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
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.
For this assignment, I have decided to use the leadership trait, skills and style questionnaires. For this questionnaire, I asked 5 different people that know me in different contexts in life, such as personal, school, and work environments. For the majority, I rated myself higher on the traits than my fellow colleagues. On some of the traits however, I was rated higher than what I thought. Overall, I averaged a 4/5 which means that everyone agreed with the traits that were given. For the style questionnaire, I found out that I place more emphasis in building relationships rather than completing tasks. Finally, the skills questionnaire, my leadership skills are in the high range for technical skills, and my human and conceptual skills are in the moderate range.
According to Sullivan and Decker (2009), leadership is influencing others into working toward accomplishing a common goal. Some people are born with an innate leadership quality within them. Others require learning leadership and management skills. It takes a certain personality trait that makes them a natural leader. Intelligence, personality, and abilities are three categories of the trait theory that is a part of the profile of successful leaders (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). I will discuss my personal views of leadership. It will
Being involved in everything I do, my leadership skills have developed naturally through experience. I can think creatively and critically and offer advice to others. Through past mistakes and other’s opinions, I have learned to make my failures into successes. Through many organizations and extracurriculars, I have gained many perspectives on various topics. For instance, at BAE Systems, I take part in hands-on learning with other students who are as dedicated as me. This allows me to learn new perspectives in a cooperative environment. We constantly communicate with each other, sharing our ideas on how to solve the task at hand.
In the Leadership Challenge, 4th edition, it is Kouzes & Posner (2007) intention to present a road map for individuals to follow on their leadership journey. The authors stress that “leadership is not a gene and it’s not an inheritance.” Leadership they assert is “an identifiable set of skills and abilities that are available to all of us” (p. 23). They make clear that the “great person” theory of leadership is “plain wrong.” Leaders are our everyday heroes who do extraordinary things on a regular basis (p. 23).
The Leadership Practice Inventory that I took at the beginning of my Student Orientation Counselor or S.O.C. experience was eye opening. It teaches and surveys people about five leadership skills these skills were further explained in The Student Leadership Challenge text by the authors James Kouzes and Barry Posner (2014) the different practices of leadership were: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. These principles each have their own challenges and frustrations, and as a leader they have helped me realize what I can improve on. Modeling the Way was one of my top two practices that I had ranked high on during the skills inventory, and its focus is on finding your
It would appear that my original theory regarding the applicability and practicality of this capstone was accurate. This course has managed to successfully supplement the knowledge I had previously acquired in other courses. For example, I was familiar with and understood the basic principles of leadership. However, this course has taught me that the ability to lead is not an exact science, but an art and determining how to proceed when faced with uncertainty or a highly volatile situation is an exceptional challenge.
During this past week, I completed my leadership traits assessment and tallied the results from my friends and coworkers. This process was interesting because it has been several years since I have completed an activity like this one. My results were as follows, I received my highest ratings in being persistent, determined, trustworthy, dependable, friendly, diligent, and conscientious. On the other hand, my lowest scores are in self-confident, self-assured, and perceptive. These results were not surprising to me because they are developmental opportunities that I have been working to overcome. It was good to see that what my results are consistent with what I already knew.
When I started the course I was excited to learn different qualities as like leader the assumptions was there will be having some exercises to buid some leadership qualities which I did not have. I assumed that I will learn how we can motivate others and some special capability how we can develop in myself like great leaders and as I assumed I get same thing that great leaders are not born with leadership skills ,they develop that skills .
One of the biggest lessons learned from this course is that to be an effective leader, you must have a diverse skillset. I’m not sure if there is any one magical component or characteristic in being a great leader. One influence during my review of the literature was that; although easier for some, I see leadership as something we must continually improve upon. This is in contrast to my belief during my first day of class, when I thought leaders just
According to Pfeffer (cited in Whetten & Cameron, 2005) leading positive change is one of the most important influences in helping organisations perform well. Another strength that I have identified through completing the “how creative are you” assessment (Carlopio et al, 2005) is creativity, possibly due to my ability to consider things from different perspectives as indicated by my preference toward the “thinking” dimension in my MBTI profile.
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.
Amabile, T. M. & Khaire, M. 2008, “Creativity and the role of the leader”, Harvard business review, vol. 86, no. 10, pp. 100.
The first lessons were related to leadership and I was wondering what 's new here. I thought I knew a theory about leadership. After all, I am an author of a