TJ Oakes tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010-09-22:/oakes070/tjoakes//12805 2010-11-28T02:38:21Z Movable Type Enterprise 4.31-en Leadership definition Week 12 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oakes070/tjoakes//12805.261700 2010-11-28T01:27:38Z 2010-11-28T02:38:21Z Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group, consciousness of self, purpose, structure, and time. Leadership is when someone takes... oakes070 Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group, consciousness of self, purpose, structure, and time.

Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group, consciousness of self, purpose, structure, and time.

My definition of leadership has stayed the same from last week. From the readings this week, my thoughts have stayed the same and have contributed to my thoughts in my current definition. Most of the main points in all three readings are about the different cultures of people, either dealing with issues involving the differences of men and women or the issue of racism. I think the relationship between the readings and my definition of leadership mainly has to do with the core values of a person and how the person deals with the issues of gender diversity and racism. Also the person must have take into consideration what they are going to do in case a racism case comes into play. According to Tatum, "racism is part of the society that we live in; we can't help but be influenced by it." (Tatum pp.7)


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 11 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oakes070/tjoakes//12805.260612 2010-11-18T01:31:11Z 2010-11-18T01:46:30Z Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group and consciousness of self. Leadership is when someone takes charge of a... oakes070 Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group and consciousness of self.

Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group, consciousness of self, purpose, structure, and time.

The main part of my definition has stayed the same with the main ideas still sticking out to me. I have just added on to my definition with more important parts that needs to be involved when talking about leadership. These other important parts come from, "Interacting in teams and groups." Three key dimensions that help us understand different types of groups are purposes, structure, and time. (Komives, Lucas, McMahon pg.166) Coming up with purposes, having structure to the group, and knowing how to manage and use time are three very key points in leadership. A good leader plans out and follows through on purposes, has structure and organization in everything dealt with, and knows how to get the most out of the time the group has together.


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.

]]> Leadership Definition Week 10 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oakes070/tjoakes//12805.259939 2010-11-13T22:06:15Z 2010-11-13T22:43:21Z Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group and consciousness of self. Leadership is when someone takes charge of a... oakes070 Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group and consciousness of self.

Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group and consciousness of self.

My definition of leadership has stayed the same. Week after week, the readings continue to lead me to believe in my definition for leadership. The same continues in this week's reading about online learning and the online community. One of the readings talks a lot about collaboration and how its very important in the online group format. "Beyond learner satisfaction is the more important belief that collaboration enhances learning outcomes." "By learning together in a learning community, people have the opportunity to extend and deepen their learning experience." (Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). pp 1) All of this leads me to believe that considering collaboration of the group is a very important part of being a good leader and is a key concept of what leadership really is.


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 definition- Week 9 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oakes070/tjoakes//12805.258834 2010-11-07T00:48:31Z 2010-11-07T03:03:55Z Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group and consciousness of self. Leadership is when someone takes charge of a... oakes070 Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group and consciousness of self.

Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group and consciousness of self.

My definition of leadership has not changed from last week. From the readings, I continue to see points made by the authors that relate to my definition of leadership. For example, I see some similarities in the reading "Metamorphosis: Sustaining Leadership Change" from this week compared to my definition of leadership. The reading states that goals, which is a huge part of leadership, should build on one's strengths and not one's weaknesses.
(Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002), pg 144). These strengths are equal to the skills and abilities that a person should use to lead. A person should persue leadership positions which allow them to apply their strengths instead of pursuing a leadership position in which will show a person's weaknesses.


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.

]]> Leadership Definition Week 8 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oakes070/tjoakes//12805.257516 2010-10-30T17:01:53Z 2010-10-30T17:18:47Z Leadership is someone taking charge of something using their skills and abilities while leading through their core values while observing the group as a whole and also realizing what the their doing self consciously. Leadership is when someone takes charge... oakes070 Leadership is someone taking charge of something using their skills and abilities while leading through their core values while observing the group as a whole and also realizing what the their doing self consciously.

Leadership is when someone takes charge of a situation using their skills and abilities along with their core values while taking into consideration the collaboration of the group and consciousness of self.

