essay topics about leadership

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Leadership Essay - A Comprehensive Guide On Topics And Examples

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear about a leadership essay? Is it the time you led your team to win a basketball championship? Or is it the time you took the lead in a group project and helped your teammates perform better?

Well, big or small, all of these experiences count as valuable for writing essays on leadership. But you must also know that writing leadership essays is not about bragging about your leadership traits. Instead, it's about how you performed as a leader.

Apart from the core value of leadership essays, you need to know how to write a leadership essay with   the necessary elements.

Now, what are these necessary elements? Get ready to jot down the essentials in a notepad as you read!

The Qualities of an Ideal Leadership Essay

• Your leadership essay should demonstrate how you can mobilize and inspire others to collaborate to realize a significant common vision or objective.
• Try to keep the types of essay realistic. Note that narrating stories about how everything went according to plan aren’t as compelling as how you overcame difficulties and barriers to develop innovative solutions to pressing issues.
• Ask yourself which leadership experience you must choose – should it be the one that taught you how to lead or one that helped you manage a crisis in a team?
• Go for a leadership narrative with personal significance, such as organizing a benefit for a cause you support.
• Good leaders prioritize the needs of the group over their own objectives. For a stronger argumentative essay, talk about how you assisted others in excelling and succeeding.

The Thought Process for Crafting a Leadership Essay

To get a direction for your leadership essay, you must go through self-questioning. Hence, try asking yourself the following questions -

• What was the challenge that you overcame to achieve this success? Was it a short timeline or a difficult undertaking with few resources?
• How did you overcome the difficulty you are writing about? Did you encourage your team to put in extra time? 
• What facts show that your intervention led to a successful outcome? Did your team turn in the project deliverables three days early despite being unwell? What effect did your leadership have?

Read more: How To Write An Informative Essay Outline

What Should Be the Structure of a Leadership Essay?

A solid essay structure can boost the overall scope of your writing. Hence, here is a basic format of how your leadership essay must be built -

1. Introduction  

First, describe the purpose of your leadership essay in the introduction. You can include a phrase, quote, statement, or question that will pique the audience's curiosity and draw them into the rest of the article. The thesis statement comes at the end of the introduction.

In 3 to 5 paragraphs, discuss the issue in depth. If you have previously held a leadership position, describe your experiences and the lessons you learned in your short essay . 

You can also describe the difficulties you faced and how they compare to those leaders face daily. This will help the readers connect through personal associations since most want to understand how to behave in similar circumstances.

3 . Conclusion

Briefly summarize the essay. Declare the thesis once more. Also, demonstrate how your leadership skills helped you achieve your goal.

How to Introduce a Leadership Essay?

For a leadership essay to be successful, the start is crucial. If you have a strong introduction, the rest of your work will flow like a hot knife through butter. However, you must be aware that it might be challenging to develop a strong introduction, particularly when writing your first paper. 

On that note, here is a compiled collection of pointers to assist you in completing your leadership essay successfully.

Come up with a structure

Making a structure for your future leadership assignment is the greatest technique to begin a leadership essay. Don't make it too challenging. Just think of a general notion for your ultimate product. It will be easier for you to write a strong introduction if you've established the structure for your future paper.

Provide a thesis statement

The essay's major body is its thesis. So, choose it carefully. Here, the advice is to examine the thesis to select the one that best conveys your leadership essay's meaning. You can jot down each and every thought that crosses your mind. 

Once done with that, select the one that best fits your leadership essay. Because your entire leadership paper rests on your chosen thesis statement, take this decision very seriously.

Build an engaging story

Your leadership essay should be appealing to the reader in addition to being academically sound. If you bore your readers at the beginning of your leadership essay, you can be sure that they won't read it through to the end. Therefore, a little mystery is welcomed.

The Steps to Follow When Writing a Leadership Essay

Writing a leadership essay requires much more sophistication. You must enthrall the audience with your explanation of the subject and support it with credible examples and research. 

Hence, the following set of suggestions can help you organize your leadership essays

Hunt for interesting ideas

If you're lucky, you'll be assigned a specific topic for your leadership essay, but most of the time, students are free to select a topic.

Now, such essays on leadership must be personal. The reader must understand your leadership skills by the end of it. So, what you must do is shed light on that facet of who you are by talking about your experiences as a leader, comparing it to a well-known leader, or even contrasting two leaders. Just ensure to relate it to yourself.

Explore fresh concepts

Consider creative subjects and ideas for your leadership essay to astound your audience.

