YOUR LEADERSHIP PROFILE

HOW TO USE THIS TEMPLATE:

This is a template corresponding to your 
Assignment 1 paper: 
Your Leadership Profile, relating to your leadership style and your plans for further development of your leadership skills.

See below for an explanation of the 
color coding in this template:

• All green text includes instructions to support your writing. You should 
delete all green text before submitting your final paper.

• All blue text indicates areas where you need to 
replace the instructions with your own information. Replace the blue text with your own words in black. 

• Headings and subheadings are written in 
black, bold type. Keep these headings in your paper. 

TIPS:

• Academic papers are generally written in the third person, using “he”, “she” or “they”, or specific names. For this assignment, since it is a reflective paper about your own experience and leadership skills, it is appropriate to use the first person, “I”.

• This paper includes a running head – i.e., a title placed in the header area, using the name of the assignment; it has already been put in place for you.

• Use one-inch margins and double spaced text. Use Arial or Times New Roman font, size 10 – 12. The body of this paper is already formatted to these specifications. 

• Use the 
Grammarly tool to check for punctuation and usage errors and make the required corrections.  Then read your paper aloud to edit for tone and flow.

• JWMI uses the 
Turnitin tool to check for plagiarism. A high score indicates a potential problem. Check with your professor about acceptable Turnitin scores. 

• While writing your paper, check the Assignment 
Rubric; all graded topics that you need to address are listed in the rubrics and their weighting is indicated. 

Finalizing your Paper

Your business writing should be 
succinct and concise. Your Assignment 1 paper should be 
4 to 6 pages in length. The page count does
 
not

 include the Cover page and the References page. 

Note
: The final paper that you submit for grading should be in black text 
only with all remaining green text and blue text 

removed
.  

This is your Cover Page:

Your Leadership Profile

Write Your Name here

Jack Welch Management Institute

Write Your Professor’s Name here

JWI 510:  Leadership in the 21st Century

Write the Date here 

How to Get Started:

Use the 
bolded black section and sub-section titles below to organize your paper.  For each section, read the notes in green, which explains what to cover in that section. Then 
delete the green notes and write your content for that section in regular black text. Write this paper in your own words, only citing course materials and other sources when you paraphrase ideas or quote specific content from the source text. 

When you have finished writing your paper, keep the section and sub-section titles in 
bolded black text as part of your paper and your own content in regular black text. Remember to 
delete all the green text before submitting your paper. 

The Body of Your Paper Starts Here:

Introduction

​An 
Introduction should be short and succinct. Start your 
Introduction with a sentence about the importance of self-knowledge for business leaders. Next, write a thesis statement, which is the “road map” for your paper – it helps your reader to navigate your work. In your thesis statement, specify 
the major areas you plan to address in your paper. Use the headings below, since those identify all the topics to be addressed. We recommend you to write your Introduction 
after you complete the other sections of your paper. It only needs to be one paragraph in length.
   

Leadership Experiences

​This section corresponds to Item 1 of the Assignment Instructions. It specifically focuses on the leadership aspects of your current professional role and key experiences that have impacted you as a leader. The suggested length is 1.0 to 1.5 pages for this section.  

Under this main heading, write one or two sentences describing the overall topic of this section.Then use the subheadings below to provide more details. 

Leadership Aspects of Current Role

​In this sub-section, describe the leadership aspects of your current or most recent professional role. Explain whether you lead a team or if you are an individual contributor. You may be a full-time student or between jobs. If so, think about the leadership aspects of your life nore broadly.  For example, think about leadership you provide in your community, in your school, and in your family.

Key Leadership Experiences

​In this sub-section, briefly describe two key experiences that have impacted you as a leader or as an aspiring leader. Be specific by providing concrete examples and discuss each experience separately. You may have participated in a great experience that taught you a lot about who you are or want to be as a leader. Or you might have learned by observing another leader in action. You may also have learned from a leadership situation that did NOT go well. Describe how each experience contributed in some way to your current beliefs and behaviors relating to leadership.  

Leadership Strengths

​This section corresponds to Item 2 of the Assignment Instructions. It specifically focuses on identifying your strengths as a leader. The suggested length is 1.0 to 1.5 pages for this section.  

Under this main heading, write one or two sentences describing the overall topic of this section.Then use the subheading below to provide more details. 

Two Key Strengths 

​In this sub-section, describe two key strengths from Jack Welch’s Foundational Principles and/or 8 Essential Rules, which are relevant to your own leadership development. These may be strengths you already have but could increase, or they may be strengths you wish to add to your existing skills. Be specific about each rule or principle and connect your ideas to relevant course material for support. Explain why it is important for your success as a leader to direct energy into building these strengths.  

Emotional Intelligence and DiSC Profile

This section corresponds to Item 3 of the Assignment Instructions. It specifically relates to your leadership style, as indicated by your DiSC assessment, and to your ideas about Emotional Intelligence. Briefly describe your leadership style and relate it back to your leadership experiences and strengths fromthe two previous sections. The suggested length is 1.0 to 1.5 pages for this section.  

