THE LEADERSHIP AUTOBIOGRAPHY

PUAF692
Professor: Dr. Marc A. Farmer

Luke Dinh
UID: 111982936

August 1, 2011
LEADERSHIP AUTOBIOGRAPHY
When I was young, I used to believe that good leaders are born with leadership potentials, such as
my venerable Uncle Ho - Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, Napoleon Bonaparte and Theodore
Roosevelt. Leaders have their certain intrinsic personalities, characters, and styles that others
have not. Therefore, I strongly believed that one person deserves to be a leader rather than
another one. Now, I recognize that they are not made or born. To become good leaders, we have
to steel ourselves through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and
experience.1
My name is Luke Dinh. I was born in February 1982 to a poor with four siblings in Gia Lai
province. My dad is a manager of an important department in a famous local bank and my mom
shares the economic burden of our family by selling fruit in a market. Although my family is
poor, my house is always overwhelmed with the smile. My family gets by as best as we can.
1. Lessons from My Childhood
During my life, my parents are those who influence me most, especially by giving me some ideas
on leadership. They give me assurance, guidance, and inspiration.
My dad is a manager; therefore, he has a lot experience in leadership and management. I learned
from him that a leader should be a pioneer a lightning rod and have a sense of responsibility.
Since I was a child, my dad always worked hard to support my family. Everyone often says that
he is a very particular person and likes to work in details until perfection. Following example of
my dad, I try to be a responsible person at home and in my office as well. In fact, since I was 6
years old, my parents encouraged me to do everything by myself and took up various tasks at
home such as helping my mom prepare meals, taking care of my younger sister, washing my
clothes, etc.
Another significant lesson that I learned from my dad was to be calm and maintain self-respect.
For this, he has taught me through his actions and spoken words. One of the most significant
experiences was the following story.
One day, in an early morning, while all members of my family were sleeping, we heard a banging
on the door. We all woke up, and my dad ran to open the door and found Mrs. Ca - our neighbor.
She asked to search our house because her stuff was stolen. We all lost our temper, except my
parents. His constant effort in bring her to her senses was failed. He said, You have all right to
search our house and waved everybody aside. Immediately, she rummaged every corner of our
house. About nearly 15 minutes later, she went out of our house without words. Although this
event happened over 15 years ago, memories of that morning are still engraved in my mind. Until

Jago, A. G. (1982). Leadership: Perspectives in Theory And Research. Management Science, 28(3), 315-336