Predictable and bland essays are overused by many students for their numerous essays, and they might become boring. Also, by not thinking outside the box and assigning you an average grade for your leadership essay, your teachers may sense that you are attempting to play it safe.

You must know that your readers are more likely to find your essay intriguing and become engrossed from the first paragraph if you say things they might learn for the first time.

Aim to captivate the reader

The introduction of the leadership essay must make the reader want to read more.

It is therefore crucial to start with a strong statement or a good hook to grab the reader's attention immediately. 

This hook in your leadership essay can be a humorous anecdote, a surprising query, or an intriguing statistic.

Add interrogative sentences

While reading your informative essay , ask yourself questions to detect any errors that you may have made.

By raising questions, you can address the efficacy of your article and discover potential questions that readers might have as they read it. Then, address these concerns and give your readers a clearer idea.

Share personal experiences through anecdotes 

Anecdotes are another component that can significantly improve your leadership essay and elevate it to a masterpiece.

Anecdotes and experiences that reflect your leadership skills will only strengthen your writing's credibility and support the arguments you've made. Moreover, sharing such tales will keep the readers interested with a touch of humor.

Pick credible references

There are many subtopics under the umbrella term leadership, including quality of leadership, style, and attitudes of leaders, historical references of the lifework of distinguished leaders, and the influence of specific leaders on significant events.

Research is essential to writing a complete leadership essay because of this. Your leadership essay will acquire authority and grandeur if you use reliable sources and references as your inspiration and for quotes. 

You can use sites like Google Scholar and JSTOR to learn more about each technique, ability, or occurrence.

How to Wrap Up an Essay on Leadership?

You don't want to end the leadership essays suddenly and leave the reader hanging. You must give a summary of the body in the final paragraph, without introducing any fresh concepts at the conclusion.

Your leadership essay must adhere to a predetermined design and structure. Keep it simple. Limit your vocabulary usage.

Essential Elements You Shouldn't Skip in a Leadership Essay

1. recognize others' contributions.

Most budding writers make this mistake while writing a leadership essay. No doubt, a personal statement must actually be personal. However, you cannot write the piece as if no one else is part of the matter. 

So, be compassionate while thanking team members for their contributions, dedication, and hard work. Let the admissions officers see you as someone who can motivate people to band together and work cohesively to accomplish shared objectives.

2. Highlight your interpersonal and organizing skills

Most individuals typically concentrate on either the more technical or interpersonal components of leadership, depending on their personality type and leadership style. Remember to incorporate both in your leadership essay in a way that is as balanced as you can. 

Include an introductory paragraph that sets the scene along with a paragraph discussing technical considerations like work assignment and resource coordination. You can then add a third paragraph that describes challenges faced during the project, and finally a concluding paragraph. 

The length of the middle two paragraphs should be similar. Following this simple format will ensure that applicants cover all the necessary ground and create a leadership essay that flows logically from beginning to end.

3. Pick your words carefully

Look for opportunities to use powerful verbs that highlight your abilities in these fields. Several of the following could be included in good leadership examples:

• Defining a mission or vision
• Getting support
• Accepting accountability

4. Maintain the ideal word count

Depending on the application method, the length of the leadership essay may vary. Thankfully, this is the only essay section you can safely assume is accurate. Almost every academy will set a word restriction ranging from 250 words to 1,000 words. If there isn't a clear word limit, restrict your narrative essay to no more than 500 to 600 words.

Interesting Examples to Guide on Leadership Essays

It always gets easier to work on a topic if you have a similar piece right in front of you. Keeping that in mind, here are a few leadership essay examples of different topics and types to give an idea as to how the final look of the 500 word essay is.

1. A Short Essay on Leadership

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.

2. Leadership Essay Based on Achievement

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 on average 20 days from the 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 macro management 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 had 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.

3. Scholarship Essay Example on Leadership

Leadership Scholarship Essay Example

As a child of immigrant parents, I learned to take responsibility for my family and myself at a very young age. Although my parents spoke English, they constantly worked in order to financially support my little brother and me. Meanwhile, my grandparents barely knew English so I became their translator for medical appointments and in every single interaction with English speakers. Even now, I still translate for them and I teach my grandparents conversational English. The more involved I became with my family, the more I knew what I wanted to be in the future.

