The Book 360 Leader By John C. Maxwell

There were four sections of the chapter that was very important. The first section was on remembering the effect one has on people. Leaders need to understand how they affect their people, “their optimism and pessimism are equally infectious” (p. 35). If the leader is in a bad mood, the employees will sense that and be in the same mood. Abrashoff talks about his “dark side” and how he purposely stays away from his crew when he is having a bad day. The second section talks about holding leaders accountable. Leaders need to make sure they recognized their part in a mishap and take some of the blame.

In this section, I will be looking at leadership and how leadership helps teams to achieve their and the organizations goals and objectives.

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

Lack of leadership has proven to be one of the leading causes of companies not meeting their targets, and that's where Welch's four principles of establishing Mission and Values, applying Candor, implementing Differentiation, hearing the Voice of the team and rewarding accordingly have become very useful in building a strong leadership foundation. In my recent work assignment, I didn't feel I had many good examples to follow. Therefore, to delve into options of how to affect my teams' culture and support, my company's goal has led me to understand the difference between managing and leading. In this paper, I will review my leadership attributes, including any weaknesses, and study the opportunities for improvements to building a platform for effective leadership.

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight D. Eisenhower This quote from Eisenhower rings true on many levels. During my career in the military and the private sector, I have been subjected to many different styles of leadership, good or bad. In my leadership roles I have attained, I tried to model leadership abilities by taking bits and pieces of previous leader’s styles and forming them into my own model. This has proven to work well as dealing with people from all different walks of life there is no one size fits all approach. In writing this paper, I will detail my own leadership platform drawing from the course material and various other sources. The goal of this paper is to show a solid understanding of the course teachings and perhaps give the reader a new found perspective on leadership.

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.

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

The book begins by diving into myths that must leaders believe to be true. The author goes in depth to outline the steps in order to be an effective 360 degree leader, by giving the reader a solid understanding of myths that have been formed. Obviously, these myths need to be dispelled in order to have a leader at any level can break out of their shell and live the 360 model. Each myth builds on the next one.

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

Being a leader is not considered a job or position. Becoming a leader is not a talent, job or position. Although, leadership can be rewarding and difficult at the same time. In today’s society, “the kind of leadership necessary to move social movements forward is very different from the type of leadership required in a military setting, especially on the battlefield. A more sharpened focus on leadership processes versus individual leader traits and behaviors deepens our understanding of the complexities and interactive nature of leadership” (Komives, Lucas and McMahon 2013, 46). My goal is to understand how to face the complexities in life as a leader to communities, universities, organizations, the workplace and the world. As a leader,

“At times of change or dealing with uncertainty or in a crisis-- that is when the best leader will shine” (Ellis, 2016). A leader who can work effectively in a complicated, unpredictable situation is a competent leader and he tirelessly works to improve his capabilities (Ledlow & Coppola, 2010). All great leaders are known for communicating effectively what they want to achieve. They are visionaries who have the ability to lead others toward a shared goal (Gibson & Weber, 2015).

Maxwell doesn’t claim that there are only 21 principles of leading. His intention through this book is to show what the laws of leadership are. These laws hold true, no matter which field you intend to lead in.

What Leadership theories covered in class are reflected in the book? Explain how, using examples.

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.

One of the main reasons that I want to become an Orientation Leader is to help ease the transition from high school to college for incoming freshman. I want to be able to give students my freshman experience and important information about the university. One thing I hope to gain from being an Orientation Leader is to become a better leader. I want to work on my personal skills with people of various ages not just my own. I feel like with this opportunity I can improve my leadership skills through better communication with others, being more responsible, and taking initiative.