now, when I have more life experiences, I have recognized that a good leader should be calm and
self-respect in any situation.
My mom also influences how I think, act, and deal with life. She inspires me to overcome
obstacles. Although she is an illiterate, she always teaches me how to be a good person, how to
communicate with other people, and how to confront difficult issues. I learned from her patience,
carefulness and fondness for learning. When I was in the third grade, for example, I attempted to
do a math test perfectly, but I got a bad mark. I was very disappointed with myself. My mom
came and inspired me to try again. She said, Failure is the mother of success. You should be
patient, and figure out what mistakes you had made. I realized my problem - inadequate basic
knowledge. From that time, with the encouragement of my mom and special help from my
teacher, not only I got back the basic knowledge but also became good at math. One year later, I
won a third prize in Math Contest for Gifted Students in Gia Lai Province. After that, I won some
prizes in National Math Contest. Now, as an assistant at High Command of Mobile Police, I
recognize how useful they are. With my experience, I strongly believe that patience, carefulness
and fondness for learning are three characters that leaders should have.
Thanks to my parents lessons, I grow more mature. I realized failure is unavoidable on the way
to success. Sir. Winston Churchill used to say, Success is the ability to go from failure to failure
without losing your enthusiasm. An effective leader should know how, when he makes decisions
to get better results. If he faced a failure, he should accept that as fact, experience failure and
make things right.
2. Lessons from Student Life
Because of my endeavor and learning spirit, my teachers and my friends loved and thought
highly of me. Consequently, I was voted as a monitor from fourth grade through seventh grade
and under my management, everything was in order. However, in eighth grade, everything
changed and became out of my hands. Some classmates not only opposed my assignments but
also induced others to oppose. Every time, I needed classmates opinions to solve a problem, they
did not say anything. I suggested the ways to solve. They sat still and kept quiet. I persuaded to
find the consensus of all classmates; however, it did not work. I threatened that I would suggest
my teacher to discipline them. They were not afraid of it. I was very embarrassed. Why did they
change rapidly? What were my mistakes?
As a monitor, I had used many methods to solve the problem, but they were without result.
Therefore, I asked my dad for his leadership expertise. Based on his advice, I realized that I had
not understood their feelings, thoughts and desires. They were adults with high self-respect and
independent thoughts. During a week, I have found a suitable opportunity to talk directly with
them. At last, we gathered at a football ground to confide everything together. We started to
figure out about our thoughts and feelings. Luckily, everything came back to normal order. With
this experience, I strongly believe that good leaders should understand their followers feelings,
thoughts and desires. Establishing and maintaining relationships with the followers is one of the
most leadership skills.
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There was another profound experience where I learned a great deal about making right decision
when I was at a high school. During that time, I had to live far away from my family. Trung, my
classmate and I rent a room at an inn. In a strange atmosphere, without the protection of families,
it is difficult to avoid the temptation. One year after beginning of high school, Trung became a
drug addict. He used to ask me to try, but I refused. Although he tried to convince me by telling
me that he was fine, I saw he writhed in bed with pain. He started facing financial problems and
everything he had was sold. I was tormented by seeing his situation. I tried to seek a good way to
drag him out of this situation. How could I do when I was 17 years old? I had to decide
immediately. I decided to talk about him with his mom, even if he was angry with me. I felt relief
after talking to his mom and our friends about his situation. We encouraged him to undergo
detoxification to start a new life. I thought I had made a righteous decision. After two years under
detoxification, he became better and continued his unfinished studies. I learned a lot from this
experience not to be attracted by temptation and be steady and decisive. I also think that
leadership is about making right decision in right time.
When I was in twelfth grade, I thought of going for the information technology field for my
college. However, I was not able to pursue this path. I chose to become a police officer; therefore,
I decided to learn the major in crime investigation at Peoples Police University of Vietnam.
From the beginning of the course, I was assigned to manage a squad. It was easier to manage a
class with 40 members than manage a quad with 12 members. Being a squad leader was a much
more challenging task because no members knew each other prior to the course. Everyone had a
difference in thinking and characteristics. I had many difficulties at the beginning. However, with
previous experience as a monitor, I solved difficult issues gradually. We bound up with together
by sharing our experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Since then, my philosophy of leadership has changed dramatically. I recognized many things
about leadership. I figured out an appropriate answer for what are the differences between
management and leadership. This question has appeared in my mind, since I was a teenager. I
used to think although my dad has certain leadership qualities, why he is only a manager, not a
leader. When I asked my dad about them, he said, Leaders are born and not made. Famous
leaders have certain intrinsic traits or qualities that others have not. That why a person becomes
the leader in an organization rather than another. One can be a leader, but another only can be a
manager.
Furthermore, the difference between management and leadership is simple. Management is a
career. Leadership is a mobilization. One of the most significant leadership quotes is the
statement Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. 2of Peter F.
Drucker - a writer, management consultant, and self-described as a social ecologist.
3. Experiences from Working

