Business Leadership Narrative

This semester, we learned specific ways to build our leadership capabilities by reading “How Remarkable Women Lead” by Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston, researching Boston women leaders, interviewing a present day woman leader, and reading a group book. Throughout all of these resources and research, common themes of how to be a successful leader emerged. Not only did I learn more about leadership in general, but I also found ways to improve my own leadership without going too much out of my comfort zone. The important lessons of leading with perseverance, framing, and an activist's mindset thoroughly influenced my identity as a leader and gave me new tactics to grow as a person.

This artifact was a written final exam analyzing issues relating to leadership and diversity in the course Leadership in Multicultural Organizations. This artifact demonstrates knowledge, comprehension, and analysis of the concepts and theories of leadership, issues of diversity in organizations, and strategies for managing differences among today’s multicultural workforce. I selected this artifact because it discusses and describes the link between leadership approaches and diversity and it compares and contrasts current leadership practices in the United States (US).

I had the pleasure of interviewing Justin Robison, Controller and CFO for The Housing Trust in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Housing Trust is a non-profit agency who helps people in northern New Mexico locate affordable housing. This assistance is provided to low and moderate income level families. The Housing Trust also builds energy efficient, affordable homes for low income families. Justin has been in the financial sector as an Investment Analyst and a Financial Analyst. He earned his MBA at the University of New Mexico. Justin’s leadership style has developed from experience and education, but he appears to still be in the process of really finding what style works best for him. Justin had an insightful view of what defines leadership, what helps motivate his followers, and what makes a good follower.

Being a leader is not considered a job or position. Becoming a leader is not a talent, job or position. Although, leadership can be rewarding and difficult at the same time. In today’s society, “the kind of leadership necessary to move social movements forward is very different from the type of leadership required in a military setting, especially on the battlefield. A more sharpened focus on leadership processes versus individual leader traits and behaviors deepens our understanding of the complexities and interactive nature of leadership” (Komives, Lucas and McMahon 2013, 46). My goal is to understand how to face the complexities in life as a leader to communities, universities, organizations, the workplace and the world. As a leader,

Leadership is the elaboration of group inspiration. One person entrusted as leader can implore the aid, and support of supporters in the accomplishment of a common mission. According to Gurdjian, Halbeisen, and Lane “Becoming a more effective leader often requires changing behavior. But although most companies recognize that this also means adjusting underlying mind-sets, too often these organizations are reluctant to address the root causes of why leaders act the way they do” (Gurdjian, Halbeisen, and Lane, 2014) However, today abundant businesses engross importance on the improvement of leaders. Some of the ultimate leaders were formerly followers, such as in instructive businesses. One aspect as leaders many have to contemplate in striving

Throughout my time as a young adult I have had countless amounts of people tell me that they see me as a leader. They told me that I have the traits and the skills of someone who can have success in leadership positions. Truthfully, I never really understood what they meant. I knew that I was a good public speaker, but I never really understood what else I had. In high school I was always put in leadership positions whether it was an officer of the National Honor Society or captain of my sport teams, but I never really understood what drove me to attain those positions. I continued my quest for leadership positions in high school with every student organization I joined. Whether it was Pi Kappa Phi fraternity or Dance Marathon I felt the need to prove to others that I can more than just a member, but a leader. It wasn’t until I took this class that I truly understood what made me a leader. Because of this class I was able to better understand what are my leadership traits, my leadership styles, and how I use those in order to attain and succeed in leadership positions. Throughout this paper I will explain how Career Leadership Academy allowed me to realize what made me a leader and analyze the ways to improve at my future leadership positions.

From the Big Apple to the Wind City Lakeland High School FBLA traveled the 815 miles to attend the National Leadership Conference in Chicago Illinois. The National Leadership Conference is the biggest and most anticipated conference of the year and is also where members of FBLA have the opportunity to see who is the best of the best by competing in competitions that they qualified for at the State Leadership Conference. This year Lakeland High School FBLA had seven competitors competing in Future Business Leader, Parliamentary Procedure Team, Job Interview, Banking and Financial System and Help Desk. All our competitors spend a lot of hard work and dedication studying for their competitions unfortunately however our competitors fell short this year of getting on stage. Even though none of them placed at Nationals, Lakeland High School is proud of them making it as far as they did and the hard work they put into their competitions. In spite of that this year Lakeland High School had a lot to celebrate at the conference.

