A Discussion Of Conscious Leadership

From the vantage point of the present, it is easy to look back at the tenure of any great leader and draw conclusions about just what it was that made him/her great. We can examine the circumstances under which their leadership flourished; piece together what we know of their character and personality traits; delve into the factors that may have driven them; and dissect their leadership style all in an effort to pinpoint the source of their success. The ‘Great Man’ theory, popular in the 19th century and now thoroughly debunked, held that leaders are born, not made; suggesting that men like George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., and Winston Churchill were born with the innate capacity to change the world (Landis,

As it was written on one of the class slides, a leader can change the way people thinks about what is possible. In other words, it can be suggested that leaders have certain traits that allows them to possess or cultivate leadership characteristics. When a the “Great Man” theories was presented during the early 1990s, it focused on identifying innate qualities and characteristics that many great social, political, and military leaders possessed. This leaderships traits approach is one of the first methodical attempts to study what leaders possess, which ultimately concluded but not fully determine as the only traits needed. These traits are intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability. As to where I stand in this trait spectrum, I know that I have determination, integrity and

Self-Awareness, self-concept and emotional intelligence are effective managerial concepts that will result in leadership success. According to Stanford University, having these soft skills are indispensable traits that good managers should develop to be successful leaders. Managers strive to become aware of who they are, what their values, attitudes, skills, and abilities are. These values drive them to achieve and will eventually result in them become more effective. (Showry & Manasa, 2014, p. 15)

19). Still a part of the Great Man Leadership era, these trait theories just went a step further in attempting to pinpoint exactly which traits of these “great men” were consistently associated with the leaders, in an effort to more clearly define what a great leader was. This was again a further attempt to be able to identify a leader early on and predict which individuals were born to become leaders. It is thought that a major flaw with these theories was the failure to account for external factors, such as the environment in which the individuals were brought up in, as well as the situations they experienced (Horner, 2007, p. 270). Still today we do continue to study the characteristics of leaders in order to better define and understand what makes someone a good leader.

For centuries leaders have been analyzed in order to determine what the traits and characteristics of a successful leader are. Leadership, as defined by Koontz and Weihrich (2008) is “the art or a process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals” (p. 311). Leadership plays an important role in employee’s participation, creativity, recruitment to an organization, their commitment to the organization, and productivity levels. Over the years, there have been a number of theories surrounding leadership such as the “Great Man” theory, which, according to Riaz and Haider (2010), “assumes that leaders are born and have innate qualities, therefore, leaders

Conscious Capitalism is a model of business that aims to have organizations create a positive impact on the world they operate in. The leaders of these organizations aim to marry the goals of the stakeholders with values, such as caring, conservation, equality, and respect (Mackey and Sisodia, 2013). The aim of this paper is to examine this type of leadership by comparing it to other models, illustrating the key components of conscious leadership. This will be followed by a self-assessment where the values of the author will be compared to the principles of conscious leadership, acknowledging the traits that are aligned, and in juxtaposition of such a leadership theory.

Leadership takes on many faces depending on the responsibilities and environments that are available (Rubino, Esparza & Chassiakos, 2014). However, some basic qualities are universal to all effective leaders. Emotional intelligence and conflict resolution skills form part of crucial leadership qualities (Parker, Sakfloske & Stough, 2009). Emotional intelligence, basically, refers to the ability of an individual to understand and interpret emotions effectively. The paper is based on a self-assessment on leadership qualities.

The questions regarding what makes a great leader, are they born that way, is there certain behaviors that can be taught, and can one switch from one style of leadership to another, are addressed from multiple perspectives. Three main schools of thought, trait theory, behavioral theory and contingency theory, work to explain the social phenomena of leadership. Though they pull from psychological theories, they each contribute valuable pieces that strives to solve the riddle of what makes or constitutes a great leader. However, this riddle may be far less complex, as John Quincy Adams once said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader” (Adams,

The theories or concepts of leadership such as the Great Man theory, collective leadership, and scholar-practitioner are ideas that transformed the way leaders lead. The comparisons of the leadership styles illustrated that direction does not change. Within the comparisons, leadership links from one theory or concept to another. Each theory or idea is a building block for what a leader needs to be successful. The Great Man theory depicts a person of great need that possesses the characteristics of a leader from birth. A leader has the features or traits of a great leader without

A leader is a person who sets direction and influences others to accomplish the goals (Borkowski, 2015). It is the responsibility of the supervisor to set the direction by helping and motivating staff members see what lies ahead and face those challenges. Emotional intelligence is one of the important trait that helps leaders to work with people effectively. “Emotional intelligence involves assessing one’s own feelings, as well as feelings of others, then using those assessments to guide personal thought and action” (Borkowski, 2015, p. 239).

During the Leadership Fundamentals course of the Master of Science in Leadership, I learned the importance of how to think not what to think. I was able to take this lesson learned one step further during the Emotional Intelligence course by learning the importance and methods of considering how others think and feel in regards to my behavior, actions, or communication. In this paper, I will summarize the key principles that I learned during the Leading Change course and describe how the course contributed to my building a holistic understanding of leadership by identifying concepts that improved my knowledge the most. Finally, I will describe strengths, areas of improvement, and a targeted improvement plan that will assist me in achieving excellence in leadership.

Leadership is a complex process by which a person sets direction and influences others to achieve their goals (Borkowski, 2015). It is the responsibility of the supervisor to set the direction by helping and motivating staff members to see what lies ahead and face those challenges. Emotional intelligence is one of the important traits that helps leaders work with people effectively. “Emotional intelligence involves assessing one’s own feelings, as well as feelings of others, then using those assessments to guide personal thought and action” (Borkowski, 2015, p. 239).

There are many theories that explain leadership. Chapter 10 presents each of the leading theories. Each student will choose one of the theories he/she agrees with, one theory that he/she disagrees with, and one theory he/she finds interesting (pick three different theories). Each student will write a short paragraph for each of the above choices (agree, disagree, interesting). Each student will post his/her three paragraphs as one (1) response to the discussion board entitled “Leadership”.

An part of conscious leadership that I have really enjoyed is the choice aspect. That each of us have the power to look at situation and respond to what is happening internally/externally however we choose. Although, with this choice I have been experiencing a lot of emotions and overthinking, which has been taxing on my physical and mental energy levels. Also, it has been hard to connect conscious leadership with all of the other camp philosophies as well as attempt to integrate them all into my life, which has been a part of my over thinking and muddled

This theory is based on the premise that there are certain personality characteristics that are essential for a person to possess in order to be a leader. The main emphasis is on what the person is in terms of a constellation of personality traits. This theory searches for that set of universal leadership traits that will assure success. Numerous traits have been suggested: courage, integrity, loyalty, charisma, ambition, intelligence, honesty, clairvoyance, persistence, arrogance, health, political skill, confidence and vision.