake, check what went wrong, and plan your next steps?

Are you still finding it hard to write an essay? Start by writing a 5 paragraph essay to practice your essay writing skills.

When editing for grammar, we also recommend taking the time to improve the readability score of a piece of writing before publishing or submitting.

how to start a leadership essay

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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How to Write a Scholarship Essay on Leadership

Last Updated: February 17, 2023 Approved

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 100% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 147,254 times.

A well-written scholarship essay is sometimes the most important element of an academic application. Scholarships to college or graduate school, as well as to other programs or opportunities, usually carry financial rewards and educational benefits. Many scholarship essays are on the subject of leadership. By creating an informative and persuasive essay on leadership, you may be able to win yourself a valuable scholarship that will enrich your future.

Defining Your Approach

Step 1 Re-read the essay question.

  • Is it asking for your definition of leadership and how you exemplify it?
  • Is it asking about leadership styles you admire?
  • Is it asking specifically about leaders who you look up to?
  • Is it asking about how you will grow as a leader at their institution?

Step 2 Identify your audience.

  • Are you applying to medical school? If so, you may want to feature leaders in the medical field in your essay.
  • If you’re applying to a religious institution, it would be a good idea to include at least one follower of that religion as an example of a good leader.
  • Similarly, if you’re writing an essay for a service academy, you will want to feature military leaders in your essay.

Step 3 Consider any themes covered in the essay question.

Understanding Leadership

Step 1 Research leadership.

  • Web sites such as amazon.com and goodreads.com offer lists of leading titles on leadership. [3] X Research source
  • Some classics in the field include The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John C. Maxwell; Good to Great, by Jim Collins; and Strengths Based Leadership, by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie. [4] X Research source
  • A quick Internet search will provide you with countless articles on leadership, which will help you understand its core principles.

Step 2 Define leadership in your own terms.

  • Are you inspired by the ambition and risk-taking of good leaders? If so, focus on those in your essay. [5] X Research source
  • Maybe you are more interested in the fact that good leaders are knowledgeable of their mission and have a strong vision of how to attain it. You can highlight these traits in your essay. [6] X Research source
  • Don’t forget that good leaders also exhibit strong communication skills and are comfortable delegating duties to a dedicated team. Write about these characteristics in your essay as well. [7] X Research source

Step 3 Think about how you exhibit leadership in your life.

  • If you are not yet in the work force, think about how you may have demonstrated leadership abilities in sports and on academic or debate teams.
  • Volunteer work and club memberships are other possibilities to consider when reflecting on your leadership experience.
  • If you are in the work force, think of projects or teams you were on that gave you leadership experience.
  • Some specific leadership traits you may be able to find in yourself include trustworthiness, reliability, and consistency. [9] X Research source

Step 4 Think outside the box when contemplating leadership.

  • You may have shown leadership in your neighborhood by helping older neighbors with yard work or organizing games for kids after school.
  • Another way you could have shown leadership is in your own family. Maybe you helped care for a younger sibling while your parents were working or taking care of an elderly relative, or you took on more responsibilities around the house during a difficult time.
  • You may have demonstrated leadership at school. Did you confront a bully for a classmate? Did you help tutor a friend after school?

Writing the Essay

Step 1 Write an introduction that makes your audience want to read more.

  • A good way to grab interest in the introduction is to provide an anecdote from your life that shows leadership. You could write something like, “My leadership abilities were on display when I confronted a classmate who had been bullying a friend.”
  • Alternatively, you could mention a great leader from history who has inspired you. It could be something like, “General Eisenhower showed great leadership when he gave the order to launch the D-Day invasion.”

Step 2 Sum up your argument in one thesis statement.

  • Your thesis statement should appear in the introductory paragraph of your essay, usually as the last sentence. [11] X Research source
  • If the application asks a direct question about leadership, you will need to answer it. That will form the basis of how you craft your thesis statement.
  • A thesis statement should be debatable; you should take a side. An example would be, “A leader can be any individual whose characteristics and qualities people admire and try to emulate.”
  • Some examples of strong thesis statements are: “The most important trait for a leader is ambition;” “All strong leaders are good communicators;” and “Every great leader has overcome failure in his or her life.”
  • The rest of your essay should offer supporting evidence for the argument(s) you make in your thesis statement. [12] X Research source

Step 3 Write three paragraphs of body text.

  • Each paragraph of the body text section should contain a different argument/evidence that supports your thesis. The first body text paragraph should feature your strongest arguments.
  • Each paragraph of body text should be between three and five sentences long.
  • Throughout your body text, be sure to offer examples and anecdotes that boost your arguments. For instance, if your thesis is “ambition is the most important characteristic of leadership,” give examples of how you or strong leaders throughout history have embodied this trait.
  • Use the information you gathered during your research when writing your body text.
  • If the essay application defines different requirements for your essay, such as longer or shorter, follow those instead of the five-paragraph model.

Step 4 Write a strong conclusion.

  • Your conclusion should feature a re-phrasing of your thesis statement, as well as a summary of your supporting arguments.
  • Finish your conclusion with a final thought on the topic.
  • Do not introduce any new evidence in your conclusion. [14] X Research source

Finishing Touches

Step 1 Re-read your essay.

  • Does your essay answer the question(s) posed clearly and comprehensively?
  • Did you follow the format, style, or length requirements listed on the application?
  • Did you make any typos or grammar errors that need to be fixed?

Step 2 Solicit feedback from a parent, teacher, or friend.