My definition has changed just slightly. It is pretty much stating the same thing just, in my opinion, in better terms. What made me think about this and reword and organize my definition was the reading "A Social Change Model of Leadership Development." The reading talks a lot about the keys to leadership and brings up the seven C's to quality leadership: Collaboration, Consciousness of self, Commitment, Congruence, Common Purpose, Controversy with civility, Citizenship. (Astin, H. S., & Astin, A. W. 20-24) SInce it would be very unlikely to include all 7 C's in my definition, I picked the 2 that I thought were the most important. Collaboration is much needed to be successful in any group situation, and the leader must realize the consciousness of self in order for things not to get out of hand.

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.

]]> Leadership Definition Week 7 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oakes070/tjoakes//12805.256589 2010-10-24T00:34:19Z 2010-10-24T00:48:44Z Leadership is someone taking charge of something using their skills and abilities while leading through their core values. Leadership is someone taking charge of something using their skills and abilities while leading through their core values while observing the group... oakes070 Leadership is someone taking charge of something using their skills and abilities while leading through their core values.

Leadership is someone taking charge of something using their skills and abilities while leading through their core values while observing the group as a whole and also realizing what the their doing self consciously.

The first part of my definition has stayed the same with just a little more added on to it. I think I have created a core foundation of what leadership is with my first part and now I just need to figure out what is needed to add to the core. This week I added what I did based on the reading for this week, "Get on the Balcony." In the reading it states, "When you observe from the balcony you must see yourself as well as the other participants. Perhaps this is the hardest task of all--to see yourself objectively" (Heifetz, R. A., & Linsky, M.). I think this is a very important part of leadership and for now I thought it was important to add to my emerging definition of leadership.


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 defintion Week 6 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oakes070/tjoakes//12805.255375 2010-10-16T20:46:56Z 2010-10-16T21:10:24Z Leadership can be defined as taking charge of a situation and using your skills and abilities to head a group of people. Leadership is someone taking charge of something using their skills and abilities while leading through their core values.... oakes070 Leadership can be defined as taking charge of a situation and using your skills and abilities to head a group of people.

Leadership is someone taking charge of something using their skills and abilities while leading through their core values.

My definition of leadership has pretty much stayed the same with just the core value part added in. I added the core values part in response to "The Ethics of Right versus Right," reading we had. In the reading, it states that there are many right versus right decisions that are to be made meaning that either decision is right and the person deciding must use their personal core values in deciding the fate (Kidder 14-16). I still believe that every leader must lead using their own personal skills and abilities. Everyone is different and has different skills and abilities meaning there are going to be different types of leaders out there. This week's reading made me think more about this, and I decided that the core values of a person also defines what kind of leader a person is.


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 week 5 tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oakes070/tjoakes//12805.251938 2010-10-09T21:05:30Z 2010-10-09T21:20:50Z Leadership can be defined as taking charge of a situation and using your skills and abilities to head a group of people Leadership can be defined as taking charge of a situation and using your skills and abilities to head... oakes070 Leadership can be defined as taking charge of a situation and using your skills and abilities to head a group of people

Leadership can be defined as taking charge of a situation and using your skills and abilities to head a group of people.

My definition of leadership has not changed from last week. The reading from this week went along with what my definition of leadership is at this point. This is true especially in "Ground Your Leadership Vision in Personal Vision." This reading states many things that relate to my own definition of leadership. For example from the reading, Fred Manske states that " A leader is a visionary who energizes others." And, from this there are two key dimensions: 1. creating a vision of the future and 2. inspiring people to make the vision a reality (Lee and King 31). I think this really relates to someone using their skills and abilities to head a group and take charge of a situation.


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.

]]> 1st Blog entry- Definition of Leadership tag:blog.lib.umn.edu,2010:/oakes070/tjoakes//12805.249256 2010-09-23T02:30:37Z 2010-09-23T02:33:08Z I think the definition of leadership can be explained as any act of a person trying to do good to others. I think this way because I see leadership as people doing a certain positive thing to help others. If... oakes070 I think the definition of leadership can be explained as any act of a person trying to do good to others.

I think this way because I see leadership as people doing a certain positive thing to help others. If you are a leader, you are helping others progress in a positive manner. Other people can see you as a role model and acting in a positive way if you are a good leader.

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