Leadership Blog! tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010-09-11:/murph687/leadershipblog!//12715 2010-11-28T04:48:26Z Movable Type Enterprise 4.31-en Leadership Definition Week 11 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/murph687/leadershipblog!//12715.261702 2010-11-28T04:39:37Z 2010-11-28T04:48:26Z Week 10: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors... murph687 Week 10: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow. Leading includes transferring yourself out of a situation to look on as an observer (includes seeing yourself objectively) and returning as a participant with a new perspective on the whole picture. Leading is in ongoing process; it continually advances through one's life by consciously practicing new leading habits. While working in a group, leading becomes functional when forming task-goals and group building roles, and discussing group development framework (forming, storming, norming, and performing).

Week 11: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow. Leading includes transferring yourself out of a situation to look on as an observer (includes seeing yourself objectively) and returning as a participant with a new perspective on the whole picture. Leading is in ongoing process; it continually advances through one's life by consciously practicing new leading habits. While working in a group, leading becomes functional when forming task-goals and group building roles, and discussing group development framework (forming, storming, norming, and performing). Effective leading incorporates considering more than first impressions and appearances in order to override any underlying attitudes one may have in their unconscious mind.

With the readings this week, Gladwell, Kezar, and Tatum really focused on diversity and attitudes about first impressions. Their articles were intriguing because every single person reading them could relate to what was being discussed. I wanted to add a point about racism and attitudes to my leadership definition. I felt it was important because effective leaders have to be able to get over any conscious or unconscious attitudes toward diversity. Good leaders need to understand that there should be no bias or assumptions based on appearances alone. I still think there is a little room for fine-tuning in my definition at the very end. I need to find a better flow and transition between ideas.


References:
Gladwell, M. (2005). "The Warren Harding Error: Why we fall for tall, dark, and handsome men." Blink: The power of thinking without thinking (pp. 72 - 98). New York: Pushkin Enterprises.

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

Tatum, B. D. (1997). "Defining Racism: Can we talk?" Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? (pp. 3 - 17). New York: Basic Books.

]]> Leadership Definition Week 10 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/murph687/leadershipblog!//12715.260994 2010-11-21T02:42:07Z 2010-11-21T03:15:23Z Week 9: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors... murph687 Week 9: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow. Leading includes transferring yourself out of a situation to look on as an observer (includes seeing yourself objectively) and returning as a participant with a new perspective on the whole picture. Leading is in ongoing process; it continually advances through one's life by consciously practicing new leading habits.

Week 10: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow. Leading includes transferring yourself out of a situation to look on as an observer (includes seeing yourself objectively) and returning as a participant with a new perspective on the whole picture. Leading is in ongoing process; it continually advances through one's life by consciously practicing new leading habits. While working in a group, leading becomes functional when forming task-goals and group building roles, and discussing group development framework (forming, storming, norming, and performing).

This week, Komives, Lucas, and McMahon (1998) discussed different frameworks to group development that struck my interest. I wanted to make sure to incorporate this section into my definition in some way because leadership is almost always apparent in group work. However, in my opinion, this addition does not flow with the rest of the definition. I think I will wait until next week to try to further my definition and fine-tune the end to make it smoother to read. Yoon and Johnson (2008) also had some good points about group development but I did not find a place to incorporate them. Again, I am not happy with the flow of my definition at this point but I hope it continues to get better with each week; I am going to wait for next weeks article to make it more coherent.

References:
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

]]> Leadership Definition Week 9 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/murph687/leadershipblog!//12715.259963 2010-11-14T04:17:34Z 2010-11-14T04:36:17Z Week 8: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors... murph687 Week 8: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow. Leading includes transferring yourself out of a situation to look on as an observer (includes seeing yourself objectively) and returning as a participant with a new perspective on the whole picture. Leading is in ongoing process; it continually advances through one's life by consciously practicing new leading habits.

Week 9: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow. Leading includes transferring yourself out of a situation to look on as an observer (includes seeing yourself objectively) and returning as a participant with a new perspective on the whole picture. Leading is in ongoing process; it continually advances through one's life by consciously practicing new leading habits.

I did not change my definition this week. Sessions (2010) discussed ways of demonstrating leadership through different means of communication; online collaboration and face-to-face meetings were the main focus. Even though there were some very interesting findings through this article, I did not think they fit anywhere in my definition and I didn't want to force it. More so, I do not think this is extremely important when looking at leadership as a raw definition. Palloff and Pratt (2005) also presented information that didn't seem completely vital to my leadership definition. I learned intriguing points about online collaboration from both articles; however, I did not find them necessary for my leadership definition.


References:
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

Sessions, L. F. (2010). How offline gatherings affect online communities: When virtual community members 'meet up'. Information, Communication & Society, 13(3), 375-395. doi:10.1080/13691180903468954

]]> Leadership Defintion Week 8 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/murph687/leadershipblog!//12715.258831 2010-11-07T02:36:27Z 2010-11-07T02:42:10Z Week 7: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors... murph687 Week 7: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow. Leading includes transferring yourself out of a situation to look on as an observer (includes seeing yourself objectively) and returning as a participant with a new perspective on the whole picture. Leading is in ongoing process; it continually advances through one's life.

