Beyond Common Sense Analysis

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things - by Peter F. Drucker

To begin with, the authors are crystal clear when it comes down to laying out the blueprint the requirements needed for a successful leader. Stepping into any profession requires patience and clear thinking. The authors mention “taking a minute out each day of your leadership can really make a difference between a good and a bad leader”. Throughout the book, the authors step into depth explaining why it is necessary for the leaders to take just one minute out of their day to notice any noteworthy changes in relationship within the firm. By being packaged in the box the entire day and not thinking and stepping out the box, it can cause delays in work and/or possibly an unsuccessful firm. The authors move on to speaking about the different levels of management and the flexibility that occurs at those various levels.

I chose this book in hope that it could help me understand the difference between managing and leading. In addition, I wanted to gain more knowledge and tools to help myself grow as a leader and help develop all of my subordinates that I may have to time throughout my career. The book jacket for this book is ultimately why I decided to read the book because it truly grabbed my attention. I found it interesting that John C. Maxwell is a #1 New York Times bestselling author (Maxwell, 2013). Moreover, the book jacket continued to catch my attention by stating to be more than a boss people are required to follow, you must master the ability to inspire and invest in people (Maxwell, 2013). I particularly found the “invest in people” line most interesting and caused me to want to read and learn more about the authors perspective on leadership.

In Leadership 101 by John Maxwell, the author uses practical application points to give guidance on what it takes to be good leader. The book is divided in three parts, linking the development, traits and impacts of a leader, with a series of questions that the author answers. He also uses real-life stories and quotes from leaders such as the McDonald brothers and Princess Diana, to demonstrate leadership principles. The author also uses these examples and a detailed framework to help the readers enhance the leadership abilities they already possess. Maxwell suggests that in order to be a successful leader you need to; Follow your vision and bring others with you, produce a lasting legacy, grow the loyalty of your followers, make continual

Before going through this journey of self-discovery, my view of leadership was accurately described by John C. Maxwell “ Leadership is influence.” (Maxwell, para. 25, 2012). I believed, before taking this class and Northouse’s (2013) assessments, leaders were defined by the extent to which they could influence others to achieve company goals. I thought that, when discussing leadership, the leader was the most important aspect of the leader-member dyad and that it was the leader who had the greatest influence over how successful the organization was. Leaders themselves, in my view, should have been the focus of leadership studies and it should have been up to the leader to develop his/her skills in

As the year 1776 began in the American colonies, tension with King George III’s England was at perhaps an all-time high.  Americans were frustrated with the actions of their rulers overseas.  Taxes and trade restrictions had been placed on them, and British and mercenary soldiers occupied their towns and cities.  There had even been fighting at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill.  As America grew, England’s hold on it tightened, and a few voices began speaking of independence.  The loudest and most convincing of these belonged to Thomas Paine, born in England and living in Philadelphia.  His pamphlet, Common Sense, expressed the argument for American independence in a way no one had before and had a great influence on the Declaration of

Leadership can be defined as the process of identifying a goal, motivating others, and make them to achieve the mutually goals (Giltinane, 2013). According to Humphreys (2002), successful leaders do this by applying their leadership knowledge and skills. A good leadership is not only good at management, but also use different leadership styles in different situations. A successful corporation must has a good leader who have the flexible ability which can provide a suitable leadership to make the company successful. Furthermore, there have no perfect leadership styles in the world. Different leader have different leadership styles which also have the different strengths and weaknesses (Ali & Waqar, 2013). Leaders need to consider

From Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela’s charisma, to Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King’s intelligence and Steve Jobs’ analytical nature, there can be as numerous ways to lead as there are leaders (Crossman, 2010). Leadership is a hot debate both in the business world and other areas of the society. Throughout the world's, there have been as many leadership models as there have been their commentators (Burns & Peltason, 1966). Fortunately, psychologists and businesspersons have established useful frameworks that refer to the main ways of leadership.

My definition of leadership is leading by example. Setting the pace and guiding from the front. Keeping your hand on the pulse of your people with open lines of communication and clear expectations. Ensuring all needs are met from the office paperwork, work space, and the family dynamic. Wherein you create an environment for success as your people are trained, equipped, and motivated to perform at their very best. Leadership influences during my career are good as BMCM Steve Hearn embodied all that is required of a leader. Steve was authentic and personable. He allowed people to get close and yet pushed them to be their best as he would speak to your strengths and weakness. His skills were unmatched yet he gave me a sense of purpose, buy in and belonging. Steve applied patience to help me get the basics of a specialty area that has made me very successful.

In my reflections as I prepared to write this paper, I came to the realization that leadership is much more complex especially since the paper requires that I focus on a few traits. In an effort to make it simple, I wrote down the traits that came to mind and in process had over 10 important traits but an even bigger challenge was on how to narrow them down to 3 or 4 and this is the place that required a good deal of reflection. Eventually, however, I had to prioritize them since in any case; it is not possible to get a leader that has all the traits. As I thought of the various leaders who have inspired me, I noticed that while they strived to provide the best leadership by focusing on their strong points, they still had their weaknesses. To me this provided a justification for at least identifying key desirable traits and thereafter working to improve them. I did manage to settle on four traits, which for me are indispensible if a leader or a leadership is to become effective.

Our history did not begin with two wooden ships crossing the ocean blue in 1492 in look for a trade route for spices, rather it born from a simple paperback book published in 1776 that spread a new idea, this book was called Common Sense. In it a new idea was born an idea of a nation that is not taxed, and not ruled over by a land 4,404 miles away. This new idea built on the notion of freedom which lead to an 8-year war known as the Revisionary War, despite popular belief at the time the idea of freedom won out in the end. Not once but twice. Leading to the America that we know of today, that will defend the nation of

The following presents my orientations toward the study and the practice of leadership. I tend to equate leadership and management, however, analytically, while all management is leadership, not all leadership is management. To concretely state my orientations, the following might well sum it up: 1) Management is primarily a moral pursuit and, therefore, is Value-laden (this to the extent and degree that every manager ought aspire to being a "philosopher-king"; 2) Management is much more art than science; 3) A manager's understanding of him/herself and of the human condition/situation is his/her primary tool and vehicle; 4) Mankind's systems for developing, selecting and elevating managers/leaders tend to favor the more

“Like an orchestra conductor, being a leader within an organization bears the same challenges trying to create perfect harmony among the different variables in your business to ensure your organization creates “beautiful” products and profits,” (Leaders, March 2013).

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.

For decade’s individuals, companies, and organizations have spent an unprecedented amount of money on researching, molding, modeling and working to define what a leader is and what characteristics make successful leaders. Despite all the research, there is not a quick answer or even full agreement as to what makes an individual an effective leader. The definition of a leader is “someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority.” (Robbins, Decenzo, Coulter, 2015. P.370)