Today I’ve bene given the task to talk about what leadership means to me. Upon reading chapter one of Leadership: Theory and Practice, I believed that leadership was exhibited by a person who had a natural born confidence with the speaking ability to spark major movements or on a smaller scale influence the minds of his or her followers. A leader to me is not only someone that exhibits influential change and confidence, but also someone that can be a team player and realize that he or she can’t accomplish anything without “a group of individuals who have common purpose” (pg.6). After all, “leaders need followers, and followers need leaders” (pg.6) and it is crucial that they work hand in hand so that they can accomplish their common goal. However, completing the reading for this chapter I quickly realized that my definition of leadership just scraped the surface of what leadership actually encompasses. My definition of leadership was just the umbrella that so many other forms of leadership fell under. Quickly I realized that there are six different forms of leadership and I’m sure many more that were not mentioned in this book. There is authentic leadership, spiritual leadership, servant leadership, adaptive leadership, followership and discursive leadership all with different techniques to gain the trust and fellowship of their followers. It made me realize that there are so many ways someone can go about becoming a leader and one method might work for one person but not for another. Which brings me to the next piece of insight this reading taught me. Previous I believe that a leader was someone to was born with the god given talent to lead. Soon I learned that, “leadership [is] a process [which means] that it is not a trait or characteristic that resides in the leader, but rather a transitional event that occurs between the leader and the followers” (pg. 5). This completely altered the way I thought about what it takes to be a leader and now encourages me to start to place myself in leadership positions. However, the questions that came up from my reading were: What is to happen if more than one leader wants to step up and take that leadership role? Could they work together? With how much my definition of leadership has already changed I sure that in the next few weeks it’ll continue to change and I’ll learn the answers to my questions.

Until then,

Victoria Venable

Strengths in The Making of My Leadership Practice[1]

 

Achiever[2], I want to not only win but succeed

Aiding in the making of my leadership practice

Discipline, I have the training to obey codes of behavior

Aiding in the making of my leadership practice

Responsibility, I have to duty to be accountable

Aiding in the making of my leadership practice

Activator, I have the will to push the movement of projects

Aiding in the making of my leadership practice

Woo[3], I seek the favor and support of my followers[4]

Aiding in the making of my leadership practice

Empathy[5], I am aware and sensitive to what is going on around me[6]

Aiding in the making of my leadership practice

Adaptability, I have the ability to adjust to new conditions

Aiding in the making of my leadership practice

 

[1] At what point is the line drawn between Ethical Leadership Practices and The Dark Side of Leadership Practices?

[2] Do my strengths encompass what it takes to be an Ethical Leader?

[3] “Ethical leaders have the responsibility to attend to others, be of service to them, and make decisions pertaining to them that are beneficial and not harmful to their welfare.” (Leadership Ethics, 347)

[4] I believe that leaders enter leadership wanting his/her followers to succeed, through my reading I believe that followers who fall in to the dark side of leadership initially had all of the same strengths I do, however, down the line get distracted by selfish desires and move away from the common goal.

[5] After taking the strengths finder test and comparing it alongside the Principles of Ethical Leaders, I have realized a hold many of the traits that it takes to lead and that, when given the opportunity, I could be a great ethical leader.

[6] “Leaders who respect others also allow them to be themselves, with creative wants and desires” (Leadership Ethics, 346)