Leadership Final Paper

Specific Ideas about Leadership and how they changed  

While I first heard this concept in my high school years, I did not understand its overarching meaning. I only came to learn more about it while taking this class. I would admit that this class has given me a powerful way to understand this concept and embrace its place in life and society at large. As such, my experience in this class has been by far exciting. I have taken many facts throughout this lesson throughout the semester. Before this class, I understood leadership as the process of influencing people or motivating a group of people to achieve particular objectives. I also knew it as the act of exercising power, especially by asserting influence over others and symbolizing one’s place as a leader. Equally, my other conception of leadership was that it is the act of attaining and practicing the privileges of superior status. I held that leadership is getting to the top and reaping the recognition as the person in charge.

Besides, I also understood the term ‘leadership’ as being the boss, where one has the absolute power to influence and tell others what to do, especially by rewarding and punishing people as appropriate as possible. I am happy that my understanding of this term has been transformed significantly throughout the class. Perhaps it starts with how leadership is defined and understanding most of the concepts that surround it. Indeed, leadership is all about influencing others into attaining a set of goals or objectives. But more than shaping, it is about encouraging, motivating, as well as inspiring followers into buying one’s ideas. In this sense, leadership regards the act of setting and communicating shared goals through inspiring and motivating individuals to work together in achieving them.

While the language of leadership varies from one group to the other, its essence is almost often similar. In reality, leadership is not about what a leader needs to do to others. If we look at different leaders across ages, including personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, it is effortless to realize that they did not do anything for their people. For instance, what Gandhi did was to set clear targets for himself and his people while motivating them to strive endlessly towards success and meeting such goals. In doing so, leaders become influential role models, and in turn, inspire and motivate others into joining their course. I have equally learned that leadership is also about having the power to make a difference. The ability to inspire others always emanates from one’s held beliefs and values, which they never compromise. It also originates from one’s purpose in life, often a conviction that is rooted in sound morals. Noticeably, I now know that followership is not synonymous with leadership. For as long as I can recall, I have known that followership is essentially leadership. I not only previously confused these words but also rewarding one for the other. Apart from its definition, I have also learned about different leadership theories and styles. For instance, I learned about the transformational leadership style, which I highly buy and try to use in life.

I now know that to become a leader, I would need to develop a burning urge and desire to create a great future by not giving up when situations get harsh and unbearable. In other words, leadership would be about staying according to my set values and profoundly held views without compromising them, no matter the environment. As a leader, I will similarly need to visualize as well as pursue a divine purpose based on set values. Also, founded on the strengths I would get from my value-based mission, I would remain resilient regardless of any resistance. In this way, I would live by the true meaning of leadership. In organizational settings, my leadership approach would have profound effects, mainly on management and staffing. With this kind of leadership, I would have a chance to define and lead successful organizations.

Readings/Videos that had a Particular Impact on me

The first reading on Yun Ma had a profound impact on my life. As a Chinese mogul and business leader, Ma has accomplished outstanding results in both personal and professional life. His exceptional leadership saw him grow a successful global business. One of his qualities is his support for an open and market-driven economy. He has also succeeded in changing the world’s e-commerce landscape due to his leadership approach and abilities (Atkinson, 2019). A paper on Ma allowed me to learn about a man, leader, and personality with extraordinary skills. In essence, Ma’s ‘moral leadership’ style not only impressed but also inspired my desire to lead with dignity. Throughout his life, Ma has practiced sound leadership and pursued goals to fruition. His unwavering spirit has also allowed him to lead his people, staff, and organization with distinction and accolade.

The other reading was Northouse’s (2019) book about leadership theory and practice. In it, the author examined the role of followers in leadership. It also offers the characteristics and personal traits of effective and ineffective followers. In a light mode, the author includes what it means to practice ethical leadership. I mainly found this reading more interesting because the writer explains both the dark and ethical side of leadership, including things that made leaders more destructive and incompetent. While its content was great, the author also broke out the most significant aspects of each theory and model, explaining with clarity what being a leader means in today’s contemporary society. From Northouse’s work, a take-away lesson is that to become a successful leader, one has to pursue greatness. For example, he argues that leaders must have high levels of self-confidence, integrity, determination, as well as intelligence, among others. He equally believes that excellent leaders can understand when to focus on relationships and tasks to avert failure in certain areas.

