Leadership is an individual knowing their strengths, making ethical decisions, having presence, and being observant to inspire all people, regardless or race, around the leader in all settings to achieve.

For my definition this week I added that a leader should inspire people, regardless of race. Not acknowledging this diversity "leads to inefficiency, lack of productivity,
reduced quality, and the inability to meet organizational goals. (Kezar, p.723). If a leader does not take the fact of diversity into account, they will not be able to inspire everybody.

Works Cited
Kezar, A. (2000). "Pluralistic Leadership: Incorporating Diverse Voices." The Journal of Higher Education, 71(6), Nov. - Dec., 2000, pp. 722-743.

Leadership is an individual knowing their strengths, making ethical decisions, having presence, and being observant to inspire the people around the leader in all settings to achieve.

My leadership definition did not change from last week to this week. I felt that the reading from Komives, Lucas, and McMahon fit in well with my definition. While any individual participant or positional leader may not perform in all roles comfortably, it is useful to know which roles the group needs and ask someone to engage in them (Komives, Lucas, and McMahon, p. 172). In order to be a good leader, the leader needs to be able to understand the people that surround the leader in order to help them with their role.

Leadership is an individual knowing their strengths, making ethical decisions, having presence, and being observant to inspire the people around the leader in all settings to achieve.

My definition of leadership for this week now includes the addition of the leader in all settings. This is not just being in a small group setting but it can include all online and offline settings. "The instructor cannot simply set up a collaborative activity and walk away from it, leaving the learners to fend for themselves" (Palloff and Pratt, p.2). A leader still needs to show leadership characteristics in an online setting, if not the participants will not know what to do.

Works Cited
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Learning together in community: Collaboration online. Paper presented at the 20th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, Retrieved from http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/04_1127.pdf

Leadership is an individual knowing their strengths, making ethical decisions, having presence, and being observant to inspire the people around the leader to achieve.

This week I did not change my leadership definition from last week's definition. All of the readings seemed to key in on the main point of my definition, especially the Goleman reading. Given how emotions affect performance, the emotional task of teachers or leaders is on and the same: help people get and stay as close as possible to the top of the inverted U (Goleman, p.274). This is one characteristic of a leader being observant in order to inspire the people around the leader.

Works Cited
Goleman, D. (2006). "The Sweet Spot for Achievement." Social Intelligence: The new science of human relationships (pp. 267 - 284). New York: Bantam Books.

Leadership is an individual knowing their strengths, making ethical decisions, having presence, and being observant to inspire the people around the leader to achieve.

The only change that I made to my definition this week was to add an observant aspect to leadership. In order to be successful as a leader an individual needs to observant to the many things that are happening. "The only way you can gain both a clearer view of reality and some perspective on the bigger picture is by distancing yourself from the fray (Heifetz & Linsky p. 53). If the leader does not take time to observe what is going on they may miss some of the small details that could affect everybody.

Works Cited
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.

Leadership is an individual knowing their strengths, making ethical decisions, and having the presence to inspire those around the leader to achieve.

My definition did not change much from last week because I felt the reading from this week reflected my definition. They are good, we say, because they seem to have some conscious sense of visions, some deep core of ethical values, that gives them the courage to stand up to tough choices (Kidder, p. 13). If a leader is to be successful they will need to make tough decisions and having a good set of ethical values will help the leader.

Works Cited

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

Leadership is an individual knowing their strengths and having the ethical presence to inspire those around the leader to achieve.

My definition for this week included the return of a leader knowing their own strengths as well as including ethics into my definition. I feel that a leader needs to make ethical decisions in order to be successful. If the followers don't believe that the leader is making ethical decisions the leader's impact won't have the full desired effect. "The ultimate basis for ethics is clear: human behavior has consequences for the welfare of others" (Paul & Elder, p.4). If a leader is constantly making unethical decisions it will affect all that are around the leader.

Works Cited
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2006). Understanding the Foundations of Ethical Reasoning (pp. 4 - 36). Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking.

Leadership is an individual having the presence to inspire those around the leader to achieve.

For my entry this week I decided to add in the quality of presence for a leader. According to the reading there are 6 different characteristics that make up presence. These characteristics are stewardships, ambition, vision, order, affirmation, and mentorship. Presence is the quality that results when positional power and personal power move in an individual (Kyle 173). A successful leader will be able to use all 6 strengths in presence in order to inspire the people that are around them.

Works Cited
Kyle, D. T. (1998). "The sovereign: The power of presence." The Four Powers of Leadership: Presence, intention, wisdom, compassion (pp. 159 - 191). Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications Inc.

Leadership is the ability for an individual to use their strengths in order to inspire those around you to achieve.

I changed my definition from last week and included a leader using their strengths to inspire others to achieve. I feel this definition got stronger because good leaders are aware of their strengths and they use this knowledge to inspire those around them (Rath & Conchie, 2). When a leader knows their own strengths it is easier to use these strengths to communicate their message.

Works Cited
Rath, T. and Conchie, B. (2009). Strengths-based Leadership: Great teams, leaders,
and why people follow. Gallup Press: Washington, D.C.

Works Cited
D Goleman, R. B. (2002). The leadership repertoire. Primal leadership: Learning to lead with emotional intelligence. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.