Self Reflective Essay

Self Reflective Essay
I narrowed my value list down to three values. My values being ranked in importance to me are: family, honesty and striving for excellence. Even though I only write about three values, I am very complex and there are many virtues that I hold deep to heart. Being a single mother, I will try to teach my son the best virtues and with that he can choose what values to hold high.
I value family first; I am a very fair person and know the influence of family cannot be overlooked in the workplace. Family and experiences mold us to be the worker that we are in the workplace. Family has helped me be the person I am today. You can't change your family, so you must have faith in your family. I feel that my family values would affect my leadership style. It makes me a more compassionate leader understanding and empathetic to my employees needs.
Second, I value Honesty. I was raised on this value. My mother raised us not to lie and we were taught strongly against it. To be dishonest, shows poor character and low values. I feel it’s a needed value to everyone. Honesty definitely affects my leadership style. I am a fair and just leader. I believe to treat others the way you want to be treated. I would not want anyone to be dishonest with me because I am an honest person. You have to believe that the person you are communicating with is telling the truth. If not you will immediately take offense and be on the defense; and who wants to work like that? I trust someone until they give me reason not to and feel they are honest people. I will be honest and expect the same from others. Honesty is a way of living to me.
Thirdly, I am an ambitious person. Hard working and constantly trying to strive for excellence. I have set goals for myself; I will not stop until I reach them. Once I have reached my long term goals, I will then form more goals. I believe everyone has purpose and we have to work hard to find it. This affects my leadership style. Striving for excellence is a way of life to me as well. When I look around, I see many that are unhappy with their lives, but are not doing anything about it. I feel that nothing is set in stone, if we don't' like it we can change it. We just have to try for it. My surroundings influenced a lot of this, as well as friends; I have successful friends and friends that are unsuccessful. However, if you are trying, you are at least working on change for the better. Some just give up and complain, overlooking the big picture of working hard for a goal. They miss the big picture, "working hard". I am driven, encouraging, and optimistic. This makes my leadership style lean towards a charismatic/transformation stand point. I will constantly push my workers to reach excellence through constant encouragement, reward, and communication.
My character has greatly been influenced by my family. I learned I was adopted at the age of 13. This was a traumatic event and it sent me into a need of identity. I felt I didn't know myself, got into trouble a lot and eventually my family had to step in. My family stuck together and made sure that I felt and never doubted my love for them. They taught me to always keep my family in my highest respect, and it never fails me. At the age of 26, I found my birth family, and was reunited with my siblings and my biological mother. I am now blessed with two families that love me. And I would not change these events; they formed who I am today.
From personal experience, leaders usually make unethical decisions because they were faced with an extreme situation. I have found it unethical choices usually have a financial gain attached with it. Money equals power, and the more power, the more money. A person of no values would easily fall into an unethical plan if faced in hardship. However, a person with high values, is put in an outstanding situation, they may too choose the unethical road. For example, a cop that keeps pulling over his son. Well, he gave up on him a long time ago, and now he knows, he doesn't even have a license. So when he sees him flying by, does he go after him and arrest him? or does he look the other way? Only the cop knows if he saw his son speed past him or not. Now if this officer was to look the other way, and scold his son later; is he an unethical person? Or a concerned father looking out for his son's well being? It's all on the perspective being used to view the situation. I feel there is always an unethical choice, but sometimes we may feel it’s the right one. We may feel it’s the not the right one because it conflicts against other values you have. If you view family over honesty; you would find it acceptable to lie to protect your family.
I agree with the statement, "A strong personal character and positive values may not be enough to promote ethical behavior all of the time." This is true because circumstances always change. A dramatic circumstance may cause a dramatic decision, that may result in a unethical decision. However, that one decision should not jeopardize or put his character in question. This is not the case, however, if it’s a constant thing (unethical choices) then you have values, they just aren't positive. However, I feel that if someone who steps outside the "ethical" zone, due to certain situations, I feel they are still of strong personal character and positive values, it’s just due to circumstance that the unethical decision had to be made.
I am a very goal oriented, empathetic, and encouraging person. I definitely got this from my family, schooling and personal experiences. I am very happy for my upbringing and thankful for the character molded in me. I will continue to strive for my goals, Honesty always, and Family first; and teach my son the same.