Drucker, Peter F., Reflections of a Social Ecologist, Society, May/June 1992

After graduating from the Peoples Police University in 2006, I have been working at the High
Command of Mobile Police. Because of my outstanding work performance, I was voted for a
secretary of Communist Youth Union of my department. As a secretary, I always was mainly
responsible for organizing extracurricular activities, volunteer campaigns. This position gave me
the opportunity to communicate with many people from across the nation, thereby enhancing my
knowledge, leadership perspective, and management skills.
The most significant leadership experiences that I had were during June 2008 at a poor Phong
Phu commune. Because it was the first time, I leaded about 40 members to do many important
tasks.
At the beginning, I gathered all my cabinet members and decided to do something new at this
commune. After analyzing the collected information, I decided to establish a literacy class.
However, there were many opposing opinions and An - Deputy Secretary was one of them. When
I asked him about his ideas, I was very surprised at his response aggressively. It was the worst
time. I asked him to have a private conversation. I said, An, you are the good person who I
always respect; however, I was very sad with your speech. I continued, It is difficult to accept
your action. I hope you change your behavior. All members like you and do not lose your good
image in their eyes." In this event, I believed that I acted appropriately towards a team member
by controlling my own emotions and helping him keep his image.
Another problem occurred during this mission on how to divide members in different teams, such
as a team for building road, a team for information management, a team for teaching, etc. We had
only three weeks to accomplish all things. To overcome these challenges, I first assessed the
specific skills of each volunteer in order to assign them to appropriate teams. Then I gathered all
members in meeting-hall to deploy our plan and classify each members skills. After conducting
this research, I found the consensus of all members to form the teams. I learned from here how
important it is to get good participation from others to move forward in a mission.
Fortunately, everything occurred smoothly and all our teams worked effectively, especially the
team of teachers. When the course began, every member of the teaching team worked so well.
The first day of course attracted over 20 children, and second day attracted more than 30
children. We persuaded parents to let their children to go to our course. I realized that all children
and their parents were very pleased with our four classes.
By investigating specific skills of each volunteer and found the consensus among members, I
established a literacy class successfully. During this time, I tried to ensure that members were
closer and closer, and each member had an opportunity to prove his skills. I believe that this
event is the most valuable one in my leadership experience since so many challenges took place,
and all responsibility was on my shoulders. I believed that the success of this mission is due to
my maturity in handling disagreements, controlling my own emotions and concentrate on the
overall picture and goal of the mission at all time. I am now looking forward to leading future
missions and challenges.
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Moreover, during my career, I found different models, both good and bad, of leadership at my
workplace. I had a boss, who taught me the value of training staffs well and assigning suitable
work to officers to create opportunities for them to prove their abilities. I learned that I worked
best under a boss who allowed me to make my own decisions. I used to communicate reluctantly
with a superior who did not take initiative nor like to solve problems on his own. I also felt sorry
for some superiors who do not believe and assign work to his subordinates and always did
everything by himself. I did not feel comfortable to work under dishonest bosses who contended
with their subordinates for merits.
4. My Awareness of Leadership
With knowledge and experience I had, I agree with the statement, Leaders aren't made or born.
Leadership is a choice - a belief in oneself and commitment to everything that is good and noble
within you.3 Everyone can be a leader if he/she wants to. Leadership is not limited in
organization. If you are a parent, you are definitely a leader of your family. When you are a
member of a group in which other members trust you and place all their expectation on your
shoulder to mobilize them to achieve their goals, at that time, you are a leader, too. We can be a
leader, at least in leading ourselves. Leadership stays inside each of us. However, at the starting
line of training and practice, some people may be better than others. I think that whether you are
a leader or not is not important but how effective you are in inspiring and motivating other people
is the most important.
First, I strongly believe that leadership is the process that a person influences others to achieve its
goals. Leaders and their followers can mutually influence each other. There are two types of
leadership. (1) Leaders with authority are those who use their own authority to lead a group of
people to achieve their goals are leaders. In this situation, they use power stem from their
authority to force a person to accomplish a certain act. They may also be authoritarians. Leaders
with authority easily raise conflicts and arguments among members; therefore, it is difficult to
gain the direction, protection and order. (2) Leaders without authority "push us to clarify our
values, face hard realities, and seize new possibilities, however frightening they may be." 4
Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. and Margaret Sanger are famous examples of
that type of leadership. Each of them gained considerable informal authority, which followers
placed in their shoulder to solve difficult social problems.
To be a leader is difficult but to be an effective one is more difficult. Effective leaders have to
have certain characters, knowledge, and leadership skills, as well as clear visions to mobilize
other people to tackle complex issues in order to get the goals. Knowledge effective leaders
should have ranges widely from human nature, group behavior to professional ability. To achieve
more knowledge, they should gather more information, study the knowledge acquired and
experiment and be trained continually. Characters include decisiveness, self-confidence, and
objectivity. Leadership skill includes but not limited to effective communication, great listener,
and organizational ability.
3
4

Leslie L. Kossoff, From Manager to Leader, http://management.about.com/od/leadership/a/FromMgr2Ldr05.htm

Ronald A. Heifetz, Leadership without Easy Answers

Second, management is the process of getting activities completed efficiently with and through
other people; or the process of setting and achieving goals through the execution of five basic
management functions: planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling; that utilize
human, financial, and material resources.5 Managers and their subordinates mutually monitor
and depend on each other because they have weaknesses. The dependence is limited to their tasks
and organization.
In short, as I stated in the beginning, my philosophy of leadership changed belong to each period.
Until now, I have an insight of leadership. Leadership is the process to influence and guide the
behavior of individuals or groups towards the goals of the organization. Leaders are not born or
made. To become a leader, we have to be under a continual process of learning, training and
collecting experiences. A leader should be calm, assiduous, and honest. Certainly, a leader should
have specific leadership skills, such as the public speaking ability, listening skill, and collecting
and assessing information.
I also realize that my leadership strengths are sense of responsibility, communication skills, and
organizational ability. My weaknesses are inclination to be impatient, arrogant, and shortage of
resolution. I strongly believe that after earning the Master Degree in Justice Leadership, I learn
how to analyze problems through a multidimensional perspective. I aim to accumulate knowledge
and wisdom from literature as well as practical experiences to overcome my weaknesses in the
future to become a better leader.

www.crfonline.org/orc/glossary/m.html