Essay on my unique gifts, passions, and circumstances

Personal and Professional Mission Statement

Personal Mission Statement and Alignment

Profiling self is vital in developing knowledge of one’s abilities and weaknesses to plan accordingly on how to capitalize on the presented opportunities while working on your shortfalls. I am a 23-year-old man of Saudi Arabian origin but currently living in America. I am gifted in mathematics, which has been a guide towards the course I chose to pursue at the university. I also have unique entrepreneurial and statistical skills. In addition, I am gifted at learning and adapting to a new system quickly as proven during the language classes. I passed the language classes, which allowed me to enroll for a bachelor’s course in a local university.
I am passionate about gaining knowledge and advancing my skills to higher levels. In the pursuit of this passion, I desire to pursue a master’s course after successfully completing my current level course. I am passionate about national development in Saudi Arabia and believe that I have a leadership role to play in this development. I am also passionate and highly motivated about using the acquired knowledge to achieve my leadership objectives.
I travelled miles away from my home country in 2008 to seek higher education in the prestigious institutions of America. On arrival, I commenced with language school, which I completed successfully. Currently, I am pursuing bachelor’s course in business administration (BBA) with a focus on the field of accounting. Before enrolling for the BBA course, I had attended architecture classes. I perceived that my passion for mathematics would assist me through the course. However, as I progressed in the field, I found that it was coupled with more art than I imagined. I figured that I needed to drop architecture since I had no passion in arts whatsoever. I chose to pursue a course in accounting. Having consulted on the coursework and credit units, I find that majoring in accounting is in line with my personal objectives.

What I stand for

I stand for equal treatment and the distribution of opportunities fairly. Based on Allah’s message through the Prophet, every man has a duty to treat other individuals in the manner he expects to receive treatment. In addition, a man should desire for his brother what he desires for himself. The message guides me and enables me to govern my intentions and actions. Therefore, with the opportunities that will arise from my academic success, I aim at treating all individual equally and according to how I would like them to deal with me.
I believe that a man must try to build a family to share his success with and to rise the younger generation of leaders. For this reason, I look forward to focus on my family once I have completed bachelor’s degree to accord my wife the necessary attention and offer my children the best parenting.
I also stand for good deeds to all men without the intention to reap later from my deeds. According to Allah`s message good deeds, have better results than bad deeds. In the pursuit of personal satisfaction, I protect actions that are based on good intentions rather than those will ill motives. I strongly hold that individuals cannot hold all knowledge as knowledge comes from Allah (Cameron & Green, 2008). I hold that the actions I perform should have a moral backing. From this perspective, everybody should work with the individuals around him or herself in order to improve personal and general state. To attain full potential development in Saudi Arabia working together as professionals with the help of semi-skilled individuals will enable the great nation to achieve it agenda. Only Allah’s strength and favor enables individuals to gain knowledge. Therefore, the skills gained through academic training should serve the community rather than single individuals.

Major Values that Guide My Decisions

I believe that the communal benefit has more advantages than individual benefits. I also hold that the means should justify the end as opposed to performing harmful action just to achieve an objective. My decisions also receive guidance from the principles of Morality and Allah`s word. As I make decisions, I also consider the future and the effects of any conclusion on the time to come.

Ethical Theories that Support My Values

The deontological ethics as suggested by Kant support my values. From the ethical theory, it is clear that an individual can only base the morality of their action on a set of rules. The action must adhere to the said rules without compromising on any (Fontaine, & Ahiemad, 2013). The rules and obligation, which guide my values, include the Quran, constitution, and code of conduct within the school or workplace environment. I base my activities on the rules set by the constitution along with the teaching from Allah through his Prophet.
Another ethical theory, which supports my values, is Utilitarianism. From utilitarianism, I try to perform actions, which present more benefits than harm to the community and me (Cameron & Green, 2008). As I make decisions, I consider the number of people it affects and evaluate the gains against the losses. In addition, I believe that the means of achieving an objective should justify the end. Although I have set goals and desire to achieve them within specific timeframes, it is my duty to ensure that the procedure of achieving the goals is morally justified (Ali, 2005).

Possible Ethical Challenges that I Foresee

Having chosen to major in accounting, there are numerous challenges that lay ahead in terms of career development. Attaining a bachelor’s degree and majoring in accounting will enable me to pursue a master’s degree in the same field. With a successful completion of the master’s course, I expect to join a successful career path where I will be in leadership position. One challenge that lies ahead is nepotism. When I hold a powerful position, I expect that my close friends and family will try to benefit from this position too by seeking employment through the back door. Individuals from Saudi Arabia hold the perception that once a friend or relative succeeds to attain a high power position then they need to benefit from a person. Therefore, friends who seek favors in terms of job placement and contracts will pose a challenge to me in the future. In addition, colleagues who perform poorly at the workplace also pose a challenge to may performance in the future. Such colleagues may fail to do their assigned duties and seek my favors for them to maintain their job positions. Furthermore, I might be obliged to take up more work to compensate for their poor performance. Other challenges from colleagues include absenteeism and seeking favors from me to cover for their poor performances. I also face the challenge of people offering job positions to me because of the friendship or other close relationships. Considering the nature of the qualifications I expect to attain, I understand that I will be highly valuable, and many organizations will seek my services. Therefore, some individuals may favor me due to the relationship between me and they reserve job slots for me.

