Good For Great By Jim Collins Essay

I am Joseph Maruska, I am currently a Major in the United States Air Force. This essay will introduce you to my personal command philosophy. It will also summarize and analyze a brief interview recently conducted with a current squadron commander using my own leadership philosophy as a guide. Throughout this essay I will draw upon my own personal experiences and thoughts, lessons discussed throughout the Leadership and Command Course, as well the discussion with a current squadron commander. Leadership and command styles come in many different forms and there is not necessarily a correct or incorrect way to lead depending on your organization or current turn of events. This essay is simply my thoughts after being in the Air Force for the last eleven years.

After analyzing the case study: “Effective leadership in unexpected places: A socio-historical analysis of Red Tops dance orchestra”, It is my belief that Walter Osborne’s team leadership of “effective communication” and “specifying team mission and organization” as the most important and meaningful leadership traits to me as a military leader. These leadership traits are essential for enhancing the trust relationships between a leader and his subordinates as well as subordinates to leaders. These leadership traits are embedded in the Army’s definition of leadership “the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation to accomplish the mission and improve the organization” as stated in ADP 6-22.

This paper will discuss the topic of Leadership and both explore, as well as explain, it’s applicability in today’s work environment. The basis for discussion will be centered on the material provided during instruction of Management 371 and the personal LSA Journal entries of John Brennan. Additionally, there are three referenced articles that further explain and highlight the topic of Leadership. Throughout this paper, Leadership and the traits that make up a great leader will be explained.

1. When discussing leadership and followership, there is often a split in personal opinion when it comes to which one is more important. Leadership and followership both offer unique benefits in their own right and have supporting factors, which give them the perceived appearance of being more important. The focus for this paper will be to advocate the importance of followership over that of leadership. This will be accomplished by addressing the pros of followership to include some core skills of followership and the effects followership has on the development of a leader. The expectation of an officer however, places a high amount of emphasis on leadership more so than that of followership. Given this perceived importance of leadership as an officer, an effective leadership style will be explained and how officers develop this particular leadership style. While leadership has a distinct presence within the professional work environment, followership is considered the underlying backbone in developing an effective high performing team.

The intention of this paper is to introduce my leadership philosophy. I will start off defining leadership as well as explaining my leadership philosophy. I will then share a summary of an interview with a Squadron Commander about a difficult situation that he needed to use his philosophy to work through and analyze how my philosophy applies to the same situation followed by a brief summary.

General Powell highlights 18 lessons learned in leadership that are applied to successful companies, and how they are applied to leadership in his presentation to the Outreach Program, and the Sears Corporate Headquarters. These approaches can be applied not only in business but life in general. I will highlight three of the lessons that have impacted my career in the military

This paper on Leadership will compare the primary differences and characteristics between the tactical leader and the organizational leader. I will provide you with the basics for development, characteristics, and the fundamentals that help guide and influence each leader’s style and how they influence Soldiers to follow them. Leaders at all levels demonstrate their values, knowledge, skills, and abilities in many different means and methods in

Given the opportunity to take command of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft Attack squadron actively engaged in combat is truly humbling, and standing on the shoulders of giants, now is the chance to test whether training, examples, both good and bad, and a lifelong building of one’s philosophy is enough preparation to meet that test. My leadership philosophy is one of proactive engagement, continual process/self-improvement, honest feedback, and 360-degree accountability. On Col Waddell’s continuum of Leader Behavior, my leadership style trends toward follower-dominant but not as far as TQM. I present ideas and problems, get suggestions and ultimately make the calls.

Can you identify one company that had changed from being good to being great around you? Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great, is a student and teacher of enduring great companies. In order to make this book, Mr. Collins started his research with 1,435 good companies. Then, he examined their performance over 40 years, to later on, find the 11 companies that became great.

Good to Greatoutlines a model for turning a good, average or even mediocre company in to a great one. The book includes a useful model which brings all the theory together in a meaningful and memorable way. By bringing together disciplined people, using disciplined thought and disciplined action companies can build up and breakthrough the barriers that hold them back from greatness.

The book of Collins (2001) entitled Good to Great became one of the best seller not because of the attractiveness written in it but because of its ability to inspire the people through reminding them on how to struggle against the tendencies and aid the individuals in setting a higher standard toward greatness. The author manages to show the different sides of philosophical sides which also attracted a lot of criticisms that tend to examine the significant implications of the book in determining the future of an organization. The impression that the book received is derived n particular about the author's idea about the leadership and the position of the organizations within the industry and the greatness of an organization in the midst of competitive environment. Despite of the number of criticism it received, there still a good point that the book delivers for its readers.

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.

There are four unifying principles presented in this paper, each principle represented by two contrasting concepts. The principles are briefly described below, and the application of each principle to organizational behavior and management is illustrated through several examples. The intent of these examples is to demonstrate the range of applications for each principle, rather than to provide an exhaustive analysis. (A more complete set of applications is available from the author.)

In this book, the author, Jim Collins (and his team of twenty-one researchers, editors etc.), using specific and rigorous benchmarks, chose 11 companies that were clearly outperforming, with sustainability, their industry average. Collins wanted to know why and how. Many may initially assume that CEO compensation, technology, mergers and acquisitions, and change management initiatives were important factors in the greatness of these companies. However, Collins discovered that disciplined people, disciplined thought, and disciplined action, played a much more significant role in determining the ability for these companies to achieve and sustain greatness.

Participating in the course Foundations of Organizational Leadership presented many opportunities to enhance and enrich my perspective on leadership as well as develop my own unique leadership philosophy. By observing the theories, models and cases presented in Northouse, Kouzes and Posner textbooks, I was able to learn through the experience of others what a true leader should represent. While considering the strengths and weaknesses of each theory, I am able to implement a leadership style with an effective approach tailored to many different types of learners. In addition, witnessing both the triumphs and failures of various businesses and leadership styles, helped me confirm my personal stance and aspirations towards becoming a leader. By implementing what I have learned from the course and textbooks, I will address in this paper what specific leadership theories, styles and models have contributed to forming my own leadership philosophy. In addition, I will also define the values, qualities, strengths and weaknesses and ethical considerations that pertain to my stance on leadership. By integrating a faith based approach as the foundation of my leadership style, I hope to implement my new philosophy into my current and future career path.