Leadership Is a Way to Change the Minds of Others

Leadership has been described as "a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task", however there are alternative definitions of leadership. Leadership is a major way in which people change the minds of others and move organizations forward to accomplish identified goals. According to Fry et al (2004) stated that, “leaders must exhibit high levels of courage with a willingness to listen to others in order to collect and analyze information”.

Second, if there is a leader there must be followers. Behavioral theories of leadership are classified as such because they focus on the study of specific behaviors of a leader. For behavioral theorists, a leader behavior is the best predictor of his leadership influences and as a result, is the best determinant of his or her leadership success.

Leadership Models:

In the Innovators DNA, disruptive and innovative leadership is essential for progress and growth. In Dyer’s research, the use of real world examples of great companies such as Apple where their motto is to “think differently” which is what disruptive DNA portray (Dyer, et. al, 2011). According to Doyle and Smith in their article “classical leadership”, basically there have been four main ‘generations’ of theory which are trait theories, behavioral theories, contingency theories, and transformational theories. The most common leadership theories include:

The Great Man Theory is where theorists continue to argue whether a leader has a natural ability to lead or if they are molded into leadership through extensive training and developmental procedures. I believe that individuals can be transformed into leaders’ however; this conversion does not guarantee ...

... middle of paper ...

...ixed with a good sense of how to balance employee relationships, leaders can obtain the DNA characteristics necessary to become extraordinary (Dyer, et. al, 2011).

Self-Evaluation-Strengths and Weaknesses:

I believe the strongest areas I possess as a leader is embracing new challenges and not being afraid to take risks. I do believe that these strengths could also be weaknesses in a organizations that enforcing demanding guidelines. I am great at multi-tasking and completing tasks to the end. I understand that this strength could to also be a weakness and can be taking to others as being overzealous and vain.

Overall, the combined discovery and delivery score identifies some great areas of improvement where I could become stronger and be more innovative by changing some behavioral skills and improving some of my cognitive abilities through study and hard work.