My Intended Actions

With the privilege to hold, the top position in any organization I intend to hire employees based on the terms for recruitment that have been set by the firm. It is imperative for me to apply the terms and conditions set to govern the staffing process because they are set using specific standards that the employers seek to achieve.
In situations where I will be working for an organization, which does not have rules to govern the recruitment process, and then I will hire workers based on their merits rather than nature of the relationship. Staffing employees based on their qualification is the best policy because it offers a criterion, which all employees must meet. In addition, this approach allows the job seekers to compete for the job positions equally. Otherwise, nepotism will give some of the individuals who will be searching for employment an upper hand, which is not fair competition.
I will not cooperate with individuals who will try to seek favors from me at the compromise of the organization. I will focus on ensuring that the firm reaps maximum benefits from my services. In essence, I will not support individuals who try to sabotage the organization; neither will I associate with workmates who show no interest in the organization’s success.
Although employment is a major issue, and I look forward to being employed, I will not accept employment for jobs, which I have not qualified. I believe that I need to leave the opportunity to other individuals who have qualified for the jobs rather than take jobs, which do not match my skills and education.

My Understanding of Leadership

Leadership in general is a broad concept that cannot be easily defined. One can exhibit leadership traits in many ways, which can be equally effective.
Based on Northouse (2013), leadership refers to an activity of identifying the objective, or destination for a group of individuals and assisting them to arrive at the described objective. I understand leadership as a service, which is offered by an individual with the skills and ability to motivate and direct other individuals towards a common goal (Northouse, 2013). From this perspective, I understand that leadership is similar to stewardship where an individual receives the responsibility for other individuals with the faith that he holds the required traits and skills to take control over situations and attain the set goals. Following this logic, I believe that my personal leadership style can be best classified as transformational.
The concept of transformational leadership was introduced by James McGregor Burns in 1978 (Burns, 1978). He distinguished between two leadership types: transformational and transactional. Transactional leadership entails exchange relationships between leaders and followers, where the former give the latter something in return for their followership and loyalty. In my opinion this leadership style is not sustainable in the long run, since it does not create strong bonds with the followers. It is particularly useless in times of crises, when leaders can give the followers nothing in return for their loyalty. Transformational leaders, on the other hand, create stronger bonds with their subordinates and try to inspire people, rather than to motivate them with rewards. Good transformational leader are able to motivate people by emphasizing the value of idealized objectives and manage to convince followers to commit to the common good of the company/community even in cases, when self-interest needs to be forgone (Bass, 1985).
Although transactional leadership is surely effective and easily implementable, I am continuously trying to stay away from this leadership style and try to develop the traits of a transformational leader. It gives me a great pleasure to learn about people around me, to understand their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their personal aspirations. In my opinion, it is only possible to drive people towards a common goal, when a leader understands the followers and when he/she is able to sparkle interest and excitement about the chosen strategy. It is also the only way to overcome difficulties and to ensure that the first “ bump on the road” will not become devastating for the teamwork. That is why I personally strive to manage people by motivating and inspiring them, by considering their personal goals and current needs. This, in my opinion, is the only strategy for a leader to develop long-lasting and strong relationships with the followers.
A leader has a responsibility to him or her before leading other individuals. Before taking-up the leadership mantle, a great task lies ahead. I have to understand myself to establish my abilities and weaknesses (Northouse, 2013). A leader needs to understand them before they commence on the leadership process. Therefore, the first role is to determine my capabilities and shortcomings. Next, a leader has to identify the approaches they will use to improve their inefficiencies. One must understand other people’s limits to lead them accordingly. Understanding oneself enables a leader to develop confidence from self-awareness.
As a leader, I have a role to motivate the group that I will lead. Motivation plays an important role in the duties of a leader. It encompasses understanding the strengths of the other employees and assigning duties based on this understanding (Northouse, 2013). It also involves determining the weaknesses of the workers and organization as a whole and developing a strategy to eliminate the identified weaknesses. While in leadership, I have a role to ensure that fairness and equality exists in all the operations of the company. It is my leadership role to ascertain that employees are motivated to work.
Further, I have a duty to check and assure that the workers whom I lead understand the objective of the organization. It is also imperative for the workers who work under me to understand their roles and duties within the firm (Northouse, 2013). Therefore, I should constantly inform the subordinates their role within the organization. In addition, as a leader, I have to link the employees and the top-level management. Representing the staff to the managers does not mean that I will assume the roles of the human resources (Cameron & Green, 2008). However, a leader has to facilitate communications and understanding between the managers and staff within the firm.
My role also involves acknowledging the responsibilities and expectations that my employers have set for me. The acknowledgement of duties and anticipations enables a leader to establish their scope of operations (Rollin, 2011). Leadership entails understanding the values and results that the management requires as results. Understanding these values enables a leader to align their operations along with the targets set by the managers (Northouse, 2013). In addition, recognizing the responsibilities enables a leader to embrace their duties within the organization. I am convinced that with the knowledge gained through this course, I will successfully develop my career along the accounting field.

References

Ali, A. (2005). Islamic perspectives on management and organization. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Pub..
Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row.
Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and Performance, New York, NY: Free Press
Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2008). Making sense of leadership exploring the five key roles used by effective leaders. London: Kogan Page.
Fontaine, R., & Ahiemad, K. (2013). Strategic management from an Islamic perspective text and cases. Singapore: Wiley.
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Rollin, P. F. (2011). 42 rules for your new leadership role the manual they didn’t hand you when you made VP, director, or manager. Cupertino, CA: Superstar Press.