The 360 Degree Leader : Developing Your Influence From Anywhere Within The Organization By John C. Maxwell

Barker, R. A. (1997). How can we train leaders if we do not know what leadership is? Human Relations, 50(4), 343-362. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/231429531?accountid=458

Contemporary society has developed a connotation for the title - leader - that correlates it to power, authority, and control. In reality, a leader is no different than their follower. As an ancient proverb states, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” It is the leader's responsibility to make sure there is no weakest link, but that everybody exerts an equal amount of strength upon the chain in order to create a robust team. However, one link in particular is in charge of making sure the rest of the links maintain their fortitude. This specific piece is considered the leader, who shouldn’t display any apparent dominance over the others. This analogy is displayed in two contrasting excerpts - In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia

Leadership is a very broad topic; I never knew just how many different traits and skills that it takes to become an effective leader. Some of which I was familiar with, and others that I was not aware of, but now from taking this course, they all seem to be necessary for the role of leadership. The attached paper, will explain of some of the important theories and concepts that I thought were most important to be able to become and effective leader.

This paper will highlight the world's leading psychologist's thinking and research towards leadership who examined leadership as the psychological process (Bligh and Meindl, 2005) .This paper will cover the diversity of topics covered in this field including; psychological concept of leadership; major key psychological theories underpinning leadership behavior, power and influences; cognitive process that categorize individuals as leaders and

I chose this book in hope that it could help me understand the difference between managing and leading. In addition, I wanted to gain more knowledge and tools to help myself grow as a leader and help develop all of my subordinates that I may have to time throughout my career. The book jacket for this book is ultimately why I decided to read the book because it truly grabbed my attention. I found it interesting that John C. Maxwell is a #1 New York Times bestselling author (Maxwell, 2013). Moreover, the book jacket continued to catch my attention by stating to be more than a boss people are required to follow, you must master the ability to inspire and invest in people (Maxwell, 2013). I particularly found the “invest in people” line most interesting and caused me to want to read and learn more about the authors perspective on 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

In Leadership 101 by John Maxwell, the author uses practical application points to give guidance on what it takes to be good leader. The book is divided in three parts, linking the development, traits and impacts of a leader, with a series of questions that the author answers. He also uses real-life stories and quotes from leaders such as the McDonald brothers and Princess Diana, to demonstrate leadership principles. The author also uses these examples and a detailed framework to help the readers enhance the leadership abilities they already possess. Maxwell suggests that in order to be a successful leader you need to; Follow your vision and bring others with you, produce a lasting legacy, grow the loyalty of your followers, make continual

In his book Maxwell shows the reader the paths that are adoptable to achieve the role of a leader. This book emphasizes on the servant leadership and about the significance of helping others to achieve the common goal. The techniques mentioned in the book revolve around instilling love and confidence in the followers and gaining their respect. Maxwell accepts the diversity among people and

Section one talk about the myths of leading from the middle of an organization. Maxwell talk about how most people think leaders are only

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.

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.

The word ‘leadership’ often times triggers a preconceived image of an ideal leader—typically accompanied by the aura that the effective leader should be at the top of the hierarchy, ready to produce the solutions to complex problems. However, this is not true of leadership, given that effective leadership is not achieved by position but rather through style and situational awareness. Examining leadership requires the consideration of the catalysts for different types of leaders. Popular leader development theories tend to focus on the natural servitude of the leader, his or her capability to manage, and leader behavior.

Before this class, I had a very primitive and vague definition of leadership. Not only did I define it as per my views and ideologies, but I also said that each individual has their own definition of leadership. My initial belief was that leadership does not have a clear cut definition, but there were well defined leadership traits which made an individual. I also initially believed that personal traits did not translate into leadership traits with no strong correlation. After going through the various modules this class offered, it is safe to say that I have significantly redefined leadership and underwent a strong personal assessment. This paper talks what I took back from each of the class activities, assignments and how my self-assessment compares to the perception of others.

Kelly stated that for someone to be accepted as a leader you have to a group of followers who wants to follow you (Kelly, 2009). The roles of leaders and followers within a certain organisation stems from the path-goal-theory, which breaks down the behaviours into four main ones;

Passionate leaders go further on their leadership journeys than those who lack devotion toward their followers. As well as progressing further, these leaders also inspire their devotees in the process. In John Maxwell’s “The 5 Levels of Leadership”, leadership levels beyond one are easily achievable for a fervent leader. At the first level, a leader gains followers simply because of their position, as opposed to the presence of respect for them. On the second level, people are drawn to the person in charge and want to follow them. It is no longer about merely being “in charge”. The third level of leadership focuses the results of the work and the goals being achieved by their followers. Reaching the fourth level is the point at which a leader identifies leadership qualities amongst their subordinates and attempt to inspire as many of them as possible to go on their own leadership journeys. Finally, at the fifth level, one must focus on creating a legacy. Followers no