A Historical Views Of Leadership

Parts II and III are the most enlightening sections of the book. In these two parts, Heifetz clearly explains his philosophy of adaptive leadership, he discusses in depth the work of leaders as the mobilize adaptation. He also identifies the advantages and disadvantages of leading with authority and leading without authority. Additionally, he explains in depth the responsibilities of leaders and clearly defines appropriate leader-follower relationships. He uses case scenarios ranging from Presidents, to doctors, to Civil Rights advocates to demonstrate leadership principles in action. These scenarios provide a live element that leaders can connect to and help them identify their own leadership scenarios where adaptive work is necessary.

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

Wheatley (2007) describes the old story of leadership as “a story of dominion and control, and all-encompassing materialism.” It can be explained by analogizing it to a machine; a lifeless object that does not have the capability to think, feel, or make decisions. It, the machine, functions quite like the old story of leadership by where there are

What is leadership, and how do we attain the best and most effective leaders? These are questions that are as old as civilization itself. Bass (1974) wrote that, “from its infancy, the study of history has been the study of leaders” (as cited in Wren, 1995, p. 50). Since the study of history in the West is commonly held to begin with Herodotus of ancient Athens, it is not surprising that we should examine the historical views of leadership through the eyes of two titans of Greek thought: Plato and Aristotle.

give a holistic view of the entire leadership process and clearly demonstrates how important it is

position, he is more apt than the king to know the will of the people and to

This writer decided to read the first three chapters of the book Leaders Without Titles by Steve Sampson. The first chapter was called “Intellectual Dimension” which was mainly an introduction to the book as a whole and introduced some of the main topics to be discussed throughout the rest of the book. What was interesting about this chapter and caused this writer to pause and seriously rethink the idea of leadership was the statement retold by Sampson (2011) which was originally spoken to him by one of his mentors (Kindle Location 224). The mentor stated that “to influence without authority was the key to leadership” (Sampson, 2011, Kindle Location 224).

Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”...

The traditional view of a king was to rule a kingdom and sort out the injustice that the people wanted justice for. Not only did a king control the laws, politics and economics of their kingdom, the king was seen as strong enough to help lead their country into battles and come back with a victory.

Being a leader requires obtaining certain characteristics that guide others to life in harmony within a state. In Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” Epictetus’ Enchiridion, and “Plutarch’s Lives:Volume 1,” there is a common theme of what defines an influential leader. While diligence is the core of a strong leader, maintaining prudence initiates the efficiency necessary to build a state’s stability.

The king has everything, but he must keep his respect and all his things. The king needed loyal people to work the land and he also needed an army to protect the land. The king expected his lord to supply him with a great army, in return from the king giving the lord land (Biel 9). The king had an official/sheriff put together a small army of knights that helped fulfill the king’s wishes throughout the kingdom. The sheriffs also collected a type of income tax for the King which helped the king fiance the armies that protected his kingdom (Biel 18). The King was the highest rank and he provided land for his vassals. The king divided his whole kingdom into 50-60 fiefs and his role was to give out land (Biel 9). The kingdoms were divided into duchies, earldoms, or countries, for the king’s vassals. Their land was then divided into smaller fiefs again and again until the lowest rank got land (Biel 10). The king was the highest rank and he had everything, but he also had to keep his people’s loyalty and everything he

There has been vast amounts of research done on the topic of leadership, and yet despite this it continues to be ‘‘riddled with paradoxes, inconsistencies, and contradictions’’

In chapter 1-3 we have learned a lot about leadership and different roles of leadership. In Chapter one we are taught about the definitions and the significance of leadership. In chapter two we learn about global and cultural context. Global and cultural context let us know about the roles culture can play in leadership and how a leader can develop a cultural mindset. In Chapter three we learn about the early theories of the foundations of modern leadership. There are three eras of leadership, which consist of the trait era, the behavior era, and the contingency era, which is the era that we are in now.

The role of a king is to be Kingly. In doing such he must be influential and have personal integrity, be calm and balanced, be able to protect and maintain order, be hard working and energetic, bless and acknowledging the efforts of other people, to teach and deliver his wisdom, to show no fear in the face of adversity, and to be well spoken and deliver speeches.

The role of a king, apart from his other responsibilities include – being calm and centered, being decisive and having personal integrity, being hard working and energetic, able to protect and maintain order, blessing others and acknowledging the efforts of other people, to search out and to reveal things, to teach those things and deliver his wisdom to his people, and to be well spoken and deliver speeches.