Growing up, I have always desired to be an instinctive leader. I have always wanted to be among the best leaders within my profession, as well as in the community. Over time, with my education and experience in various institutions, I believe my leadership skills have improved greatly. However, despite the milestones I have made as a leader, I strongly believe I have a lot to learn to be among the best leaders. To fulfill this desire, Ohio State University-Fisher College of Business is the best institution that could guide me through. The institution is well-known for its dedication to developing leaders, and for this I believe it is the place to be if at all I want to be a successful leader. The best leaders are characterized by various attributes, among them being empathy, integrity, curiosity, creativity, endurance, passion, vision, global awareness, communication and interpersonal skills, and self-awareness. From a personal perspective, global awareness and communication and interpersonal skills best describes me as a leader.
Global awareness comes with not only interacting with people of various cultures from different countries within one’s country, but also visiting other countries. I have travelled to various countries throughout Europe. I have visited countries such as England, Germany, Swiss, Spain, Australia, France, Italy, Hungary, Poland, and Czech. Through these movements, I have come to learn and understand the Western Culture, which was very crucial for my growth as a philosophy student. I count myself among the few lucky from my home country, South Korea, for having an opportunity to experience life from other people’s cultural perspective, especially considering the mutual relations that South Korea has with various European countries. Global awareness requires one to have tolerance of cultural diversities as well as a good appreciative of the history, social trends, politics, and economy of various countries throughout the world.
Cultural diversity is one of the issues that modern leaders ought to must if at all they are to make a difference in their organizations. The ability to perceive things differently and making hard decisions is a common phenomenon in the modern business world, and these are connected to having a diverse workforce. With diversity, it means an organization is capable of addressing the needs of both existing and potential clients, despite of the cultural differences that may exist. This is one area where my global awareness has come in handy, as far as my leadership is concerned. Particularly, having global awareness has helped me in appreciating the variances and likenesses between cultures, and their importance of the same in business. I have learnt to always put myself in others’ shoes, to try to understand things from their cultural perspectives, which helps me in making informed and all-inclusive decisions. This is especially important because it shows no one is inferior in an organization based on his/her cultural background, because each culture is unique in its own way. Through this experience, I have known how to deal with people of different cultures and characteristics to bring the best out of them for not only the benefit of their organization, but also their own.
As a leader, I am also a good communicator, with good interpersonal skills. These skills are a significant part of daily life, both from a personal and a professional perspective. I understand that leadership involves dealing with people routinely, therefore I have to be effective when communicating with these people. Failure to which, I will always encounter problems when interacting with people. Communication goes hand-in-hand with how to relate with others. Good leaders can always bring out the best out of his/her followers because he/she can easily communicate his/her ideas and visions. In addition, good communication and interpersonal skills of a leader can be a motivating factor for the followers to go an extra step, if required, to realize the expected goals and objectives. These skills help the leader to engage the followers and to cultivate success.
My communication and interpersonal skills have improved with time because of my reading habits and participation in various groups as a student. I have always found culture an interesting area of study, and this was one of the motivational factors to pursue philosophy in my studies. There is a lot of stereotyping about other cultures, and I am interested in assessing the significance of these stereotyping. Besides, it is because of this interest that I have travelled to various countries across Europe to experience the cultures of these countries, and I must admit that my mentality regarding the stereotyping has changed considerably. Furthermore, I also read the Koran intensively to understand the Middle East Asian. All these experiences and reading has transformed my leadership personality, especially regarding how to deal with people from different cultures.
Moreover, an individual’s communication and interpersonal skills improve with participating or taking leadership responsibilities with every opportunity. I am a member of a number of clubs including International club, Catholic Church Club, Korean club, Asian American Club. Besides, I am the president of Penn State Korean Catholic Church, and this has greatly nurtured my communication skills because of the responsibilities that come with this particular position. I have also worked in Jinju Elecom Company, as an intern. I worked as a translator, and I was actively involved in various activities within the Management Department. My experience in Yurin Community Welfare Center, as a volunteer, was also of great help in learning how to relate with people.
Earning MHRM degree would be a step forward towards realizing my short and long-term goals and objectives. My short-term goal is to use my master’s degree to secure employment in a U.S-based multinational, which would give me an opportunity to learn more about industry standards and best practices. Thereafter, this would give me an opportunity to pursue my long-term goal. I have always longed to work in the field of government labor policy in my home country, South Korea, where I could participate in raising the level of Human Resource practices. By the end of the program, I believe I could have learnt how companies can employ people and offer the best training. I tend to focus on the study of economics, business cultures, and labor relations, preferably from the workers’ perspective. Besides, I want to pursue the MHRM degree because I like the core program, which has been divided into four interesting areas: Leadership Skills, Human Resource, Analytical Skills, and Business Context Skills.
Undoubtedly, there are a number of institutions offering this program. However, I chose Fisher College because it is among the best ever available in the country. In addition, the internship/tutorial option is appealing to me. Fisher College is dedicated to developing and nurturing leaders. In Fisher College, I have no doubt I would get the best guidance towards realizing my short-term and long-term ambitions. I am aware that the program will not be easier, but with the help of best professors and my hardworking ability, I strong believe I will succeed.
