Chevening Leadership Essay: Why Relevance is the cut in an Award-Winning Leadership Essay.

Are you a leader? What does leadership mean to you?

Leaders don't just emulate others; they craft their path. They drive a nation/community/team or colleagues to a common goal, allowing them to leverage their strengths and complement their weaknesses. They inspire action. You are not automatically a leader because you hold an office or a post. The lack of an official position does not mean you are not a leader. Leadership is vast, and to everyone, it means something different.

In what context are you a leader? Case in point:

You are in a Global Leadership Summit representing your country in a competition. Each contestant is given three minutes to say why their country deserves the 'Most Impactful Leadership award.' You get to the podium and start narrating the state of your country in 1820, and before you get to the current affairs, time's up! As you leave the stage, you cannot shake off the feeling that you did not say what you wanted to. While this history is essential, it is out of context given the time that has elapsed since then. Only one word comes to mind: RELEVANCE. When writing an award-winning essay, the impact demonstrated must be relevant to your current career journey and future aspirations. Giving a far-fetched experience outside your current career progression is not wise.

You have one task: weaving together a concise, truthful, yet compelling story. This essay should convince the reviewer that you are an upcoming leader and influencer in your country and should not be a work biography. However, it would be best to portray a global perspective and your ability to look beyond your local and communal challenges.

It is essential to understand leadership concepts, but it is crucial to understand the leaders Chevening is looking for—a visionary yet progressive leader. In addition to demonstrating your leadership trajectory, you must provide evidence of teamwork and problem-solving and highlight your leadership development. This could also mean putting across a strong example of a challenge, how you handled it and what you learned from it.

To tackle this essay, you must understand leadership and how you embody that. It would be best if you did not define what leadership is or give quotes. You are writing your own story and not co–opting what a philosopher has said. Your examples should show the tenets of a leader: one who is visionary, takes initiative, seeks growth opportunities and creates impact outside of themselves.?

Sometimes, looking up to the leaders who inspire you can help you identify the qualities of a leader that resonate with you and guide you into which examples you would like to tap into.

In your write-up, it is important to point out that Chevening is a transformative opportunity that equips exceptional leaders with the opportunity to drive positive change in their communities.

Key things to remember as you draft your leadership essay:

1. Every appealing and meaningful piece of work must have a very captivating introduction that sets the tone for the essay. What does leadership mean to you?
2. Your examples should follow the STAR–L approach, which is broken down as follows:

• Situation – Set the scene for your example. Have you faced a challenge at work/ community level or even personally? What specific challenge demanded your attention as a leader?
• Task – What did you judiciously opt to do to ease, forge or even carve out a solution? Describe what your responsibility was. In this context, you should own your actions and avoid using the word "we". The pronoun "I" would be your friend. Leadership terms are essential. I took the initiative. I led. I founded. I spearheaded. I motivated. I… I .. don't forget that leaders don't achieve anything alone, but your input as a leader is well sought after to show your role in this.?
• Action – What steps did you take to address it?
• Results – What outcome was achieved? Sometimes, this may need to be measurable. Quantify! Show numbers, percentages, statistics at play, and metrics. Provide concrete evidence!
• Lessons -? What did you learn from that experience?

1. A leader proactively seeks opportunities to engage, collaborate and take on challenges. In addition to the scholarship, Chevening continuously provides such platforms to the current scholars. As a prospective scholar, you must tie who you are as a leader, your aspirations and ambitions to the opportunities available. How will this exposure benefit you as a leader and help you influence your community? These events can be found on the Chevening website: https://www.chevening.org/current-cheveners/events/
2. Lastly, please remember that once you have highlighted a leadership quality, you must give examples that align with that quality and not mix it up with other attributes. In other words, alignment!

?All the very best!

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed herein are mine and do not reflect those of Chevening, Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).?