Personal Development and Ethics

HOW TO BE A

GOOD
LEADER

By Raihana Rudy
What is a goal? Many people question themselves
what their goals are and what they want to
succeed in life. For me, goal is a dream. Everyone
has them either big or small. When I was doing my
diploma, all I wanted to be are a photographer and
a writer because photography, art & design,
literature, nature is my absolute favourite thing in
the world. That dream ended after I finding out that
my country is less appreciate art.

As my life went on, my goal moved to
administrative. I have been go to leadership
seminar once and now my goal is to become a
good leader who are creative with various skills for
the next five years. After I graduated, I would like to
have more experiences and learn how to become
a good leader by attending more seminars,
workshops, training and development that can
improve my interpersonal skill and communication.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT | 1

I want to become a leader that carries a particular aura
that screams respect and confidence. When I speak,
people will listen. I want to become a leader when I
enter a room, every employees’ heads are turned. But
I need to build a trust instead of raising a level of fear
and intimidation such as through conducting team
building activities. It is because no one can get
success without having the trust of people on their
capabilities and without that we cannot be able to gain
enough confidence to take desired actions without the
fear of being rejected.

To be a good leader is not easy and simple. It is
because I need to overcome my shyness, lack of
confidence and communication. Honestly, I am the
person that difficult to work with many people and I
always talk to myself that I like to work as behind the
scene rather than front person. I can be a good leader
for the next five years if I believe in myself and
enhance my confidence, communication and
interpersonal skill because a good leader is doing
everything confidently and encourages their
confidence in others. The team needs to rely on their
leader.

The most important quality that every leader need is
trust and honest. Naturally, people want to trust their
leader. A good leader is not afraid to admitting their
own mistakes and analyses when something went
wrong and does everything to avoid that mistake again
in the future.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT | 2

Leadership is not only about personal qualities but also
about management skills. I need to set a proper time

management by do not waste my time doing things that
will not matter in a year. I need to focus on activities

that may benefit me and my team. As I want to become
a good leader, I must be able to see the situation as a
whole and to divide it into the subsections at the same
time because one day, I need to work along with
various kind of people as team members from every
department. It can be people from research and
development department, finance, marketing and
operation. I need to brainstorm and sit with them to
come out with a great idea.

As I know, a good leader never stops learning and
always to improve their skills. I should make a list of
areas that I would like to improve such as acquiring a

specific skill set or improving my existing abilities
because it can help me to become more well-rounded

and valuable leader. By attending industry relevant
conferences, it also can expand my knowledge and

increase my job performance. Knowing how to
effectively manage my workload is an important part of

being a good leader. Learning how to delegate tasks
out to employees, prioritize, set realistic deadlines,

avoid distractions and say no to unreasonable requests
can help to increase my sense of job satisfaction.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT | 3

One of my lecturer have told me that an effective leader needs to have
good people skills. The employees must feel comfortable to talk and
communicate with, so that they can tell their leader the problem that
they have face and they should not be intimidated and afraid of their
leader’s reaction. A good leader also need taking the time to ask for
opinions and listen carefully to the viewpoint of each employee because
it shows that a leader also respect them. Employees will appreciate the
little things if paying them a compliment for work well done or
remembering their name.
Encouraging and inspiring team members to attain their own personal
goals and reach their potential also can help me to become a better
leader. By involving each person in planning team goals for the future
makes everyone feel like a valued member of the group and helps to
get them excited for new projects. Team members need to be
challenged to step out of their comfort zone by setting high standards for
individual performance. After that, I must be rewarding my group
members for their hard work and shows them that they are appreciated
and makes them feel like an integral part of the team.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT | 4