...Leadership: What Makes a Great Leader? Leadership can be defined as a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs those individuals in a manner that will be most beneficial to them or an organization. Great leadership skills are a collection of many different characteristics. These characteristics help to make and shape the great leaders of many organizations. An individual may naturally possess certain characteristics that empower them to be a great leader, but it is various experiences that help to shape the best leaders. These individuals are usually well rounded. Those who lead are called manager, supervisor, or leader and they possess the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives within the organization. For an individual to be a great leader, they should understand the needs and the mission of the organization. Every leader leads his/her followers in a specific direction. Through motivation and negotiation a leader is able to resolve conflicts and achieve standards. One example of a great leader is Steve Jobs. A recent article in Forbes magazine referred to Steve Jobs as an excellent CEO. Steve Jobs has taken Apple to new heights. Apple, although an aging company, has recently reemerged as a leading computer giant. The introduction of the iPhone to the cell phone market has proven to be a key reason why Apple has once again become a major contender. In addition, Apple introduced the Macbook and this provided...
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...Contents ODT Map 3 What Makes an Effective Leader? 4 Communication 4 Motivation 5 Vision 5 Decisiveness 5 Leadership Behavior 6 Scenario 1: One-on-One 6 Born or Made 8 The Team Consensus 9 Appendix A: Leadership Traits 11 Appendix B: References 12 ODT Map As shown above, the Outcome-Directed Thinking (ODT) is a way for an organization and or an individual to be able to work together towards a common objective. ODT was created for leaders to get things done by effectively utilizing its resources and motivating its employees to reach its objectives. To do this, we have created an ODT map to create an action plan and accomplish our team objectives. This plan is designed as a motivational plan of action to accomplish our positive outcome statement “Create the most complete and convincing paper about leadership qualities”. What Makes an Effective Leader? If you ask an individual what makes an effective leader, more often than not you will probably not receive exactly the same answer. Everybody interprets this question differently; it could be due to past experiences or knowledge you have acquired during your career of what a leader should be. One of the most debatable questions regarding leadership is, is a leader born or made? We will reveal this later in the discussion, but what we can say is there are so many traits mentioned when defining a leader. We have decided that these below make a significant impact on leadership and what it takes to be defined...
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... What Does It Take to be a Great Leader My Journey Begins When I took the“30 Books in 30 Days Challenge”; I told myself to maximize this opportunity to learn something significant. Broadening one’s knowledge and learning from the best leadership books ever published is like a gift that landed on my lap. 1st day of my 30 day reading journey, I made a strategy with 1 end goal - to enter the minds of all the authors and get the best learnings and most importantly practice it. It wasn’t an easy task - the first few attempts on reading the summaries, I started to doze off at page 2. But I needed to finish not because of the challenge, but because it is an opportunity that should not pass me by. I decided to do it in a way which I will enjoy and love doing it. Since I liked formulas so much and doing it in excel I decided to come up with a “leadership matrix” based on the different books and from there have a formula for being a great leader. I made my summary of the summaries and counted how many times a particular quality or trait will be written by different authors. By this time I started to look forward to reading each summary. Before book # 1, I sat and looked back at the 17 years of my work life and started to ask myself what kind of a leader I am, to accept the brutal facts of how far am I from being a great leader. On the 26th book, finally came up with an equation which I felt and believed is the formula for being a great leader. ...
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...RESEARCH PAPER Name: Hoa (Janice) Trinh Thesis: Influencing others is the most important and hardest to develop skill of a business leader. Abstract Leadership is more than a skill set. It is both an art and science which is including combination of various skills and gracious spirit. There are many researches, books about leadership and how to improve leadership skill. The purpose of this research is to identify whether ability to influence others is an important skill of a leader in business and how to improve that ability. By analyzing leadership in different theory and books from different sources, I clarify that the most important skill of business leader is to influence others and the ability to influence others is also very hard to develop. Data have been collected from books, interviews, newspapers and published reports. INTRODUCTION What is a good leader? Many books, researches and articles have talked about what is leadership and what makes a good leader. On daily life, leadership can mean teaching, guiding, correcting, observing, protecting, explaining, etc. A leader in business must have ability to see fundamental change, think about the future, make decision, and resolve conflict. Many theories have also been developed to determine and break down secret equation to a great leader. In most of these theories, integration ability in general and ability to influence others in detail is the common point. In this research paper, I will clearly state the definition...