  • Active voice verbs are better than passive ones. Your text will be more compelling if you focus on this simple task. [16] X Research source
  • Be concise. If you can say something in a sentence rather than a paragraph, write it that way. [17] X Research source
  • Specific examples that support your viewpoint are better than general statements. [18] X Research source
  • Make sure your essay really represents you and your thoughts. By maintaining your individuality throughout the writing process, you will be able to bring your own unique perspective to the essay, setting it apart from all of the others. [19] X Research source

Expert Q&A

Jake Adams

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  • ↑ Jake Adams. Academic Tutor & Test Prep Specialist. Expert Interview. 20 May 2020.
  • ↑ http://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/scholarship-advice/how-write-winning-scholarship-essay
  • ↑ https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/leadership
  • ↑ http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/the-12-leadership-books-every-boss-should-read.html
  • ↑ http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2730-leadership.html
  • ↑ https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/204248
  • ↑ http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/07/29/writing-about-leadership
  • ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/01/
  • ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/engagement/2/2/60/
  • ↑ http://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/writing-a-good-conclusion-paragraph/
  • ↑ https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/essays/8-tips-for-crafting-your-best-college-essay
  • ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeannie-borin/what-makes-a-great-colleg_b_4826945.html

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8 Tips for Developing Your Leadership Skills

Learn more about effective leadership and how to develop yourself as a leader as you explore tips for developing leadership skills in any organization.

[Featured Image]:  Manager, wearing a blue sweater, utilizing leadership skills during a meeting with team members.

If you've ever described someone as a natural leader, you may believe some people are born with an innate ability to inspire others and make decisions. Research suggests that your genes can determine the personality traits that can help you be successful in leadership roles, but this research also supports the idea that leaders are made, not born [1 ]. This is good news if you see yourself working in a leadership position, as it means you can learn and develop practical leadership skills.

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how to start a leadership essay

What makes an effective leader?

Influential leaders know how to inspire people and support them to work toward goals. Although they often have different leadership styles, they share some common characteristics. If you think about the best leaders you've ever worked with, you've likely noticed the following traits in them:

Clear expectations

Consistency

Encouragement

Organization

Successful leaders are resilient, have exceptional decision-making skills, and hold themselves accountable for their actions. Ultimately, the people they lead trust them to do the right thing for the good of the group.

Effective leadership: The fundamental 4

The Fundamental 4 describes four essential skills for leaders: communication , influence , learning agility , and self-awareness . These skills span industries, locations, and positions, and most successful leaders know how to develop and leverage these skills in their daily work. Here's a closer look at these core skills:

Communication

Successful leaders can express and explain ideas so that all team members know each project's goals, expectations, and tasks. They are active listeners and know how to express themselves clearly when they speak or write. In many ways, communication skills lay the foundation for the rest of the core leadership skills and go a long way toward establishing and maintaining trust in the organization.

Effective leaders influence and motivate the people they work with to meet and exceed goals. Their ability to influence stems from the relationships they build with others. They take the time to understand the people they're working with and what inspires them. With this knowledge, they can present rationales for their ideas and show team members how they stand to benefit from their work. 

Learning agility

As a leader, you should continue seeking learning opportunities — even when you reach an executive position. Learning comes in many forms, including professional development courses, certificates, and degrees. However, leaders also look to their experiences — both successes and failures — as opportunities to examine their behavior, knowledge, and skills and adapt them as needed.

Self-awareness

Leaders take time to understand what motivates them to work in their field and pursue leadership roles. They know their strengths and weaknesses and spend time reflecting on their experiences in life and at work to help them learn their purpose. This self-awareness allows them to set goals and seek growth opportunities to improve their leadership skills.

Make talent your competitive advantage

See what it could look like to train your team.

How to develop yourself as a leader: 8 tips

No matter where you are in your leadership journey, you can challenge yourself to grow and hone your skills. Use the following tips to set goals, explore strategies, and evaluate your progress.

1. Identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Understanding your leadership strengths and weaknesses can help you identify the leadership skills you want to develop and improve. Universities and organizations offer a variety of free and paid inventories that can help you figure out your leadership style, strengths, and areas of improvement. You can find many of these tools online.

2. Understand leadership styles.

Knowing your leadership style can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, which may be a good starting point when trying to figure them out. For example, if you have an authoritarian leadership style, you may find it easy to make decisions but may need to learn how to improve your listening skills. If you prefer a delegative style, you like giving your team plenty of freedom and may want to brush up on your decision-making or relationship-building skills.

Read more: 8 Management Styles in Business

3. Target specific skills.

After you identify your areas of strength and weakness, you can choose the specific leadership skills you want to target . With a particular skill in mind, you can set a goal, develop a plan to meet it, and monitor your progress. Here are some specific leadership skills to consider developing:

Adaptability

Conflict management

Critical thinking

Decision making

Motivation and influence

Negotiation

Relationship building

4. Expand your network.

Observation is a powerful tool for developing leadership skills. By expanding your network to create more opportunities to watch great leaders in action, you'll be able to see how these leaders tackle challenges, make decisions, solve problems, and develop strategies to help their teams succeed. Start by connecting with leaders currently working in your organization and expand your network by attending industry events and interacting with leaders on social media sites. 

5. Get a coach or mentor.

The world's greatest athletes have coaches who help them train and achieve their goals, and a coaching relationship also works well in a business environment. Your coach can help you evaluate your leadership skills, plans, and goals. Coaches are often senior or retired staff members who understand your industry and have the expertise to guide your professional development. Some organizations have formal coaching programs specifically designed for developing leaders, but you also can meet informally with a mentor.

