Leadership according to john maxwell, leadership is influence

1. Leadership
According to John Maxwell, 'Leadership is influence - nothing
more, nothing less.'
Warren Bennis called it the capacity to translate vision into
reality.
Personal Leadership Experiences
I volunteered at a non-profit organization for 4 years called
“YOUTHUNITE”, aimed towards helping children from the
economically weaker section, fund their education, and help
them grow and succeed in life. When I started, there weren’t
many students enrolled with the organization. I worked with
other colleagues and designed flyers, shared information about
the organization using social media channels and radio (I had a
friend working in Radio, who helped me with that). We also
tried to reach shelter homes and create awareness among the
people. We were able to set up classes, where other volunteers
taught the kids. We were also able to generate some money in
form of donations, which were used to help support education
costs for most of the students who needed help. One of the
highlight of this experience was one of the students, whom we
taught, got scholarships from universities abroad. We were able
to make a difference in the lives of a lot of people. This
experience helped me develop my communication skills, I was
fortunate enough to meet a lot of like-minded people. This
experience inculcated Gratitude, Respect, and Empathy in me.
Empathy is one of the skills, I believe a lot of leaders lack and
is very difficult to find.
Another experience I had was where, I was asked to supervise 3
consultants and 2 interns, which included training and
mentoring them. Although I did not have an official
designation, I was given an opportunity to show my leadership
skills, since I was one of the core member of the project and

2. had complete knowledge about the project. With this
experience, I gained project management experience. I took this
opportunity as a challenge and I was able to build my
confidence and also understand what skills I lack, and need to
improve on in my career. I was also able to make an impact, one
of the intern got a full-time job with the company, and we were
also able to get them up to speed and deliver a quality project as
a team. This experience taught me delegation skills and helped
me improve my problem-solving skills. It also taught me to care
for others, as there was an intern who was just starting off in
the corporate world, and there was always a sense of
responsibility, to give him the best first-hand experience.
References
Bateman, T., Snell, S., & Konopaske, R. (2019). Management:
Leading & Collaborating in a Competitive World. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Pathak, Anjan (2021). 25 Leadership Qualities That Makes You
A Good Leader. https://blog.vantagecircle.com/leadership-
qualities/