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.
Leadership Characteristics Great leaders implement a balance between meeting their people’s needs and accommodating their wants (Hunter, 1998). Focusing on what people need benefits their success and builds trust between both parties. Meeting people’s needs does not allow the people to take over leadership like one may think, but it allows the people to have confidence in their leader and know the necessities to do their job are taken care of. Demonstrating servant leadership is all about being a servant, not a slave (Hunter, 1998). A perfect example of this would be employees asking to have higher hourly pay. However, if a company gives every employee a raise when it is not fiscally possible, they may go out of business and the all the jobs would be lost leaving everyone without any pay at all (Hunter, 1998). If a parent allows their elementary school child to stay up as late as they want, the child would be exhausted at school and their grades will decline. If a leader gave in to
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.
What does it take to be an effective leader in today’s fast paced and ever changing world?
John Quincy Adams once said “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” There are many qualities that a person must have in order to be a great leader, if all he/she care about is power and control than they are not a great leader. A great leader is someone who is always looking towards the future. He/she has a plan and even when that plan may not be the most popular thing they stick with it and carry it out. A great leader is also always looking to better the society or the group he/she is in, he/she never gives up on making the world a better place and aren’t afraid to stick up for what he/she believes in. Another quality a great leader must have is being patient with his/her peers and always treating them with respect, he/she have to demonstrate a clear understanding of people and be able to understand and accommodate to a person’s needs. A great leader is always willing to put the needs of the group in front of his/her own and is willing to make sacrifices in order to better the society.
In conclusion, a great leader should possess certain qualities. These qualities will ensure that the leader is successful in leading himself and the organization. Integrity, respect, and moral responsibility are such qualities.
It is imperative to note that no two people share the exact same values no matter how noble they may appear. Therefore, successful leaders remain humble and refrain from making assumptions or value judgements against others. It is essential for current, effective leaders to stay in touch with their staff members and other stakeholders. Respected leaders live in the now and do not rely on their past successes to carry them through. A strong leader does what they say they are going to do and openly owns it when they fail. Additionally, conscientious leaders are not abusive towards others, get on the balcony in order to see the big picture, and do not fight on too many fronts. Lastly, effective leadership requires some flexibility and open-mindedness. Do not lock on to personal or professional core values, otherwise stakeholders become alienated and the focus becomes too narrow and personal which will isolate potential team members and potential
A successful leader is the one who gets the job done the right way. True leadership occur when people engage each other in a way that the leaders and followers achieve the highest level of motivation and take an organization to new heights. In my opinion, building a relationship with subordinates, leading from the front and adaptability are a few qualities essential for the success of a leader.
Leadership is the significant ability to gain followers and lead not only through providing instruction but by example as well. Requiring many micro-abilities and characteristics, great leadership is a rare appearance in society. Some characteristics I believe to be vital in leadership include perseverance, passion, and collaborative skills. The usage of these characteristics typically leads to the ideal image of a leader.
, 2000). Leaders that create a vision, use power in socially constructive ways to serve others, are sensitive to the followers' needs, and help develop their abilities for empowerment are more effective (Howell & Avolio, 1992). Effective leaders set the ethical climate of the organization. Effective leadership requires intelligence, hard work, dedication, and an intense understanding and appreciation of human nature and human beings with a set of technical competencies and a set of emotional competencies, diverse and flexible enough to move with the changing times (Campbell, 2004). Servant leadership may be a unifying theory from which many leadership styles may be integrated. The basis for any leadership behavior, which may encompass any
There are certain qualities such as integrity, hard work, dedication and accountability which makes a leader. One of the key characteristics of any leader is the capacity to inspire other individuals. Individuals from a group or a working environment some of the time require an impact that drives them to success. Leaders are individuals who must propel and forward others. Good leaders must be great at group building.
It is said that staff will see their managers as leaders, and role models that they want to emulate, if they have these traits:
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
What makes a leader a leader? Are leaders born or are they shaped by their experiences? Do we follow leaders because we believe in the same ideology or simply because they are charismatic? Many theories argue many ways a leader is made, yet it is truly not crystal clear what makes a leader a leader.
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 traits make a good leader? There are many views on what actually makes a good leader. In this paper, I will describe five leadership theories, identify and explain the traits that are exemplified in each theory and provide a scenario, and choose one leadership theory that I believe would be most effective in an organization of my choice and explain why. The following theories will be described in the information to follow: Great Man theory, Contingency theory, Participative leadership theory, Transactional leadership theory, and Transformational leadership theory.
I never would have imagined when I started this journey a year ago that I would be so changed in my opinions of what a good leader should be. We began with organizational behavior and the importance of the individual and what motivates them, and how this applies to group cohesiveness. Throughout each module we were given insight by example of how certain types of leadership works and does not work. After eighteen years of working for the same company and being led by several different types of leaders, I hope to combine what I learned through this last year with what is really needed to become an awesome leader.