6. Read and research.

Effective leaders are lifelong learners who seek out learning opportunities and keep up with the latest industry research and trends. Read books. Sign up for seminars. Take online classes. In doing so, you're investing in yourself. When starting out, look for broad leadership topics like communication or conflict resolution . Then you can explore more specialized areas like negotiating global contracts.

7. Take on leadership roles in your current position.

You can start practicing leadership skills before you have an official leadership role. Seek out opportunities to try out what you're learning. This can be through a stretch assignment or a project that gets you out of your comfort zone. Other options are working in a new department or geographical location to practice using the new strategies you're learning. Start small, reflect on your experiences, and identify which techniques are working and which you need to refine.

8. Practice.

Thinking like a scientist as you practice your newfound leadership skills may be helpful. Each time you try a new technique or strategy — whether it's a big project or small interaction with a coworker — pay attention to how well it works and how others respond. Over time, you'll be more aware of what works best for you so you can add them to your leadership tool kit.

Become a leader today

You can start building your leadership skills today by signing up for a leadership course or certification program, like Leading People and Teams from the University of Michigan or Strategic Leadership and Management from the University of Illinois. Looking to develop new leaders within your company? Upskill your employees to excel in the digital economy with  Coursera for Business .

Develop leaders from within your workforce

Let's work together to build lasting leadership skills for your organization.

Keep reading

8 Management Styles in Business: Choosing the Best Fit

Employee Development: 8 Benefits for Your Business

Employee Training: What It Is and Why It's Important

Article sources

Center for Creative Leadership. “ Are Leaders Born or Made ?" Accessed October 19, 2023.

This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.

All Formats

Essay Templates

  • 9+ Leadership Essays

Leadership essays are required almost in every middle school lesson plan , high school, or university you go to. It’s not easy coming up with a theme, especially if you’re out of ideas. Organizing your thoughts for an event, scholarship, philosophy, and just anything about college also pose a significant challenge to some. That’s why it’s great to start with a simple outline about leadership that summarises and carefully explains your ideas on a short paper in 500 words or less. You can also see more on  Narrative Essays .

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Leadership Interview Essay Template

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Educational Competencies Leadership Essay Sample

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Leadership Qualities Junior College Essay Sample

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Reflective Leadership Servant Essay Sample

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High School Leadership Scholarship Essay Sample

leadership scholarship essay sample

  • Define your leadership role . Being a scholar is not just about getting good grades and graduating with flying colors; the candidate for the scholarship must explain in their essay what leadership role they want to grow into when they are admitted to the university.
  • State your own definition of leadership . Leaders are made, not born. Admission Letters heads are looking for your distinctive definition of leadership because they want to know if you have sufficient knowledge to be an influential scholar in a college or not.
  • Communicate a problem and how you can solve it . You must have advocacy in mind that is relevant to the position you applied for with a smart strategy as well.
  • Include facts . Every leadership essay must speak of facts that will support the advocacy and align the goals of the essay writer. You can also see more on  Leadership Developments .
  • Set a vision . Having a vision will help you gain the trust of the institution and establish your essay outline solidly. You can also see more on  Leadership Development Plans .

Army Nursing Philosophy Leadership Essay Sample

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Middle School Student Leadership Essay Sample

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Event Management Leadership Program Essay Sample

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Personal Short Influence Leadership Essay Sample

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500 Words Essay On Team Work Leadership Template

00 words essay on leadership template

  • Mention current team developments or relationships you’ve had . A background in small group successes like facilitating discussion groups gives you an edge, and it increases your chances of being admitted to a university or field of study. You can also see more on  Leadership Development Plan in Google Docs .
  • Highlight your direction in life . A personal direction or your drive in life will let admission heads know about your passion.
  • Name mentors or trainers who have influenced you . Adding respectable names in the industry that have inspired you to take on the opportunity to learn in an institution will give admission heads a reliable reference. You can also see more on  Leadership Quotes .
  • State a conflict and how you’ve managed it . The best leaders know how to manage conflict or crisis, and that’s how you can stand out among the rest of the candidates.

More in Essay Templates

Simple leadership certificate template, leadership certificate program template, certificate in school management and leadership template, academy leadership certificate template, leadership excellence award certificate template, leadership training certificate template, leadership coaching certificate template, student leadership certificate template, leadership certificate template.

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How to write an essay about leadership ‒ a comprehensive writing guide

How to write an essay about leadership

So, you need to write an essay on leadership. Honestly, this is a very simple task. All you need to do is understand who the leader is, what qualities this person has, and how he or she behaves in certain situations.

This topic is wide enough, so you can debate about whether leadership qualities are innate or acquired, what leadership styles are, what people have had such an impact on you, is it easy to manage the active role, etc. These are just some of the ideas for your essay.

Still not clear how to write an essay fast ? Come to us – essay writing service.

Step 1. Define the leadership concept

Of course, you can use the academic definition of leadership or write about your own understanding of general characteristics. In order to argue any point of view, you will need to conduct a review on the Internet or in the local library. This will help expand your understanding of the concept of leadership, and will also serve as inspiration for the writing

Step 2. Come up with a question

Analyze the collected materials and formulate your own definition of leadership. Here are some questions to help you do this:

  • Do you think a leader needs communication skill?
  • Does leadership role include the daily routine organization?
  • Can leaders grow through a hierarchy in a company?
  • What can prevent a leader from succeeding?
  • Is it in human nature — to be a leader?

Having the answers, you can easily determine your definition.

Step 3. Elaborate outline

Any undertaking requires a good plan. You have many interesting thoughts and ideas, but they need to be structured. Write all your ideas on paper and make up a consistent line of thinking. Highlight the most important statements that will become the core of your leadership essay.

