The Key to Understanding Leadership by Mohid

The Key to Understanding Leadership by Mohid - December 2021 Scholarship Essay

Describing a leader in one trait as a leader is difficult as a leader is ultimately an accumulation of a variety of qualities.

In order to define what truly makes a leader, a leader, one must understand what the term “leader” means. The word leader stems from the word “lead” often implemented as a verb as “to lead.” As this root word is viewed as bestowed upon an individual who is meant to conduct the action of leading, it is safe to conclude that leadership is not a title or position an individual possesses. A leader is thus a culmination of actions and is someone who is thought to conduct said actions. That being said, a leader highlights characteristics that people believe addresses the flaws of their own. In this sense, the leader is someone who takes the flaws of other individuals and not only is able to overcome them, but voluntarily provides support for others to address their flaws.

Ultimately then, the most pivotal characteristic of a leader is the quality of their perseverance. All of the individuals humans have looked up to in the past, are currently looking up to, and will continue to look up to in the future are those who have shown perseverance in some form or another. Mahatma Gandhi, Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, Alexander the Great, all are remembered as individuals that strove to overcome certain challenges that they overcome. It is the fact that these individuals, despite feeling the same sense of fear and uncertainty every individual experiences in their everyday lives, look at obstacles with an immense courage to face them. This bravery is what makes the overwhelming majority view these ordinary people as “leaders.” In this idea then, the leader is someone who takes action to persevere towards a goal they may possess for society or for themselves. Perseverance is the single-handedly the trait that differentiates between being a leader and not being a leader. Hence, any individual is a leader if they show resilience in the face of adversity.