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Review of the article Authentic Leadership
Review of the article Authentic Leadership
How to be a good leader
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Recommended: Review of the article Authentic Leadership
Authentic Leadership
The world of today is filled with successful men who have become great leaders in their field of expertise and achieved many extraordinary and remarkable things. People usually wonder what these great men have that they lack and what should they do in order to even achieve similar feats. The answer to such an intriguing and complicated looking question is surprisingly simple! It is to have a heart and the attitude of a great leader. Young men are taught that if they study hard enough and long enough, they might be able to achieve some things in life which, unfortunately, is a wrong notion proved wrong by a remarkably successful man named Bill Gates. He was a college dropout but still managed to be the founder of one of the biggest IT Mammoth – Microsoft. He is just a famous example, but there are thousands other in every corner of the world, making a mark for themselves despite their poor qualifications. Their amazing ability to manage and lead is what really sets them apart. There are sayings that leaders are born, not made, but, if you follow the life of any great leader and ask them, most will give you an answer that they learnt everything they knew through the lessons of life, an open mind & positive self motivation. These points are important if you aspire to become successful and be the guy everyone else looks up to for inspiration. There are various kinds of leadership techniques that can be learnt and imbibed by anyone who is willing to go the distance. Among the many ways of being a leader, the one that seems to be the most promising is a lately evolved concept of authentic leadership.
Definition –
Authentic leadership is a methodology to leadership that accentuates building the pioneer's authentici...
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...s bound to bring a sea of change in the future. The students of today are integral factors that tailor the bright future of tomorrow. Schools and colleges can have guest lectures and additional course outlines where the students be taught on Authentic Leadership, how it plays an important role on the way to success and where to implement it in their own lives from a very young age. Students if taught the merits of authentic leadership will most likely turn out to be great leaders in the future, if they start implementing the factors of authentic leadership from a very young age.
To conclude, Authentic Leadership means to have the attitude of a just and honest leader with a transparent way of doing things instead of hiding and looking after personal agendas. So, empower and liberate yourselves by trying to become an authentic leader in your respective fields today!
Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.
Leadership is being able to direct or guide other people by either your own actions or by actually guiding them into the right direction (Acumen). Inspiration to be a leader might come from many different areas like your family, friends, peers, or even teachers. My inspiration didn’t really occur to me until I started attending college in August 2013. In all actuality I never even thought of how to be a leader until I was in Mrs. Moore’s Perspectives class. I now have a desire to be a great leader, and the inspiration has come from Mrs. Moore, and my family. I am the first to attend college out of my family, so in a away I have already started leading my siblings in the right direction. Being a leader means inspiring others to pursue their dreams, and aspirations and helping throughout the journey to success. Being a leader has nothing with authority or being able to tell other what, and how to do things, it’s about having people who look up to you and want to follow your example.
Leaders do not just appear out of thin air and automatically start making great things happen in the world. A leader must learn from prior leaders or role models that they are surrounded by that they look up to. Not everyone can be a leader, only some people have the correct characteristics it takes to lead others in the right direction. Those who do great things, for example volunteering at a homeless shelter, are not leaders. Many people mistake a “great person” as being a leader, which is completely incorrect (Kouzes and Posner, p. 3). While playing an active role in your community is a positive thing it does not make someone a leader of that community. All leaders have a group of people they have inspiration too and that is a good way of determining who your personal leaders are. My mother, brother, and grandfather are my leaders because I have always looked up to them and tried to mimic some of the great things that I have seen them do. My mother has always been an independent women with goals and an action plan to accomplish those set goals. Stephen, my elder brother, is outgoing and tends to have a leveled head when it comes to evaluating stressful situations. My grandfather is the most caring person I know and he is amazing at keeping situations under control in order to please everyone. These are all the qualities I want to combine into my own leadership style. I know I am not a efficient leader of these actions yet, but I plan on growing into this as I more on into my career, fulfill my set goals, and adjust to the curve-balls that life throws at me.
A leader needs to “believe” in oneself and have the confidence that whatever you say will excite and what you do can motivate others. You must be optimistic about what you do, do have some relevance for being in existence. Believe it or not, “leadership begins with you”.
To become an authentic leader means to bring “people together around a shared purpose and empowers them to step up and lead authentically in order to create values for all stakeholders,” (xxxi). Bill George has identified the following five dimensions every authentic leader should encompass:
Leadership is all about having the right amount of heart and determination to help make a difference in someone’s life. It takes certain qualities to be considered a good leader. A leader should want to help inspire others to make a change and to be the best that they can be. A true leader does not need to feel powerful, instead they empower those around them. Throughout my life I have come across various leaders who have made an impact on my life. It takes a very special person to inspire and touch people’s lives. Leadership is so much deeper than having power and bossing people around.
