"Leaders are made, they are not born”, Vince Lombardi. Simple quote, but is that true to be an effective leader. Everyone believes that they have the qualities to be an effective leader and run an organization and its people. Many leaders believe that they hold the right stuff as a leader and for the reason to their level and title. But do people really know? If people really knew then why do organizations let go of their leader, i.e. what Apple did to Steve Jobs in 1985? Also when a leader takes his control too far and creates situations that spiral out of control, i.e. Richard Nixon resignation from the presidency in 1974. In the text that will follow, I will expand upon the traits that I believe an effective leader process, take cues from failed leaders and use some real world examples of successful leaders. This list will not be extensive or definitive, but it will touch on the ones that I believe should be the cornerstone of a leader’s profile. Take note. After reading this you may realize you do not have the qualities of a leader or better yet, that you actually have all of them.
Are you prepared to trust in the items that I am about to write? If so, then you are recognizing the first trait of an effective leader. Trust is essentially the backbone to a leader. Without trust, then they would not be able to gain the confidence of loyal followers. “Trust is the base on which credibility is built. To earn and sustain credibility, leaders have to get to know their constituents and let their constituents get to know them” (Kouzes, 2011). In the book revised book Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It, James Kouzes writes about the important trait of trust and credibility that a leader must process and how...
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...s leaders I have witness and came in contact with. These traits are also some of the traits that I have that I believe have made me an effective leader and an effective leader in training. Ultimately, the hope is that with these traits, an effective leader can mold and create other effective leaders.
Works Cited
Gosling, J., & Mintzberg, H. (2003). The Five Minds of a Manager. Harvard Bsuiness Review, 54-63.
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (1993). Credibility. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley and Sons.
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2011). Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley and Sons.
Morrison, E. (1994). Leadership skills: developing volunteers for organizational success. Da Capo Press.
O'Hair, D., Friedrich, G., & Dee Dixon, L. (2007). Strategic Communication in Business and the Professions. Pearson Education.
Kouzes, James M., and Barry Z. Posner. Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People
Every Leader is defined by his or her qualities and characteristics. These can determine how effective a leader has become. This statement has been true throughout the history of mankind. However, there are only a handful of specific qualities that can truly determine if someone is an effective leader.
In an effort to understand the questionnaire, one must first understand the definition of an Authentic Leader. Genuine, trustworthy and reliable are a few words that are interchangeable with the term authentic. Authentic leaders exhibit qualities of confidence, transparency, and high moral standard and are usually very confident (Gardner, Avolio, Luthans, May and Walumbwa, 2005). A person that is considered to be authentic is one who taking account for their behavior and a person who is true to themselves and what they think. A quality of an authentic leader is that he/she exudes the level of authenticity through their actions that encourage others to want to behave the same way. The leader who acts in this manner believes that all individuals have something to contribute to a goal and
Employees, investors, suppliers and customers alike eventually reach a decision point in a relationship when they decide where to place their trust and with whom. Leaders are judged on what they do to win trust, and the sincerity and consistency of their effort to retain it. Leaders win trust by communicating openly and often, having a clear and committed communications policy, strategy and processes, initiating formal and informal communications programs and regularly assessing their own communications effectiveness and that of their team and their organization.
In this book, the authors Tom Rath and Barry Conchie examine the question “What are the keys to being an effective leader?” To answer this question they had a team that reviewed data collected from Gallup polls. The data came from interviews from 20,000 senior leaders, over a million teams and more than fifty years of Gallup Polls of the most admired leaders in the world. The authors then had the team do a study of more than 10,000 followers to find out why they follow the influential leaders in their life.
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.
Credibility is not just another term that is defined, but it is a term shown through actions. The act of believability, trustworthiness, reliability and responsibility, are key components of credibleness (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). We recognized great leaders when “their actions aligned with their words” (Kouzes & Posner, 2012, p.37). The importance of knowledge, expertise and competency, are abilities that contribute to credibility (Kouzes & Posner, 2012).
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.”
Other attributes of a leader are selflessness, knowledge, organization, humility, and trust. Perhaps the most difficult part of being a leader is knowing that each decision you make will h...
Many Scholars characterize the core qualities and skills necessary for an effective leader. Useem defines leadership as “Creating a vision and translating that vision into actions”. Historically, an effective leader was assumed to be exceptionally knowledgeable, authoritative, and dominate. Those leaders applied the command and control method to lead an organization. With the passage of time, this definition has been changed. The modern definition of an effective leader is honest, courageous, trustworthy, inspirational, and result-oriented. Today’s leaders create shared values and vision, and empower others to achieve their targets.
Honesty and integrity are the two most important characteristics for leadership success in any work place. The foundation of any relationship is honesty. To be a good leader, one must be honest. My goal is to create a workplace that every people can trust me and I can trust them so that we work together for a common goal. I would like to be a trusted leader because I am sure this characteristic will bring Done Right and On Time result in my career.
As a growing debate, the question at hand is whether great leaders are born with specific leadership traits, or if one can be taught certain traits over time. According to (Wikipedia.com) the approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. I believe that leadership traits such as honest, competent, initiative, inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, and the ability to lead the masses, are some of the leadership traits one should possess. Within this paper, I will examine the overall concept of leadership traits, while observing the traits that were, or can be associated with successful leaders.
Bienvenu, S. & Timm, P. R. (2002). Business Communication, Developing Strategy and Skills. Prentice Hall.
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.
Gosling, J. and H. Mintzberg (2003). "The Five Minds of a Manager." Harvard Business Review (November 2003): 1-10.