Please write a thoughtful, well-considered essay, in which you answer the following question:
1. Please discuss how you are going to develop your leadership identity (i.e., identity of being a leader). Create an action plan of your leadership identity by incorporating the stages of leadership development. Use provide sources as reference.

Ways to Develop Leadership Identity
Leadership theories have increasingly focused on “new ways of leading” that include values-based leadership principles, such as collaboration, ethical action, moral purposes, and changing followers into moral agents (Burns, 1978; cited in Komives et al., 2006). Many of the extant leadership development models center on skill-building or short-term interventions, such as training, coursework, and/or retreats, and other forms of experiential learning. These models neglect the process of how leadership capacity or leadership identity can be developed over time. It is important to note that understanding the process of creating a leadership identity is central to develop leadership.
Komives et al. (2005) have discussed ways to develop your leadership identity. Specifically, they note developmental influences, self-development, group influences, changing your view of self with others, and broadening your view of leadership.
Stages of Leadership Development in a Group Context
According to Komives et al. (2005), leadership identity unfolds in six stages. Each stage involves a transition, which clearly signals leaving that stage and entering the next one. Leadership identity is a product of interaction in which a person’s concept of self changes based on the group and other social influences.

Stage 1: Awareness. In this stage, a person interacts with others in a group setting, and recognizes that leaders exist and that he or she wants to be a leader.
Stage 2: Exploration/Engagement. In this stage, a person intentionally gets involved, engages group members, and willingly takes on either leadership or non-leadership responsibilities within a group.
Stage 3: Leader Identified. In this stage, all members perceive that there are leaders who take on responsibilities in the group. In this leader-centric stage, one is a leader only if he or she occupies a formal position of leadership.
Stage 4: Leadership Differentiated. In Stage 4, group members differentiate leadership beyond the role held by the formal, designated, or acknowledged leader and realize that any group member can share in the enactment of leadership roles. Formal leaders commit to engaging other group members by inviting them to participate and share responsibility. Under these circumstances, both leaders and other group members begin to understand view the positional leader role as multi-dimensional, including facilitation, community building, and shaping the group’s culture.
Stage 5: Generativity. In this stage, group members become committed to the larger purposes of the group and are passionate about their work. This passion and enthusiasm is associated with the beliefs and values that are important to group members.
Stage 6: Integration/Synthesis. In Stage 6, group members develop continual, active engagement in leadership as a regular process—and, hence, as a part of leadership self-identity. Group members increase in confidence and strive for congruence and integrity in their identity.
In summary, after developing an awareness of leadership in a group, a person’s leadership identity moves from a hierarchical, leader-centric view to a more shared leadership view which sees leadership as a collaborative and relational process.