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...Importance of motivation Role of leadership in motivation Mistakes leaders make True leadership Conclusion and recommendations EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Big companies have great ideas as the basis of their foundations. An idea can be a random thought of a quick plan, but a great idea comes from right approach to keen observation and broad vision. When we say idea, first thought prompts in, is a general snapshot/overview of the scenario around the object we are thinking about, and this thinking process involves identification, observation and planning (What? Where? When? How? Now! ). It was that easy to define this process, it is not that simple to apply it for achieving the status of being BIG. For big companies, a great idea needs an equally consistent and classic application which calls for a great effort and resistant ability in people’s personality. A resistant power towards the word impossible. They resist and ignore it. Great ideas grow in great minds, those great minds if, possess a personality trait of ‘’make it happen’’, comes out to be a LEADER! INTRODUCTION This assignment covers the topics for motivation, the types, its control, applications and how it has a relationship with leadership. I have also spoken about how it affects the employees and their morale. The organization I will be talking about is RELIANCE. I am a big follower of the first CEO of the firm Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani. He was in true form a great leader and motivator. Since analysis and theories have been identified...
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...Personality Traits and Leadership Styles of Great Leaders What personality traits make up great leaders? Self-confidence: It is important for the leaders to exude self-confidence at all times, including during times of crisis. If the team is in a crisis mode, it is important for the leader to give words of encouragement such as: “We’ve been in a tougher spot before, and I know we will get through this.” Self-confidence is also shown though posture and gestures while working with the team. Humility: The leader must know how to balance their self-confidence so they do not come off as arrogant or boastful. The great leader will admit when they are not an expert in everything and knows when to ask for assistance. The Leader should also acknowledge the team or members when goals or projects are accomplished, because without the team, the leader could not have achieved in their position. Trustworthiness: The leader should portray trustworthiness both inside and outside of the office. The leader should be known for their character of integrity and always make decisions that right for the team, not just for political gain in the workplace. If the leader builds and acts of this type of behavior, then the rest of the team will follow suit creating a cohesive team that wants their actions to benefit the whole and not just to get themselves ahead. Sense of humor: A sense of humor can increase your approachability and likability from team-members if done correctly. Humor should not...
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...Leading like Madiba: Leadership Lessons from Nelson Mandela Posted on August 17, 2011 by Martin Kalungu-Banda The world is in dire need of great leaders, ones who inspire people not through words but by serving them. The cutting edge in leadership discourse is the old fashioned idea of leadership through service. The whole human race, we could say, desperately needs these servant-leaders who really attend to others and are beacons of hope in our search for a world society where justice, fairness, care for the weaker members of our communities, and love flourish. The call for leaders who genuinely serve their people is obvious in social and political communities. We can see it equally in the economic sphere, in business organisations or corporations. The high turnover of staff in many work places suggests that people are looking for what Lance Secretan, a Canadian guru on leadership, calls ‘soul space’[1] – an environment where they will not simply be cogs in the wheel of production but can live full and happy lives. In my book, Leading Like Madiba: Leadership Lessons from Nelson Mandela[2], published in March 2006, I have attempted to present through stories the type of leadership that will take our world a higher ground.[3] What is so extraordinary about Mr Mandela’s style and practice of leadership is that it crosses the boundaries of culture, gender, race, religion and age. Madiba (as he is fondly referred to in his home country) has done so in a society that was once...
