Effective Leadership Essay What is Leadership? Essay Essay on Effective Leadership

1. Effective Leadership Essay
In today's competitive world, leadership skills are crucial for both personal and professional
development. Leadership is an important function of management which helps an individual or a
business to maximize efficiency and to achieve goals. Leadership has different meanings to various
authors.Most commonly, leadership is defined as influence, that is, the art of influencing people so
that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals. (Koontz).
Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of either formal or informal group in the task
of goal setting and goal achievement. A leader is one whose magnetic personality innervates people
for some cause. Not by words, but by their actions is...show more content...
People requires good leadership skills at personal, professional and social level. Personal
leadership helps us to determine our desires, strengths and abilities. It means Knowing what we
want out of life; knowing what success is for us; what are our goals and how to achieve those
goals regardless of what other people think, say, or do. Personal leadership helps us to make our
present better and shape a good future. Good leadership is also important to run a business. Usually,
in companies, management stresses more on decision– making skills. They believe a timely and
smart decision will help their company to succeed. They forget that implementation of those
decisions are as important as making those decision. Without a proper implementation , there will
be no results. Like there is a saying that, it's easier to said than done. Similarly, making a decision
will change nothing, its how to get things done in a timely and an effective way will help an
organization to accomplish their goals. Leadership is crucial in implementing decisions correctly
and successfully. Each of us understand importance of leadership when it comes to our country. We
all try to vote for the best person in elections because it matters who is in office. President make
decisions concerning our lives, country, and the world. As a nation, we place no greater
responsibility on any one individual than we do on the president. Therefore, leadership
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2. What is Leadership? Essay
Leadership is a difficult word to define and according to the Miriam–Webster Dictionary leadership
is the "office or position of a leader" (Miriam–Webster, 2010). This definition is definitely not one
that I would ascribe to when discussing leadership. My definition of leadership is "the ability
someone has to motivate and empower others to achieve a goal." Some may add to this definition,
others may discard it altogether and have a completely different definition. In the end, leadership
takes on many different forms depending on who is doing the defining and we end up asking
ourselves, what is leadership and why do we care? J. Thomas Wren (1995) put together a book to
help leaders define leadership for themselves. The Leader's...show more content...
As Gardner (1990) points out "Most men and women go through their lives using no more than a
fraction – usually a rather small fraction – of the potentialities within them" (p. 7). I happen to agree
with Gardner on this point. As a teacher you see numerous children who, with the proper training,
could be very great, positive leaders; yet due to their home situation or lack of self–confidence these
children grow up never knowing they have that possibility inside them. "We can do better. Much,
much better" (Gardner, 1990 p. 7). Along with Gardner (1990) Wren introduces Burns (1978)
who wrote The Crisis of Leadership. Initially, I thought a crisis in leadership was happening today
because according to Burns (1978) "One of the most universal cravings of our time is a hunger
for compelling and creative leadership" (p. 8). However, we need to keep in mind that Burns
wrote about this in 1978. So leadership and those who lead have been having problems for a
number of decades. "If we know all too much about our leader, we know far too little about
leadership" (Burns, 1978 p. 9). What Burns was trying to bring to the forefront was the idea that
we, as a public, know far too much about the personal lives of our leaders. The media has been able
to bring personal situations into our homes that we would not otherwise be
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3. Essay on Effective Leadership
Effective Leadership A successful leader is most importantly a mentor. This person grooms his or
her staff to take his or her place, by teaching, inspiring and helping one to reach personal goals as
well as the goals of the organization. Sam Adams, one of the leaders of the Boston Tea Party, was
quoted as saying: "Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self–esteem of their personnel.
If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish (Government Leaders, 2011)."
Someone with a Successful Leadership Style I had the privilege of working with a successful leader
who embodied the belief of Sam Adams. Her name was Lucy Parkin and I worked with her early in
my career. This working relationship has had a...show more content...
She not only believed in her staff, but in the company we worked for. It has been close to 20
years since I worked with Lucy, but I still remember her leadership style and it has had lasting
effects on the way I lead. Communication skills are extremely important in an effective leader. A
strong leader is able listen to her staff and communicates where they need to go to meet the goals of
the organization. This requires listening but also speaking in a way that can be easily understood, so
that everyone on the team knows what the goals are and how to meet them. She took the time to
know us as individuals and took an interest in our personal lives. People want to know that they
matter and that they have an opportunity to express that value in their work and actions
(Porter–O'Grady & Malloch, 2007). We knew that she cared and it motivated us to do our best.
Morale was very high in her department because of these attributes.
Comparing My Leadership Style I have had the opportunity to lead and use these traits of a
successful leader. The opportunities have been both in paid positions and also in volunteer work.
When my mentor and leader, Lucy Parkin, left the organization, I was chosen to lead the
department. I followed in her footsteps and used many of the examples that she had given me. I
believed in my team and knew their strengths and their weaknesses. I developed strong
communications skills that allowed me to listen to my team and know their
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