Mahogany Leadership Blog tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012-06-16:/ellis503/mahoganyleadership_blog//16392 2012-08-14T16:00:58Z Movable Type Enterprise 4.31-en Final Week Entry tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/ellis503/mahoganyleadership_blog//16392.363061 2012-08-14T15:47:42Z 2012-08-14T16:00:58Z Old Definition: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt to the environment/climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership and ethical reasoning, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business... ellis503 Old Definition: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt to the environment/climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership and ethical reasoning, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business and personnel.

Final Definition: Implementing their strengths a leader exercises leadership as best needed for the environment they are in. They use things such as ethical reasoning, communication styles, problem solving, and people skills as appropriate to create a positive effect on the climate, environment, business and personnel around them to foster teamwork and individual success while furthering the success of the organization or community they are serving.

This week to create my definition I looked back at our leadership class and reflect on what I have really learned about leadership. I realized that I have not so much learned what a leader "is" but the skills, and qualities they need to best service those around them. This is why my definition has been so repetitive. Defining leadership doesn't really explain it. It gives words to the name but being a leader is so much more than black and white. Sometimes leadership is just being the silent moderate making sure everything goes right, sometimes being the leader is giving up your power, sometimes being the leader is making hard decisions in the face of adversity. Leadership is so complex and manifests its self in so many ways that a mere definition cannot truly explain what a leader does or why they do the things they do. It is merely a springboard into the world of leadership. Something important I have also learned about leadership in this class is that people lead and don't know what they are doing. I lead in ways that I didn't know were actually defined styles of leadership. This is why I dropped the word styles from my definition. People lead in ways that are natural, the lead to the best of their ability and most called for in a given situation. Most importantly leaders understand the unique goals and needs of their group and individuals around them while balancing the needs of the bigger picture.

I don't have a cited reading because this is just the general knowledge I have gleaned from the class, it is a mixture of all of the readings, video lessons and group project experiences I have had this semester.

]]> Week 9 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/ellis503/mahoganyleadership_blog//16392.362950 2012-08-12T01:05:59Z 2012-08-14T16:02:48Z Old Definition: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt to the environment/climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership and ethical reasoning, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business... ellis503 Old Definition: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt to the environment/climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership and ethical reasoning, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business and personnel.

New Definition: : A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt to the environment/climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership and ethical reasoning, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business and personnel.


This week I tried to start with a clean slate and think about what a leader was and the very basic and essential qualities that a leader needed to have. To me ultimately best metaphor I could use to describe my feelings towards a leader is that they are like a puppeteer or puppet master that stands above the stage. Sometimes that play a big role and are forceful with their impact, and sometimes you don't even realize they are there. All leaders help those around them do the things they need to do to be successful while making sure that the ultimate goals of the environment (business, academic, social) are being met. They do this by adapting to their environment and using their skills as best as possible to help the situation progress. There are a lot of skills needed, listening, group skills, people skills, quick thinking and more. Thinking about this while I still don't feel like my definition is quite right I feel like it still reflects my vision of a leader. The readings this week about groups and intentional change are important for leaders. Group skills fall under people skills. This falls under personnel that I have in my definition about. Intentional change is something that I have not quite figured out how to add to my definition. It is very essential and important for a leader to continue to educate and improve themselves as they grow, but how I word this into my definition is something I have yet to figure out. So I will keep the same definition for now but will continue to look so new things.


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.

Yoon, S., & Johnson, S. (2008). Phases and patterns of group development in virtual learning teams. Educational Technology Research & Development, 56(5), 595-618. doi:10.1007/s11423-007-9078-x

Boyatzis, R. E. (2006). "An Overview of Intentional Change from a Leadership Perspective." Journal of Management Development, 25(7), 607-623. doi:10.1108/02621710610678445

]]> Week 6 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/ellis503/mahoganyleadership_blog//16392.362183 2012-07-29T01:15:32Z 2012-07-29T01:23:00Z Old Definition: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt to the environment/climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership and ethical reasoning, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business... ellis503 Old Definition: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt to the environment/climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership and ethical reasoning, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business and personnel.

New Definition: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt to the environment/climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership and ethical reasoning, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business and personnel.


I don't like my definition of leadership, I don't know why. Maybe I feel like it should be rephrased or maybe there is something critical missing that I can't put my finger on but something isn't right. But the two readings this week didn't bring me any closer to changing my definition. Both readings "Get on the Balcony" and "Identifying Each Person's One Big Thing" both stressed things I have already added to my definition of leadership. "Identifying Each Person's One Big Thing" really is hit home when I talk about a leaders individual style. It could be rephrased a little better maybe to fit in with that particular article but it essentially is still present in my definition. "Get on the Balcony" a reading a really enjoyed and learned a lot from is still essentially encompassed in the phrase leaders who can adapt quickly. There are so many parts and pieces to a leader. I would love to write a short essay about making sure you can destruct or room or people and know exactly what's going on because as a leader its essential that you can come into a situation and immediately give to it what it needs. But in a simple one sentence definition its difficult to include too many details. I hope next weeks readings help me figure out what is missing in my definition.


Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2009). Identifying Each Person's One Big Thing (pp. 63 - 67). Boston: Harvard Business Press.


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.

]]> Week 5 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/ellis503/mahoganyleadership_blog//16392.361026 2012-07-22T05:03:07Z 2012-07-22T05:03:31Z Old Defintion: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt to the environment/climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership and ethical reasoning, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business... ellis503 Old Defintion: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt to the environment/climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership and ethical reasoning, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business and personnel.

New Definition: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt to the environment/climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership and ethical reasoning, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business and personnel.

This week I have no change. This week in class we talked a lot about leadership in terms of it being a process of change and how it acts in accordance with crisis. Both readings opened my eyes to exactly how a leader should react to crisis and change. In "Leadership in a (permanent) crisis" I learned that leaders have to be adaptable and flexible because problems are never endings, it's a leader job to solve problems, I also learned about urgency and hierarchy. While these concepts are important they don't affect how I define leadership. I believe how I have phrased "quickly adapt to the environment/climate" covers environments in crisis. In "A social change model of leadership development: Guidebook" There was a lot of talk about leadership being a process and again about how change affected leadership and how leadership affected change. I enduring/creating/sustaining change I believe is apart of the job description of leader. But I don't need it in my definition because I think it is kind of implied

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

Reading #1: Leadership in a ( permanent) Crisis by Heifetz
Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). "Leadership in a (permanent) crisis." Harvard Business Review, 87(7), 62-69.

]]> Week 4 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/ellis503/mahoganyleadership_blog//16392.360582 2012-07-15T04:32:25Z 2012-07-15T04:32:53Z Old Definition: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt the environment and climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business and personnel.... ellis503 Old Definition: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt the environment and climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business and personnel.

New Definition: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt the environment/climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership and ethical reasoning, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business and personnel.


This week I didn't have great epiphanies or changes to my definition of leadership. I did really enjoy reading and learning from "Overview: The ethics of right vs. right". Ethical reasoning is an important concept and tool for leaders to have.

Kidder, R. M. (2003). "Overview: The ethics of right vs. right." How Good People Make Tough Choices (pp. 13 - 29). New York: Simon & Schuster

]]> Week 2 entry tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/ellis503/mahoganyleadership_blog//16392.359678 2012-06-30T20:58:32Z 2012-06-30T20:59:09Z Old Definition: Leadership to me is being the person who is able to can be counted on to ensure that a task is completed by aiding their peers or colleagues in whatever manner is needed. There are so many different... ellis503 Old Definition: Leadership to me is being the person who is able to can be counted on to ensure that a task is completed by aiding their peers or colleagues in whatever manner is needed. There are so many different styles of leadership that I think true leaders inspire and yet can hold the responsibility of tasks and people. My favorite type of leader is one who is able to get people to reach their own conclusions, a leader who spends time empowering instead of directing.

New Definition: A leader is one who is able to quickly adapt the environment and climate around them, and exercise their own style of leadership, as it is appropriate resulting in a positive effect on climate, environment, business and personnel.


My definition of leadership has been greatly impacted by the reading "Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow" by Rath & Conchie. I really am starting t view leadership from the eyes of the follower and not as much from the eyes of the leader. Before I would think through how the leader can better help their followers and now I am focusing more on how the needs of the followers may be served by the leader. I still maintain, in maybe a more defined way that there are many types of leaders. The reading "Leadership that gets results" has a set of defined leadership styles. While I don't accept that those are all leadership styles I do believe it has helped me more articulating state and think about leadership styles.

Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership That Gets Results. (pp 78-90). Retrieved from Harvard Business Review.

Rath, T. & Conchie, B. (2009). Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow. (pp 79-85). Retrieved from New York: Gallup Press.

]]> What is Leadership? tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2012:/ellis503/mahoganyleadership_blog//16392.358706 2012-06-17T02:10:28Z 2012-06-17T02:13:19Z Leadership to me is being the person who is able to can be counted on to ensure that a task is completed by aiding their peers or colleagues in whatever manner is needed. There are so many different styles of... ellis503 Leadership to me is being the person who is able to can be counted on to ensure that a task is completed by aiding their peers or colleagues in whatever manner is needed. There are so many different styles of leadership that I think true leaders inspire and yet can hold the responsibility of tasks and people. My favorite type of leader is one who is able to get people to reach their own conclusions, a leader who spends time empowering instead of directing.

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