February 2012 Archives

Last Week's Leadership Definition:

Being self-aware, having passion and the ability to work with others towards a common goal, thinking and behaving consistently, being able to work out differences with civility, and working for positive change on the behalf of others is what makes someone a leader.

New Leadership Definition:

Leading is complex, interactive, needs to be constantly revised, it involves responsibility, and needs a coach. Communicating is a huge part of leading, so it's important to understand it. When communicating, we need to be aware of all the contextual factors affecting the situation. We need to make sure we are on the same page as the other person we are communicating with despite all affecting factors such as culture. We need to understand how our self-concept might be different of that than what other people think of us or who we are to them in that situation. Values is something that affects both communication and leading and understanding your own and the people you communicate with will help for a mutual respect and level of understanding that ensures good communication.

Analysis:

Without some form of communication, there can be no such thing as leading. It is a crucial piece of the puzzle to understanding how to be a good leader.

Bibliography:
Saphiere, D. H., Mikk, B. K., & Devries, B. I. (2005). Factors affecting communication style: Starring acts in the circus. Communication highwire (pp. 4 - 82). Boston: Intercultural Press

Last Week's Leadership Definition:

Leading is not always about performing. But when we do perform, especially under pressure, it is possible to mess up. We do this by either thinking too much and reverting back to where we started, or not thinking at all and simply reacting to what is going on around you. This relates to leadership because so many things (like skills and lessons learned) affect your actions as a leader.

New Leadership Definition:

Being self-aware, having passion and the ability to work with others towards a common goal, thinking and behaving consistently, being able to work out differences with civility, and working for positive change on the behalf of others is what makes someone a leader.

Analysis:

It's hard to tell if I should be looking at leading as a performance that has to deliver a result (because a lot of times that what it is) or as an innate quality that people have either from nature or they developed it. I think it's a little bit of both.

Bibliography:
Astin, H.S., & Astin, A. W. (1996). A social change model of leadership development: Guidebook (version III) (p. 4 - 27). Los Angeles: University of California Los Angeles Higher Education Research Institute.

Last Week's Leadership Definition:

Regardless of if someone is trying to be a leader or not, they need other people (followers) to ever be considered a leader. I already had this belief from watching the video of the dance catching on to a bunch of people, but the "Interacting in Teams and Groups" article reinforced this notion. Any interaction with more than one other person can technically be described as a group. I've learned the basic stages of a group (forming, storming, norming, and performing) and these are true no matter what the group's purpose or culture is.

New Leadership Definition:

Leading is not always about performing. But when we do perform, especially under pressure, it is possible to mess up. We do this by either thinking too much and reverting back to where we started, or not thinking at all and simply reacting to what is going on around you.

Analysis:

This was SUCH an interesting read, because I've always wondered about the psychology behind chocking and panicking. As an athlete, I've experienced both of these things, and it's nice to be able to articulate those concepts now. I feel like this will definitely help me as a leader.

Bibliography:
Gladwell, M. (2000). "The Art of Failure: Why some people choke and others panic." The New Yorker, (p 84 - 92). Retrieved from http://www.gladwell.com/pdf/choking.pdf

Last Week's Leadership Definition:

Leadership is something that someone has inside of them that they can choose to use or not use, OR it can exist without their awareness, that can be good or bad. It depends on the situation and it motivates and inspires other people to do or not do things. People don't try to be a leader all of the time because sometimes just having followers makes a leader.

Leadership involves being able to step outside of the situation and look at the big picture. In life, a million things are all happening at once that affect a million more things, and there is a lot that is outside of our control. Someone who is acting as a leader in a situation realizes this and does their best to assess every situation from many viewpoints, especially that of their followers. It's important to do this because we need to remove ourselves (and along with that our emotional connection to anything in the situation) to see it for what it really is. Sometime our own world view clouds our perception of what is going on, so we need to be able to "get on the balcony". I've also learned that there are many different ways in which we can be a leader, both good and bad. Some focus more on relationships and some focus more on results. They all have their good and bad qualities but according to Coleman, Boyatzis, and McKee, being a visionary leader can't really be a bad thing.

New Leadership Definition:

Regardless of if someone is trying to be a leader or not, they need other people (followers) to ever be considered a leader. I already had this belief from watching the video of the dance catching on to a bunch of people, but the "Interacting in Teams and Groups" article reinforced this notion. Any interaction with more than one other person can technically be described as a group. I've learned the basic stages of a group (forming, storming, norming, and performing) and these are true no matter what the group's purpose or culture is.

Analysis:

I always find it interesting to read articles in which they categorize types of people or behaviors, because I like to see what I am. I definitely realized that I am an opinion giver. I likee to share my feelings and opinions, and I already knew that this can be both a blessing and a curse. It was interesting to read about how I can use this information I have about myself to cultivate my leadership skills. This week's unit really drove the point home of needing to have other people (and therefore relationships with other people) to be a leader. I never really realized how much you needed to know about other people to be a leader, I thought it was mostly going to be learning about myself.

Bibliography:
Komives, S.R., Lucas, N., & McMahon, T. R. (1998). "Interacting in Teams and Groups." Exploring Leadership: For College Students who want to make a difference (pp. 165-194). San Francisco: Jossey Bass

Last Week's Leadership Definition:

Leadership is something that someone has inside of them that they can choose to use or not use, OR it can exist without their awareness, that can be good or bad. It depends on the situation and it motivates and inspires other people to do or not do things. People don't try to be a leader all of the time because sometimes just having followers makes a leader.

New Leadership Definition:

Leadership involves being able to step outside of the situation and look at the big picture. In life, a million things are all happening at once that affect a million more things, and there is a lot that is outside of our control. Someone who is acting as a leader in a situation realizes this and does their best to assess every situation from many viewpoints, especially that of their followers. It's important to do this because we need to remove ourselves (and along with that our emotional connection to anything in the situation) to see it for what it really is. Sometime our own world view clouds our perception of what is going on, so we need to be able to "get on the balcony". I've also learned that there are many different ways in which we can be a leader, both good and bad. Some focus more on relationships and some focus more on results. They all have their good and bad qualities but according to Coleman, Boyatzis, and McKee, being a visionary leader can't really be a bad thing.

Analysis:

I still think that my general definition from last week is still what I regard the definition to be, and what I wrote from this week is more of a detailed explanation of what I feel the first definition means. I think I'm going to include last week's in next week's too.

Bibliography:
Heifetz, R. A., & Linsky, M. (2002) "Get on the balcony." Leadership on the Line: Staying alive through the dangers of leading (pp. 51 - 74). Boston: Harvard Business School Press

Coleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002). "The leadership repertoire." Primal leadership. Learning to lead with emotional intelligence (p. 53 - 69) Boston: Harvard Business School Press