Developing the Leader within You by Maxwell - Book Report/Review Example

Book Summery In this book, the art of leadership is the main that is discussed. The uses illustrations in various contexts to show how a good leader would resolve the given situation. The author describes leadership as the influence on other people. It asserts that in order for people to increase their potential in leadership, the understanding of the five levels if leadership is necessary. The levels are summarized in five categories as position, permission, production, people development and personhood. Position is the initial level of leadership. This is usually achieved through appointments. The second level of influence is getting people to willingly work for you. This precedes the indicators of work which is the next level influence: production. The fruits of labor which are achievement of set targets and goals begin to show at this stage of leadership. The fourth level of influence is development of people. At this stage, the mentorship of the follower is achieved. The final and highest level of influence is where people emulate the leader due to the personality of the leader (Maxwell, 5-10). The second aspect of leadership that is discussed in the book is priority. In order to achieve objectives that are preset about an activity, a good leader should be able to organize and prioritize the actions that will eventually lead to success in the activity. In the priority of actions, it is important to select the best possible action to prioritize and not just a good action. It also identifies the fact that priority constantly changes over a period of time. Due to this it would be prudent to constantly re-evaluate the priority to determine the best action. It uses the 80/20 principle to illustrate the fact that precisely set priority will achieve greater result that a generally good priority of action (Maxwell, 18). Integrity is identified as the most important ingredient of leadership. In a case where a leader’s words match the actions of the leader, then the influence on the follower is deemed to be more effective. This is due to the fact that the confidence of the people in the leader grows substantially through integrity. The reputation of the leader is built through integrity and the leader is able to live by higher standards than the followers. To this effect, the leader is able to influence the followers to emulate him/her (pp 35). The ultimate test if leadership is identified as change in this book. This is illustrated by the fact that, it is often difficult to change an individual and as such to bring about change in an organization is the ultimate result of great leadership. In order to do this, the leader must provide a good environment for the cultivation of change within the setting that the leader is operating. The book also demonstrates the fact that in order to gain leadership, one must be a good problem solver. It identifies the fact that problems are universal in nature and due to this people constantly fall into problems in different settings which include work, home or anywhere in life generally. Problems do not make anyone comfortable. A person who can solve the different problems that individuals face will be endeared by people. The people will look up to that person in case of anything and this is how leadership is attained. Attitude also determines the level of influence that a leader has on the followers. A positive attitude will make the leader exert a good atmosphere in the organization and in turn induce positive results. It singles out the fact that attitudes can be chosen by a leader and as such the attitude that is put on in leading others is the responsibility of the same leader. To be a successful leader, one has to build and inspire the followers to be like them. In this perspective, it illustrates the fact that a good leader’s influence to the followers is the urge to be like him. This will only occur if the followers buy in to the ideals that are presented in the leader. To effectively develop an individual, it is necessary to give the right assistance to the follower. The motivation behind the leadership is identified as the vision to be accomplished. Leaders get a vision for their organizations and give vision in the absence of one. This is usually developed from the passion that the leader has towards the organization that they work for. The cost of leadership to an individual is the high level of self discipline that it requires. To achieve leadership, one has to be able to make choices that are not very easy for them in order to influence others to do the same. Personal discipline is crucial for leadership and can be developed by the individual over time. The last aspect of leadership discussed in this book is the ability to learn from building effective staff and teams in the department that the leader is in charge of. Critique This text provides several areas of concurrence to the topics discussed in management of human resource. Some of the areas that are closely linked to the management of human capital are discussed here. In managing people, the requirement of effective leadership is highly necessary. In order to achieve all the goals and objectives of the organization, different teams must have good leaders that will influence the staff positively towards achieving the goals. In today’s organization leadership is mainly achieved by appointment that is usually on merit. The attainment of the goals is based on the level of influence that the team leader will exert on the staff. The different levels of influence in leadership that are projected in (Maxwell, 5-10) are concepts that are applicable in managing teams. At level three specifically, a good management of a team results in the increased morale of the staff, high production and achievement of the goals of the team in general. All the levels of leadership expressed here correspond to the different aspects and requirements of effectively leading a team in an organization. This include the aspect of getting people to work at their own will and still liking what they have to do in order to improve the productivity of the organization. Since organizations have preset goals and objectives, the need to prioritize the activities that can best deliver on the objectives is essential. This means that the manager needs to plan the activities of the organization well and determine the best possible set of actions that will move the organization towards reaching its goals. Managerial decisions that best serve the interest of the organization should be made after prioritizing the activities. This is done by evaluating the overall impact of that decision and the possibility of something better being implemented. In a scenario where the decision is the best option for the organization, then it is implemented. However, in a case where a better idea exists, the better idea is taken. In the current business world, economic trends are dynamic in nature and can constantly change over a considerably short period of time. This is the same principal that is described in the aspect of prioritizing in leadership. The decisions taken and the positions to be adopted should continuously be re-evaluates to develop an effective position. For instance, if one is the head of marketing department, there is need to continuously evaluate the dynamics of the market to come up with the best marketing strategies that is also up to date and appealing to the targeted market segment. In management there a are a host of evaluation tool s that can be used to test and improve the effectiveness of a plan of action or a managerial decision. One such tool is the use of research within an organization. Research helps to effectively determine the effectiveness of a