What Makes A Leader?

Every person has a different definition of what makes a leader. Some feel a leader is inspirational, while others regard leadership as someone who can give criticism and make the tough decisions. Each definition is unique, and each is vague. This is why the definitions of leadership people use aren’t always accurate. Bolman and Deal, however, do an excellent job of presenting four frames of leadership people use to successfully—or unsuccessfully—support and lead a group of people. The four frames presented by the authors are: human resource, symbolic, structural, and political. The human resource frame is used by leaders to empathize with their followers, the symbolic frame is used to inspire and unite followers around a vision, the structural frame is used to emphasize the importance of a process, and the political frame establishes competition and focuses on creating allies.

The task of becoming a leader has many aspects that need to be considered. Some people say that there are people who are born to be leaders and I believe that this is somewhat true. There are others who become leaders because of situations or aspects in their life that then force them to become a leader. Regardless of how someone becomes a leader, there are certain things that leaders need to do and certain characteristics that they need to have in order to make sure that their goals are achieved in their leadership position. I do not believe that I am a person who was born with the traits that make me a natural leader. However, I have worked hard to develop these skills and I now believe that I have successfully gotten these characteristics

What makes one a leader; do they have to hold a certain position or title? A leader is someone who leads by example. In order to require something from others a leader has to exemplify on what needs to be done. A leader needs to achieve own excellence before demanding it from others. The medical field is composed of many leaders, from management to nurses to doctors, and each on of these titles comes with the responsibility of being a leader. Nurses are leaders who advocate, take care of their patients and through daily tasks exemplify leadership. For these past couple of months, I have had the privilege of having Deb Daniels as my preceptor at Baystate Noble surgical department. She is a registered nurse in the operating room, she takes on the role of a charge nurse on the unit, and most importantly she exemplifies leadership on this unit. On my last week of preceptorship, I had an opportunity to sit down and have an interview with Deb on her thoughts about leadership. The interview questions went as following:

What does it mean to be a leader? Among all the ideas and writings about leadership, three aspects stands out – People, Influences and Goals. Leadership occurs among people, involves the use of influences and is used to attain goals. Influence means that the relationship among people is not passive. Moreover, influence is designed to achieve some end or goal. Thus, leadership as defined here is the ability to influence people toward the attainment of goals. This definition captures the idea that leaders are involved with other people in the achievement of goals. Leadership is reciprocal, occurring among people. Leadership is a ‘People’ activity, distinct from administrative paper shuffling or problem-solving activities.

What does it take to be a leader? Can leadership be taught? What are some of the skilled sets that are needed to be a leader? In my opinion you need communications, the ability to delegate responsibilities/tasks, commitment, positive attitude, creativity, the ability to inspire your team, vision and intuition. I interviewed two good leaders from my department. One of the interviewee is a senior manager (Tami Martin) and the other is an account manager (Angela Cook). Both are successful in managing departments and both have different ways of leading. I will start with Angela’s interview first since she’s in middle management.

What makes a good leader? This is a question asked constantly, especially in the educational fields, and especially by the film Dead Poets Society. This film is a portrayal of the battle between the modern view of leadership and the traditional, as it clashes in a prep school with unruly teenage boys. Here we see a struggle between a young teacher with a new vision and the leaders of a school with principles it has followed for years. In the midst of this struggle we also see the next generation of leaders rise up and fall. This is a representation of leadership at its best, and its worst, and sometimes it falls somewhere in-between. However, the main theme of this movie is the stark contrast between two leadership styles. These leadership

There is leadership in all of us, although some of us may not realize that we are capable to lead others in some degree. The world has seen its fair share of leaders, both effective and ineffective ones; some had used their leaderships in negative lights such as Manuel Noriega, former Panamanian Dictator or positive ones such as that of Franklin D. Roosevelt. [The use of the pronoun ‘his’ to refer to the leaders is incorrect. Since you discuss a variety of leaders here, it must be used in the plural form.]Despite their differences, both leaders were very effective in their crafts. One may ask “What make an effective leader?” In my opinion, communication is the key. In order for leaders to succeed, they should be able to strategically communicate to their audiences.