Week 8: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow. Leading includes transferring yourself out of a situation to look on as an observer (includes seeing yourself objectively) and returning as a participant with a new perspective on the whole picture. Leading is in ongoing process; it continually advances through one's life by consciously practicing new leading habits.

This week, I wanted to incorporate Goleman and Boyatzis' (2002) article somehow into my leadership definition. I found it important that they mention to consciously practice new leading habits in order to set them in stone. This made a great addition to my definition and really furthered what I was trying to say in my last statement. Next, I would like to add something to my definition about a leader's "one big thing" according to Kegan and Lahey (2009). However, with the structure I have right now, I have not found the proper way of going about this. I am going to hold off for this week and reevaluate after next week's articles to see where and how I can incorporate this into my leadership definition.

References
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002). "Metamorphosis: Sustaining leadership change." Primal Leadership: Learning to lead with emotional intelligence (pp. 139 - 168). Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2009). "We Never Had a Language for It" Immunity to Change: How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization (pp. 61 - 84). Boston: Harvard Business Press.

]]> Leadership Definition Week 7 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/murph687/leadershipblog!//12715.257539 2010-10-30T20:34:26Z 2010-10-30T20:35:08Z Week 6: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a... murph687 Week 6: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow. Leading includes transferring yourself out of a situation to look on as an observer (includes seeing yourself objectively) and returning as a participant with a new perspective on the whole picture.

Week 7: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or it may be learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow. Leading includes transferring yourself out of a situation to look on as an observer (includes seeing yourself objectively) and returning as a participant with a new perspective on the whole picture. Leading is in ongoing process; it continually advances through one's life.

This week, we read 3 very interesting articles. The one that really intrigued me was the "Becoming a Servant Leader: Do you have what it takes?" article. According to Barbuto and Wheeler (2007), to become a servant leader, one must recognize that leading is a constant, gradual trait that develops over a lifetime. I found this to be an important point and wanted to add it to my definition. It is essential to know that someone cannot become a good leader over night. A person will develop effective leading skills through learning and personal experience. I found this to be imperative to my definition of leadership.

Barbuto, J. E., & Wheeler, D. W. (2007). "Becoming a Servant Leader: Do you have what it takes?" Retrieved from www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1481/build/g1481.pdf

]]> Leadership Definition Week 6 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/murph687/leadershipblog!//12715.256385 2010-10-21T21:23:37Z 2010-10-21T21:31:23Z Week 5: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; can be born with or learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that... murph687 Week 5: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; can be born with or learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow.

Week 6: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; one can be born with it or learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow. Leading includes transferring yourself out of a situation to look on as an observer (includes seeing yourself objectively) and returning as a participant with a new perspective on the whole picture.

This week, Heifetz and Linsky (2002) taught me a perspective that I have never thought about before. I can truthfully say I have never taken myself out of situation and looked down "from the balcony" to see the big picture. After reading this article, I know that this approach will work (specifically for me) because I rely on visualization in my everyday life. The "balcony" idea is similar to visualization and seeing your self do something, in which, I believe will ultimately become beneficial in the way that I lead. I thought it was necessary to put something about this in my definition because I believe it is an important aspect of leading. Also, because I have not thought about this in the past or performed it throughout my years of leading, I wanted to make sure whoever was reading my leadership definition would know about it right away.


References
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 Definition 5 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/murph687/leadershipblog!//12715.255395 2010-10-17T02:57:27Z 2010-10-17T03:12:19Z Week 4: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; can be born with or learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that... murph687 Week 4: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; can be born with or learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow.

Week 5: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; can be born with or learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow.

When I look at my definition of leadership, I imagine I am a person who does not understand the meaning and am looking it up for the first time in the dictionary. This week I did not change my definition because I felt like Heifetz and Linsky (2009) taught me some interesting points about how to handle crisis situations in leadership but is not necessary for my definition. Even though I learned from this article, I felt like it held information that is more useful when you better understand the meaning of leadership. Kidder (2003) also taught me some interesting points about leadership and difficult situations we face when we are presented a right versus right dilemma. Again, I did not know this information and I think it is unnecessary for a beginner learning about leadership for the first time. These articles were useful and I learned a lot of information for each but I thought the points made were overly developed for someone looking for a simplistic definition of leadership.

References:
Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). "Leadership in a (permanent) crisis." Harvard Business Review, 87(7), 62-69. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=keh&AN=41997981&site=ehost-live

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 Definition 4 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/murph687/leadershipblog!//12715.251949 2010-10-09T22:51:06Z 2010-10-09T23:13:37Z Week 3: Leadership is a quality that one possesses who demonstrates guidance by their actions by knowing their strengths and amplifying them; can be born with it or learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way... murph687 Week 3: Leadership is a quality that one possesses who demonstrates guidance by their actions by knowing their strengths and amplifying them; can be born with it or learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow.