Step 4. Think about your leader role

Even if you are not an extremely significant leader and do not work in an organization, you can use your leadership skills in everyday life. Give examples about your family and friends, tell us about volunteer projects. Personal experience should be detailed and specific, as the details add credibility and make your paper more convincing.

Step 5. Remember some additional leaders features

If you keep in mind that leaders are quite innovative and have a unique perspective of things, you can give more illustrative examples. You must understand that this is not only about the leadership role at huge corporations and real gurus. Children and adolescents also need these general characteristics: to present their ideas, to confront a bully, to fight their fears and make new friends.

Writing a paper, think about different points of view for your issue.

Step 6. Writing the essay on leadership

So, you have covered a lot of grass, analyzed various leadership cases and are ready to write the leadership essay. Of course, this topic is very interesting and fascinating, but the structure of the paper is the same as in other cases. You need to write a good introduction, formulate abstracts , find arguments and take stock.

Introduction of the essay: start with the hook

Any academic paper begins with an introduction. This is what helps you introduce your topic and key findings. But do not rush to dessert. Use a wiser approach. For example, you can describe a difficult life situation that has become a real challenge for you and helped to take an active role. Such an extremely significant hook will attract the attention of the audience.

Define your thesis statement

A thesis statement is what determines the essence of your essay. It may vary depending on the topic . For example, if you disclose leadership qualities, formulate one sentence about human nature.

Or if you want to show that leaders don’t always achieve excellent result, to describe what failures they have to face, you can write “Leaders cry too.” One sentence is enough to convey the main idea. But it is not always easy to find this brief and succinct phrase. Work on it.

A good leadership essay body consists of 3-5 paragraphs. Each of them should be devoted to a new aspect, a unique point of view. Write out 3-5 ideas, prepare a thesis statement for each of them, and then illustrate it with arguments.

Transitional sentences will help to combine ideas from different paragraphs. So your essay will look more solid and interesting .

Many students start writing an essay with a conclusion. This is the paragraph where you summarize all your ideas.

Here is a good tip for writing an effective conclusion: At the very beginning, when you see only an empty sheet of paper in front of you, think of the purpose of your essay, of the controversial issue. Not just get an A-grade, but convey an idea. For example, inspire a person to an active role. Or improve someone’s self-esteem. In the end, you can analyze whether you have succeeded. Use a compelling CTA to call it a day.

Tips on writing brilliant papers

  • Think out of the box. Leadership is often associated with clichés, so you need to surprise your readers. For example, you can explore the life of a person whom you consider a leader. Explain what challenges he or she has to face, offer a controversial issue.
  • Use an active voice. The text sounds stronger and more convincing.
  • Get inspired, but don’t copy. Read examples of good leadership essay. This will help you understand what you do not need to write about, and which topics, on the contrary, need coverage.
  • Remember the proofreading. Wait a few days and read the essay again. Get rid of all the inconsistencies, mistakes, typos, plagiarism. Make sure your paper is flawless and inspiring.

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Leadership Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on leadership.

First of all, Leadership refers to the quality of leading people. Probably, it is one of the most important aspects of life. Above all, Leadership has led to the progress of human civilization . Without good Leadership, no organization or group can succeed. Furthermore, not everyone has this quality. This is because effective Leadership requires certain important characteristics.

Leadership Essay

Qualities of a Good Leader

First of all, confidence is the most quality. A leader must have strong self-confidence. A person lacking in confidence can never be a good leader. A person must be confident enough to ensure others follow him. The leader must have confidence in his decisions and actions. If he is unsure, then how can people have the desire to follow him.

A good leader must certainly inspire others. A leader must be a role model for his followers. Furthermore, he must motivate them whenever possible. Also, in difficult situations, a leader must not lose hope. How can a leader inspire people if he himself is hopeless?

Honesty is another notable quality of a leader. Honesty and Integrity are important to earn the love of followers. Above all, honesty is essential to win the trust of the people. Probably, every Leadership which loses trust is bound to fail. People will not work with full effort due to an immoral leader.

Good communication is a must for a good leader. This is because poor communication means the wrong message to followers. Furthermore, good communication will increase the rate of work. Also, the chances of mistakes by followers will reduce.

Another important quality is decision making. Above all, if a leader makes poor decisions then other qualities will not matter. Furthermore, good decision making ensures the success of the entire group. If the leader makes poor decisions, then the efforts of followers won’t matter.

A good leader must be an excellent innovator. He must display a creative attitude in his work. Most noteworthy, innovation is a guarantee of survival of a group or innovation. Without creative thinking, progress is not possible.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Real-Life Examples of Good Leadership

Mahatma Gandhi was an excellent example of a good leader. He was a staunch believer in non-violence. With his brilliant Leadership skills, he made the British leave India. Probably, this was the most unique independence struggle. This is because Gandhi got freedom without any violence.

Abraham Lincoln was another notable leader. Most noteworthy, he ended the slavery system in the United States. Consequently, he made many enemies. However, he was a man of massive self-confidence. His struggle against slavery certainly became an inspiration.

Sir Winston Churchill was a great patriotic Englishman. Most noteworthy, he led Britain in the 2nd World War. Furthermore, he was extremely inspirational. He inspired Britain to fight against Nazi Germany. His great communication motivated the entire country at a time of hopelessness.

To conclude, Leadership is required in probably every sphere of life. Good leadership is the door to success. In contrast, bad leadership is a guarantee of failure. Consequently, good leaders are what make the world go round.

FAQs on Leadership

Q.1 Which is the most important quality for being a good leader? A.1 The most important quality for being a good leader is self-confidence.

