Career Planning: Business Leadership

Career Planning Name Institution Affiliation Career Planning Part 1 From a tender age, I have had an unquenchable desire to become a renowned manager in the business field. Business fields cover almost every aspect of human beings. Buying, selling, shopping, discount, and promoting are examples of business activities that individuals undertake every day. It is a field that I am greatly interested and in particular, at a management level. I am specifically drawn to business management because it is a very exciting field with lots of challenges and demands. In addition, it is a field that gives me an opportunity to improve lives of people either directly or indirectly. I believe I have what it takes to become a renowned chief executive officer in one of the biggest firms in the world. I am a forward-looking person with the ability, drive, and ambition, which are crucial traits for effective management in the business sector. I have excellent organizational and team-working skills that I have obtained from my work and academic experience. I consider my key strengths to be the ability to manage people, make crucial decisions, assess market situations, identify the important points, and make analytical judgments. In addition, I possess excellent interpersonal and communication skills that can help me relay business information clearly to my audience and have the ability to prepare well-organized presentations both for groups and individuals (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2017). I am aware of the importance of fostering a working relationship between employees and management through promoting activities such as rewarding the best performing employees and creating an environment where bright traits such as conscientiousness are promoted, and dark traits such as narcissism are suppressed (Smith et al., 2018; Aguinis et al., 2013). Presently, I am studying my A levels at the university, and I have noticed that my interest in business is growing as l get deeper into my studies. I have come to discover that business leadership is not only about management, but also making sure that the customer's experience is more than exceptional, while at the same time motivating a team of employees to effectively deliver various responsibilities such as excellent customer service, guiding and coaching customers, building and maintaining a loyal customer base, and organizing events among other things (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2017). I have a strong understanding of all these factors, which are crucial for strong leadership in the business sector. I am a technically-minded individual; currently working part-time in a networking firm. Among my responsibilities, I am working as the administrator of the firm's LAN/WAN network, performing desktop services, installing and distributing new software, and repairing computers for the banks. I am also managing the internet frame relay network and have helped the company to create a unique operating system for its computers. My current position in this company requires that I work in close partnership with the management team to ensure adequate provision of support from the IT department. Working in close partnership with the management has given me an opportunity to continue learning important aspects of business management. There are several occasions where I have demonstrated my leadership skills as described in the following paragraphs. Although I usually like planning out my tasks in stages and complete them one at a time, I have the ability to produce quality work under tight deadlines. For instance, with only a few days remaining before the deadline for the installation of particular software, the employee mandated with the task fell sick. I was requested to assume the duty, with only two days remaining to learn about the software and oversee its installation. I started by creating a team and delegated assignments to various individuals. Under close supervision and guidelines, we managed to complete the installation ahead of the deadline, evidencing my ability to manage people through tight deadlines. In an organizational setup, conflicts are bound to occur as employees interact in their day to day activities. As a team leader, I am responsible for reconciling any conflicts that arise among the team members. For instance, two members in my team embroiled in a fierce argument because they were not satisfied with the manner in which duties were delegated. Subsequently, I decided to arrange an urgent meeting where assignments were reallocated among the team members. The team members responded positively to the changes, which helped in successful completion of the project. In the occurrence of conflicts within the team, I always step up as a team leader to ensure harmony and unity is maintained within the team (Goleman & Boyatzis, 2017). My communication skills render me an effective moderator and a leader. As aforementioned, I am a part-time administrator performing various IT administration duties. Last year, the IT manager had an accident and could not work for three weeks. Prior to his accident, there were arrangements to present a major campaign pitch. I volunteered to fill in the gap and prepare the presentation by coordinating activities of media and creative teams. I arranged an urgent meeting and facilitated a discussion concerning the tasks of individual members, advertisement scenarios, and media plans. I was able to draw a minute-by-minute plan on how we would present an idea that was accepted by all team members based on our discussion. The client was happy and adopted the campaign pitch. Thus, I view myself as ...