Leadership And Crucibles

Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal. The article “Leadership That Gets Results” by Daniel Goleman is an article that helps readers understand that there is not only one way of becoming a successful leader. Research indicates that leaders with best results do not rely on only one leadership style. Goleman, describes leaderships styles as array of clubs in a golf pro’s bag. Over the course of the game, the pro picks clubs based on the demands of the shot. Thinking is involved during the selection, but usually it is automatic. The pro is aware of the challenge ahead, quickly utilizes the right tool, and puts it to work. It has also been found that emotional intelligence

The book, “Remarkable Leadership”, is significant in our leadership discussion because its main focus is on bringing out the leader quality in all of us. The book’s premises rest on the belief that leaders maybe born but they can also be developed, thus leadership is learnt. The author draws reference on the fact that we are all born with some sort of talent/gift or we may have an interest in something that needs to be developed through training. The critical concepts in the books discuss the qualities and roles that leader should possess, which include being; an advocate for change, an effective communicator, a teacher/mentor, develop necessary relationship, being an innovator, know the importance of teamwork, and one who values learning continuously.

What matters the most is what you do day by day over the long haul, explains the author. If you continually invest in your leadership and let your ‘assets’ compound, the inevitable result is growth overtime. While some are born with greater natural gifts than others, the ability to lead is really a collection of skills, with nearly all of which can be learned and improved. You can be a good leader if you want to, since everyone has the potential to be one, you just have to understand that you can’t accomplish it overnight. Leadership is complicated and has many facets, and it takes a lot of ‘seasoning’ to actually an effective leader. Whether you do or don’t have the natural ability for leadership, the author states that in the development and progress process probably occurred in the following four phases: Phase 1 being ‘I don’t know what I don’t know’ here a person doesn’t realize how valuable leadership is and believes it’s for people up the corporate ladder thus passing up the opportunity to learn how to lead. Phase 2 is ‘I know what I don’t know’ here you begin to realize the importance of learning how to lead and the learning process begins’. Phase 3 is ‘I grow and know and it starts to show’, in this phase you realize you lack skills and begin daily discipline of personal growth in leadership. In phase 4 ‘I simply go because of what I know’ is when you’re knowledgeable and your ability to lead

This approach emphasize that having a leader with a certain set of traits is crucial to having effective leadership. It’s the leader and the leader’s personality that are central to the leadership process.

“At times of change or dealing with uncertainty or in a crisis-- that is when the best leader will shine” (Ellis, 2016). A leader who can work effectively in a complicated, unpredictable situation is a competent leader and he tirelessly works to improve his capabilities (Ledlow & Coppola, 2010). All great leaders are known for communicating effectively what they want to achieve. They are visionaries who have the ability to lead others toward a shared goal (Gibson & Weber, 2015).

In today’s society, there are some people who possesses the qualities of outstanding leadership. Also, in today’s society, there are some people who keep qualities of a poor leader. A good leader is someone who reads and understands their own emotions and recognize the impact on themselves and others. Another thing great leaders do is think and act with optimism, by looking at the positives and not so much on the negatives. Another great strength a good leader has is that he or she knows the strengths and limits of the certain people on their team (Hewertson). Furthermore, a great leader leads by example, set achievable goals, assigns tasks within someone’s strengths, gets the right people on board,

"Leaders are people who are able to express themselves fully…they know who they are, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how to fully deploy their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. They also know what they want, why they want it, and how to communicate what they want to others in order to gain their cooperation and support. Finally they know how to achieve their goals" (Ingram, 2004).

To be a good leader you need the desire, willpower and then go through the never ending process of training, education and learning from experience.(Clark 2004)

I enact my authentic self to the fullest extent at work, but it is not necessarily that best approach for my environment. I want to lead with kindness and smiles, but I work at a warehouse in the northeast with not so friendly people. Therefore, I am limited to my true authentic self in order to adapt to my surroundings. I am slowly adjusting my leadership approach to adapt to my not so friendly or happy workplace.

Authors Bennis and Thomas argue in the article “Crucibles of Leadership” that the ability that an individual has in finding meaning and responding to negative events is a factor of leadership that is the most reliable and predictable. Several examples depict situations that people faced trying circumstances and negative events and were able to show their leadership skills. Bennis & Thomas (2002) refer to these moments as moments as being the crucibles. I have personally gone through a rough time when I was volunteering and being a leader on my group. However, the person that I refer to had gave me an attitude then a comment in front of my group which made my group shocked and that had changed me, due to the embarrassment.

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.

To be a leader, you need a variety of skills. Providing one of them being, intelligence; if you desire to be a leader, you must be intelligent in what you are leading. For example, you can't go out and lead a group of hikers if you have no idea where you're going, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll get them lost. There are many forms of leadership, those including: leading through something, being in charge with responsibility, or even helping someone through a hard time. Each one of these requires some leadership.

If one has no leadership ability, one cannot be a leader. If one does not make what his or her followers consider the correct decisions to achieve their goals, no one will have faith in the leader's abilities and, consequently, no one will follow and without followers, there can be no leader. Another important criterion which one must have in order to be a leader is a person who leads a crowd in the direction where the goal can be accomplish as well as someone who acknowledges a problem and finds solutions to it.

“Leadership is more ability than job. Moreover, it is all about determination, ability to solve problems, set direction for followers, gather them for common purpose and motivating people to achieve tasks. Furthermore, it is a charisma and the ability to reacting at the right time for a particular competitive situation” (L.Mullins, 2010, P372).

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.