“MY STYLE OF LEADERSHIP”

There are always moments in our lives where we need to take initiative and responsibility for the problems we
face. There had been moments in our lives when we need to stand like a warrior, ready to take charge in a battle,
either with an army behind us or just by ourselves. There are always moments in our lives when we need to take
the role of the “leader”.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Toastmasters and distinguished guests. Leadership is the one of the most important
skills that we use in many areas of our life. All of us here are ultimately leaders because we apply the skill of
leadership to lead our colleagues, our family, and even ourselves to achieve certain goals.

Throughout history, there have been many notable leaders that changed the world and each of them has their
own unique way of leading their people. It gives me the idea that there are several leadership styles that a leader
can exhibit.

Speaking about this topic brings me back to a memory. During the first day of my 8 th grade, I was entrusted by our
adviser to turn on the classroom’s AC. And as I was entering our room I could here my classmates shouting
“Woo!!! Here comes our president!!!”. So, I was standing there telling them, “Don’t even try.” And guess what,
they did appoint me as the class president. This became a chance for me to develop my skill of leadership and
eventually discover my leadership style. But before that, there was this student who was a senior to me, his name
is Seth. Seth is the type of student that everyone seems to listen to when he leads his classmates. There were
times when we 8th graders as a class would compete at various competitions against other high schoolers and
every time, we would eventually lose. Because of this, I really wanted to replicate the type of leader that Seth was.
I wanted to be the kind of leader who was authoritative, the one who gives direction here and there and
eventually the whole team would follow like puppets. But I failed to replicate it because, it didn’t fit my
personality. Authoritative leadership was not fit for me.

And so, during vacation, I spent my time improving my leadership styles. I’ve read classical books such as the
Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, and the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. I’ve known
about the different leadership styles, which had been introduced already by the previous speakers, and found out
that there are 5 notable types of leadership: Authoritative, Affiliative, Democratic, Coaching, and Innovative
leadership. As I’ve known about these types of leadership, what’s only left for me is to find out which of these best
fits my personality. And one evening it came to my mind that the reason why we as a class were losing the
competitions, we engage at was because I had a fault as a leader. All the tasks that we need to do will eventually
fall at my hands. I was the one painting at the bulleting board, I was the one searching the music for a dance
presentation, I was the only one who carried the heavy tasks while I let my classmates do the easy ones. If I failed
as a leader, we all fail as a class. So I have made my mind that the only way we could work successfully as a team is
that if I lead them in a way that we could work as a team.

When 9th grade came, I decided to force my classmates to let me step down for a while. They elected me as the
class treasurer but every time that we would have a class competition, they always appointed me to lead them as I
had the necessary skills and experience. And during those times, I exercised the Democratic style of leadership. My
style focused on making sure that every decision we make will always be coming from the agreement of the
majority. My leadership style made me incorporate everyone’s ideas, not only mine. My leadership style made me
trust my classmates, my team, as my leadership was all about democracy.

I was there, knowledgeable about various things such as script making, mixing music, creating graphics for our
bulletin boards, directing my classmates in a certain play. But as a democratic leader, I trusted my classmates and
let out each of their potential. I divided all the tasks that I used to carry at once. If we were tasked to make a
poster, I’ll appoint the artistic guy to give suggestions and do the artwork. If we were entrusted to enact a musical,
I’ll appoint the guy who’s a dancer and let him choreograph to actors. If we were entrusted to do a certain thing, I
always make sure that each of us has a part to play, a show of Democracy.
 “MY STYLE OF LEADERSHIP”

Democratic leadership reminded me that “no man is an island”. I managed to make my whole team work together
and it made 9th grade the peak of our performance as a class.

My fellow toastmasters, my style of leadership is Democratic Leadership a style that relies on consensus decision-
making. A style that fits my personality. A style that makes teamwork, to best work. Upon discovering my style of
leadership, I always repeat the words in my mind: “I become the best leader if I give my team a chance to lead
their selves.”