Based on the information in the article “10 Tough Truths About Leadership”, I consider 3 truths to be of paramount importance for leaders to understand and apply to their personal and professional lives.
The first one is that “Great leaders aren’t liked very much” (Adams, 2012). Obviously, there are a lot of less successful and lucky people out there who would always show jealousy of other people's success and try to put a spoke in a leader’s wheel. Therefore, it if of crucial importance for a real leader to realize that he/she is likely to have adversaries and even enemies and conduct himself/herself with such people appropriately, in a dignified manner, and in accordance with the law.
Another fundamental truth is that “Someone is always watching” (Adams, 2012). Taking into consideration that prominent figures and influential leaders are always within sight of media and other people, a true leader has to be extremely careful with everything he/she says, mince his/her words, comport himself/herself with dignity, and control emotions in any situation, so that nobody could compromise or discredit him/her. In actual fact, emotional intelligence has become an important topic in leadership. In order to help control emotions, leaders should have a trusted friend to rely on in the hour of need or might even visit a psychologist to help them deal with their feelings and emotions.
And the last but not the least, it is very important for a leader to understand that “Great leaders know what they want and go after it relentlessly” (Adams, 2012). In other words, leaders should be relentless in their pursuit of goals regardless of all the obstacles they might face. It is inappropriate for a leader to give up on a defined goal, as this would demonstrate his weakness and inability to lead the way, but not be led. A striking example proving that it is inappropriate to give up on the goal is the story of Ernest Shackleton, who “led a crew on the Endurance that would attempt to be the first group of individuals to cross the Antarctic continent overland” (Browning, 2007). However, when their ship sank to the bottom, the only goal of Ernest Shackleton became getting every crew member home alive. Obviously, giving up on the goal in such circumstances would be not only narrow-souled, but could even be considered as a crime.
Speaking from the viewpoint of my practical experience, I consider my ability to work in a stressful environment to be one of my greatest strengths. Once I had to work under pressure for the entire month and meet the deadlines, which seemed to be unachievable at first view. However, when I managed to get all the work done successfully and timely, I realized that I am a very persistent individual and that I am able to achieve any goal overcoming all the obstacles and difficulties.
As to my weaknesses, I perceive my tendency to tell the truth flat out and show my true emotions to be my greatest weakness. Once I told my teacher that his method of teaching is not only boring, but also ineffective and that no one in my class likes him. I truly hoped that the teacher would somehow change the way he conducts a class. But it turned to be just the other way round: that teacher became even stricter and failed the majority of students in our class.
References
Adams, S. (2012, October 4). 10 Tough Truths About Leadership. Retrieved January 6, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/10/04/10-tough-truths-about-leadership/
Browning, B. (2007). Leadership in Desperate Times: An Analysis of Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage through the Lens of Leadership Theory. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 9(2), 183-198. doi:10.1177/1523422306298858
