What type of leader are you? And how ready are you to lead others?
At the moment I am developing my own form of leadership, absorbing as much information from lectures and reading as much as possible by such scholars as Buckingham and Collins. Buckingham tell us “Leaders are dreamers. Leaders are idealists. Leaders are possibility thinkers” (Buckingham 2005). I would say I am definitely close to understanding these words and with every lecture I attend and book read I am getting closer to achieving my goal of becoming a successful. One leader who comes instantly to mind when you read Buckingham’s ”leader are dreamers” quote is the speech by the iconic Martin Luther King. This famous leader had a dream and he went out seeking possibilities to make this dream a reality. I believe I am getting closer to becoming a good leader, this module has certainly helped point me in the right direction.
After studying a few forms of leadership I would say I am most similar to an Ethical Leader as outlined by Rubin (Rubin et al 2010).However I still strive to follow Adair’s 5 points that all leaders must follow to succeed such as give direction and provide inspiration (Adair 2003).
What is your vision of leadership?
My vision of leadership is one where a leader can be both caring and autocratic at times when it is need. Leaders should be able to communicate to their subordinates with ease and look to inspire and engage them as much as possible. My vision of leaderships is also one of one that puts into practices ethical ideas and cultivates a safe ethical culture throughout a company.
Who has inspired your understanding of effective leadership and why?
Three people inspired my understanding of effective leadership and they are Ken Blanchard, Jim Collins and Sir Richard Branson. Ken Blanchard’s servant leadership talks explaining the virtues of what servant leaders should have, to quote Greenfield (the person who first theorised about the servant leader) “The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being serve” this is how I see myself (Greenleaf 2013). A leader whom looks to ensure all my teams needs are met. Below you can see Ken Blanchard’s talk about what servant leadership is all about (Blanchard 2012).
Jim Collins inspired me for the simple reason is that I want to be a level 5 leader. The fact the a level 5 leader takes the blame when things go wrong also works well with my belief that I want to be an ethical leader. The video below offers an insightful explanation of what a level 5 leader is (Collins 2012).
Lastly Richard Branson inspires me because he is so inspirational, he is a caring and ethical leader and that is why I believe I was first interested in how he succeeded in motivating people so well across all of the virgin companies. This quote by Sir Richard Branson which best explains why perhaps so many people want to work for a virgin company “Having a personality of caring about people is important. You can’t be a good leader unless you generally like people. That is how you bring out the best in them” (Rose 2012).
What feedback from your colleagues has helped you to become more aware of your strengths and areas to develop as a leader in your chosen industry?
Leaders of the future will need cross-cultural abilities to communicate with any ever increasing diverse workforce and an ability to listen (Johansen 2012). I have been fortunate to to study abroad which has given me the ability to strengthen my cross-cultural expertise but I have also taught myself to listen. Being able to listen to my peers has been very beneficial to my development as a leader. Often their feedback has been positive such as my ability to be slightly autocratic but at times when it was needed. Sometimes there has been constructive criticism such as my need to be more confident with my english as I can infact communicate quite well but that I just need to be more confident.
What leadership skills will you be developing as you progress through your MBA?
As I progress through my MBA I will be looking to develop my communication skills, I have identified this as an area of improvement through my own self evaluation and through feedback from my peers and tutors. I understand the importance of being a good communicator because without it how can a leader even attempt to motivate individuals around an idea if that person can not make a subordinate understand them in the first place. It really is a crucial skill set to have without this skill it becomes almost impossible to become an effective leader (Myatt 2012).
References
Adair, J. (2003) ‘PART ONE: LEADERSHIP AND TEAMBUILDING’. Concise Adair On Leadership [online] 1-52. available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e8f5393b-c185-4d55-b414-7d6ec29b2ee0%40sessionmgr198&vid=6&hid=124 > [10 December 2013]
Blanchard, K. (2012) Ken Blanchard – Servant Leadership [online] available from <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTiUy8uSWtE > [17 December 2013]
Buckingham, M. (2005) ‘What Great Managers DO’. Harvard Business Review [online] 83 (3), 70-79. available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=62862606-24a9-450e-bb2e-509c35fc9195%40sessionmgr198&vid=2&hid=125 > [17 December 2013]
Collins, J.(2012) Good to Great [online] available from <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E4xPaczz18 > [ 17 December 2013]
Greenleaf R, K. (2013) WHAT IS SERVANT LEADERSHIP? [online] available from <https://greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/ > [17 December 2013]
Johansen, R. (2012) Leaders Make the Future : Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World [online] 2nd edn. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. available from <http://site.ebrary.com/lib/coventry/docDetail.action?docID=10553727&page=140 > [17 December 2013]
Myatt, M. (2012) 10 Communication Secrets of Great Leaders [online] available from <http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2012/04/04/10-communication-secrets-of-great-leaders/ > [17 December 2013]
Rose, G. (2012) Richard Branson’s top 20 Virgin inspirational insights [online] available from <http://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/richard-bransons-top-20-virgin-inspirational-insights > [17 December 2013]
Rubin, R, Dierdorff, E, & Brown, M (2010) ‘Do Ethical Leaders Get Ahead? Exploring Ethical Leadership and Promotability’. Business Ethics Quarterly [online] 20 (2), 215-236. available from <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=048e7074-f68d-4cf4-84c9-bcdd431dd9ff%40sessionmgr198&vid=5&hid=124 > [14 December 2013]
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