As I was reading Northouse’s chapter on leadership I began to realize that my most current definition of leadership encompasses many of the characteristics discussed in the chapter. Leadership is a group effort, that involves leaders and followers that can influence each other as they attempt to accomplish a common goal. This brief description of leadership I hold encompases the fact that leadership is a process, involves influence, occurs in groups and the attempt to accomplish common goals. I also love the way Northouse describes the process of leadership by mentioning that “Leaders need followers, and followers need leaders”. His findings and breakdown of the term leadership heavily relies on a teamwork aspect, that encourages the group …show more content…
For example in my high school the Orchestra teacher was beloved by his students, they respected and loved him so much that they unknowingly gave him Referent Power. Now I didn’t take any Orchestra classes in high school, but in elementary school this same teach taught the 6th grade orchestra students and used Coercive Power against me. He forcefully told me to grab a thumb tack from the office and tape it to the back of my violin so I wouldn’t touch it with my palm as much, the man still frightens me to this day and only recently did I begin to realize that the reason why he used Coercive Power was because his ego had been built up by the Referent Power he attained through his older/better students. I’ve also witnessed Reward Power from my bosses at Office Depot, as every once in awhile they will offer to buy the freight team lunch for all the hard work we have done. What’s funny is that Reward Power seems to be easily seen through, so it can easily come off as a genuinely good gesture or a forced one to make the followers like their leader (personally my work experience with Reward Power has always been genuine). At Sabin I’ve instantly witnessed the use of Legitimate Power being used, Ms. Kyriss (the teacher I’m working with) has the authority to take charge of her class and find ways to make the students behave and listen to her (counting down to quiet time, putting your hands on your head, ect). I’ve also witnessed Expert Power throughout my life, including bosses, teachers, group leaders and many others. I sometimes find that Expert Power (much like Referent Power) can attach itself to a leader's ego and affect the way they act around their