Thor's Blog

week 14 definition

2012-12-07T15:14:15Z

Last week's definition:
- Leadership is when one is guided by what they believe will be the betterment of others and collaboratively getting others to this goal through use of personal strengths, "trust, compassion, stability, and hope" (Rath & Conchie, 2009).
- The common goal may not always be relatively ethical and may require input from multiple perspectives, common or conflicting, to further build the goal.
- A leader will take various forms, both how they look physically and how they lead.

This week's definition:
No change.

Analysis:
This week I did not change my definition. Although I liked the readings and think that communication is a vital part of leadership, I do not think that an explicit change needs to be added to my definition. I think that my definition encompasses the fact that leadership is mostly a group effort and collaboration is key ("collaboratively," "multiple perspectives," various forms"), meaning communication must happen in order to effectively lead. If I were to add something about communication I believe the definition would sound redundant.

week 12 definition

2012-11-25T05:05:29Z

Last week's definition:
- Leadership is when one is guided by what they believe will be the betterment of others and collaboratively getting others to this goal through use of personal strengths, "trust, compassion, stability, and hope" (Rath & Conchie, 2009).
- The common goal may not always be relatively ethical and may require input from multiple perspectives.
- A leader will take various forms, both how they look physically and how they lead.

This week's definition:
- Leadership is when one is guided by what they believe will be the betterment of others and collaboratively getting others to this goal through use of personal strengths, "trust, compassion, stability, and hope" (Rath & Conchie, 2009).
- The common goal may not always be relatively ethical and may require input from multiple perspectives, common or conflicting, to further build the goal.
- A leader will take various forms, both how they look physically and how they lead.

Resources:
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.

Analysis:
I added the part about common or conflicting viewpoints to further establish the fact that conflict is bound to occur in leadership situations because leadership is a group effort. I wanted to add this to concretely state that leadership is formed through common interests and also through conflict, both are healthy and will help the common goal.

week 11 leadership definition

2012-11-15T21:58:56Z

Last week's definition:
Leadership is when one is guided by what they believe will be the betterment of others and collaboratively getting others to this goal through use of personal strengths, "trust, compassion, stability, and hope" (Rath & Conchie, 2009). The common goal may not always be relatively ethical and may require input from multiple perspectives.

This week's definition:
- Leadership is when one is guided by what they believe will be the betterment of others and collaboratively getting others to this goal through use of personal strengths, "trust, compassion, stability, and hope" (Rath & Conchie, 2009).
- The common goal may not always be relatively ethical and may require input from multiple perspectives.
- A leader will take various forms, both how they look physically and how they lead.

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.

Analysis:
This week I wanted to incorporate the Gladwell reading into my definition because I agree with the fact that most people unfortunately have a stereotypical image of what a leader looks like in their head. I think it is important to start to try and change this thinking immediately so that we can acknowledge the fact that prejudice, and the stereotypes/racism that come along with it, is still very much so alive today. This new definition incorporates every person as a possible leader, not just the ones we have in our heads.

week 9 leadership definition

2012-11-02T14:57:53Z

last week's definition:
Leadership is when one is guided by what they believe will be the betterment of others and collaboratively getting others to this goal through use of personal strengths, "trust, compassion, stability, and hope" (Rath & Conchie, 2009). The common goal may not always be relatively ethical.

This week's definition:
Leadership is when one is guided by what they believe will be the betterment of others and collaboratively getting others to this goal through use of personal strengths, "trust, compassion, stability, and hope" (Rath & Conchie, 2009). The common goal may not always be relatively ethical and may require input from multiple perspectives.

Resources:
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.

Analysis:
I added on to the last part of the definition to reference what I took from the reading by Heifetz & Linsky this week. I liked the idea of being aware of both what is happening from your personal perspective, but also being able to pull yourself out of your own perspective and see things from other's perspectives and see the situation as a whole. I think this is an important part of leadership because although individually we may see things one way, others may see things completely differently. In order to be a successful leader, these things must be taken into account.

leadership

2012-10-23T01:53:30Z

last week's definition:
Leadership is when one is guided by what they believe is right and getting others to this common goal through use of personal strengths, "trust, compassion, stability, and hope" (Rath & Conchie, 2009). The common goal may not always be relatively ethical.

Resources:
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.

Analysis:
I added more of a group-centered end goal of leadership rather than an individual-centered goal because I enjoyed Astin's article of the social change model as a model for leadership. I think the idea of everyone's betterment and gain should be taken into account when defining leadership, not just that of an individual with intentions to lead.

Leadership

2012-10-21T02:26:05Z

Last week's definition:
Leadership is when one is guided by what they believe is right and getting others to this common goal through use of personal strengths, "trust, compassion, stability, and hope" (Rath & Conchie, 2009). The common goal may not always be relatively ethical.

This week's definition:
No change.

References:
Rath, T. & Conchie, B. (2009). "Understanding why people follow." Strengths based leadership: Great leaders, teams, and why people follow. (pp. 79 - 85). New York: Gallup Press.

Analysis:
Although the readings this week were interesting, my definition still stand as it was last week. I think that my definition entails that of personal leadership through not only themselves but through others As well, which is what I got from the readings this week.

leadership definition, week 6

2012-10-10T19:44:02Z

Last week's definition:
In learning what leadership means to other people, I feel I have come to what I believe leadership is. This week I feel that trust was a theme. I don't even think in my first blog post that I mentioned trust as a component of what leadership is. Now, I feel that trust is something that I personally think is very key in the definition of leadership. People who follow leaders must trust that they are being led in the right direction. That they are following the right person. They trust that by following this leader and going in that same direction, that they will be led to what they think is the right way. This is an extremely great responsibility of the leader and if they can gain trust in people, they can go far.

This week's definition:
Leadership is when one is guided by what they believe is right and getting others to this common goal through use of personal strengths, "trust, compassion, stability, and hope" (Rath & Conchie, 2009). The common goal may not always be relatively ethical.

References:
Rath, T. & Conchie, B. (2009). "Understanding why people follow." Strengths based leadership: Great leaders, teams, and why people follow. (pp. 79 - 85). New York: Gallup Press.
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.

Analysis:
My definition has definitely become more concise, but also covers more ground from the readings. I shortened it to more of a definition based upon the readings I find most clearly define leadership for me. The ethics readings really made it clear to me that although we may think that leadership is always for a good outcome, we always will have leaders for (what we think is) a bad outcome, but this might not be the case for that particular leader.

leadership

2012-10-06T19:20:39Z

In learning what leadership means to other people, I feel I have come to what I believe leadership is. This week I feel that trust was a theme. I don't even think in my first blog post that I mentioned trust as a component of what leadership is. Now, I feel that trust is something that I personally think is very key in the definition of leadership. People who follow leaders must trust that they are being led in the right direction. That they are following the right person. They trust that by following this leader and going in that same direction, that they will be led to what they think is the right way. This is an extremely great responsibility of the leader and if they can gain trust in people, they can go far.

Personal leadership definition, con't

2012-10-02T22:38:43Z

Leadership is a means of getting a group of people to a common goal. Someone has a vision, and they want others to follow to achieve that vision. This is done in many different ways, some more effective than the others. This does not always mean that the common goal is a good goal, either. Leadership is using your own personal strengths and applying them to show others that you have what it takes to make things happen and to make your personal goal a reality. I think that everyone conveys leadership abilities based on their own personal idea of what is good and what is not.

Leadership

2012-09-07T15:42:50Z

Leadership is when one is guided by what they think is right and fighting for it. It is the ability to hold oneself together as well as everyone else in certain situations. It is doing the right thing and others follow suit.