Essay Example on Leadership Skills and Experience

Question one: Leadership Experience

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Being a leader is more than just instructing or directing people on how they should carry out their duties. Being a leader comes with a lot of responsibilities that demand a lot of engagement from the leader (Wong et al). When I was 11 years old, I moved to USA to my parents and I worked very hard to compete with the other students in the US schools. I volunteered to join the nearest boys and girls club that led to my selection as the chairperson of the group. Some of my responsibilities in the group as a leader include coordinating all the groups activities, organizing events for the club, and planning and chairing all the meetings in the group. As an Asian child who has only stayed in the US for less than two years, there was less to expect from me. Coming to lead a group in a country that I considered strange; although, I used to come during holidays to visit my parents but it was not enough to justify my appointment as the leader. Although, there were not much accomplishments during my time but the few that I did are still fresh in my mind and have made me proud. Hard work is one of the virtues of good leadership (Wong et al); out of my hard work I managed to be appointed the group leader of the club. It is the same hard work and dedication to the club that led to my appointment to attend a two-month leadership conference in Washington DC. I remember when I joined the club several months ago, there was low turn-up of members; however, several months of being in club and appointed the leader of the club many children started to turn-up. Being an Asian child who has stayed in the country for less than two years and appointed the leader of boys and girls club motivated many children that everything was possible. To be a leader does not depend on the place where a person was born or raised; but it depends on how one can use the post to influence the other people around. I influenced many children to join the club and by the end of the first year of my appointment, the club had increased by half; something that still lingers in my mind up to date. I have become a role model to many children in my school and also at home; many children look up to me as a leader both in the club and community.

Question two: Creativity

Everyone is creative; the problem is that most children do not consider their creativity useful because they do not make use of it. Many people ignore their creativity because they do not see its significance; however, my experience has taught me that it is important to pay attention to creativity no matter how little it might be. Creativity is the ability to be able to come up with a unique solution to a problem that can help solve the problem or improve the already existing solution. Creativity has been part of my life; as the only child who grew up with grandparents, I could not demand everything from them. The same thing happened even when I joined my parents in the US two years ago; I am never used to demanding things from my parents. When I came to the US to stay with my parents I started saving little money that has greatly assisted to obtain the things that I need in school without necessarily has to demand them from my parents. Sometimes when I have free time, I work as a delivery person to one of the bakery nearest my residence that has enabled me raise some extra cash for my personal effects and also boost family income. I come from a humble family; therefore, getting everything that a child would wish for is almost impossible. However, my savings have assisted me gain some of the things that my parents cannot get me such as paying for my projects in school. Although, my contributions to the family is not much but it has greatly assisted to save serious situations; for example, I remember one day when I had to pay for my project and club fees but my parents did not have the money at the moment. Therefore, my savings helped significantly; I took some cash from my savings and saved my parents the stress of looking for the money to meet the deadline. Being creative is something that has kept my parents happy and proud of me every time. My creativity of being swift to actions and able to come up with alternative approach to a problem is related to my career. I wish to become a manager one day. Management demands diverse approaches to problems; therefore, to be able to effectively manage the organization it needs more approaches.

Question three: Greatest talent or skill

Many people ignore their talents sometimes mainly because it does not directly relate to their careers. However, my experience has taught me that talents can be significant in someones life. As the only child in my family and Asian child in an American school; there was more to worry about. Coping with the challenges in school; for example, trying to cope with the new study environment and also being the only Asian child in the school. However, instead of getting drowned in depression I engaged myself in useful activities like sports. Wrestling has been my favorite sporting activity and since I was young I wanted to be a wrestler. Although, the talent is not natural but I can also say that I have worked hard to reach where I am now. I have participated in various wrestling games and managed to win couple of medals. Although, I started to engage in the game as a way to keep myself away from depression and stress of school and the new environment but I have come to like the game; and now I consider it part of my life. The game has kept me busy away from other distractions like stress and depression out of the challenges that I experience in school. It has helped me to understand my environment well; for example, when I moved to the US I faced various challenges ranging from academic to emotional. However, the wrestling game has helped me to understand that I can be best in something; thus, understanding myself better. I was the only Asian child in the school; therefore, it was difficult to understand other children and it was also difficult for them to understand me. As a result, I became isolated because I did not have friends like other children; however, wrestling assisted me to get through the situation. Out of various games that I always wished to play such as soccer and football, wrestling has been my favorite because I perform best in it. Again, the fact that the program can fit well in my schedule makes it more appropriate for me; therefore, it ensures that I effectively utilize my free time. A talent should be something that one likes and also performs best in; I realized that my talent is wrestling because despite several attempts to perform in other games, wrestling has been the best game that I can play. I learn different wrestling techniques through the YouTube because I cannot afford the training fee. The fact that I cannot afford the training fee has never discouraged me to participate in wrestling; also, when I first won my wrestling medal I realized that I can develop my talent if I am dedicated. And since then, I have taken wrestling as my greatest talent as I continue to acquire more skills through the YouTube and when I find money I can attend few training sessions.