Q.2 Why Sir Winston Churchill is a good leader? A.2 Sir Winston Churchill is a good leader because he inspired Britain to fight in 2nd World War. Furthermore, his excellent communication also raised the motivation of his people.

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10 Leadership Lessons From Successful CEOs — An Insightful Guide for the Ambitious Entrepreneur Valuable lessons you can learn from successful CEOs like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

By Chris Kille • Feb 16, 2024

Key Takeaways

  • Active listening, decisiveness coupled with flexibility and a culture of creativity are essential for effective leadership.
  • Leaders must possess excellent verbal skills, empathy and integrity to truly inspire and guide their teams.
  • Continuous learning, adaptability and maintaining a reality-based vision are key to navigating the ever-changing business landscape.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Today, it takes more than just management and strategy to birth a successful CEO ; the shape of tomorrow's business environment is veritably coloring itself outside those lines. It means to personify a combination of insight, sensibility, courage, foresight and the most essential — listening.

This article focuses on the virtues that have not only turned leaders such as Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk into icons but also act as a formula for aspiring legends to understand the complexity of modern leadership.

Related: 25 Leadership Lessons From Millionaire Business Owners

1. Be a trained listener

The skill of active listening defines good leadership. It is more than just listening to words; it requires an active and deliberative process of understanding what other people say with different ideas from yours and truly comprehending their feedback. Typical leaders such as Steve Jobs even encouraged feedback that was incorporated into Apple's product development, giving rise to revolutionary innovations.

Dialogue, as opposed to monologues from leaders, enables the development of a culture that causes potentials and ideas full of revolutions to unlock before remaining unspoken. As a method of encouraging teamwork, active listening ensures that every individual in the team feels appreciated and is given space to vent out their thoughts, following which a great feeling of belonging comes about, contributing positively to organizational success.

2. Decision-making: Be resolute yet adaptable

A business setting with rapid change makes it important to make decisions swiftly without compromising adaptability . Through his "two-way door" rule, Jeff Bezos showed how strong decisiveness coupled with flexibility could lead to success. Such an approach permits instant response if there is a low chance of reversals, hence encouraging an action-oriented culture in the organization. Flexibility, however, does not mean unresolved decision-making.

On the contrary, it reflects an openness to continuous adjustment of strategies depending on the change. This equilibrium is that the development does not restrict itself to relying upon apprehension, comparing sweats of progress were being squeezed out when under strain due to an excessively tight design environment and a quest for harmony with mediocrity over incorporating adversary perspectives into the blend.

3. Nurture a climate of creativity

Business competition depends on the creativity of any business human, and innovation is its lifeblood. Musk's appreciation of failure as a way to innovate proves that a culture that encourages risk-taking and experimentation also promotes growth. The act of eliminating the fear of failure by leadership allows the creation of an atmosphere in which creativity and innovativeness become commonplace. Another peculiarity of this culture is that it not only produces breakthroughs in terms of products and services but also nurtures employees by making them feel their contribution to the company's success.

4. Express clearly and convincingly

Effective verbal skills are a fundamental requirement for bringing visions to life. Oprah Winfrey can clearly and convincingly communicate; hence, she is a leader in every venture that has mentioned her name since the start. Successful conveyance of a vision means expressing your views in words other people would understand. It motivates them to evolve into part and parcel of the manifesto as long as they aim to achieve your dreams. Leaders need to acquire the ability to communicate their message in an inspirational laced manner that will bring out positive change, something which galvanizes and spurns passion amongst team members.

Related: 14 Proven Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills

5. Lead with empathy

Empathetic leadership , as demonstrated by the new Microsoft and Satya Nadella's work, involves being able to comprehend situations from individual team members' perspectives while keeping in mind that their feelings matter. This strategy creates an environment where staff members feel seen, appreciated and included. Empathy in leadership does not imply that standards or accountability should be compromised; rather, it is about guiding with heart and compassion, improving team output and, most importantly, staff commitment.

6. First, assemble a good team and then trust them

The team behind it powers any form of success in any business organization. Leaders such as Richard Branson highlight issues beyond gathering a group of talented and competent individuals but also allow them autonomy , hence total accountability. This trust provides employees with powerful mechanisms, elevates their morale and catalyzes employee creativity. To build it is scenery that encourages individuals to be aware of the company's achievements and do their best.

7. Be a lifelong learner

Signals from the business landscape constantly change in today's world, and it is only through lifelong learning that leaders will be equipped with direction. As this is the case, leaders can learn a lot from Warren Buffet's strong determination and commitment to constant learning. However, by following new trends, technologies and methodologies, leaders can make informed decisions with an eye on their organizations.

8. Adaptability is key

The crucial quality in a changing business impact is adaptability. Leaders such as Reed Hastings of Netflix have shown the need to respond to changes and be ready and able to pivot in response to new threats and opportunities. Such agility ensures that firms stay competitive and creative as they steer through the thorns of market dynamics.

9. Integrity above all

Integrity provided the foundation for trusting leadership. Those who, for instance, like Indra Nooyi, put ethical principles above everything else and transparency as guiding ideas not only cement trust within their organizations but also build a permanent legacy. Leadership integrity builds an environment of transparency and accountability needed so that organizations can survive through time, respecting their place in business society.

Related: The Importance Of Honesty And Integrity In Business

10. Maintain reality-based grounding in bold vision

To that end, ambitions and reality are not contrary but supplementary attributes of an effective leader. The characterization of Mark Zuckerberg best portrays the strength of recognizing a zealous leader who can dream big while acknowledging practical limits. At the same time, as leaders have visionary goals, they remain anchored, alerting their teams to drive towards attainable success so that boundaries are pushed without being sidetracked out of current realities.

