Leadership Vs. Positional Leadership

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

A leader is defined as an individual who is able to exert influence over other people to help achieve group or organizational goals where leadership is the process by which an individual

By definition a leader is a person who leads or commands a group however, I believe a leader should be a person who inspires his team excel in the worst of conditions. A leader should be extraordinary reliable as the team should know that the leader could guide them to the best of his abilities toward their goal. A leader should be persistent as they should be the motivational force leading the group. A leader should be patient and calm knowing that quality takes time and that the individual member of his team have obstacles to overcome on their own part.

When we think of leadership, what comes to mind? Is it the bold, charismatic, and passionate person who takes the group on their back? Or is it really the more quiet and realistic leader who has a compromising attitude? Most people will think of a loud and passionate person who can grab the attention of an audience. But leaders come in all shapes and sizes. Leadership is defined by dictionary.com as the ability to guide or influence others to achieve a common goal. Although the term leader is used in our everyday lives, many people mistake it for close synonyms. Not all leaders have to be the boisterous, bold, and burly people that most people think of them to be. More often than not, a leader will be the commanding one in the group. But there

Is a leader as defined in the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, merely one who leads - synonymous with a boss? Or something more? I believe that a leader is much more than that and can be defined in any number of ways. In attempting to define a leader personally, I will use both myself and others as examples.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, leadership is the power or ability to lead other people, the act or instance of leading. I believe that Leadership is an art, the art to get others to follow and accomplish a common goal or task in a harmonic manner. A leader can be shown in all kinds of shapes and forms. To be a great leader many people believe it consists of modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart. Over the course of me learning how to become a better leader and being in leadership roles, I’ve learned that all these are very necessary to be a great leader.

Classical organisational theorist defined leadership in terms of achieving a group’s objectives R.C Davies (1942) referred to leadership as “the principle dynamic forces that motivates and coordinates the organisation in the accomplishment of its objectives.” Similarly, Urwick (1953) stated that the leader is “the personification of common purpose not only to all who work under taking, but to everyone outside it.” K. Davies (1962) defined leadership as “the human factor which binds a group together and motivates it towards goals.” Cattell (1951) took the extreme position that leadership is whatever or whoever contributes to the group’s performance. To measure each members Leadership, Cattell noted, removed him or her from the group, one at a time, and observe what happens to the group’s performance. Calder (1977) and Pfeffer (1977) “stated that leadership is mainly influence and is even attributed to participants after the fact.

My idea of leadership is being able to inspire others, motivate, set a vision, communicate, respect others, and of course, lead by example. A leader must have an honest understanding of who they are, what they know, and what they are capable of. To be a successful leader, you have to be able to convince your followers, not just yourself or your superiors, that you are worthy of being followed. In my opinion, this can build confidence in their followers to have faith in you, in order to be able to lead. I strongly believe that good leaders are made rather, and not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders are developed through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and

Leadership has been studied extensively and many varying definitions exist. Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy (2015, p.4) review many of these definitions and consequently describe leadership as ‘the process of influencing an organised group towards its goals’. Leadership involves the interplay of a range of different factors, not least the leader themselves, the followers and the situation. For

A leader is a person who takes risks, attempts to achieve shared goals, and inspires others to action (Marquis & Huston,

The basic premise for leadership is the process of influencing other people to follow your lead in order to accomplish a goal. It is about the relationship between the leader and the followers. A good leader tries to motivate people to bring about positive changes revealing a common objective without using coercion or manipulation. Leadership is not about control, but permitting interaction and communication between the leader and the individual followers. With empowering others, leaders build a foundation of collaborative thinking and encourage an atmosphere of personal involvement; a leader can strengthen the respect and loyalty of his or her followers. Leaders can affect this process by applying their own personal characteristics, such

Over the years, a great deal of time, and research has been dedicate to the study of leadership. Even with extensive data on the topic, many still disagree on what leadership really means. Hence, leadership is a word that has many different meanings and different researched theories associated with it. On a basic level, leadership involves having and establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with followers, respecting followers, and leading an organization with excellence while ensuring that everyone is part of the team. Leadership is also a method by which a leader uses his or her influence towards getting a group of followers to take ownership or buy into a vision.

== = Leadership is an influence process. It might be thought of as the ability to motivate others into following and understanding the role they play in an organisation, as well as what the overall strategy of the business is, with the interest of achieving organisational goals. If this is done correctly then high levels of motivation, empowerment, commitment and performance should result.

If you could in your own words define a leader what would you say a leader was? A leader could be considered many different things depending on who you ask. According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary a leader is a person or thing who leads. That’s a pretty broad definition. Sanjiv Kumar defines leadership as the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals (Kumar, 2014). BusinessDictionary.com defines a leader as a person or thing that holds a dominant or superior position within its field, and is able to exercise a high degree of control or influence over others. Leaders can be found in every setting. Examples of leaders include parents, teachers, religious leaders, managers, or even a band director.

In the textbook Leadership is defined as ‘the process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing its goals’ (Hughes, Ginnet & Curphy 2015, p. 5). Leadership involves leader, followers, and situation.