Is Leadership A Part Of Me?

There are many qualities that come to mind when a person thinks of a good leader. It may not be an actual person that is pictured when term “leader” comes in casual conversation, but instead just a series of characteristics or experiences that might make a person fit to be in charge. Or rather instead there are some that see themselves when they think of authority and power, still even those that imagine what they could become if given the proper training. The emphasis society places on leadership is undoubtedly instilled within the minds of every child from a young age that are urged that having a sense of leadership is the only way to be successful. Despite this, only few are really fit for a position where

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.

Before going through this journey of self-discovery, my view of leadership was accurately described by John C. Maxwell “ Leadership is influence.” (Maxwell, para. 25, 2012). I believed, before taking this class and Northouse’s (2013) assessments, leaders were defined by the extent to which they could influence others to achieve company goals. I thought that, when discussing leadership, the leader was the most important aspect of the leader-member dyad and that it was the leader who had the greatest influence over how successful the organization was. Leaders themselves, in my view, should have been the focus of leadership studies and it should have been up to the leader to develop his/her skills in

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,

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).

Do I possess the traits and behaviors associated with leadership? If not, can I now learn how to be a leader at this stage of my life? What kind of leader am I? Is that the kind of leader I want to be? What do my superiors, co-workers, friends, and family think of my leadership style and ability? Why am I sometimes uncomfortable talking about myself as a leader? Working my way through the text, interviewing colleagues, and checking into other resources, I can form a personal picture and embrace a personal theory about my own leadership style and ability. I may have stirred up more questions than I am able to answer but the process has been a fascinating insight to self-discovery. The end result is a desire to try

This simple interaction has allowed me to realize that who I am as an individual does not stop me from being a leader. In fact, my definition of a leader was the only factor preventing me from doing so. In reality, leadership is not about being exclusively extraordinary, impressing others with acts, or moving mountains single-handedly. Instead, a leader is the opposite. A leader comes from within a group, when one takes the first step to create a pathway for the group to follow.

Many people in life wish to be a leader – someone who others can follow and who others

(2002) provides me with rich perspective about my attitude at work and in personal life. ESTJs may exhibit attitudes that would reveal their needs for high control in the organization. This need for high control seem to have been a major influence in my attitudes toward team leaders in the workplace. I am more likely than anybody else in my team to resist domineering behavior from a senior officer. My response to domineering behavior seems automatic but now I know it is part of my personality. That is, if my ESTJ preference indicates high needs for control, then it also means that I would be more inclined to resist overbearing controls. To be a good leader, I must learn to be a submissive subordinate. A submissive subordinate would learn the good and the best leadership behavior and able to filter the bad undesirable aspect of the

The purpose of the study was to determine how people can become an authentic leader. Over the years, studies were conducted to establish the characteristics and personalities of an ideal leader. However, researchers failed to develop a clear idea of an authentic leader. In addition, in the past five years people had developed a deep distrust of leaders. Consequently, after people read Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value by Bill George, they wanted to know how they could become and remain authentic leaders. So, a research team was sent out to answer this question. As a result, researchers concluded that people life stories is what developed them into a great leader.

While the behavioral paradigm severed for the basis of a new leadership theory, meta-analytic studies revealed that the behaviors of leaders are important for predicting leadership effectiveness (Derue et. al, 2001). In contrast, Zaccaro (2007) stated that while a situation is important in explaining variance in leadership behavior, it might not be as important when differentiating between leaders and followers. The relative stability or malleability to a specific situation may differ over time and between different leadership traits (Zaccaro, 2007).

We have learned from earlier sessions of this class that individuals inherently possess certain biases. Leaders need to understand that they will inherently have stronger relationships with followers they like or are similar to them. In a multi-cultural situation, this can result in the leader allowing biases to prevent them from developing relationships with those that are culturally different, or that they do not “like” as well as others. This leads to a lower expectation on that follower as part of the “out-group”, less resources and guidance provided, and generally a weaker relationship between the leader and the follower. All of this translates to lower levels of performance and commitment from the follower. Leaders must ensure they don’t allow “liking” of certain followers to cloud their perception of others or the quality of their work and commitment. Conversely, leaders can benefit from this relationship by “liking” all of their followers and developing strong relationships with each of them individually. This is accomplished by the leader maintaining a positive implicit follower theory in regards to each of their followers. Leaders who have more positive perceptions of followers are more likely to judge and treat them favorably, resulting in greater “liking” and stronger LMX

B) I do not believe these traits apply to me. Even though I was raised by an authoritarian mother and

Phenomenon: A follower-centric approach discusses the role charisma plays in the leader/ follower centric paradigms. Based on the conversation that the author is having with his audience, charisma can be conceptualized as a five-dimensional construct and among them three (i.e. leader extraordinariness, leader archetypically and leader group prototypically) are cognitive (i.e. beliefs) while the remaining two (i.e. reverence with awe and love with enthusiasm) are affective (i.e. sentiments). The operational definitions of these dimensions are:

The trait that most people seek in others are as to how well a person portrays themselves within the first meeting. According to Tyler, a clinical professor in the department of Pharmacotherapy, a leader is able to “ …fix firmly on the mind or memory.” (Tyler, PG.1339, 2016). By leaving a good impression, this stimulates other people to think that he/she is someone who is not out of the ordinary. By being unique, a person is more likely to remember the individual that had created a great impression upon them. Thus, a person is more likely to be influenced by that individual. They are likely to be influence because a person often seeks someone who could be trusted. Great impressions generate a mentality that the individual is someone who has more experience, therefore