Effective Leadership

Professional Challenge Project

Overview

Many view leadership as an action or an event versus a method of interacting and engaging others on a daily basis. My personal leadership style as an outward demonstration of the values that I hold most dear. Being that my personal leadership style is a melding of the values of Spirituality, Family, Leadership, Learning, Trust, Responsibility and Accountability, leadership for me is who I am. I want to use who I am to develop and inspire others, establish long-lasting relationships, and be recognized, trusted and respected for my planning and decision making. My mission in life and in work is to make a difference in the lives of others by living, leading, caring and sharing. I will use every learning and experience in my Capella journey to build on the leadership skills I currently possess.

The case study and readings in this class have painted a clear picture of the various ways one can be a leader, the catalyst that has inspired the least likely to lead to action and the many different capacities in which one is a leader. From the parent whose child is the victim of abuse to the CEO of a major corporation, leadership can spring forth and blaze trails never imagined by others. I learned that on my journey to executive leadership, I can begin leading in my current capacity as an analyst. I do not need to wait to be given the “thumbs up” to lead, as I can be a leader in many ways everyday. Leadership is not about magnificent speaking or major endeavors, “it is about coping with change” (Kotter, p.31, 2003). We all are subject to situation dealing with change daily, it is all about how we cope with it and how others interpret and accept our coping skills.

My learnings in this class have...

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...r and as a leader of the future. As stated by Peter Senge in his article Communities of Leaders and Learners, future leaders will come from diverse teams and individuals responsible for creating the organizations future (P. 30, 1997). By virtue of these two action plans, I am creating my own future as well as potentially the future of SYSCO Corporation.

References

Drucker, P.F. (1999). Managing oneself. Harvard Business Review,

77(2).64.

Kotter,J.P. (1999). John P. Kotter on what leaders really do.

Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Kouzes, J.M., & Posner, B.Z. (2002). The leadership challenge (3rd ed.).

New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Senge, P.M. (1997). Looking ahead: Implications of the present.

Harvard Business Review, 75 (5), 18-32.

Swinburne, P. (2001). How to use feedback to improve performance. People

Management, 7 (11), 46.