Leadership And Its Impact On Leadership

There are two kinds of people in this world, followers and leaders. Followers are the people that never take a leadership role in any activity. "They are more valued by followers and have higher performing teams." (Cherry 2014) However, leaders are the ones that use their leadership skills to make a difference in this world, such as presidents, teachers, or even college graduates. Leadership is not something you can learn from a book, but you have to gain this skill through experiences such as holding an office, organizing an event, speaking in front of people, or participating in a leadership program.

Throughout the entire course of this class, I have been asked to fill out different self-assessments related to whatever topic or approach to leadership Peter Northouse (2013) was discussing in his book Leadership Theory and Practice. Each one of these self-assessments were intended to help me in discovering who I was as a person and a leader. Some of the leadership self-assessments included the Least Preferred Coworker Measure from the Contingency Theory chapter, the Leader-Member Exchange Questionnaire from the Leader-Member Exchange Theory chapter, and the Servant Leadership Questionnaire from the chapter that discussed Servant Leadership. Many of these questionnaires I found to be very effective in helping me discover more about my personality traits and leadership style.

The leadership module is a very wide and dynamic one. There are several definitions for leadership as Stodgill (1974, p12) states. Seeman (1960, p3) defines leadership as the acts of a person which influence other people towards a shared direction. Influence is a vital aspect of leadership as the person who leads should have the charisma and the ability to influence others, otherwise leadership is non-existent. However that does not mean that leaders are better people than their followers. Hollander (1992, p7) explains that leaders and followers should be understood in relation to each other. Leaders and followers both have a mutual purpose and attention to common goals.

Ronald Reagan once said, “the greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things, he is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” This quote by our past president, Ronald Reagan, relates to my experiences with leadership. Throughout high school I experienced democratic leadership though playing sports like field hockey and track. I have also experienced leadership during small group projects, as well as being a leader of an organization on a college campus. Through all of these experiences, I have learned essential characteristics and qualities to becoming a good leader. I have also had negative experiences with leadership that have taught me things not to do as a leader. I

Some believe that leaders are born into this world, that hidden somewhere in their lineage is some secret gene or segment of DNA which gifts them with all the traits and qualities of the leaders before them. Some, on the other hand, surmise that leadership is something instilled at a young age. That you are either raised into a leader, or you are not. However, I consider leadership to be achievable for anybody. The leader in my life which I hope to emulate is my grandfather, Boyd Brummett. Growing up, he would always tell me that there are two types of people in this world, leaders and followers. He is not the first to say this, but he is one of the best examples of a principled leader that one can find. The traits that I have always respected in my grandfather and hope to emulate are his tenacity, his humility, and his constant drive to improve himself.

This experience greatly informs my leadership style today. I believe that the key to being a leader is helping individuals to recognize and capitalize upon their potential. Individuals often fail to see in themselves what others see. A leader must show team members what they cannot see to enable them to flourish. This is essential to fostering a diverse community, as encouraging individuals’ strengths and differences helps them to express their entire, authentic selves, as opposed to trying to conform to expectations. As a result, teams can become more dynamic, positive, and creative and thus more

Chapter sixteen discusses various leadership theories which can implemented by leaders to achieve success. The choice of leadership theory differs from leader to leader as they possess different vision and way of managing. A theory isn 't always perfect in itself, it is the endless effort of the leaders which makes the theory a perfect one. Two approaches of leadership that I prefer are Situational Leadership Theory and Servant Leadership Theory. Among many theories I prefer these two because I tend to practice those principles most of the time and I assume these are theories that I truly tend to continue in a long run.

I do not believe that there is such thing as a correct leadership theory, there I said it, I’ve been holding it in an jesus does it feel great to get it out. Haha what I do believe in is awesome people, people who treat other people great and treat themselves and their business, foundation or institution great now that’s what I believe in. So in the sake of great leaders I will be taking on prompt number two and constructing my own theory by using 3 examples from the book and 6 sources that I will cite properly in an MLA format.

As community members, we have a concern that involves the upstanding of your FFA chapter as well as the National Organization. As we all know by now, you have a pregnant officer on your officer team. Frankly, as grandparents, parents, and community members, we do not consider the officer in question fit for the position. According to the Ava FFA Chapter Constitution and Bylaws, as well as the 2017-2018 Officer Contract that the officer in question was asked to sign, we can prove that she is not fit for the leadership position as an Ava FFA Chapter Officer. We are requesting that she be removed from her office position immediately. In the Ava FFA Chapter Constitution and Bylaws, it states in Article III, Section C,

The purpose of this essay is to identify and analyze two leadership theories in regards to how they contribute to helping leaders, lead and compare and distinguish the difference. This essay will explore 2 main theories of leadership covered in the unit, which are charismatic leadership and transformational theory. This two theories are well known in the filed of leadership. This essay will illustrate leaders who acquire these two main theories and how they used it effectively to achieve the objectives and goals to become a great leader. Leadership is an important skill to have when being a manager or even in your day-to-day life depending on the person you are. Leadership helps you improve work production by motivating

Everyday humans experience the driving force of leadership as leaders exist everywhere within our society. Leaders help convey global messages, they help unite followers under a common purpose and motivate the public to get involved. Leadership, whether it be in a social setting or within the workforce is often a sought after role, so much so that “for decades, hundreds of leadership scholars have attempted to define the term, postulate theories, conduct research, and write about the topic…”(Komives, Lucas, McMahon, T. (2006). Exploring Leadership), all in hopes of discovering how to become a better leader. Through taking Leadership Studies I have been able to more closely identify the leadership traits within myself, as well as use my knowledge of my own self-identification to better enact my leadership style amongst those around me.

There are many kinds of leaders; some lead through position and authority, while others lead through inspiration and vision. Some people are simply natural born leaders. However, whether one was born a leader or has to become a leader, all great leaders spend time developing their traits. Similarly, when you train for a sport, you first learn to develop the fundamentals, and then you work to master and apply them. I’ve been told I am a born leader, but have always sought to improve my leadership abilities through experience. Maxwell states, “The learned leader; has seen leadership modeled most of life, has learned leadership through training, and has self-discipline to become a great leader” (Maxwell, 93). This statement is reflective of my experience during my military tenure, and what it means to me is; leadership must be developed in practice, as well as in theory.

The evolution of leadership might best be summed up by Mohandas Gandhi (NDI) who said, "I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people." There is an abundance of well-researched literature on the roles and functions of leadership and management, however the simple fact is that leadership and management techniques vary from organization to organization and situation to situation with respect to culture and the capacity of the leadership present in that organization at any given time.

“The manager does things right; but the leader does the right thing” is a statement, in which Warren Bennis, author of On Becoming a Leader: The Leadership Classic, is best known for, that addresses why there is a difference between Leadership versus Management (Murray, What is the Difference Between Management and Leadership?, 2009). Just like most people, I use “leadership” and “management” interchangeably because one feels that they are probably the same thing or embody the same characteristics. Further discussion will provide details on what leadership is, what management entails, and why they are different.

The framework of this critical synthesis is to summarize and critically analyze existing literature with regards to the subject of effective leadership. The review of the literature indicates that there are a number of elements which impact effective leadership. In an organization, when these elements are implemented, they contribute negatively or positively to the delivery of the organizational goals and directives. Subsequently we must first start with analyzing all relative theories and concepts of leadership.