Since I was five, my parents pushed me to value education because they were born in Vietnam and had limited education. Because of this disadvantage, I learned to take everything I do seriously and to put in all of my effort to complete tasks such as becoming the founder of my school's Badminton Club in my sophomore year and Red Cross Club this year. Before creating these clubs, I created a vision for these clubs so I can organize my responsibilities better as a leader. The more involved I became, the more I learned as a leader and as a person. As a leader, I carried the same behavior I portrayed toward my younger cousins and sibling. My family members stressed the importance of being a good influence; as I adopted this behavior, I utilized this in my leadership positions. I learned to become a good role model by teaching my younger family members proper manners and guiding them in their academies so that they can do well. In school, I guide my peers in organizing team uniform designs and in networking with a nonprofit organization for service events.

Asides from my values, I'm truly passionate about the medical field. I always wanted to be a pediatrician since I was fourteen. My strong interest in the medical field allowed me to open up my shell in certain situations- when I became sociable to patients in the hospital as a volunteer, when I became friendly and approachable to children in my job at Kumon Math and Reading Center, and when I portrayed compassion and empathy towards my teammates in the badminton team. However, when I participated in the 2017 Kaiser Summer Volunteer Program at Richmond Medical Center, I realized that I didn't only want to be a pediatrician. This program opened my eye to numerous opportunities in different fields of medicine and in different approaches to working in the medical industry. While I may have a strong love for the medical field, my interest in business immensely grew as I soon discovered that I didn't only have to take a practical approach in the medical field. With this interest, I plan to also become a part of a medical facility management team.

In the future, I hope to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor by attaining an MD and double major in Managerial Economies. I intend to study at UC Davis as a Biological Sciences major, where I anticipate becoming extremely involved with the student community. After graduation, I plan to develop a strong network relationship with Kaiser Permanente as I started last year in my internship. By developing a network with them, I hope to work in one of their facilities someday. Based on my values, interests, and planned future, I'm applying for the NCS Foundation scholarship because not only will it financially help me, but it can give motivation for me to academically push myself. I hope to use this scholarship in applying for a study abroad program, where I can learn about other cultures' customs while conducting research there.

4. Leadership Essay about a Project Leader

Like most kids in my neighborhood, I owned a skateboard. Honestly, I never quite got the hang of it. Though I will never shred the pavement or fly high above a half-pipe, I did get to do something most skateboarders will never do: in college, I led a six-person team that designed a skateboard shoe for Nike. In my senior year, I convinced my thesis adviser at the University of Oregon that instead of writing a research report describing how Nike designs and develops athletic shoes, I wanted to "Just do it!" With his blessing, I convinced the Nike Design Group to sponsor a team of three marketing students, including me, and three industrial design students to co-design a sneaker for them.

As the project leader, my role was to assemble the team and lead them in designing a pair of skateboarding sneakers. Recruiting teammates was relatively easy; marketing and design students jumped at the chance to work on a project for Nike. The real challenge, once I had my team selected, was to get the marketing students and ID students to work together we had such different working styles and perspectives.

For our project kick-off meeting, I invited my teammates to my apartment to eat pizza and watch Dogtown and the Z Boys, a classic skateboarding movie. Watching the film inspired us and broke the ice. In our next meeting, I came up with the idea of a teach-in. We taught them about our market research process essay , and they taught us about their design process. After that, we sketched out a method for working together…

We flew to Beaverton to present our skateboard sneaker to the head of Design. A year later, Nike released its first skateboard shoe. Though it was different from our model, our team's work clearly influenced the design and marketing of a new product for the legendary sneaker company.

For me, the ultimate reward wasn't designing the sneaker; it was designing and leading the team. We started from such different perspectives and points of view and ended up gelling as a team. The experience taught me how beneficial those differences are when you are creating something new. This lesson has been instrumental in my success in the software product strategy role I started after college.

5. Secret Tips to Enhance Your Leadership Essay

Before ending the show, here are some last-minute tips that always work for leadership essays-

Showcase your level of leadership

It can be more convincing to show that you have leadership qualities by using the STAR method.

The STAR technique entails the following:

• S ituation: Describe a situation in detail
• T ask: Description of your task
• A ction: What course of action did you take?
• R esult: What was the successful outcome?

For instance, did you interact with a range of people as a student ambassador? Are you a proactive volunteer with the ability to address issues as they arise and recognize needs? Consider a personal case, and then use the STAR method to summarize it.

Describe your cause of being in the leading role

Whether it was a neighborhood project you had to oversee or how you chose to be the front face of a brand, you need to explain what led you to be a leader.

You can also elaborate on how you developed a preference for leadership roles and what impacted this choice.

It is crucial to emphasize this to the scholarship committee members so they can gauge your sincerity and zeal for your chosen field.

