While the corporate world oftentimes uses the terms boss and (team)leader interchangeably, there are very distinct characteristics that delineate the two. W.G Rowe (Clark, 1997) identified the difference between the two by pointing out that being a boss merely means you have Assigned Leadership, with the authority to accomplish tasks. True leaders exhibit Emergent Leadership by influencing others to accomplish goals. Upon defining the difference, one can easily recognize when they have had true leadership versus simply a boss to answer to. A leader can be a boss, but a boss is not necessarily a leader.
In considering my own experiences with leadership, and negative leadership specifically, I quickly concluded that in instances in which I felt I had positive leadership, my leaders were viewed as leaders. But in situations where I recollect negative leadership experiences, it was at the hand of a person I viewed as a boss but not necessarily a leader.
Early in my working life and career, I had little understanding of what leadership was and what to expect from my superiors. Unfortunately, I had a boss who also lacked that understanding. Very business minded and always conscientious of the bottom line, my boss had very little time or appreciation for the individuals responsible for the success of the company. She spent her time split with half of the time being locked away in her office and the other half of the time checking up on people, barking orders and micromanaging everyone’s daily tasks. She never knew any of us on any personal level and preferred not to be bothered with the happenings of people’s lives outside of business. When problem’s arose, she found the solution and a memo would follow explaining the new policy or pr...
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“It's like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” (E.L. Doctorow)
Leadership requires a wide array of personality traits and learned behaviors. While some individuals are what we might call “born leaders”, this in no way suggests that one cannot learn to be a successful, effective leader. Regardless, there are fundamental traits and behaviors required of one in order to be a successful, effective leader. In my personal example, the strongest areas of improvement potential were interpersonal skills, personal vision and communication. My boss was tenacious and had tremendous potential to lead our organization into incredible success, had she learned how to harness the potential of her people, as it is the followers that determine the success of the leader. (Clark, 1997)
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others” (Welch). Leadership is inspiring others to learn more, do more, and become more. Ineffective fail to possess certain characteristics which effective leaders do. Willingness to help others, selflessness, and strictness; these are the qualities of a both good and effective leader. Without these qualities, leadership would fail and being a leader would mean nothing.
Many definitions exist on what leadership is. Despite the many differences in definitions, they all describe the leader as someone who influences others. Leaders transform individuals around them allowing them to work to their full potential. In order for a leader to be successful they must be knowledgeable, self- confident, and effective communicators. These characteristics will create a positive workplace environment that results in an increase in productivity. Leadership is not defined by titles or salary. Leaders must acquire their skills and continue to improve on them through learning. Good leaders provide a vision and help motivate others to make that vision happen. The leader must be effective and successful in creating a strong institution.
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 a complex process with many different approaches. This is a summary of the leadership literature including the pros and cons of each approach. The trait approach implies successful leaders are born with those traits. This theory focuses on identifying certain traits that make people great leaders. Some of the major leadership traits identified in the trait approach are intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and social ability. There are many advantages to the trait approach. “First, it is intuitively appealing because it fits clearly into the popular idea that leaders are special people who are out front, leading ...
The leadership is a result of a combination of traits, with special emphasis on the personal qualities of the leader, which he should possess certain personality traits that would be special facilitators in leadership performance. This theory shows that leaders are born as such, there is no likelihood of 'making' them later with personal development techniques.
The phrase “leader” versus “manager.” is used to show and compere how Leading is related to managing, Bennis and Nanus (1985:21) help us understand the broader role of supervision in their discussion of management and leadership: “To be a manager is to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of, responsibility for, to conduct. Leading, on the other hand, is influencing, guiding in direction, course, action, opinion.” They go on to say that managers are people who “do things right,” and leaders are people who “do the right things.” Managers are more efficiency driven and focus on mastering routine activities, while leaders are driven by vision and judgment. Managers tend to be bean counters, while leaders focus on achieving desired results.
Leaders are the individuals who help to create options and opportunities. They help in identifying the choices and solve the problems. They build commitment and coalitions. Leaders do this by inspiring others and working along with them to construct the shared vision of the possibilities and commitments of a better group, organization or community. They engage the followers in such a way that most of the followers become leaders in their own right. The variety of demands of an increasingly complex world very often require that leadership be shared by most of the members of an organization, in appropriate ways for different situations. A leader is the on...
Presently many of us have learned that managers are primarily administrators who have learned to write business plans, utilize their resources and keep track of progress. We must learn that we are not limited by job title, and that means we can utilize our management skills in any position that we are in. We must also know that we can use our leadership skills in the same situations. On the other hand we have also learned that leaders are people who have an impact on those that surround them. The main difference that separates these two roles is that management is a function that must be utilized in any type of business, and leadership is the relationship that the leader has with his followers, which in turn can motivate and energize the organization.
Great leadership is not achieved over night, and it is not something that one achieves and stops. Great leaders spend entire lives building and growing their leadership skills. It is not likely that a leader will one day wake up with all of the vision, influence, knowledge, respect, and momentum necessary to be great; these take time to develop. “It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from their followers.”
Leadership and management have several meanings and mean something different to everyone. Leadership has been defined similarly to management from time to time and can be defined by every individual
What is the difference between a manager and a leader? Are the terms interchangeable? These questions may be answered by examining two simple definitions in the literature for the terms...
M.D. Arnold once said, “A good leader leads the people from above them. A great leader leads the people from within them.” Reading this quote always reminds me of my decision to go into the Human Resource Management and Development field. It reminds me of what being in a leadership role is all about and how the wrong kind of leadership influence can potentially break or corrupt an organization. Ever since I can remember, I have always been the friend who others felt comfortable enough to speak to about their issues. I have always been the student who tries to find different methods to learn. I have always been the employee who makes sure my peers feel comfortable with the work given to them. I have always been a leader.
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.
Many people associate leadership with a specific job title or form of power within an organization. However, through personal experience, I have concluded that leadership can come in many forms and position as well as from multiple sources of roles and job titles both with and without power. Based on the definition of leadership, anyone can be considered a leader as long as they have the ability to influence people to achieve a particular result or goal which benefits the organization or group as a whole. Individuals with a secure sense of self and understanding, acceptance of diversity within an organization tend to be the strongest leaders that not only make others want to follow, but they also encourage other leaders to gravitate to their
What does it take to be an effective leader? This is something that has been asked many times over the course of human history. Some might say that having a strong personality and a commanding presence is needed in order to be a strong leader. Others might say that someone who stays on top of everything and keeps order is more effective as a leader. Everyone has their own opinion on this subject and in many regards, they are not wrong. Good quality leadership is something that is hard to possess and is not something everyone can do. Leadership is something that has been studied and analyzed many times, and from these studies, many theories have emerged from them. Each of these theories of leadership has their own benefits and can be useful