Personal Leadership Blog

Week 11

2011-11-19T03:46:27Z

Last week's final definition:
Leadership is the ability to motivate people into action, the way in which you lead has a direct influence on how people follow. Being able to vary your leadership styles, and being concerned for the people that you are leading will allow you to lead more efficiently and have a more positive influence on those that follow.
This week's definition:
Leadership is the ability to motivate people into action, the way in which you lead has a direct influence on how people follow. Being able to vary your leadership styles, and being concerned for the people that you are leading will allow you to lead more efficiently and have a more positive influence on those that follow.
Analysis of the differences in the definitions:
The leadership definition again remains the same but again the reading supports the definition. An overview of intentional change from a leadership perspective, Boyatzis discusses the ICT, the Intention Change Theory. This theory discusses why we change People change with intention, in many different ways. Your life experience and surroundings are among the many things that can bring on change. Having a realization of how and why people change will allow us to better understand individuals, groups, organizations, and whole communities. Having this understanding of why people change makes me a better leader by making me want to seek out what makes people want to change, and inspiring them to do so. (Boyatzis, R. E. 2006)

Week 10

2011-11-19T03:40:48Z

Last week's final definition:
Leadership is the ability to motivate people into action, the way in which you lead has a direct influence on how people follow. Being able to vary your leadership styles, and being concerned for the people that you are leading will allow you to lead more efficiently and have a more positive influence on those that follow.
This week's definition:
Leadership is the ability to motivate people into action, the way in which you lead has a direct influence on how people follow. Being able to vary your leadership styles, and being concerned for the people that you are leading will allow you to lead more efficiently and have a more positive influence on those that follow.
Analysis of the differences in the definitions:
The definition I have is still the same because I feel that it is solid, and the articles discussed this week supported the definition that I have. College students who want to make a difference Komives, Lucas, McMahon discuss the dimensions of groups the phases they go through and what dimensions of decision making. Being aware of the how a group functions allow you to lead without stifling group development. It is also good to know that all groups go through conflict but it needs to be dealt with in the proper manner during the storming stage is much needed information to be a successful leader. (Komives, S. R., Lucas, N., & McMahon, T. R. 1998)

Week 9

2011-11-19T03:29:41Z

Last week's final definition:
Leadership is the ability to motivate people into action, the way in which you lead has a direct influence on how people follow. Being able to vary your leadership styles, and being concerned for the people that you are leading will allow you to lead more efficiently and have a more positive influence on those that follow.
This week's definition:
Leadership is the ability to motivate people into action, the way in which you lead has a direct influence on how people follow. Being able to vary your leadership styles, and being concerned for the people that you are leading will allow you to lead more efficiently and have a more positive influence on those that follow.
Analysis of the differences in the definitions:
While the definition of leadership has not changed this week I have come to a better understanding of the way in which we lead and the effect that it has on the follower. In Pluralistic Leadership: Incorporating Diverse Voices, Kezar makes a point that traditional models do not encompass the multiple ways that leadership is understood by diverse groups of people. As I leader I need to realize the diverse backgrounds that followers have and be proactive in negotiating the differences in order to meet expectations. (Kezar, 2000)

Updated Leadership Definition

2011-10-22T21:34:22Z

Last week's final definition:
Leadership is the ability to motivate people to action, the way in which you lead has direct influence on how people follow. Having a variety of leadership techniques will allow you to lead more efficiently and have a more positive influence on those that follow.
This week's definition:
Leadership is the ability to motivate people into action, the way in which you lead has a direct influence on how people follow. Being able to vary your leadership styles, and being concerned for the people that you are leading will allow you to lead more efficiently and have a more positive influence on those that follow.
Analysis of the differences in the definitions:
This week I added that having concern for the people you are leading is something that is important as a leader. The article Becoming a Servant Leader: Do you have what it takes, Barbuto and Wheeler discuss 11 characteristics that ultimate servant leaders have and are constantly developing. Having a true care and concern for those that you lead required you to have many of the characteristics that this article describes. In my experience the leaders that truly care have the biggest impact on those that they are leading, and those that are following are really willing to go the extra mile because of it. (Barbuto and Wheeler, 2007)

Updated Leadership Definitions

2011-09-24T21:03:22Z

Last week's final definition:
Leadership to me is motivating people to take action, and a good leader has the ability to make you to want to take that action and go the extra mile.
This week's definition:
Leadership is the ability to motivate people to action, the way in which you lead has direct influence on how people follow. Having a variety of leadership techniques will allow you to lead more efficiently and have a more positive influence on those that follow.
Analysis of the differences in the definitions:
The biggest thing that I realized from this week's reading was how much a leadership style has a direct influence on how followers feel. In the article Leadership That Gets Results, Goleman discusses six main leadership styles and the effectiveness of those styles on their followers (2000). I found that the styles that Goleman described as the least effective such as pacesetting, and coercive where styles that I disliked in leader that I have had in the past, and in turn the leaders that I remember as being great leaders possess a variety of the other skills that Goleman described in the article such as coaching, democratic, affiliative, and authoritative (2000).

What leadership is to me...

2011-09-11T00:00:10Z

To describe what leadership is to me it makes me think about the characteristics of good leaders that I have had contact with throughout my life. They are usually of high moral character, strong willed, caring, and charismatic.
One of the best leaders that I have met was an old boss of mine at a retail store. He genuinely cared about his staffs well-being, and by having this genuine concern for his employees, he had the most loyal employees I have ever seen. People worked hard for this manager, and he worked equally as hard alongside them, and for them.
Eisenhower has a really great quote that describes what a leader is; Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
Leadership to me is motivating people to take action, and a good leader has the ability to make you to want to take that action and go the extra mile.