Talk about the challenges you faced 

Have you taken part in a project or outreach campaign that is rooted in the community? Consider a period when you got active in attempting to reduce or alleviate problems that were affecting your neighborhood, school, or family, as well as the strategies you implemented to accomplish your desired objectives.

Make careful to describe the steps done to address the issues you identified. You may have noticed, for instance, that fewer women than men enroll in STEM-related courses at your local institution.

Highlight how you have grown through leadership 

Leaders are created, not born.

With that view in mind, you can discuss how your leadership responsibilities have helped you develop personally in your essay, from imparting new knowledge to providing countless opportunities for personal development.

For instance, you lead by example rather than by the title bestowed upon you. Instead of only giving commands to individuals, a leader collaborates with others to bring about change.

The impact of your leadership abilities on your future plans

Suppose you are writing a scholarship essay on leadership; the selection committee will probably be seeking applicants who have the potential to become future leaders and influential figures in their own nations.

So, assume you want to achieve your long-term work goals. In that case, it might be helpful to reflect on the leadership positions you've held and how they may have, for example, altered your perspective on life, the way you interact with others, or even inspired you to bring about positive change in your community.

Read more: How To Write Dialogue

50+ Topic Ideas for Leadership Essays

1. popular leadership essay topics.

• The role of leaders is to inspire their subordinates
• Diversity's contribution to an organization
• The part that leaders play in the fight for decent working conditions
• The part that leaders play in putting an end to corruption in an organization
• The types of leadership employed inside an organization
• How to be an effective leader
• The leader's function in time management
• Promotion and a leader's appreciation
• leadership and professional advancement
• Leadership's Contribution to employee development
• The part a manager plays in employee compensation
• Transformational leadership characteristics
• Ethics and leadership in a business
• The part that leaders play in establishing policies
• The function of leaders in implementing policy
• The position of women in today's leadership roles
• Are leaders created or born?

2. Leadership Essay Topics For Students

• The example of leadership that a nursing student sets
• A leadership essay from a student of social work
• Leadership and Teachers' Impact on Students' Achievement
• Influence of servant leadership on student mentoring
• Essay about my leadership philosophy for student leaders
• Student Leadership's Positive and negative traits
• An evaluation of the relational leadership model's benefits for a team, a community, and society
• Engagement of young people in leadership
• Should teachers decide who will serve as the student leaders?

3.  Essay on Leadership Qualities 

• How is accountability a crucial trait for a leader?
• Do emotional individuals have a place in leadership?
• Which characteristics make a leader?
• Why is empathy important for a leader?
• Can self-centered leaders effectuate change?
• True leadership is defined by confidence: Essay presenting a case
• How many leadership qualities must someone possess to be considered a leader?
• Is it possible to develop leadership skills after getting elected?
• Why attitude as a trait inhibits women from occupying high positions
• What characteristics of leadership have you so far noticed in yourself?

4. Essays on Leadership Experience

• My strong enthusiasm for leadership
• Effects of Leadership on other people
• When deciding between Trump and Hillary, did Americans take leadership experience into account?
• How does leadership experience affect training?
• Is transformational leadership a function of experience?
• The Contribution of seasoned leaders to People's Empowerment
• Does age have a role in how leadership experience is rated?
• Is previous leadership experience a benefit in and of itself?
• a review of the job markets for experienced leaders
• The Effects of online education on leadership capacity

5. Gender leadership topics for essays

• Discuss the current status of women and power in society.
• Leadership gender inequalities and their effects
• The Place of Gender in Management and Leadership
• Gender and leadership style: An association
• A Comparison of Men's and Women's leadership styles
• Historical Positions of Women and Men in Leadership
• Leadership bias against men and women in the workplace
• Men vs. Women in Leadership: A Comparison Essay
• Essay on Leadership Under A Man Or As A Woman

6. Factors Affecting Leadership Discussion Topics

• How personal factors affect leadership
• Social Variables and how they affect leadership style
• Technology's Effect on Leadership
• Political and economic variables and organizational leadership
• Does organizational culture interfere with good leadership?
• Employees' Roles and how they impact leadership
• Coordination between functional units: An answer to good leadership?
• Effects of Organizational Change on Employees
• A Business Leadership Model case study
• Leadership Limitations of the Theory of Organizational Humanism

That brings us to the end of this elaborative blog. We hope we have covered all the facets of writing a leadership essay.

However, if you are looking for more personalized guidance, feel free to get in touch with our experts at the earliest.

Zara William is one of the brilliant minds behind the archive of blog at Allessaywriter.com. Her content educates, inspires, and entertains. Explore the world of writing and discover how words can shape thoughts and transform lives!

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