A dirty little secret of leadership development is there are few truly new and innovative ideas. Recently published books, tools, and concepts repackage ideas from decades or centuries ago to address the needs of twenty-first century leaders and organizations. For example, Amazon lists Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin as the current best seller in business management and leadership. Willink and Babin’s ideas are solid and their stories are both inspiring and compelling. Nonetheless their concepts are not new. Academicians, practitioners, and leaders have highlighted these same principles for decades: check the ego, prioritize and execute, and decisiveness amid uncertainty, to name a select few. This is not a criticism, rather a reality of the leadership industry. Accordingly my contributions to the field are not uniquely inventive. Rather I excel at packaging existing ideas in creative, simple, and applicable ways that address my clients’ needs and inspire impactful leadership. I recently shared a set of risk taking tools with a client that demonstrates this skill.

From the Big Apple to the Windy City Lakeland High School FBLA traveled the 815 miles to attend the National Leadership Conference in Chicago Illinois. The National Leadership Conference is the biggest and most anticipated conference of the year and is also where members of FBLA have the opportunity to see who is the best of the best by competing in competitions that they qualified for at the State Leadership Conference. This year Lakeland High School FBLA had seven competitors competing in Future Business Leader, Parliamentary Procedure Team, Job Interview, Banking and Financial System and Help Desk. All our competitors spend a lot of hard work and dedication studying for their competitions unfortunately however our competitors fell short this year of getting on stage. Even though none of them placed at Nationals, Lakeland High School is proud of them making it as far as they did and the hard work they put into their competitions. In spite of that this year Lakeland High School had a lot to celebrate at the conference.

The purpose of the book is to help the reader discover their “True North.” One of the most profound arguments was that leadership is “not a set of genetic characteristics, but the result of a lifelong process of self-discovery.” I have always believed that a person's leadership style grows overtime, so I like the idea that we are all born as a blank-slate with leadership potential. In addition, the idea that “no one can be authentic by trying to be like someone else [...] you can learn from others’ experiences, but you cannot be successful trying to be like them”(485) really stood out to me because this concept can definitely be applied to SLC. Our class is filled with a wide range of influential leaders with a lot of potential but who

Great leaders have shaped the World we live in today and they are remembered for what they were able to accomplish during their lifetime. The history books are filled with leaders that changed the very nature of something by taking a different road or challenging the way everyone perceived things. Leaders would not be able to accomplish these daring feats without the help of their followers, the individuals in the background giving them their support (Schermerhorn & Uhl-Bien, 2014). Colleen Barrett was able to break through the glass ceiling and led Southwest Airlines (SWA) to become one of the most successful airlines in the industries (Dierendonck & Patterson, 2010). In the following pages will explore Colleen Barrett’s leadership

John Maxwell once said, “Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.” His idea is something I have always searched for in leaders I choose to follow. It is some I try to embody myself. The leader I chose to interview is the epitome of Maxwell’s words. Kyleigh Mazer, is a junior at Ball State University. She is 20 years old and is from Floyds Knobs, Indiana. Mazer is studying Entrepreneurial Management with minors in Marketing and Leadership Studies. Involved as a Resident Assistant, Excellence in Leadership (EIL) ambassador, National Residence Hall Honorary inductee and American Marketing Association member, she is making the most of time leaving her footprint on the Ball State

Rama: Hi, fine. Yeah, I was busy with some new projects that coming this year, that’s why when you called me last time, I was not in office because I had have a meeting with other division in headquarter office.

In corporate America the term used to describe a person in a position of power is “Manager”. A leader can be a manager, but a manager is not necessarily a leader. Leaders motivate, challenge, and influence others to achieve goals. Great leaders have the necessary skills and attributes which allow them to connect with the team and organization. Being a leader is not the same as managing an organization. Leader’s posses the interpersonal skills needed to influence others to achieve a goal willingly. Leading is a major part of a manager’s job. Leaders do not need to be a manager to lead people, but managers must know how to lead as well as manage.

Prior to attending the Business Internship course, my knowledge and understanding on successful business leaders was very limited. Although I had heard of countless success stories in business, I had never actually understood what it took to achieve such measures of success. However, it wasn’t until we had the privilege of hearing from four different business magnates in weeks 6 -9. Each of the business leaders gave an hour’s seminar and which was aimed at providing insights into their personal lives, working experiences and the core essence of 21st century business leadership.