Leadership & Power

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” John C. Maxwell

Lack of leadership has proven to be one of the leading causes of companies not meeting their targets, and that's where Welch's four principles of establishing Mission and Values, applying Candor, implementing Differentiation, hearing the Voice of the team and rewarding accordingly have become very useful in building a strong leadership foundation. In my recent work assignment, I didn't feel I had many good examples to follow. Therefore, to delve into options of how to affect my teams' culture and support, my company's goal has led me to understand the difference between managing and leading. In this paper, I will review my leadership attributes, including any weaknesses, and study the opportunities for improvements to building a platform for effective leadership.

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 is a difference between being a leader and being a boss. Both are based on authority. A boss demands blind obedience; a leader earns his authority through understanding and trust." Klaus Balkenhol

Leaders need to have an objective their professional goal and possess the skills and education to help their

In the world we live in today the roles of power and leadership are often confused. Although they have similar meanings, they can be distinctly defined between the latter. The key difference between the two is the term of effect. Power is the exercise of leadership, and leadership is only defined if you have power. Leadership always involves attempts on a leader to affect behavior or a follower in a situation, whereas power is not equivalent with influence on another person’s behavior. Although power and leadership have similar meanings, they are certain differences that can point out what makes

According to Bruce Avolio, “What we have clearly learned is that leaders who can balance transactional and transformational leadership across time, situations, and challenges are the most effective” (Avolio 2011, 49). “People have a greater sense of ownership at the highest levels in terms of identification and are willing to provide the extra effort needed to succeed” (Avolio 2011, 49). Yet, Rusty Ricketson wrote, “Those who embrace the followerfirst perspective are not dependent on titles or positions in order to gain a sense of identity and worth. They understand that good leaders are good followers” (Ricketson 2014, 197). Although Avolio supports Full Range Leadership and Ricketson support Following-Leaders there are both

While the sheep are busy eating the grasses in the field, the shepherd must search for green pastures. Just like the shepherd in the fields, a leader in the business world must know where his team is headed, aligning their strategy with the group’s goals. They must step up in order to lead their group. In this chapter, it was also emphasized that just like the gentleness of the staff, a good leader must use persuasion and not coercion.

There are a great deal of factors that can impact both presidential power and presidential leadership. The authors we have read this semester have had interesting perspectives on these situations, and some are similar and some are very different, based on the author’s opinions on these subjects.

It is as meaningful as a formal gathering, if not more so.” (Phillips, 1993; p. 26). Organizations, particularly government and police, operate in a fairly rigid hierarchy of command and control. What Lincoln embodied was that a true leader should not be shackled to a title or a managerial position. In James Kouzes and Barry Posner’s book: The Leadership Challenge (2012), the first of their five practices of exemplary leadership is, ironically, “Model the Way”. How else can a leader model the way and encourage their subordinates than to be seen and heard outside of just their position? Leaders can only truly lead if their subordinates have regular contact with them. The opportunity to interact with subordinates in a casual, informal environment presents the leader with untold opportunities to impart their shared visions and beliefs to their people.

There has been vast amounts of research done on the topic of leadership, and yet despite this it continues to be ‘‘riddled with paradoxes, inconsistencies, and contradictions’’

The author John (2013) has claimed that an effective leadership requires talk and walk. He added that leaders must know how to move things along and they must know where

in the recent years, there has been an increasing interest in understanding the fundamental role of leadership in the organizations and in what extent leaders can influence the organizations. Regardless, the types of the organizations, leaders are playing significant important part in designing the organizations’ orientation and carrying out for the organization the changes needed in order to achieve agreed common targets and enhance the employee’s performance. within organizations’ developments.

Stephen R. Covey, then later, explains the nature of leadership today as, “The more you can get people committed to a common vision, a common purpose, and a set of principles that they already have inside of them. Then the

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)