While some leaders are born with certain natural gifts others learn from their experiences, but both must incorporate their core values into their leadership abilities. An effective leader achieves the balcony perspective by standing back out of the crowd to take in the picture as a whole. Understanding your self-knowledge and the knowledge of others by respectfully listening to their ideas and opinions, but also being able to figure out what is getting in the way of change. Taking responsibility for the communication and trust in the relationship between group members. A true leader can see the problems in the situation to implement change in order to keep the group on the track of completing their mission based on their common values.

This week's reading on immunity to change was quite similar to the earlier reading about the real reason people won't change. They both dealt with the struggles of those who have a hard time stepping out of their usual ways to achieve more as a team or individual. I didn't feel the need to add to or change my definition since I already have a part about overcoming change in my view of leadership.

Kegan, R., & Lahey, L.L. (2009). Immunity to change: How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization (pp. 63-67). Boston: Harvard Business Press.

While some leaders are born with certain natural gifts others learn from their experiences, but both must incorporate their core values into their leadership abilities. An effective leader achieves the balcony perspective by standing back out of the crowd to take in the picture as a whole. Understanding your self-knowledge and the knowledge of others by respectfully listening to their ideas and opinions, but also being able to figure out what is getting in the way of change. Taking responsibility for the communication and trust in the relationship between group members. A true leader can see the problems in the situation to implement change in order to keep the group on the track of completing their mission based on their common values.

For this week's entry I didn't alter my definition because my view on leadership did not change from class or from this week's reading about the Warren Harding error. I feel as if the Warren Harding error discussed more about the judgement mistakes people make from false assumptions rather than qualities a leader should have or much to do with the concept of leadership. People's appearances and how they professionally carry themselves are important (or misleading according to this article) to an extent, but doesn't have much of an effect on my thoughts regarding leadership.

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

While some leaders are born with certain natural gifts others learn from their experiences, but both must incorporate their core values into their leadership abilities. An effective leader achieves the balcony perspective by standing back out of the crowd to take in the picture as a whole. Understanding your self-knowledge and the knowledge of others by respectfully listening to their ideas and opinions, but also being able to figure out what is getting in the way of change. Taking responsibility for the communication and trust in the relationship between group members. A true leader can see the problems in the situation to implement change in order to keep the group on the track of completing their mission based on their common values.

The change I made to this week's entry was restructuring a sentence by adding "being able to figure out what is getting in the way of change". What I took away from the article "the real reason people won't change" is that there will always be group members who are stubborn and stuck in their ways, so a quality of a leader is finding the way to get them to work into the team concept. Not everyone will be easy to work with, but if they can benefit the group they need to be incorporated.

Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2001). The Real reason people won't change. Harvard Business Review, 79(10), 85-92. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=keh&AN=18217059&site=ehost-live

While some leaders are born iwth certain natural gifts others learn from their experiences, but both must incorporate their core values into their leadership abilities. An effective leader achieves the balcony perspective by standing back out of the crowd to take in the picture as a whole. Understanding your self-knowledge and the knowledge of others by respectfully listening to their ideas and opinions. Taking responsibility for the communication and trust in the relationship between group members. A true leader can see the problems in the situation to implement change in order to keep the group on the track of completing their mission based on their common values.

For this blog entry I added the sentence about having responsibility for communication and trust within the group. Responsibility is one of my top 5 strengths and I feel this is a characteristic all leaders need to have in order to keep complete respect from the people they are leading. Making excuses and denial are never linked to leadership.

Saphiere, D. H., Mikk, B. K., & Devries, B. I. (2005). Factors affecting communication style: Starring acts in the circus. Communication highwire (pp. 47 - 82). Boston: Intercultural Press

While some leaders are born with certain natural gifts others learn from their experiences, but both must incorporate their core values into their leadership abilities. An effective leader achieves the balcony perspective by standing back out of the crowd to take in the picture as a whole. Understanding your self-knowledge and the knowledge of others by respectfully listening to their ideas and opinions. A true leader can see the problems in the situation to implement change in order to keep the group on the track of completing their mission based on their common values.

The change I made in this entry from my last one is the addition of the sentence about self-knowledge and the knowledge of others. This is important to add to my definition because it shows how a great leader gets to know those around him/her on a personal level. The article "Social intelligence and the biology of leadership" is different than the other articles we have read since it discusses the importance of listening to and respecting the opinions and ideas of the people you are working with.

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.

While some leaders are born with certain natural gifts others learn from their experiences, but both must encorporate their core values into their leadership abilities. An effective leader achieves te balcony perspective by standing back out of the crowd to take in the picture as a whole. A true leader can see the problems in the situation to implement change in order to keep the group on the track of completing their mission based on their common values.

This week I didn't change anything in my definition of leadership since it was about interacting in teams and groups which I don't think has a big influence on being a leader. Obviously as a leader you need to delegate teams to various tasks and such, but I don't think that is very vital in the qualities of a successful leader. I don't disagree with anything I read in this article, it just didn't encompass anything that would make me want to change my definition.

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.

While some leaders are born with certain natural gifts others learn from their experiences, but both must encorporate their core values into their leadership abilities. An effective leader achieves te balcony perspective by standing back out of the crowd to take in the picture as a whole. A true leader can see the problems in the situation to implement change in order to keep the group on the track of completing their mission based on their common values.

My new definition changed from my previous one from the addition of incorporating core value into the leadership process. When a leader know his or her most important values it sets the standard for where the group is going and what it wants to achieve as a whole. From this a leader can see their full potential.

Lee, R. J. & King, S. N. (2001). Base your leadership values on personal values. Discovering the leader in you: A guide to realizing your personal leadership potential. (pp. 55 - 70). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

While some leaders are born with certain natural gifts others learn from their experiences, but both must encompass the qualitites to guide a team to complete their mission. A effective leader achieves the balcony perspective by standing back out of the crowd to take in the picture as a whole. From this perspective a true leader can see the problems in the situation to implement change in order to keep the group on the track of completing their mission.

This definition changed from my previous one because of the reading "Get on the balcony". This reading taught me how a successful leader has to be able to stand back from the crowd and figure out what is going wrong with the situation and be able to effectively fix it. I completely agree with this reading as I wouldn't have initially thought that as an important trait of a great leader.

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.

Half of the leaders are born with certain natural gifts while the other half learn from their experiences. Both a born leader and a leader who is made must own the capabilities to lead a team to reach a common goal to complete their mission.

My definition changed first of all because my first one was very brief. The reading "Deciding what you believe" had a large effect on my definition. It was very interesting to see the two different sides of what people see of a leader. As shown by my definition, the section of the article that had the most impact on my definition is whether a leader is born or made. In my opinion both sides of the argument had legitimate reasons for this trait of a leader and I completely agree with it.

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.