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...the way to be a great leader. The lecture said changing and networking are important factors to be successful. Networking is very familiar with Willburn(2014) opinion. This lecture said a good leader should develop relationships with different people in order to make right decision. Willburn(2014) describe network more specific. It is said that network requires different actions at different points, relationships will shift over a career. Both lecture and Dinwoodie(2015) argued that good leaders should courage enough to make changes. The lecture described that leaders should not just stand down they should see around the staff and do the right thing with correct people in order to anticipate future. Meanwhile, Dinwoodie(2015) thought good leaders predict future though 4 parts, Discovering, Deciding, Doing and Discerning. This lecture is about the way to be a good leader. Using Ted’s research though 3 different questions to define a great leader. The author used to be a manager in a big company and found not all potential leader can be a great leader. Therefore, Ted quit job and travel all around the world to find the way to become a great leader. Ted use a lot of time to figure out the question including 3 aspects. The first thing to know is ‘where you looking to anticipate change?’ The answer is who you spend time with and why you doing this. Leaders should make decisions right now through subordinates transformation with each other. The great leader not just stand down...
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...A great leader who achieve that a great leader have that you will not failing in school, some people that sometime people that’s not at being a great leader; but they have to learn how to be a great leader that have train to be a great leader because if u don’t train to be a great leader u will not have no good business that u will fail every time to train your brain to be a great leader and people will be talking about what good leader u are so when they u need to run your business right or you don’t fail that can succeed to be a great leader that u can make a benefit to be a great leader. And u can be passing to be a great leader u can achieve anything u want so that u can make it in your life and so u can succeed to a great leader so that u can be what u want to be in life and that’s way you can change the world to graduate high school and go to college to do everything counts to be a leader u have to follow directions that they can be a great leader and to be the best you can be in your on way u can achieve to be a great leader. You can still be the best if you don’t graduate from high school. A great leader is to lead in the right direction. To be a great leader that you can be that you want do a great leader. That you can believe. Can achieve that you want to be a great leader to see your faith to pass high school and so that u can be a great leader to...
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...among people. The term connotes images of powerful, dynamic individuals who command victorious armies, direct corporate empires from atop gleaming skyscrapers, or shape the course of nations. The exploits of brave and clever leaders are the essence of many legends and myths. Much of our description of history is the story of military, political, religious, and social leaders who are credited or blamed for important historical events, even though we do not understand very well how the events were caused or how much influence the leader really had. The widespread fascination with leadership may be because it is such a mysterious process, as well as one that touches everyone's life. Why did certain leaders(e.g., Gandhi, Mohammed, Mao Tse-tung) inspire such intense fervor and dedication how did certain leaders (e.g., Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great) build great empires? Why did some rather undistinguished people (e.g., Adolf Hitler, Claudius Caesar) rise to positions of great power' Why were certain leaders (e.g .• Winston Churchill. Indira Gandhi) suddenly deposed, despite their apparent power and record of successful accomplishments? Why do some leaders have loyal followers who are willing to sacrifice their lives, whereas other leaders are so despised that subordinates conspire to murder them? 1.1 Definition of Leadership There are various definition of leadership. Among all definition some are given below: • Leadership is "the behavior of an individual, ...
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...at companies that went from good to great and sustained that performance for 15 years or more were all cut from the same cloth. It didn’t matter when the transition took place... the successful organisations all had a level 5 leader at the time of the transition” (Collins 2001) Discuss the importance of leadership in the context of developing corporate strategy. (Summer 07) Leadership is incredibly important in developing corporate strategy. Good leadership and bad leadership can have huge beneficial/detrimental effect to a company and its strategy development. There are many dimensions of leadership such as: * Leadership and Teamwork: Leading the individuals and promoting teamwork in the team/division that they are under. * Time management: Insuring time is spent wisely and deadlines are met. * Decision-making and Problem solving: Leaders have to make decisions that will affect the whole team and come up with solutions to problems that they encounter along the way. * Creativity and Innovation: Leaders have to be creative and innovative as they strive to get the best out of the group of people that they are working with. * Motivation: Leaders have to motivate their team in whatever task they are involved in. * Communication and Presentation: Leaders communication skills will have to be excellent as they have to communicate not only to the team they are working with, but also their supervisors. * Vocation: Leaders have to be passionate and committed...