This book emphasizes on theories of becoming a leader, it is not a “how to” book by any means. Bennis states how leaders contribute to society and how crucial they are, along with the characteristics that come along with being a leader. He provides intriguing insight about leaders and emphasizes the integrity and authenticity that such people carry. In this reading, Bennis (the author) recognizes an immense amount of traits/characteristics a leader possesses which are: maturity, curiosity, trust, passion, guiding vision, candor, self knowledge, and daring. Bennis claims that people are not born with these traits, and that people gain these traits by pushing themselves to exceed others.
In Bill George’s book, Discover Your True North, he describes the “Journey to Authentic Leadership” as three phases; Phase I, Preparing for leadership, Phase II, Leading, and Phase III, Generativity (George, 2015). After forty plus years of leadership positions, twenty-five years in the Marine Corps, eight years as a Manager at a nuclear generating station, and ten years as a Law Enforcement Program Manager, I have now reached George’s Phase III where I am ready to pass on my experiences and knowledge to a younger generation. In about a year, I will close out my career in law enforcement and would like to start my next chapter in life teaching or consulting. My decision to enroll in Apollos University’s Doctor of Business Administration
Leadership can be shown through any person in any type of situation. In a classroom discussion, on the playing field, or in public a sign of a leader is evident. A person is born a leader. Certain humans know what to do when the time calls for it. Many people in positions can be entitled a leader such as basketball players. Even a famous movie star can be given this title. These people are not true leaders. True leaders are the belaboring teachers and the intellectual speakers. These are the people who show that leadership is an action, not a position.
Leadership to me is not a skill that can be learned but is innate. My personal definition of leadership is someone that has the natural ability to be a true leader and doesn’t acquire learning leadership skills. I believe a leader has the influence and ability to inspire others to pursue the leader’s vision to the degree that it becomes a shared effort, a shared vision, and a shared success. Consequently, effective leadership is a trait you are born with. To a certain extent, I consider leaders are born with the desire to lead exceptionally well and the ability to be open to learning from their mistakes and predominantly to learn from other individuals they are trying to lead. Leaders inspire, rather than direct. They coach, encourage, and guide. Effective leaders earn agreement with the people about what has to be done. Leaders in my opinion are driven by stepping forward when no one else wants to, opportunity, wanting to make a change, and standing up for the better. Therefore, a good example of a person that exemplifies my definition would be Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I have had the opportunity to work with leaders of different styles, and by just watching them, listening to them and seeing how the staff reacts; I can gauge what is productive with their staff. I try not to copy or mimic their style and ensure my own style comes through in being consistent, authentic and genuine. I feel by following these traits they give me necessary foundation and help me towards achieving leadership excellence.
Although there are many outstanding, albeit necessary qualities of a good leader, it is the leader’s beliefs in which greatness is given its first breath, fostered by action, and spread throughout the institution. A great leader believes in encouraging, not destroying; in setting the precedence instead of yielding to prominence ; in collaboration, not division; in giving, not taking; and in having high standards and volunteering to be the first of many to be held to them. A great leader does not take advantage of the people being lead, but instead, creates an advantage for the people by giving them the opportunities to lead. Only when people take ownership of an institution will passion be cultivated, action be taken, and greatness be achieved.
“ The point is not to become a leader. The point is to become yourself, and to use yourself completely – all your gifts, skills and energies – to make your vision manifest. You must withhold nothing. You must, in sum, become the person you started out to be, and to enjoy the process of becoming.” (Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader).
"A leader is an individual (or, rarely, a set of individuals) who significantly affects the thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors of a significant number of individuals” (Gardner, Howard 2012). An essential part of a leader lies in their ability to motivate and influence people to follow their lead. Leaders are both men and women who have the ability to influence others in a community, control situations, connect with others and persuade others to follow them or the goals they define. To be a good leader one must set a good example and make correct decisions for difficult choices. I myself am implementing leadership skills into my every day life. Leadership skills are all around us. They can be applied to any situation where one may be required to take the lead. This can be
Throughout my life I have encountered the chance to experience position of being a leader. Being part of groups in university for class presentations, being the organizing secretary of my campus fellowship, being a youth leader in my church and the church admin, also being part of a family. Leaders are charismatic, inspirational and trust worthy. I have gained some important qualities of being a good leader through these experiences. Most of the valuable leadership’s characteristics that I obtained and strengthened are: learn to become a better leader every day, how to be a team player, to be a better listener, to be an effective communicator, to have more patience, not afraid of constructive criticism, to be outspoken, and to be a problem solver. Even though I have gained a lot, I still have more things to learn to become a better leader such as being more assertive, being more disciplined, becoming a better public speaker, and learn how to be realistic and not too optimistic. You are a leader if someone else choses to follow you.