As you may recall, leadership is not limited to being at the top of the organizational hierarchy; it involves leading everyone up there with you. Lessons are not mere words; they are tools. Apply them judiciously, and transition your leadership trajectory from the mundane to the marvelous. Keep pushing, keep leading, and never forget: The greatest leaders are those who develop other leaders.

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Essay on Leadership: Samples in 100, 200, 300 Words

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Essay on leadership

The concept of leadership has been known to us since ancient times, from Ashoka: The Great to modern-day democratic leaders. Whether it’s politics or business, sports or entertainment, leadership is an essential part of human society, Leadership is the art of inspiring and guiding people towards a common goal. 

Critics might argue that being a leader is just about holding a prestigious position and living a fancy life. That might be 1 in 1000 cases, as leaders across the globe work for the welfare and development of their people and country. Below we have discussed some essays on leadership where the multifaceted roles of this position are highlighted. 

This Blog Includes:

Essay on leadership in 100 words, essay on leadership in 200 words, essay on leadership in 300 words.

Also Read – Essay on Summer Vacation

Leadership involves a set of qualities, values and actions, which are focused on the benefit of people and their country. A person holding the position of a leader plays a pivotal role in every facet of life, influencing the direction and success of organizations, communities, and nations. To become a leader, one must have a clear vision to understand a future state that is better than the present and communicate that vision to their team or followers.

A leader’s actions should be aligned with their words, and they must demonstrate their honesty, transparency and ethical behaviour. Trust is the foundation for any successful leadership, and it is built through consistent ethical conduct. 

Leadership is a complex and multifaceted concept and is an essential part of developing a society or organisation. Leadership can involve various positions and types, from democratic to autocratic, where the leaders inspire and empower their teams, fostering an environment where individuals can thrive and achieve their fullest potential.

Effective leadership involves skilled communicators to can convey ideas, expectations, and feedback clearly and persuasively. They also listen actively to their team’s input and concerns. A great leader empowers a team of professionals by entrusting them with responsibilities and decision-making authority. With the formation of delegates, the power of leadership is divided among different authorities who are responsible for fostering growth and development among team members, making the organization more robust.

Some of the fundamentals of leadership are authenticity, integrity, ethical behaviour, a clear vision and other vital traits. Trust is the bedrock of leadership, and it is built through honesty, transparency, and consistency in actions and decisions. A leader who understands and cares about the needs and concerns of their team fosters strong relationships, promoting collaboration and cohesion.

At last, leadership is more than a title; it’s the embodiment of vision, integrity, empathy, communication and resilience. Effective leaders work to bring positive changes, inspire people around them and create a sense of purpose and direction in their terms and organizations.

Also Read – Essay on Cricket

Leadership is a vital concept for the welfare of a society, community or country, depending on what the leadership is about. A leader transcends boundaries and is fundamental to human endeavours in various domains. Their job involves the ability to influence and guide a group of individuals toward achieving a common objective. Effective leadership is characterized by a combination of qualities, skills, and behaviours that inspire, motivate, and empower a team.

The first and most important aspect of a successful leader is having a clear vision. A clear vision works as a guiding light, outlining the desired future and providing a sense of purpose and direction for the team. Leaders with a compelling vision can inspire and rally their followers, creating a shared sense of purpose. 

The other cornerstone of leadership is integrity. Leaders must demonstrate honesty, transparency, and ethical behaviour. Trust, which is essential in any team or organization, is built on the foundation of integrity. When people believe that their leader acts with integrity, they are more likely to follow willingly and commit to the cause. 

Another trait that is essential for effective leadership is empathy. Leaders with empathy understand and connect with the emotions, needs, and perspectives of their team members. By showing compassion and actively listening, they create a supportive and inclusive environment that fosters trust and collaboration.

Apart from these traits, other important qualities for effective leadership include effective communication and interpersonal skills. A leader must be able to articulate their vision, goals, and expectations clearly and persuasively. 

In conclusion, leadership is a multifaceted concept that plays a pivotal role towards the positive growth and development of organizations, communities, and societies. Effective leaders inspire their teams, create a sense of purpose, and drive positive change. Leadership is not merely a position; it is a journey of personal growth and a commitment to serving the greater good.

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Some of the synonyms for a leader are: Coach, Captain, Principal, Chairman, Kingpin, Boss, CEO, etc.

What makes a good leader is their ability to persuade people using their effective communication skills, having a clear vision working towards the welfare of society, and taking responsibility for their actions.

Writing an essay on leadership in 200 words must include the fundamental aspects of leadership and the qualities they must possess. Effective leaders around the world create a supportive and inclusive environment where people can thrive and contribute their best efforts. They inspire a shared sense of purpose, foster collaboration, and guide their teams toward achieving collective goals.

For more information about such informative articles, visit our essay writing page and make sure to follow Leverage Edu .

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How to activate your leadership potential.

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WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 31: (L-R) Jason Citron, CEO of Discord, Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap, Shou Zi ... [+] Chew, CEO of TikTok, Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta are sworn in as they testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC. The committee heard testimony from the heads of the largest tech firms on the dangers of child sexual exploitation on social media. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The journey of leadership is both an inward and outward adventure . Building on the foundation of self-awareness, harnessing this profound insight is necessary to activate and amplify leadership potential. The linkage between self-aware leaders and the prosperity of their organizations is well-documented; leaders who understand themselves can more effectively guide their teams toward success.