Week 4: Leadership is a quality that one possesses, demonstrating guidance through their personal actions by recognizing their strengths and amplifying them; can be born with or learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow.

I did not change my definition much this week after reading the assigned articles. I felt like Paul and Elder (2006) identified the foundations of ethical reasoning and only that. I believe, to be an effective leader, it is understood or almost assumed that you would have ethical reasoning; therefore this article did not change my definition or have much of an impact on my perspective. Next, Lee and King (2001) did not persuade me one way or another in their article either. They seemed more focused on helping me recognize my own personal vision in leadership rather than explaining what leadership is. This article was more of a personalized one; it did not share any new ground-breaking information that my definition would have benefited from.


References:
Lee, R. J., & King, S. N. (2001). "Ground your leadership vision in a personal vision." Discovering the Leader in You: A guide to realizing your personal leadership potential (pp. 31 - 54). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2006). "The Function of Ethics -- and Its Main Impediement." Understanding the Foundations of Ethical Reasoning (pp. 4 - 36). Dillon Beach, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking.

]]> Leadership Definition 3 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/murph687/leadershipblog!//12715.250975 2010-10-04T04:02:02Z 2010-10-04T05:38:04Z Week 2: Leadership is a quality that one possesses who demonstrates guidance by their actions by knowing their strengths and amplifying them; can be born with it or learned through experience, both silent and physical, in a way that makes... murph687 Week 2: Leadership is a quality that one possesses who demonstrates guidance by their actions by knowing their strengths and amplifying them; can be born with it or learned through experience, both silent and physical, in a way that makes others want to follow.

Week 3: Leadership is a quality that one possess who demonstrates guidance by their actions by knowing their strengths and amplifying them; can be born with it or learned through experience, both biological and social factors collaborating, in a way that makes others want to follow.

Through the articles that we read this week, I really took the biological and social neuroscience (Goleman and Boyaztis, 2008) concepts away from the readings. I wanted to add both of these ideas into my definition because it made a lot of sense when focusing on the description of how leadership emerges. When it comes to leadership, I believe it has to do with who you are as a person just as Goleman and Boyatzis' article described. The authors added to my definition by showing that leadership comes from 2 very critical parts within a person; a biological side and a social side.

Goleman, D., & Boyatzis, R. (2008). "Social intelligence and the biology of leadership." Harvard Business Review, 86(9), 74-81. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=keh&AN=33983120&site=ehost-live

]]> Leadership Definition 2 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/murph687/leadershipblog!//12715.249646 2010-09-25T20:32:21Z 2010-09-25T20:45:29Z Week 1 Leadership definition: Leadership is a quality that one possesses who demonstrates guidance by their actions, whether born with it or learned through experience, both silent and physical, in a way that make others want to follow. Week 2:... murph687 Week 1 Leadership definition: Leadership is a quality that one possesses who demonstrates guidance by their actions, whether born with it or learned through experience, both silent and physical, in a way that make others want to follow.

Week 2: Leadership is a quality that one possesses who demonstrates guidance by their actions by knowing their strengths and amplifying them; can be born with it or learned through experience, both silent and physical, in a way that makes others want to follow.

My definition changed a little bit with the reading. I think the main thing I took away from this book was that it is acceptable to not be good at every aspect of leading. I wanted to add something about this in my definition because this book really demonstrated strengths in leadership and knowing what you're good at. The authors stated that it is okay to be good at some parts of leading and not at others; the team you're working with can fill in the gaps.


References:
Conchie, T. , & Rath, B. (2008). Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders,
Teams, and Why People Follow [STRENGTHS BASED LEADERSHIP]. New York: Gallup
Press.

]]> Leadership Definition tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/murph687/leadershipblog!//12715.248609 2010-09-19T04:15:17Z 2010-09-19T04:35:23Z Week 1 Leadership definition: Leadership is a quality that one possesses who demonstrates guidance by their actions, whether born with it or learned through experience, both silent and physical, in a way that make others want to follow. Playing softball... murph687 Week 1 Leadership definition: Leadership is a quality that one possesses who demonstrates guidance by their actions, whether born with it or learned through experience, both silent and physical, in a way that make others want to follow.

Playing softball all of my life, I know there are different types of leaders. I feel like there are leaders who demonstrate leadership by their actions and others by their words. Also, I feel very strongly that leadership can be a trait that someone is born or blessed with, but also can be learned throughout life experiences. These readings impacted my definition a small amount this week. The only thing that really stood out to me within the 3 articles was the argument whether leadership is born or made. This section in Terry's article made me realize that I stand in between the argument. I truly believe now that I've seen both sides, leadership can be born or made. More so, if someone was born with it, I believe that they can learn different types of leading like discussed in Goleman's article with the 4 styles of leadership (visionary, coaching, affiliative, and democratic).

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

Terry, R. (2001). "Deciding what you believe." Seven zones for leadership: Acting authentically in stability and chaos (pp. 20 - 40). Mountain View, CA: Davies-Black Publishing, Inc.


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