The third reading came from Kouzes and Posner’s book regarding leadership practices. In it, I found many insights about leadership and its generation. They approach leadership most truly, giving a learnable and teachable content for generations to embrace. With this book, I have been able to measure and evaluate my leadership skills. It has helped to guide me through the process of applying the various leadership models in diverse settings, including dealing with life challenges in real-time. As Kouzes and Posner write, one can become an effective leader if given the right feedback and tools. In a way, he asks people to find their leadership potentials through feedback.

From the highlighted readings, I have learned that leadership covers several aspects, such as competencies. The right way of looking at what is ‘leadership’ is classifying it into different styles. Combining this view and others make it easier to understand how people work and make decisions in certain situations. The different leadership approaches covered also make it clear that people can adopt different styles to suit various functions. More importantly, the majority of leaders would often shift forth and back among these styles to achieve desired outcomes. One can, thus, choose and develop skills and competencies by evaluating self and understanding the needs of the followers.

How I Changed as a Leader

Although it might seem odd with the above discussion, I have changed dramatically as a leader since joining this class. I believe that being truly honest with one’s self is a fundamental ingredient of effective leadership. For most people, I included, it might take some time with friends and mentors to attain this value or even the willingness to accept feedback from others. However, it has taken me this class to do it. I can now comfortably embrace both positive as well as negative feedback from people, co-workers, and colleagues. I have also learned to assess my competencies and skills as a leader, which I find compelling. For me, this step has meant taking away defenses and facing my insecurities with confidence. I ensure that my style is frequently consistent with my goals, objectives, and philosophy. As mentioned earlier, and indeed, it is, an effective leader would always remain faithful to his mission and purpose. I can also report that this class has also helped me to build broad-based engagements, sustain hope and involvement, inspire dedication and action, as well as lead as a problem solver. As a collaborative leader, I have learned to stimulate close relationships among people, among other things.

My Model of Leadership

As mentioned earlier, my leadership style tends to focus on building close relationships. However, to shift the emphasis to the task, there are different things to be considered. Since there is an excellent relationship with followers, there is a need to ensure the completion of jobs within the given timeline. Firstly, creating bright and systematic work schedules that include specific requirements and deadlines appears convincing. Besides, leading people with an emphasis on responsibilities rather than micromanaging helps to get followers working. Hence, as a leader, I lead my people by inspiring and motivating them to achieve goals. The leadership model that I use is the transformational leadership style. With this framework, I allow my followers to explore their world with confidence and hope. According to Northouse (2019), transformational leaders often work with their followers, teams, and groups to identify the required change. These leaders also create a vision that aids in guiding the identified change through inspiration and motivation.

How I Define Leadership after Concluding the Class

My definition of leadership is the process in which a leader influences his followers, teams, or groups of people into attaining common and shared goals through inspiring as well as motivating them. By and large, my understanding of leadership borrows much from Northouse’s (2019) description. Throughout this class, the idea of looking at it from Northouse’s (2019) point of view has opened up my eyes because I never thought it as such. My previous knowledge of this concept was vague, mainly because I looked at it from one side. I have also realized that leaders require some special skills, characters, and competencies. After completing this course, I am delighted to understand that any person can become a leader.

References

Atkinson, C. (2019). Jack Ma’s Leadership Approach. Retrieved 15 March 2020, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/jack-mas-leadership-approach-chris-atkinson.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2003). The leadership practices inventory (LPI): Self instrument (Vol. 52). John Wiley & Sons.

Northouse, P. (2019). Leadership Northouse: Theory and Practice (8th Ed). SAGE Publishing Inc.