Preparing A Deeper Look At Their Leadership Style

In his book “Start With Why,” Simon Sinek describes the difference between leaders that inspire and those who simply delegate; he encourages readers to look at leadership with a new outlook, and he motivates people to act upon his vision: start with ‘WHY’ instead of ‘HOW.’ He supports his advice with anecdotes of events inspired by real people like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Write Brothers. He realized that these individuals all had similar leadership techniques, which happen to be the exact opposite of what other, less successful, leaders do. Sinek calls his formula “The Golden Circle” (Sinek, P.37), which provides insight for how people can be inspired, movements can be prompted, and organizations established. Upon finishing his book, I conclude that Sinek is onto something with his theory; in order to be an extraordinary leader, one must start within.

Leadership is viewed as a form of art that help motivate a group to reach a goal and/or to be successful in a work environment. Leadership is important in a workplace to give employers a common to accomplish in a timely manner. It push them to be more successful and it motivate other to follow the same footsteps. This help employers to gain more valuable skills for the future.

As Soldiers, we are experts in our work and must understand what it means for the Army to be a profession. As professionals, Army leaders are experts in the “…art and science of ethically applying coercive or lethal land combat power…” (pg. 6). When completing our duties, our work is our own. It is not routine, nor repetitive and we have the autonomy to make our own decisions and provide our own guidance and direction. From the start of

The United States Army is a thriving military force that has safeguarded America’s homeland for over 241 years and continues the fight for everlasting freedom. The Army’s success lies in its ability to adapt but most importantly the Army’s triumph lies within Soldiers who are groomed into leaders. In my opinion, leaders are expected to uphold the standards and become a source of motivation that followers gravitate towards. The dictionary definition of leadership is simply the action of leading a group of people but everybody has their own method in doing so. In this short paper, I will provide my leadership philosophy and establish my standpoint as an Army leader.

The Scholarly article I chose to write about for this week is Leadership Discussion topics, Philosophical Contributions to Leadership Ethics. This article was authored by Joanne B. Ciulla, David Knights, Chris Mabey, and Leah Tomkins. In this article, the authors discuss various leadership ethics as they are see through Phosphors. “Thought history, philosophers, ancient sages, historians, story tellers, dramatists, and artists have chronicled, contemplated, criticized, and even cringed at the ethical behavior of leaders.” (Ciulla, Knights, Mabey &Tomkins, 2017, p.1). In Law Enforcement, how many times have we seen leaders fall into unethical situations. During my time as a law enforcement officer I have seen several make both ethical and unethical decisions.

Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? A good leader will help inspire others to action by uncovering their belief system to target and understand the significance in what is driving other people. Why? Because identifying why we do what we do allows people to buy into belief and effectively contribute beyond themselves while believing in a greater purpose to serve a common cause.1

My leadership style assessed by the Kent tool is participative style of leadership. (University of Kent (n.d). Participative style of leadership is the type where the entire team works in collaboration. Each of the team members contributes their valuable ideas, but the final decision is made by the leader (University of Kent. (n.d). This is truly the leadership style that I love to exhibit. Participative leader always encourage inputs from the members to assist in decision making. For example, in a code blue situation, team leader directs the code, but each member has designated roles and communicates throughout the situation, aiming towards a single goal. Participative leadership builds consensus through participation. Individuals with different skills and knowledge working towards common summit will take them to a level of synergy where whole is definitely greater than sum of parts. (Koen, M.P.,&

Strong leadership is vital to the success of any business, institution, school, team, or even church. Leaders that are considered effective encompass a leadership style and qualities that work to influence and motivate their followers. Joel Osteen, an evangelical pastor from Houston, Texas is truly one of the 21st centuries most captivating leaders. So much so, that he as selected by Barbara Walters as one of her 10 Most Fascinating People of 2016 (ABC News, 2006). His appeal is a phenomenon that is unmatched by any other current leaders in his profession. Over the past 15 years he has built a church, where he ministers one of the largest and most diverse congregations in America (Romano, 2005). Aside from his 45,000 attendees at his weekly services, his sermon is broadcasted in every television market in the United States and in over 100 other nations around the world (“About Joel,” n.d.). Joel Osteen is a prime example of a compelling leader who practices an effective leadership style that resonates with people on a personal level.

it is being a leader who is ethical and who goes beyond self-interest to help the group. This questionnaire affects my own leadership because it tells me that I have the problem of being too laissez-faire when there are situations where I need to be more direct.

When it comes to contemporary leadership one size does not fit all. Contemporary leadership is a melting pot of theories, approaches, models, and styles that helps an individual lead a group or people or an organization. The trait theory is one example. It has its roots in leadership theory that suggested that certain people were born with special traits that made them great leaders (Northouse, 2013). Next is the skills approach which puts emphasis on the skills and competencies of the leader. Then there is the style approach which is strikingly different from the trait and skill approaches to leadership because the style approach focuses on what leaders do rather than who leaders are (Northouse, 2013). Another contemporary leadership

Leadership as stated by Northhouse (2010), “is a process where an individual influences a group of people to achieve a common purpose.” A leader is responsible for coordination and integration of resources through planning, organizing, coordinating, directing, and controlling to accomplish specific institutional goals and objectives (Huber, 2006). A leader’s action is influenced towards manipulating the environment, group, and achieving the institutional goals and their role is to ensure the institutional effectiveness and efficiency. Organizational culture however, is the shared values, beliefs, assumptions, and behavioral expectations that lead to decision-making (Christensen, 2006). According to Schneider (1975) as cited by Holloway (2012), Organizational climate is the formal and informal shared perceptions of organizational policies, procedures, and practices. Atkinson and Frechette (2009) further defines organizational climate as “set of measurable properties of the work environment, based on the collective perceptions of the people who work in the environment and demonstrated to influence their motivation and behavior”. Climate in CDSDP organization creates a collective unique identity, perception of the staffs that generates how task (things are done) and how to get the task done within the organization as influenced by the clear communication seen from the leaders to staffs.

One skill that will help me develop as a leader is utilizing the participative leadership skill when needed. Participative leadership shares decision making with group members. According to the text, participative leadership encompasses so many behaviors that it can be divided into three subtypes: consultative, consensus, and democratic (Dubrin, 2010). Out of these three subtypes being a consultative leader can be very helpful. Consultative leaders confer with group members before making a decision. However, they retain the final authority to make decisions. Participative leadership not only encourage teamwork but the participative style is based on management openness because the leader accepts suggestions for managing the operation from group members.

Why, how, and what are what is referred as the Golden Circle. According to Simon Sinek (2009), the Golden Circle is what finds order and predictability in our behavior. It allows us to understand why we do what we do. The most important part of the Golden Circle is: Why. Everyone knows what he or she does and most people

As an Army leader, I have learned to appreciate the sense of accomplishment, yet guard against premature celebration when my leadership and guidance has gotten my team to the finish line. As General George Patton said, “A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances.” In my early days as an Army officer, I wanted to know the “secret” to successfully leading men in this organization through challenging waters to the top of the objective. However, I have now realized that there is no single “secret”, it is a journey of experiences, teachings and yes failures that will eventually “transform me from a mid-career officer to a senior military leader.”1

From all of the readings in the course thus far, the two resonant leadership styles that caught my attention were from the book Primal Leadership: realizing the power of emotional intelligence. The first is the visionary leadership style, which is strongly reminiscent of the charismatic style discussed in my leadership article review. This style of leader focuses on future possibilities and considered to be exceptionally positive and transformative in nature. The second leadership style is the democratic style which embodies collaboration, positive influence, and encouragement of ideas. Key strengths of the democratic style include communication and listening.