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...DEVELOPING LEADERS I/O Psychology Annotative Bibliography Myatt, M. (2012, December19). The #1 Reason Leadership Development Fails, http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2012/12/19/the-1-reason-leadership-development-fails/ The main focus of this article is to make companies understand the difference in training and developing leaders. What does these meaning? Well according to dictionary dictionary.com the difference between training and development is: Training is the education, instruction, or discipline of a person or thing that is being trained. Developing is having a standard of living or level of industrial production well. See most companies think to have good leadership you need to training, but in reality these leaders need to be developed. This one reason why this is the # 1 reason why leadership fails. For example in the article it explains that training takes place within a monologue (lecture/ presentation) rather than a dialog. This article wants company to understand the difference and help make better leaders. Cattrell, D. 2002, 2009.Monday Morning Leaderships; Corner Stone Leadership Institute In the book “Monday Morning Leadership” this is based on a manger named Jeff who was successful for years and then had a turn of events happened and he was starting to fall in a slump. With meeting Tony, who was a semi- retired business leader, who spent time writing books and coaching top executives? He helps...
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...An Effective Leader Being an effective leader means different things to different people. While researching this topic, I found that lots of the articles about effective leaders include some of the same key factors. According to Hill, “Some say great leaders are born, not made. And while there are some born leaders, many more have honed their leadership skills through extensive practice (Hill, 2009, p. 1).” I, personally, agree with that statement. I think that some leaders are born that way, but most people that are leaders are trained and taught to be that way. Leadership success always starts with vision. Effective leaders periodically take stock of their personal strengths and shortcomings. They ask: “What do I like to do? What am I really good at?” “What are my areas of weakness, and what do I dislike doing?” ("Three Fundamentals," 2009). Knowing your areas of weakness does not make you weak; on the contrary, it allows you to delegate to others who have those abilities, in order to achieve the common goal. Rather than clinging to the false belief that they can do it all, great leaders hire people who complement, rather than supplement, their skills. Working on your areas of weaknesses will improve your leadership ability – and recognizing them makes you more human. Effective leaders lead by example and merely invite others to come along with them (Kerfoot, 2012). Keeping promises is another sign of effective leadership. They believe in others and never fail to reward...
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...Good to Great Humility +Will=Level By Jim Collins “How on earth did a company with such a long history of being nothing special transform itself into an enterprise that outperformed some of the best led organizations in the world”? Like every other humankind I want to become a better person and not only that but I wanted to be well known and transform myself from good to great. In addition to my dream of thought to become a better leader I found this article to be extremely interesting. Jim Collins has done a wonderful job identifying what it makes for a company to go from good to great. He highlights the very important factors on how to go from good to great. Well, I am sure I learned something from this article on how anyone with enthusiasm can transform a good company to a great company. That is by well managed planning and decisions. However, only few of companies makes it to “Great” To go from good to great is not easy, but if with passion one can find out the core factors which lead to a good company. The model Collins used is to search for the companies that performed at or below the general stock market for at least 15 years, than at a transition point began to pull away from the competition. That sustained returns of at least 3 times the general market for the next 15 years. Collins with a list of 1,435 companies and found eleven that met his criteria. These 11 companies produced, on average, a return of 6.9 times the general stock market during the 15 years following...
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...CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD LEADER In today’s organizations and society, there is a greater focus on employees stepping up to be a leader rather just managing their respective responsibilities. It is not enough to simply manage tasks and perform your delegated responsibilities any more employees are expected to take initiative and motivate those around them to also be leaders even if you are not a manager by title. In order to be a leader, one must start by making a commitment and learn those skills needed to model the way and be examples to others. A good leader is someone who loves to lead other people and does his or her very best at it, in such a way that other people love to be led and do their very best, too. Also, what makes a good leader is also a bit more than that. A good leader has many desirable personal qualities and has learned the practical skills needed to excel in his or her job. A good leader is an inspiration to the members of his team and at the same time is able to fulfill or exceed the expectations of his or her superiors if such exists. The traits of a good leader include personal attributes that also make you a great person overall. What makes a great leader is someone who is able to make decisions quickly and efficiently, appoint tasks to others and is generally well respected by peers. A great leader is someone who respects others. A great leader must have great confidence in what he believes. He must be able to motivate and encourage others...
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