Self Leadership Book Report

Lord of the Flies has quite the turn of events in the first three chapters. As many as there are I’m only going to focus on one. That is when they choose a chief of the group.

Burns wrote the book to address the essence of leadership. His intended audience is the everyday

(Focht, 2015). In a previous role I held, I had three direct reports. Each were at different

StrengthsFinder 2.0, written by Tom Rath, was a book I chose for a purpose. Rath mentions that when we live within our shortcomings/ our weaknesses, we tend to live in this world unhappy and unmotivated (Rath, 2007). In this paper, I will discuss some background and major topics presented in his book. I will describe how his topics can be useful in nursing practice, as well as my own practice. I will end this paper with a look into how his book helped me to grow in my own soon-to-be leadership role.

Addressing organizational needs, problems and strengths begins with leadership. Ensuring needs, problems and strengths are appropriately measured, analyzed and, where appropriate diverted, begins with great leaders. Great leadership is about “ferocious resolve, an almost stoic determination to do whatever needs to be done to make the company great.” (Collins, 2001). Success for the leadership capstone project can be defined many ways; implementing a solution to resolve the problem as well as acknowledging the limitations of the study and identifying areas of focus for future research. Success for this leadership project is due in part to the results and findings of the study; however, the fundamental key to its success centers around leadership.

Characteristics’ and behaviors of successful leaders are both innate and learned (DuBrin, 2013). Assessing ones personality, cognitive abilities, emotional intelligence, and behavioral characteristics assists in determining the areas in which there is opportunity to increase ones effectiveness as a leader. Utilizing the Humanmetrics Jung Typology Test, the Big Five Personality Factors, in addition to three self-assessment quizzes from the Dubrin (2013) text this paper will discuss the instruments chosen for the self-assessment and their results, personal reaction to the assessments, what the results convey regarding leadership performance, and a summary of the most significant insights gleaned from the assessment.

“Leadership and The One Minute Manager” written exclusively by Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi and Drea Zigarmi strictly focuses on leadership in a firm and the allowance of a minute in a day in recognition for the hard work done by workers. This book discusses the different levels that a leader must be willing to go to in order to maintain a promising relationship amongst all employees. The emphasis on “different strokes for different folks” is vividly present throughout the book as Blanchard and Zigarmi use different circumstances to help the reader plant the various techniques used in leadership.

In emergency, I see myself as an Autocratic leader who makes quick decisions. On the other hand, I see myself as a Democratic leader when time and situation permit. Rarely, I can see myself as a Laissez-faire leader as I usually have hands-on with any process with my subordinates.

James MacGregor Burns said it best, “Leadership is leaders inducing followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and the motivations-the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations-of both leaders and followers. And the genius of leadership lies in the manner in which leaders see and act on their own and their fellow 's values and motivations”. As one reads this statement, one naturally reflects on personal leader experiences or ones learned through academic or professional studies. Abraham Lincoln, especially during his presidency, exemplified Burns definition of a leader.

Throughout life one will encounter many experiences and there is a lesson within each of those experiences. Right now as an activity aide in a nursing home my passion is to make sure each and every resident gets some sort of enjoyment out of their day whether it’s from reading the newspaper, having coffee outside or its getting their nails painted. I just want to make sure their day has some activity that they enjoy. My dream job after graduation is to work in a hospital in the palliative care/hospice as a social worker. In this setting I will still get to make

Part two of the Practice of Adaptive Leadership starts with the challenge of diagnosing the system. The book shares that the evolution of institution in the past is the status quo of today and that the organization has power over you to change you. In comparison, I thought about my idea to provide staff support to staff when I begun working for profit hospice. I received approval to buy birthday cards for team and after three months I was told that the $3 that I spent was expensive and not to buy any more cards. I believe that my job was more important than $3 so I stop.

When I read the two articles “Becoming the Boss” and “A Survival Guide for Leaders”, I noticed various differences between the two. While both articles consist of tips and advice for leaders, they go about that in two diverse ways. From the one article read, leadership is made out to be an abundance of responsibility, while the other article starts by describing leadership as dangerous and risky. Although responsibility and danger come with both good and bad in this case, I felt very differently about the separate articles. However, in both readings there were things I liked and disliked, and many things I would remember for future reference.

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.

Being an effective leader is essential in making you and your team successful. Staying focused and dedicated takes time and effort but overall, gets the job completed. Tom Bigsby and Jennifer Wilks live very complex lives between home and work. The comparison between the two shows work capacity and emotional intelligence within the same industry. Both of them handle similar tasks, just in different atmospheres in which they are completed. Tom is faced with getting his annual budget required denied as it is viewed as unreasonable (Neck, Manz, & Houghton, 2017, p.182). Jennifer on the other hand, has her budget greatly appreciated on by the committee members during her proposal. Tom and Jennifer’s day consists of getting several tasks done in

When taking the two leadership surveys, it was interesting to see my personal leadership profile. My leadership style according to the survey is the instructional type, which in another world is direct leadership. My culture, upbringing, and work environment have transformed me to be direct leaders that are looking for stability. My staff members sadly do not have the opportunity to have a job that is autonomy; working in a manufacturing occupation, one has an organize agenda that cannot be deviated from the task ahead. When team members are needing help or trying to build the familiarity to run their equipment my personal leadership profile can be helpful, since being direct is a starting point to build knowledge. The more one individual shows knowledge, familiar, and passionate for their own results, the further laissez-faire I will become when proving they