Building a Robust Professional Network

The essence of a powerful leadership journey lies in the strength of one's professional network . Networking is not merely a strategic endeavor but an art form that, when mastered, opens doors to endless opportunities and support systems. Effective networking in diverse settings can significantly amplify a leader's impact. Leaders like LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman attest to the indispensable role of a well-curated network in achieving professional milestones. The key is to seek diversity in connections, ensuring a wide array of perspectives and expertise is just a conversation away.

Embracing Continuous Learning

In the realm of leadership, stagnation is the antithesis of success. Continuous learning is the fuel that keeps the leadership engine running, pushing boundaries and challenging the status quo. Leaders can weave learning into the fabric of their daily routines by engaging with online platforms like Coursera or LinkedIn Learning, delving into the latest leadership books, or subscribing to podcasts that explore innovative management theories and practices. This commitment to learning ensures leaders remain relevant and resilient in the face of change.

Implementing Development Plans

A well-structured personal development plan serves as a roadmap for leadership growth. Beginning with clear goal-setting and breaking down objectives into actionable steps is pivotal. This can involve establishing specific, measurable goals, such as enhancing team communication. A leader might commit to monthly feedback sessions, leveraging insights to cultivate a more open and collaborative environment. Consider the journey of Alex, a fictional mid-level manager at a tech company. By setting her goal to improve team collaboration, Alex outlined specific strategies, including team-building exercises and collaboration workshops. Over six months, Alex and her team experienced significant improvements in communication and project outcomes, demonstrating the effectiveness of a focused development plan.

Leveraging Your Network for Growth

A robust network is not just for gathering insights but also for personal and professional growth. Leveraging your network for growth involves intentional nurturing and strategic planning. The significance of a well-maintained professional network cannot be overstated—it plays a crucial role in enhancing career progression, including potential raises and promotions. The insights from Herminia Ibarra's " Act Like A Leader, Think Like A Leader " and the principles outlined in " Diversity Dividend ," published by MIT Press, underline the importance of a deliberate approach to networking. Here's an expanded view on leveraging your network for growth:

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Ios 17 4 release date awesome iphone update just days away, putin critic alexei navalny has died russian prison service says, strategic networking types and their importance.

  • Operational Networks are essential for daily job functions, involving colleagues and direct reports who aid in routine tasks.
  • Personal Networks extend beyond the workplace, including mentors and peers from various industries, providing fresh perspectives and support.
  • Strategic Networks , comprising individuals who can offer insights into industry trends and new opportunities, are crucial for long-term success. Understanding and cultivating these networks are fundamental for a leader's effectiveness and career advancement.

Steps to Expand Strategic Networking

  • Identify Your Network Type : Recognize whether you are an Expansionist, Broker, or Convener as per Marissa King's classification . Each type has its strengths and challenges, and understanding your style can help tailor your networking strategy.
  • Align Your Network With Your Career Phase : Different stages of your career might benefit from different networking approaches. Early career professionals may thrive with an Expansionist network for broad exposure, mid-careers with a Broker's network for role transitions, and senior professionals with a Convener's network for depth and support.

Flexibility and Combination of Networking Approaches

  • Adapting to Career Phases : As you progress, your network should evolve to match your current goals. Integrating elements from other networking styles can enhance your network's effectiveness. For instance, adopting Adam Rifkin's strategy of rekindling connections can unlock potential in existing relationships.
  • Merging Diverse Networking Styles : Combining networking styles can be highly beneficial. Drawing inspiration from Anna Wintour's Convener network, leaders can forge influential connections across industries, showcasing the power of strategic networking. Emulating Wintour's ability to bring together diverse groups can create vast opportunities and add significant value.

Leading with Authenticity and Empathy

The insights gained from self-awareness pave the way for authenticity and empathy in leadership. By understanding their values and emotional drivers, leaders can foster genuine connections with their teams, leading with heart and understanding. This authentic approach can significantly enhance team morale and performance, as seen in the leadership style of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, whose empathetic leadership during crises has been widely praised for its effectiveness and humanity.

Activating your leadership potential is a multifaceted process that extends well beyond self-awareness. Leaders can unlock their full potential by building a supportive network, committing to continuous learning, implementing targeted development plans, and leading with authenticity and empathy. This journey requires dedication, adaptability, and a willingness to grow. However, the rewards—personal fulfillment, team success, and organizational impact—are immense. Leaders emboldened by self-awareness are well-equipped to inspire change and drive progress, marking the true essence of transformative leadership.

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COMMENTS

  1. Writing an Effective Leadership Essay: Tips and Examples

    Your leadership essay will include an introduction paragraph, one or more body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Depending on the word or page limits, you can almost treat this like a five-paragraph essay. Introduction - Capture the reader's interest, define good leadership in relation to you, and directly address the given prompt

  2. Leadership Essay: Format and Samples to Check for A+

    (Essay Sample) It is one of the most popular topics for a leadership essay. If you need to write a paper like that, ask yourself: Who is a good leader? What style do they use? What are the situations when they might switch styles? You may take a more personal approach to such an essay if your professor allows you to.

  3. Leadership Essay Writing Guide with Examples

    Leadership Essay As a college student, you must write essays on a regular basis since the latter is one of the most common types of home assignments. All this means is that in order to get good grades and be successful with writing the papers, you need to have a sound understanding of the structure.

  4. A Full Guide On How To Create Good Leadership Essay

    Introduction Knowing how to start a leadership essay depends on your introduction writing ability. The introduction is the gateway to the essay. Aided by punchy opening words, which are the hook, the purpose of the introduction is to draw the reader's attention.

