Chapter 4- Leadership in the 21st Century
Leadership is very important to most of us because we either like being guided by someone (which means being under someone else’s leadership) or we are the type who like to take matters into our own hands. This is technically how we are today (and have always been), where we are either followers or leaders. Now, each one of these characteristics has their pros and cons, which means that it is alright to be a follower but up to a certain point. On the other hand, being a leader is a good thing too, but there are several steps that need to be followed if you want to be qualified as such.
We will not spend too much time on why it is sometimes good to be a follower because it is not the subject of this chapter, but there are some important points that need to be clarified here before we carry on. Let’s start by defining leadership. What is leadership? Leadership concerns all the characteristics or activities of a leader that are meant at guiding, and inspiring others. So, this means that a leader would have to show the following characteristics:
- He/she will have to be charismatic.
- He/she will have to be able to take his/her own initiatives.
- He/she will have to be confident about every important decision he/she makes.
- His/her actions have to serve as examples and inspire others.
- Last, but not least, a leader should always leave a legacy behind him/her.
With that said, let’s now cover the journey to leadership, in other words;
Leadership is very important. Without leadership the world would be chaos. We all need rules and guide lines to keep us safe (even though some of us might not like it). The novel Lord of the Flies is an example of leadership and how it would be without it. In Lord of the Flies this group of boys are in an airplane that gets shot down. Which they end up on an island. They come together and decide on a leader. They most picked Ralph over Jack.
Leadership is all about having the right amount of heart and determination to help make a difference in someone’s life. It takes certain qualities to be considered a good leader. A leader should want to help inspire others to make a change and to be the best that they can be. A true leader does not need to feel powerful, instead they empower those around them. Throughout my life I have come across various leaders who have made an impact on my life. It takes a very special person to inspire and touch people’s lives. Leadership is so much deeper than having power and bossing people around.
Leadership will help people to develop the ability to work as a team or group to achieve the common goals. It helps people to cultivate the good qualities to become a excellent leader.
I think that leadership is important because if nobody was a leader the nothing would get done. Having leadership helps set a goal and make sure that the goal gets meant. Leaders help inspire people to achieve many goals that have been set. Leaders also have to help manage the task or event wanting to get achieved so that it can work smoothly.
Growing up I was always told to be a leader and not a follower, and as a child I did not think much of that saying. However, in recent years I have begun to grasp what it truly means to
I believe that in order to lead you must be able to learn how to follow first. Following will allow you to gain knowledge that will help you lead in the future. Serving is a big part of leadership because you must be able to help people. People put their trust into you to help them through their problems. As a leader you must be able to put other people’s problems ahead of yours.
Leadership is the ultimate form of service; it requires leaders to devote much of themselves to deal with the responsibilities that come with the title. They not only serve as normal members, but they must make important decisions with their followers’ interests
Being a leader is often seen as impressive and key in a resume, merely because it is glorified in today’s society. However, people often forget that if every person on this planet was a leader, there would be no followers, and therefore, no leaders. Becher and Sivers both argue that followers are significant in creating a leader, something I genuinely agree with. However, Sivers seems to point out that being the first follower is hard and can lead to ridicule; although I agree that it is hard to join a small group in action, I believe being the leader is harder and more dangerous regarding the possibility of ridicule.
Leadership is something that people are born with. It is an inherent charm and it doesn’t hide even if you want to hide it. There is a leader amongst us and he or she is the one that leads other people to great things by inspiring and motivating people to do good deeds. Leadership has been described as “a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”. This way a leader can decide what work goes in and goes out. Good leaders in history have left a mark in walks of life. But great leaders, they’re different. Great leaders have the ability to make each and every individual re-think their life decisions and choices by
According to Webster’s Dictionary, leadership is the power or ability to lead other people, the act or instance of leading. I believe that Leadership is an art, the art to get others to follow and accomplish a common goal or task in a harmonic manner. A leader can be shown in all kinds of shapes and forms. To be a great leader many people believe it consists of modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart. Over the course of me learning how to become a better leader and being in leadership roles, I’ve learned that all these are very necessary to be a great leader.
To be a leader, you not only need followers but also have to have something to follow.
My idea of leadership is being able to inspire others, motivate, set a vision, communicate, respect others, and of course, lead by example. A leader must have an honest understanding of who they are, what they know, and what they are capable of. To be a successful leader, you have to be able to convince your followers, not just yourself or your superiors, that you are worthy of being followed. In my opinion, this can build confidence in their followers to have faith in you, in order to be able to lead. I strongly believe that good leaders are made rather, and not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders are developed through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and
I always deemed a follower to be less influential or important than a leader I have never seen myself as a follower for this reasoning and take pride in been what has been described as a natural leader. As my leadership journey has continued to develop I have to admit I could not comprehend the equality of a leader and follower and I could not understand how a follower could benefit a leader, comforted to find out that my perspective on followers are similar to many peoples negative cognition around the word. This is portrayed in the word itself, as it implies that you are not adequate enough to lead others, and thus you rely on others for direction. Five weeks later here I am happy to advise that I finally understand the importance of
When we analyze the success of large corporations like Ford, General Electric and International Business Machines, it is evident that they had series of leaders who were visionary and believed in empowerment of people. When we analyze tough phases of a company or companies that had a fall and ultimate demise, we clearly see a linkage between failure of company and absence of effective leadership (Canwell, Dongrie, Neveras, & Stockton, 2014). The successful organization had leaders who made right decisions at right time and implemented them strategically. The implementation part needs excellent human resources and the ability to lead to them to get the task done. While different situations may need different style of leadership, the sophisticated manpower fueled by technological advancements and globalization have made some leadership styles less effective and some leadership styles to be highly effective (Feser, Mayol, & Srinivasan, 2014). This paper will discuss a tough situation faced in one of my former organization. The organization needed a different leadership style to tide over the falling sales and attrition. Three different leadership styles, their pros and cons, and the likely success in solving the problem will be discussed in this paper.
Leadership is when a person motivates, inspires, encourages, and directs activates that will lead to reaching goals (Jones and George, 2013). Being a leader is an important role, one can be a leader at their job, and in their home life.