Question four: Overcoming educational barriers

Being the only Asian child in an American school is not easy. Again, adopting the new environment in the US when I moved to live with my parents was not easy as well. I faced various challenges ranging from academic to emotional. Living in isolation since I could not get along with the rest of children in school was amongst the worst nightmares that I can remember when I moved to the US. At first, I was happy because I knew I was moving close to stay with my parents in the US; however, when I got there things were not the same as I expected. The syllabus was different and trying to catch up and also maintain my grades at 3.8GPA. I missed the sense of belongingness as I thought that I was isolated and also felt different from other kids as there were no other Asian children especially of my age from where I lived and also in my class. Other students mocked me as they considered me inferior because I came from one of the considered minority ethnic groups in America. The problem was not only coming from the other students but also the teachers as well. Most of the teachers considered me inferior academically; for example, struggling to maintain my grades in the first term of my 12th grade was not easy. I struggled to get into their education system which was different from my previous school back in India. I remember my first term in 12th grade was easy; failing in various exams and also trying to cope with the new environment were not enough challenging for me. I did not have friends like the rest of the children in school; something that almost contributed to my fail in the 12th grade. However, I started to work so as to improve my grades. At that moment all that mattered to me was improving my grades because I knew that getting friends would not be easy because of cultural difference; therefore, as I tried to cope and adapt to the new system I realized that improving my grades would help me greatly understand my new environment as well. I worked hard such that by the time I was moving to high school I had obtained my 3.8GPA. My experiences and challenges in the US made me realize that things can only be possible with hard work; therefore, the experiences have shaped who I am today, a hardworking person.

Question five: Most significant challenge and how I overcame it

Right from my childhood I had been living with my grandparents back in India; until when I was in 11th grade my parents said that I could move to the US to stay with them. I was the only Asian child in my neighborhood and coping with other children was not easy for me. However, the most significant challenge was at school; all my classmates were from other ethnic groups but not Asian. Since I moved from India where in most cases we used our native language, I had the Indian accent with me that made all the classmates made fun of me every time I spoke. The accent did not only affect my pronunciation but also written the document. Every time I spoke the Indian accent could come out even when I tried to hide it; it was difficult especially when everyone made fun of it. I found myself in a struggling situation trying to improve my accent so as to fit the standards of the other classmates; also at the same time, trying to improve my classwork so as to impress the teachers. Although, for the first time my English was not well as compared to the rest of the children in the class; something that made my teachers perceived me as weak academically. I tried to improve to prove them wrong that I was capable of improving and performing even better than the American children who were considered best. I never had any friend in the class; I used to come to class and head direct to my desk and sometimes I could finish my class without saying a single word to anyone in the class. For the first time, I was afraid to participate in class even when the teacher asked a question I was afraid to answer because I thought that I could pronounce it in the wrong way or with an accent that made the rest of the class laugh at me. Leaving in this isolation greatly affected my performance during the first two terms of my 12th grade. However, I remember my English teacher who was very nice to me and she tried to coach me a little so that I could improve my English. My hard work and with the help of Mrs. Cecilia, my English teacher I was able to improve significantly in my next exams. Through the experience, I learned that what other people say about you or how they perceive you does not matter; the step you take to get out of the challenge is what matters a lot.

Question six: Favorite academic sport

My favorite acad...