What is a good leader? Often, when we think of a “good leader”, we think that they must be good people. We associate the word “good” with empathy, ethics, being honourable, and morality. Because of the implication of the word, we have a skewed and biased understanding of what makes a “good” leader. Instead, I want you to think of what it means to be an effective leader. This removes the bias that comes with the word good. So, what is an effective leader? Being a visionary, being persuasive or inspiring, and achieving set goals are hallmarks of effective leadership. An effective leader does not need empathy or ethics.

What makes a successful leader? Being detailed, organized, and punctual are attributes that come to mind. However, there is a different set of key characteristics that are necessary to becoming an effective leader. An effective leader will meet people’s needs not their wants, leaders will offer themselves selflessly to help others, and effective leaders love their people. These characteristics, found in The Servant, by James Hunter, describe a transformational way of leading, servant leadership.

They cause confusion amongst team members, ignore important business decisions, and lack passion for the profession.

What qualities make a good leader? You can ask a hundred different people, and you will get a hundred different answers. A good leader is someone who accomplishes the mission, has the respect of their subordinates, and makes the difficult decisions when needed. For me, I believe that a great leader needs to have a variety of qualities, but most importantly a sense of fairness, hard work/care, and common consideration for others. Different experiences throughout my life and time at West Point have lead me to believe that these three tenants are what are most needed for a great leader. In terms of a leader’s moral character, common consideration has the greatest influence on the success of a leader, because without common consideration, a

What exactly makes a great leader? Do certain personality traits make people better-suited to leadership roles, or do characteristics of the situation make it more likely that certain people will take charge? When we look at the leaders around us, be it our current boss or the President, we might find ourselves wondering exactly why these individuals excel in such positions.

Make decisions. When we think of what makes a great leader, one characteristic that comes to mind is decisiveness. Leaders must have a certain set of skills in order to make effective decisions. Since decisions are based on conceptual ability or “the ability to conceptualize situations and select alternative to solve problems and take advantage of opportunities” (Lussier-Achua, p.11). Other skills such as diagnostic, analytical, critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, time management, the ability to be creative, perceive trends, anticipate changes, and recognize problems and opportunities are important for leaders to have to make effective decisions. They are capable of making quick, calculated decisions and communicate the goals to others. Effective leaders also understand how to balance emotion with reason and make a decision that positively impacts no only themselves but their employees, stakeholders and organizations. As discussed in the Improving the decision-making process PowerPoint slides, there a two types of decision-making styles. They are rational decision-making and intuitive decision-making. Which type of style to use depends on the situation at hand. Rational decision making is most appropriate when a situation has presented all the facts and there is a clear understanding of possible consequences of actions. The rational mind can make reasoned decisions founded on the certain order of the world. However, when faced with the unknown the rational mind

As a leader, sometimes we control not only our destiny but also the destiny of our followers as well. Hence, our decision-making skills should be impeccable, compared to an average person. When one thinks about it that is a lot pressure on the leader to consistently make good decision. It is even harder when one has a follower who tends to challenge one’s decision on a regular basis, like first mate, Chase and second mate, Joy on the Essex. As a leader, one should always never disregard the opinion of one’s subordinates. But, it is up to the leader to defend his or her opinion when challenged by one of the follower. Defending one’s principle or idea is key because this will showcase everyone one’s knowledge and wisdom that the person possess. Knowledge and wisdom alone cannot ensure a person from win an argument. He or she need to have good communication skills and is needed to get one’s points across. Apart from that, a leader should have the brains and that patience that is needed to explain an idea to a group of follower where each person has different intellectual levels. This is why a good communication skill is needed. A leader should have the same key ability as every good teacher: ability to teach a group of followers with various learning curves. Another important ability that a leader needs to have is the ability to trust on his or her own gut feeling. Many would agree that more often than none, one’s gut feeling is right. Sometimes, it might be wrong but as long

“The best way to predict the future is to create it” as stated by Peter Drucker, a famous philosopher during the early 1900s. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. Within the choices we make on an everyday basis, it is imperative to use what we know and have gained through social experiences to complete the possibilities of our “castle in the air”. For this will make and shape our own destiny, to the top of our zenith.