Have you ever had a leader that inspired you to develop your own leadership traits? “A leader is someone who demonstrates what’s possible” (Mark Yarnell, 2015). There are numerous leadership styles. Each of the numerous leadership styles can be beneficial if utilized in an appropriate means. I have chosen three leaders and their unique leadership styles to discuss in this paper. The unique styles that will be discussed are situational leadership, transformational leadership, and laissez-faire leadership. I will also discuss each leader’s approach, their fundamental leadership principles, and how each leader used their style within their profession.
Situational Leadership Colin Powell is one of the greatest known military leaders
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If Powell was not open to the ideas and opinions of his troops, many more deaths could have occurred. Powell was supportive of his troops during training times. He would make the decisions, but they had the control. Powell was always supporting his troops and giving them motivation in any situation. The last quadrant is delegation, which Powell did not use much during his military career as he needed to be the one in control at all times as the leader.
Fundamental Leadership Principles Colin Powell has thirteen rules that he follows when it comes to being an effective leader:
1. “It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.
2. Get mad, then get over it.
3. Avoiding having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.
4. It can be done.
5. Be careful what you choose: you may get it.
6. Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision.
7. You can’t make someone else’s choices. You shouldn’t let someone else make yours.
8. Check small things.
9. Share credit.
10. Remain clam. Be kind.
11. Have a vision. Be demanding.
12. Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.
13. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” (Powell, 2012)
These thirteen rules have helped Powell throughout his career as a very successful leader. His situational leadership
As is evident, the book starts with the introduction of the fundamental beliefs that the author has, and develops these into more elaborate and widely applicable areas. The insightful descriptions and advice given here are illustrative of how much input leadership requires from a person at a personal level. It requires a person to put their heart and mind into what they are doing to ensure that they are effective. Powell starts with personal experiences and wisdom that he has “collected or made up over the years” (p. 5). The points given are quite practical and illustrative of a person who has taken the time to learn, build and develop himself or herself in a way that is thoughtful, empirical and relatable. The first of his points I found
Those that follow a transformational leadership framework believe that leaders possess many of the aforementioned qualities, but the focus is on one’s ability to inspire and empower others (Ross, Fitzpatrick, Click, Krouse, & Clavelle, 2014). These leaders literally ‘transform’ their followers by inspiring enthusiasm and performance towards a
4. Colin Powel believes that great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand. As a leader I believe that a leader’s visions and priorities should be lean and compelling. A leaders decisions should be crisp and clear, not tentative and ambiguous. Simplified leadership affects the operational environment in very positive ways: Simple leadership leads to Clarity of purpose, Credibility of leadership, as well as integrity in the unit
Most people recognize Colin Powell as one of the most admired and popular leaders of our time. Often times in leadership you will not always be popular or admired, so what makes this leader different? It was those core values ingrained in him at early age by his parents that would shape him as a future leader (Koltz & Powell, 2012). As with any great leader he’s had his fair share of trials and tribulations, but like an infantry officer he continued to press forward. Colin Powell has been a visionary and ethical leader since the early days of Persian Gulf to Washington’s corridors (Roth, 1993). Throughout my research he has become a personal inspiration for me due to his ability to inspire and motivate those around him. Let’s take a brief look into his background to provide a better understanding of his leadership style.
Colin Powell left a lasting influence on America by illustrating favorable choices. He was an accomplished man. From influencing the army to government decisions, he truly changed America for the better.
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader” (John Quincy Adams). Growing up under a founding father, John Quincy Adams perceived leadership as a responsibility to inspire others rather than a position in which one simply has power over others. John Quincy Adams observed his father John Adams, who took upon a great responsibility to inspire an entire nation; a nation that is now known for freedom and opportunity. John Adam’s inspiration has come a long way, as he had the ability to lead a nation into success rather than tarnish the beauty of it. Collaborative leadership in an authoritative manner, which was seen in John Adams, is what drives one to success, as a leader should be open-minded
Colin powell was a really good citizen and he had served two tours of duty he was also in vietnam and that was one of his good choices and with a positive outcome.
This lieutenant fought in the same war and on the same battle field as his fellow comrades, but could not sit at the same table and have dinner. This was the life that Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of State experienced but later became one of the most respected men in U.S. history. In Powell’s book, It Worked For Me, he talked about his thirteen rules, which are quotes and aphorisms that he lives by. There were two that stood out to me. “It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning” (Koltz, 2012). In an interview with Mark Crumpton from Bloomberg Television, Powell said it really
This shows how respected he was among the Washington staff. This also shows the competence, candor, and integrity Powell posses throughout his term in Washington D.C. Colin Powell continues to advance through the ranks and through the staff jobs he was appointed to. He then served as senior military aide to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, helping to coordinate the invasion of Granada and the bombing of Libya (Biography.com, 2010). To help coordinate these attacks would have to take great courage, because there’s always a chance of casualties. He commits to these plans and excels with both operations.
After reading all 18 of Colin Powell leadership principles, three of the principles stood out that I could identify with. The first, “Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.”
Davila, Epstein, & Shelton, (2013) describe the Seven Rules of Innovation: utilizing strong leadership on the organization’s innovation strategy, integration of innovation, matching innovation to organizational strategy, aligning good management systems in tension between
Nonetheless, Ron’s democratic leadership style was very useful and beneficial. Democratic leadership style benefits include leading individuals to quicker and easier decision-making by involving all members of a team. Democratic leaders also have the ability to motivate their colleagues. Powell did so by encouraging his employees to participate in devising a plan to set up goals and methods to achieve them by sorting objectives. Motivated employees have a tendency to work effectively individually and within a group. Furthermore, communication improves which gives everyone the opportunity to provide input on a certain issue. Therefore when the leader makes the final decision, based on facts from the team, he/she is able to provide a valid choice.
In today’s world, leaders are not defined by age, race or gender. They can be a high school basketball coach, the shift supervisor at the local coffee shop, or even the President of the United States of America. In as many ways that leaders can vary by appearance and responsibility, there is also a variance in the ways that they lead. This case study aims to compare three of the more popular theories of leadership. These leadership theories are situational leadership, trait theory and transformational leadership.
Hence, these are the seven principles and the core principles that Jobs lived by to be a successful and inspiring leader. I personally admire Steve Jobs as he is one that does things in a very systematic manner which lead him to his success.
People have always asked if there is any style of leadership that is most effective. Nevertheless, numerous theories and models have been created to show that there is no style of leadership that is the best. Rather, styles of leadership need to adjust depending on the variables such as the leader, the situation, the subordinate, the task, the environment and other factors. Paul Hersey, Kenneth H. Blanchard, and Dewey E. Johnson noted that if the leader’s style of behavior is appropriate or matches the situation it is considered effective. If it is not appropriate to a given situation, it is deemed ineffective. The difference between the effective and ineffective styles is often not the actual behavior of the leader, but the appropriateness of that behavior to the environment in which it is used. In reality, the third dimension is the environment.