  5. How to Write a Leadership Essay That Takes the Lead

    Be honest. The point of any leadership essay is to let the admissions faculty know more about you. Yes, you can (and should) get creative in your essay—but don't lie about who you are or what you've accomplished. If you don't feel like you've accomplished anything, just wait until you get to the brainstorming stage.

  6. Leadership Essay

    A good leader must be able to rally people around a shared cause or goal, help shape a vision, and motivate and inspire others to attain that goal. For decades, leadership has been one of the most sought-after abilities. It is considered one of the primary driving forces of humanity and progress.

  7. Leadership Essay: Writing Tips To Make It Brilliant

    1. How to write a leadership essay about yourself? 2. What is transformational leadership? 3. What is a short leadership essay? Leadership essay tasks can be pretty confusing for students who get these assignments. Many people don't think they are capable of taking the lead in the team. The truth is that all of us possess leadership qualities.

  8. Writing a Powerful Leadership/Achievement Essay [Sample Essay]

    August 8, 2022 Reading Time: 4 minutes Writing a Powerful Leadership/Achievement Essay [Sample Essay] Essays that ask you to write about significant achievements fall under the category of what are known as behavioral or experiential questions.

  9. Crafting a Meaningful Leadership Essay

    In this type of essay, the admissions officers are asking you to go beyond your resume, CV or activities list and provide them with a meaningful example that not only demonstrates your skills as a leader but reflects your values, ability to manage setbacks, and resilience in overcoming dilemmas.

  10. Anyone Can Learn to Be a Better Leader

    To lead, you must be able to connect, motivate, and inspire a sense of ownership of shared objectives. Heightening your capacity to lead others requires being able to see how you think and act ...

  11. How to Effectively Demonstrate Leadership in MBA Essays

    3. Taking initiative. Showing your desire and ability to be proactive can easily overlap with either of the two suggestions above. Often, recognizing a problem - either in your personal life or professional environment - and deciding to do something about it is a great way to demonstrate leadership.

  12. How to Write Leadership Essay in College

    You can start with a funny experience, raise a startling question, or state an interesting fact - there are various ways to begin your leadership essay and capture the reader's attention.

  13. How to Write a Leadership Essay: Tips from Experts

    A leadership essay is aimed at defining the main concepts of leadership, emphasizing on its application to the real-life situations. The starting point for you as a writer is to research the definition of leadership acknowledging the history of the term and variance of leadership styles exercised by people across the globe.

  14. How to Write a Good Leadership Essay. A Guide and Useful Tips

    Using transitional sentences will greatly help you with that. Also, when writing about the main points of the essay, use a new paragraph for each new point. Last but not least important. Though it is the last part of your leadership essay, it is the same important as the previous two.In conclusion, it is time, to sum up, all the significant ...

  15. Essays on Leadership for Students

    Introduction Confidence is the most important attribute first of all. One of the most important qualities in a leader is confidence in one's own abilities. A lack of self-assurance is fatal to a person's leadership potential. If you want others to follow you, you need to exude self-assurance.

  16. How to Write the UC Essay on Leadership Experience

    The first of the University of California's essay prompts states: Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time. This prompt is all about conveying your leadership experience.

  17. Essays About Effective Leadership: 6 Essay Examples

    1. What Makes an Effective Leader? by Tony Gill "Work at using leadership styles that do not come naturally, styles that you find difficult. By becoming a well-rounded leader, it is easier to adapt your leadership technique for different situations." Gill uses a research-based approach to answer the central question of his essay.

  18. Essays About Leadership: 5 Essays And 10 Simple Prompts

    1. Long Essay on Leadership by Prasanna. "A leader is simply not someone who will please everyone on his way. A leader is someone who has the courage and intent of mind to take tough decisions.". Prasanna discusses how leaders are put in their positions to achieve goals, not to please their followers.

  19. 4 Ways to Write a Scholarship Essay on Leadership

    4. Write a strong conclusion. Your final paragraph is your last chance to convince your reader of your arguments. [13] Your conclusion should feature a re-phrasing of your thesis statement, as well as a summary of your supporting arguments. Finish your conclusion with a final thought on the topic.

  20. 8 Tips for Developing Your Leadership Skills

    When starting out, look for broad leadership topics like communication or conflict resolution. Then you can explore more specialized areas like negotiating global contracts. 7. Take on leadership roles in your current position. You can start practicing leadership skills before you have an official leadership role. Seek out opportunities to try ...

  21. Leadership Essay

    Leadership essays are required almost in every middle school lesson plan, high school, or university you go to. It's not easy coming up with a theme, especially if you're out of ideas. Organizing your thoughts for an event, scholarship, philosophy, and just anything about college also pose a significant challenge to some.

  22. How to write an essay about leadership

    Step 1. Define the leadership concept Of course, you can use the academic definition of leadership or write about your own understanding of general characteristics. In order to argue any point of view, you will need to conduct a review on the Internet or in the local library.

  23. Leadership Essay for Students and Children

    First of all, confidence is the most quality. A leader must have strong self-confidence. A person lacking in confidence can never be a good leader. A person must be confident enough to ensure others follow him. The leader must have confidence in his decisions and actions. If he is unsure, then how can people have the desire to follow him.

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    4 minute read 10 shares The concept of leadership has been known to us since ancient times, from Ashoka: The Great to modern-day democratic leaders. Whether it's politics or business, sports or entertainment, leadership is an essential part of human society, Leadership is the art of inspiring and guiding people towards a common goal.

  27. How To Activate Your Leadership Potential

    Building a Robust Professional Network. The essence of a powerful leadership journey lies in the strength of one's professional network.Networking is not merely a strategic endeavor but an art ...