Abstract
M.Phil.
People are continuously engaged in a striving towards meaning and purpose.
This endeavor is one towards personal leadership and answering questions like
"Who am I" and "Who can I become". The drive towards self-actualisation runs
parallel with the striving to belong and to form close attachments with others.
This essay will focus on the interpersonal dimension of personal leadership. The
emphasis is on how being able to create effective relationships is important in
order to move towards a life of purpose and fulfillment.
During the course of the essayoit becomes clear that developing and maintaining
caring and committed relationships is the most important aspect of life. It is
primarily through the quality of relationships that people form with others that
meaning is to be found. The essay provides insights into the type of relationships
people should strive for and determines that close and open relationships are
where most personal growth and fulfillment is experienced. People have the
freedom of choice to decide on the quality of the relationships that they want to
create. Implicit in this is that the ability to create meaningful interactions with
others rests within each individual.
People often define success in society through the accumulation of material
wealth and status. The importance of relationships is often taken for granted.
This essay explores how relationships contribute towards personal growth,
quality of life and career success.
Many people, in their striving towards meaning, develop the self in isolation to
the development of their relationships. This leads to a self-focused, narcissistic
existence with unfulfilling relationships. Conversely, people may form
attachments with others without fully developing their own identity and sense of
self. They then have less of their own potential to contribute towards their
relationship. This essay sheds light on how individuals, through developing the
self and enhancing their own potential, can bring their relationships to full
potential. The emphasis is on how personal leadership and growth starts from
the inside out.
The essay aims to provide guidance on the personal leadership characteristics
needed by the individual in order to experience relationships that enhance the
development of both the self and others. People have the potential to create
their own quality relationships. This is achieved through the endowments of selfawareness,
imagination, independent will and integrity.