Critique Of The Truth About Leadership

First published in 1987, The Leadership Challenge is a guide for becoming leader. The book received many awards and its above two million copies are internationally sold. The book teaches principles of leadership that apply whether the leader is running a sports team or a fortune 500 organization. The book includes stories and examples of many leaders from micro to macro level (Founders and Authors, 2013). The basic leadership principles can be adopted by anyone to challenge status quo and increase leader productivity multifold. The book tells about the flow and hierarchy of values too (Machedo, 2013). One can use the guide without an instructor to develop leadership traits.

The theme of leadership is relevant today for many areas of life. After consulting the dictionary, one can construe the leadership as an inner force that manifests in the ability to influence and to control others. A person possesses this quality when he/she can guide masses and move them to the goal, take the consequences and realize the responsibility for himself/herself and others. Shakespeare once remarked that to be a good leader, first of all, one should serve faithfully and loyally. Otherwise, leadership is a destructive force: either you succeed, or it destroys you. “Macbeth” and “Lord of The Flies’ are epitomes of both leadership patterns and worth.

of academic approaches and experiences. Banks and Ledbetter begin the book by highlighting the growing interest in leadership and the difference between leadership and management. The authors make a point about the issue of values, which is a necessary component when discussing the topic of leadership. Banks and Ledbetter state “the crisis that exists in leadership today

The truth from our book, The Truth About Leadership, that has stuck out to me the most is in Chapter 2 when it talks about credibility. I think this stuck out to me the most due to my relationships I've had in business. I've learned from my father (business owner for 20+ years) the best way to be in a position of leadership is honest and truthful. People can tell when they aren't being told the truth and when it seems like you're unsure of yourself or playing the part you are soon caught by your colleagues. Most importantly from this chapter I took away that leadership is for someone who aspires to lead and who can guide a group of followers.

The book begins by exploring reasons for the interest in leadership today. The authors suggest a variety of reasons, including the rapid pace of change, and they also set out some parameters for understanding leadership, including the question of ‘leader’ or ‘leadership’. Here, as throughout the book, what I found most stimulating was the way in which the authors take a step back and ask questions which are not always being asked elsewhere.

Foundational theories are the backbone of today’s application of leadership in all aspects of a global society. Understanding the characteristics that define successful leadership is not feasible due to application of leadership principles in different circumstances. This does not defray the premise that effective leadership cannot be learned. In fact, learning and understanding the many approaches to leadership allows an individual to internalize and effectively develop a leader’s mentality (Derecskei, 2016). In this section the four core theories on leadership and the tools used under each will be discussed.

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”.

Leadership lacks a universal definition, there are too many variables that make each situation unique and different. Kouzes and Posner’s book, the Truth About Leadership, takes an alternative approach, stating ten actualities that exemplify proper leadership. By staying constant to these truths, there is opportunity for individual customization of a leadership definition or style best suited to oneself.

In the Textbook, “The Art of Leadership, 5th Edition,” written by George Manning and Kent Curtis, provides insightful information about the role of leaders in today’s society and the kind of values and skills that they possess. In the preface of the text (Manning & Kent, 2015,) the authors write, “the study of leadership is multidisciplinary with contributions from history, philosophy, psychology, political science, business, and education. The fifth edition of The Art of Leadership combines behavior theory with busi- ness practice to teach central concepts and skills in leadership.” This essay will discuss a total of 16 of the concepts and skills that the quote mentions, taken from chapters one, two, three, six, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen,

Whenever think about leaders, we usually consider responsibility and leadership as their most salient characteristics. In the speech of drew dudley, He talks about a story when a girl who he does not even know thanks him for changing her life. He believes the leadership is not only leading a group of people but an everyday act that improve each other’s life and he wants people to realize how big impact to others they can make.

The authors describe a brief history of leadership over the years focusing how some changes have occurred but that the “content” of leadership has remained the same. The changes they spoke of are increased marketplace, technology and political affects such at global terrorism and scarcity of natural resources. With the introductions of the Millennial into the work force, leaders have shifted their leadership to meet their demands. Kouzes and Posner wrote on “10 truths about leadership”. They believe that “the context of leadership has changed, the content of leadership has not changed.”

Leadership is a theme in my life that has been in my focus for almost a decade now. It has constantly been a developing quality for me, so naturally a lot of factors have affected and are affecting its formation. There is of course no way to recall everything that played in, but there are many significant lessons I’ve learned through a few leadership opportunities that have been major parts of my life.

Leadership is something that can be taught (Northouse, 2015. There are some valuable theories, which will be discussed later in this paper, how a leader can develop into having a strong influence in any daily aspect of their lives. Also later in this paper it will be discussed the various styles of leaders that can affect the behaviors of the actions of each leader. Each leader can learn these attributes or some of them just have the natural capability of being a leader.

There are always chances and possibilities to become a good leader regardless the odds against you, gender, age, race, education, previous experience, etc. This paper defines what leadership is and it explains the relationship between leadership and influence. It also highlights the importance of finding opportunities to develop skills and creating strong to become a good leader. It is also emphasized the power of influence that comes from motivating your team, to improve performance and satisfaction and that setting a clear goal is mandatory for good leadership. The conclusion summarizes all the topics under discussion.

Leaders have always been our source of inspiration, passion and motivation to make us believe, try and achieve things that we may not have envisioned to achieve. However, with the growing complexities, rate at which changes are occurring and other dynamics of the corporate world, the leaders and leadership is being tested more than ever before. It seems that the old leadership styles and fundamentals are not effective anymore or, may be, have lost their relevance completely.