Lauren Tank's Leadership Blog 2.0

Last week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values, perspectives, and prejudices and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust. A leader can be either appointed by a group or one can emerge from the group itself.

This week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values, perspectives, communication styles, and prejudices and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust. A leader can be either appointed by a group or one can emerge from the group itself.

This week, I added a note that says that leaders should be aware of their communication styles. I became aware of this because of this week's reading by Saphiere et. al. I really liked the circus metaphor and the examples provided in the article. I now know that leaders must be aware of the various dimensions of communication in order to be most successful, especially the ones noted in the article. Awareness is key, as we learned in previous weeks. Awareness of self, others, situations, and other things makes for an excellent leader.

Source:
Saphiere, D. H., Mikk, B. K., & Devries, B. I. (2005). "Factors Affecting Communication Style: Starring acts in the circus." 47 - 82. Retrieved from http://www.download-it.org/free_files/Pages%20from%20Chapter%2003%20-%20Factors%20Affecting%20Communication%20Style-c2c273a32b32ce590fe42518fa48db05.pdf.

Last week's definition: This week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values, perspectives, and prejudices and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust. A leader can be either appointed by a group or one can emerge from the group itself.

This week's definition: This week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values, perspectives, and prejudices and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust. A leader can be either appointed by a group or one can emerge from the group itself.

Once again, my leadership definition has not changed. This is because yet another course reading has only confirmed my current assessment and lead me to believe that I, at least for now, have the right idea of what I want leadership to be. This week's article about change reminds me that leaders are adaptable and must be willing to change. Change of one's own personal values and beliefs is also quite the process. As we have discussed in previous weeks, a leader must have an aware sense of self, and this is already in my definition.

Source:
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

Last week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values, perspectives, and prejudices and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values, perspectives, and prejudices and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust. A leader can be either appointed by a group or one can emerge from the group itself.

This week, I added another sentence to my definition. The article by Komives et. al. illuminated an interesting point for me: sometimes a leader may act with or without the group's full consent or permission. That is, a leader may sometimes make a decision independent of the group. I was puzzled as to how to incorporate this into my leadership definition, then I remembered a fundamental truth - a leader can be either appointed or can emerge from a group. Therefore, I added that vital statement to my definition.

Source:
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

Last week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values and perspectives and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values, perspectives, and prejudices and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week, I have added another clause to my already lengthy leadership definition. I note that it is necessary that a leader should be aware of his or her own personal prejudices in order to lead most successfully. This is due to the article we read this week about the Warren Harding Error. The article was incredibly informative and it shed light on the snap judgments and assumptions we all make in everyday life. Since the article illuminated how common snap judgments such as these are, I believe it is necessary that in order to lead most successfully, one must be aware of one's tendency to judge and work toward being like the car salesman in the article and avoid making foolish errors and assumptions.

Source:
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.

Last week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values and perspectives and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values and perspectives and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

My leadership definition has not changed this week. I feel that the incredibly inspiring article, "Ten Leadership Lessons from the Steve Jobs School of Management" only reinforced the leadership values I already know to be true. My definition is pretty long, as it is, so adding another clause to this to make a redundant, wordy definition would not be wise, especially since I would probably be repeating an idea that has already been expressed. I believe my current definition perfectly captures my idea of leadership and the elements mentioned in the article come from the leadership values I mention in my definition.

Source:
Lomas, N. (2011). "Ten leadership lessons from the Steve Jobs school of management." Silicon.com. Retrieved fromhttp://www.silicon.com/management/ceo-essentials/2011/11/18/ten-leadership-lessons-from-the-steve-jobs-school-of-management-39748225/

Last week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values and perspectives and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week, I added one small detail to my definition: "perspectives." The reading this week from Heifetz and Linsky stressed the importance of perspectives as they relate to leadership. It is important that one steps out of one's perspective and observes the organization as a whole in order to be a successful leader. Because of this, I find it necessary to amend my leadership definition to reference an awareness of perspectives, as it is crucial to effective leadership. Imagine if leaders only considered their perspective as leaders. Followers would not get what they need out of a leader and leadership itself might run itself into the ground. Perspectives are necessary in life in order to be an understanding and open-minded person, so they are crucial to leadership, as well.

Source:
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.

Last week's definition: Leadership means being aware of one's own personal values and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week's definition: Leadership means assuming both a servant and a directorial position while being aware of one's own personal values and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week, my definition was impacted by Barbuto and Wheeler's Servant Leadership article. In my opinion, a leader absolutely must exhibit qualities of a servant while also being a figure of direction and authority in order to be successful. No one ever wants to follow a leader who is nothing but demanding and forceful. A symbiotic relationship between leaders and followers is necessary to achieve the perfect balance. I would know from personal experience that it feels better for both parties involved if a leader can contribute back to the group. I, for example, always feel most confident as a leader when I exhibit qualities of a servant leader such as empathy and self-sacrifice. I appreciate the same in leaders when I am a follower. In conclusion, this article so greatly impacted me that I felt compelled to change my already lengthy definition of leadership to include a clause referencing this article.

Source:
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

Last week's definition: Leadership means being aware of one's own personal values and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week's definition: Leadership means being aware of one's own personal values and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

My leadership definition has not changed this week because the article "Leadership in a (permanent) crisis" has only reinforced my definition of leadership. The article's discussion of leadership tactics for difficult times confirmed the various elements of my definition. It confirmed the necessity for hope, stability, compassion, and trust through difficult circumstances, as a previous article indicated that these qualities are especially necessary through times of crisis. The great amount of responsibility necessary to guide a group of people through a crisis confirms that my definition must include that "one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches." In conclusion, this week's article indeed confirmed that my definition aligns with my own personal picture of what leadership means.

Source:
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-livee

Last week's definition: Leadership means being aware of one's own personal values as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week's definition: Leadership means being aware of one's own personal values and making wise ethical choices as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

My definition has only morphed slightly, as I added a note about ethics because of this week's readings. In Kidder's article, "Overview: The ethics of right vs. right," several examples of what I believe to be leadership were mentioned through the scenarios given, which informed my updated definition of leadership. For example, the librarian's dilemma exhibited excellent leadership in that she was caught between holding true to her beliefs. I believe it is crucial that leaders exhibit informed ethical choices, even if they are not what some consider to be "right;" they simply must be informed using the leader's own self-awareness and values, as we learned in a previous week.

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

Last week's definition: Leadership means stepping up and taking on a deliberate approach to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

This week's definition: Leadership means being aware of one's own personal values as one assumes responsibilities for the direction of others, taking deliberate approaches to guide subordinates toward goals while providing them with hope, stability, compassion, and trust.

My definition of leadership has morphed and expanded this week due to the readings we have read. Both "Ground your leadership vision in a personal vision" and "Deciding what you believe" have further convinced me that leadership involves a great deal of self-awareness in order to be successful. The eight leadership pairs of themes from "Deciding what you believe" go hand and hand with the deliberate approach from last week's definition, as deciding one's stance on leadership is crucial for success in that leadership must have direction and goals. A leader must analyze her own personal values and transform them into leadership values through careful reflection, while also deciding upon her preferred approaches to leadership. This way, a leader will have enough expertise and command of her role to be able to successfully lead her followers.

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.
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.