Hoboken, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: The Leadership Challenge

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.

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight D. Eisenhower This quote from Eisenhower rings true on many levels. During my career in the military and the private sector, I have been subjected to many different styles of leadership, good or bad. In my leadership roles I have attained, I tried to model leadership abilities by taking bits and pieces of previous leader’s styles and forming them into my own model. This has proven to work well as dealing with people from all different walks of life there is no one size fits all approach. In writing this paper, I will detail my own leadership platform drawing from the course material and various other sources. The goal of this paper is to show a solid understanding of the course teachings and perhaps give the reader a new found perspective on leadership.

Barker, R. A. (1997). How can we train leaders if we do not know what leadership is? Human Relations, 50(4), 343-362. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/231429531?accountid=458

Casse, P. (2014c). The new drivers of leadership. Training Journal, p. 27. Retrieved from academicguides.walden.edu/library

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,

give a holistic view of the entire leadership process and clearly demonstrates how important it is

There are many business associations and networking groups all over Chicago. These network groups different market segments including corporate advisory, executive, entrepreneurship, finance, technology, venture capital, non-profit, human resource, marketing, political, healthcare and international groups. The leading marketing groups in Chicago include; The Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG), American Marketing Association (AMA), Chicago Association of Direct Marketing (CADM) and Business Marketing Association (BMA). On the other hand, the leading executive organizations in Chicago include; the Chicago Club, Executives Club of Chicago and the Economic Club of Chicago

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.

Abstract: There are numerous definitions of leadership, all of which contain elements related to people (the leader and the follower(s)), communicating in person or by the written word, actions (organizing, directing, coaching, and/or motivating), and for a purpose (meeting a goal(s) or accomplishing a task(s)) (ADP 6-22) (Fisher 2015) (Bolden 2013) (Hogan 2005). Additionally, everything done occurs within a given context. Effective leaders are poised, proficient, pertinent, and practical in the application of the art of leadership. This means leaders are ready to engage the group with effective methods and

In the Leadership Challenge, 4th edition, it is Kouzes & Posner (2007) intention to present a road map for individuals to follow on their leadership journey. The authors stress that “leadership is not a gene and it’s not an inheritance.” Leadership they assert is “an identifiable set of skills and abilities that are available to all of us” (p. 23). They make clear that the “great person” theory of leadership is “plain wrong.” Leaders are our everyday heroes who do extraordinary things on a regular basis (p. 23).

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE

It also may promote job engagement in which the employees start being more productive and motivated due to the invested emotional energies they have put into these relationships and their work. Such an act also shows the organizations cognizance of the reinforcement processes, in which individuals are likely to adhere to standards and even exceed productivity when they know such a reward or incentive is set in place. The thank you party reinforces the workers drive and learn to work harder after being shown such appreciation. Directly after the first event was held, Chase executives were flooded with letters and messages stating how much they themselves appreciated the event. "Looking back at the staff's response to the event we are more sure than ever-it pays to say thank you." (Coburn, 1966). Even today, events like these show employees the company cares enough to take the time and show how much they value their employees efforts to the organization as a whole prove to enhance workers productivity and motivation. The most essential aspect of this means to motivate is how the act cultivates gratitude among all staff and

Conger, Jay A. (1990). The Dark Side of Leadership, Elsiever Science Publishing Company Inc., New York, USA.

This paper will describe an individual who had a tremendous influence on me because of his leadership skills. Richard “Richie” Brown was my father. He was a great leader, mentor, and supportive parent right up to his death in 1998. This paper will give a brief personal history and biographical sketch of my father. The paper will discuss his leadership methods and why I believe they were effective. I will use the Kouzes/Posner leadership model, as outlined in The Leadership Challenge, to analyze the methods practiced by Richard Brown. This paper will list some of his strengths and weaknesses, my personal lessons learned from him, and conclude with the value of the Kouzes/Posner leadership framework. My father had

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)