Under this main heading, write one or two sentences describing the overall topic of this section.Then use the subheadings below to provide more details.     ​

Emotional Intelligence

​In this sub-section, discuss your learning about Emotional Intelligence (EI) and relate it to your leadership experiences and strengths. Goleman defines 4 components of Emotional Intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.  Think about your own EI, and choosetwo of these components that you believe have contributed to your leadership strengths. Alternatively, you may identify two components of EI that you need to strengthen to be a more effective leader.  

DiSC Profile

In this sub-section, reflect on your DiSC profile and relate it to your leadership experiences and strengths. DiSC is a behavior assessment tool that identifies four behavioral traits: dominance, influence, conscientiousness, and steadiness. Briefly summarize your DiSC assessment results. Explain how your DiSC style was demonstrated in your leadership experiences.  Reflect on how your DiSC style relates to your leadership strengths and discuss how you can build upon this style in your future career. 

Leadership Skill Development

​This section corresponds to Item 4 of the Assignment Instructions. It helps you develop a plan to master further leadership skills in the future. The suggested length is 1.0 to 1.5 pages for this section.  

Under this main heading, write one or two sentences describing the overall topic of this section.Then use the subheadings below to provide more details. 

Leadership Skills to Develop

​In this sub-section, identify 2 or 3 leadership skills you would like to master in the future. The skills mustbe drawn from one or more of the following: Jack Welch’s Foundational Principles, Jack Welch’s 8 Essential Rules, Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence competencies, and Daniel Goleman’s Leadership Styles. For each skill selected, explain how it relates to 
your leadership journey. 

Action Steps and Measures of Success

​In this sub-section, develop a clear action plan to develop the 2 or 3 leadership skills you selected.Include the specific steps you will take and specify when you will take them.  Provide details on how you will measure your success. To create your plan, you may write a paragraph, or use a bulleted list, or use a chart (example shown below).  For each leadership skill, specify several action steps that you will take towards mastery of that skill, and explain clearly how you will measure your progress and success.  

Conclusion

The Conclusion is the section where you summarize what you covered and provide one or two key insights. Highlight the most important aspects of your paper that you would like the reader to remember. Your conclusion should be clear, direct, and concise. Like the Introduction, write this 
after you complete the other sections of your paper. It only needs to be one paragraph in length. This is not a graded part of your rubric but it wraps up your paper and allows your reader to remember the main points you have made.  

____________________________________________________________________

Finish Your Paper:

The Conclusion is the last section of the body of your paper. After this, you will add a References (or Sources) page. See the last page of this document for a sample References page. 

Read the section below, on pages 8 and 9, for instructions on how to cite your reference materials and sources within the body of your paper, as well as examples of paraphrasing and direct quotation. 

How to Cite Your Sources 

In-Text Citations​

​Within the body of your paper, when concepts from specific sources are used, a citation with the author’s last name and the number of the citation in your 
References list is required: e.g., (Welch, 1). This is called an 
in-text citation. See below for two examples: 

 “Leadership is about helping other people grow and succeed” (Welch, 1). 

o In this example, notice the placement of quotation marks, cited text, and the period 
after the citation. The number 1 corresponds to the first entry on our References page. 

​When the reader looks at the 
References page, they should see the Welch book listed as source number one (1). It is number 1 because it is the first source used in the paper, and 
throughout the paper this source will continue to be referred to as (1). 

​If the next source you use in your paper is Goleman, then your citation is (Goleman, 2).  If you then refer to Jack’s ideas again later in the paper, he remains (Welch, 1) because it is the first source used in the paper, and throughout the paper this source will continue to be referred to as (1). 

Teams can benefit from a tool called a team charter, used to plan for a project (JWI510, 5).

o In this example, the concept is paraphrased (restated on other words), so quotation marks are not needed. The five (5) indicates the number of this source in our References. If I go to theReferences page, I see that source 5 is a lecture and it lists the week and title of the lecture.

Linking Citations with your References (or Sources) Page

​At the end of your paper, include a page with a list of 
all your sources. You may refer to this page as either your “References” or “Sources” page. It 
must include an entry for 
every source that you have cited or quoted in your paper. 

            The format of the references list varies by source type. There are examples of different source types in the sample References page at the end of this document. You may also refer to the 
JWMI Writing Standards Guide, located in the 
Course Documents menu item in your Canvas course.

Quotations

​​         Originality is an important aspect of graduate writing. To ensure original thinking and avoid plagiarism, you should keep direct quotation to a minimum. Generally, keep your quotes to 25 words or less, and no more than 1-2 sentences.  See below for an example of a direct quotation: 

“Leadership is about helping other people grow and succeed” (Welch, 1). 

o In this example, notice the placement of quotation marks, the cited text, the citation written as (Welch, 1), and the period 
after the citation. The number 1 corresponds to the first entry on our References page. 

Paraphrasing 

​          When you paraphrase, you put the information from another writer in your own words. This is much preferable to quoting, because it shows your understanding of the material.  In this case, use in-text citation, but no quotation marks are required. See below for an example of paraphrasing:

In his Rule #3, Welch says that strong leaders display an impression of vitality and confidence (1). 

o In this example, notice that no quotation marks are needed, since the concept is paraphrased (restated in your own words). The author’s name was used in the sentence, so we do not needto include it again in the parentheses; just include the Reference number, which is (1).

Formatting your References (or Sources) Page 

Scroll down to the following page to see a sample References page.