Self-Reflective Essay on Leadership Skills

Taking Grand Strategy allowed me to improve my global perspective from when I entered college and has allowed me to acquire leadership skills that will serve use in the future. Most of the readings in the course have placed an emphasis on the importance of good leadership, especially in times of war. The qualities that comprised a good leader, mainly the ability to communicate one's ideas in a persuasive and agreeable manner, stayed consistent throughout all the different historical accounts read and even in the more theoretical texts of Machiavelli and Sun Tzu; Machiavelli especially notes leadership in a multi-cultural environment, since Princes who take over other nations have to control different groups of people and thus also have to tailor one's ideas to fit the perspectives of these different peoples.

The common themes seem to imply that the lessons taught stay consistent to even present time and will help me also have the perspective and skills needed for effective leadership in today's diverse environment. Also, the course would often focus on reading historical accounts of wars in order to analyze the strategic resources of those battles and take lessons from them that could be applied in other fields. Thus, the strategic principles I learned from the course will allow me to use that content in a plethora of fields, including in the work of my field and hopefully even internationally. Thus, the course helped me acquire a global perspective on how to fit common leadership and strategic skills to different cultures and subjects.

The First Year Seminar allowed me to further understand how to communicate effectively in order to meet my goals. As learning about ancient wars required reading extensive accounts of what occurred, I often had to learn to extract the essential information from the texts while also covering most of the relevant details. Indeed, the wars helped me learn to create more objective arguments as all the events definitely occurred, while the works of Machiavelli and Sun Tzu were more philosophical and I had to use my subjective perspective to use relevant information.

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While this helped me learn to better communicate my ideas through evidence, the case competition helped me with effectively choosing the proper communication methods for the assignment. Furthermore, it allowed me to utilize strategic planning, like topics of the seminar, and also improve my teamwork that will also be necessary for future endeavors. In this manner, I learned to better use communication methods due to a better understanding of how to compile evidence and utilize that in a manner appropriate to the circumstances.

The Ethical and Social Justice lessons I learned from the texts will assist in furthering my understanding of business in a moral manner. Many complexities exist in conducting business on a global scale, for which Machiavelli and Sun Tzu address many of them. For example, both advocate addressing one's ideas and policies to meet the demands and nature of the audience, yet to also remain stringent on essential tenants of one's leadership.

This addresses cultural and ethical complexities by being flexible when necessary but keeping one's own vision and integrity in other cases. The need of the Jesuit ideal for others in leadership appears most in the policies of Machiavelli, who stresses that the preservation of the homeland is of the greatest importance. This need to place the public good over the individual follows the Jesuit ideal as it promotes the notion of an individual serving a greater purpose than himself, and not to have excessive self- interest.

The case competition also promoted this idea through working to help a struggling district that could utilize the help we provided. Understanding the impact of firms on people and their nature came most through the accounts of democracy in the historical texts we studied. Leaders during the Peloponnesian wars had to understand the feelings of the public to succeed due to the democratic nature of the Athenian society, which shows most through the leadership of Cleon who reflected the angry atmosphere present in the city. Furthermore, leaders like Pericles had to keep their vision and listen to complaints to try to succeed even when they hurt others as his ideas allowed for the best chances of winning. In this manner, I have learned of the flexibility leaders must utilize to address ethical and social justice issues found in society and also applied to business.

In conclusion, Grand Strategy helped me on the path to fulfilling the learning goals of the Georgetown McDonough Undergraduate Experience. The texts helped me understand the global, communicative, ethical and social justice perspectives in business and especially those of leaders, which was enhanced by the strategic focus placed by this First Year Seminar. The Seminar assisted in starting to address these pertinent goals for my success and I look forward to continuing to learn such skills.

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