leadership at work example

"You could find evidence of my leadership as convenor of the Anarchist Club at Podunk College, or in raising over $1 million from Podunk students for the Tsunami Relief Fund.

"But honestly, the leadership experience I am most passionate about was the standardisation of paperclips at my work. For too long my employer had sufferred major financial losses from the inherent inefficiencies in people using different sizes and shapes of paperclips. So when I was promoted to Junior Assistant Office Manager, I implemented a policy of standardisation of paperclips on a single size and shape.

"This policy did encounter some resistance, and I had to fire 5 people after I observed non-regulation paperclips on their desks the day after the implementation of this policy. One particularly subversive employee tried to avoid responsibility by claiming that the non-complying paperclip had arrived in the mail that morning in a client's acceptance of a multi-million dollar contract, but I knew that my initiative would only succeed if I clearly communicated my expectations, and that allowing exceptions would undermine my authority. So I asserted this authority by firing her and withholding her redundnacy payout. However, I also treated this as a learning oppportunity, and subsequently drew up a "Incident Report of Receipt of Non-Conforming Paperclips" for use by employees.

"Although the office later closed due to the selfish resignations of a number of key employees and a reduced number of client contracts, I remain very proud of the tight and orderly ship that I ran at XYZ Industries in general. I feel that that the fact that there were no further incidents of non-conforming paperclips is clear endorsement of my enlightened and forward looking leadership style, and look forward to contributing these leadership skills to life at Wharton through the Wharton Diversity and Tolerance Committee."