decision based on facts that are either empirical or based on some form of information that had been initially been determined. Within the team, there is also need to identify the priority areas that are specific to the objectives of the team. As discussed in the 20/80 principle, the manager should identify the few but specific priority areas that are focused and those that will generate more results to the organization other than giving general priority to areas that will not bring more impact to the organization. The 20/80 principle helps the manager or team leader to narrow down the core action areas that will deliver a major impact on the achievement of the set goals and objectives. Change is an important aspect of development in an organization. In order to inspire change, a team leader must provide an environment that is supportive of the change. This can be adjustments that will improve the efficiency of operations or just change to improve the overall output of the organization. The bottom line is the ability of the leader to make this organizations adjust to new ideas and improvements. The idea of change as presented in this book can be seen to be similar to that of innovation within organizations. The reason behind this school of thought is informed by the modeling of the idea behind the change. The author suggests that the leader should provide a good climate for change to occur. In different organization settings, innovation or change happens at different environments. The leader is charged with the responsibility of creating the environment for this change or innovation to occur. Ownership of change of the change is also important to the group. In a situation in which the change is initiated by the leader and the group is not involved in its development, negative attitude is likely to be developed within the group that might water down the gains made going forward. As such the group needs to be part of the change process in order to improve their involvement with the process of change in the organization. To this effect the book on leadership is effectively illustrating the process of instituting fundamental changes within an organization that a group or a big number of people. In developing people the book offers a great variety of information that can be used for effectively manage a team. First the aspect of delegating responsibility has been conclusively handled within the leadership context. In delegation, it is important for the team leader or manager to recognize the special attributes like skill set and talents that individual member of the group poses. If a leader recognizes the special needs of the members, it is easier to allocate duty accordingly (Agarwal, 173). This is the key to effective delegation of duty within the organization. In order to achieve this level of understanding, the leader or manager should be at a position to use more than just the ordinary listening to the members of the team. This will facilitate a more deeper understanding of the members than jus recognizing their complaints and acting on them. The book also motes the fact that as one moves up the ladder of leadership, responsibility increases and rights decrease. This means that at a position of leadership or management, the team leader has to care more to the members of the team than they care about their rights. As such the leader is supposed to look in to not only the best interest of the organization but the people that he/she is in charge of . Apart from the prioritization of the activities in order to achive the long term objectives, the vision of the organization is the driving force that inspires the individual team members and leaders towards the kind of commitments that they have to make. In this context the burning urge that makes one work even harder toward attaining some goal is normally the vision posed by the organization. In this text, the author ties the aspect of vision to the membership of the team. As a leader, in order to achieve the level of motivation that one has within a group, it suggests that the vision must be linked to the group. This can be achieved through the effective communication of a vision to the group. To achieve this team leader has to come alongside the group and let them see what they feel about the vision in order to instigate their passion. The communication can also be effective when the group get a clear picture of where they intend to be at a given point in time and the modalities of reaching that height. As a possible motivator, the group should know the benefits of reaching the target and the disadvantages of not achieving the same. To intimate the decisions and implications of the vision to the group, it is essential to include an aspect of what individuals love or cherish within the fabric of developing the plan for achieving the vision of the organization. This will increase the involvement of individual members at a more personal level in the activities aimed at achieving the vision of the group. Despite having several common grounds with the discipline of human capital management, the book also presents a number of divergent views that do not necessarily apply in real management of people in an organization. In this book the acquisition of leadership has been identified as the ability to demonstrate a high level of problem solving in an individual. This is particularly true in social aspects of life. However, within a firm or business setting, leadership is not acquired by the mere ability to solve a problem. While in a position of leadership in an organization, an individual will be required to overcome different challenges and problems as part of the responsibility of the same individual. Even though the book recognizes the universal nature of problems and the ability of problems to even occur at work, the accuracy of the argument that deals with management in this case is contestable. As a manager or a leader, the solution of problems within the team is not the only quick way to gain leadership but can serve the purpose of making the team have confidence in your leadership. As such the ability to solve a problem is essential but not absolutely the quickest way to lead. The author is also of the opinion that one has to pay the price of increased self discipline in the art of leading the people. It views leadership as a responsibility that comes with high standards that are not easily achievable and a leader always being in the spotlight. The criticism for this would be the fact that in team leadership within the setting of an organization, one can be a great leader just by delegating the right duty to the right individuals. The solution to many of the problems that arise within an organization could be possibly derived from the very individuals who fall into the same problems through involving them in the decision making process. To this effect, the author fails to demonstrate the need for high standards of overburdening self discipline in team leadership. Self discipline is a necessity as a good personal attribute of management, but it should not be the main course of concern to the manager as a means of maintaining the high standards of leadership in management. In conclusion, management of human resource is inextricably linked to the art of leadership in an organization. Different concepts of leadership are applicable in the management especially with regards to the management of people within an organization. Depending on the context and setting of the organization, a team leader will be required to apply leadership skills that best suits the purposes of the organization. These include the basics of implementing changes, prioritizing the different activities within the organization to achieve the goals and objective, getting people to work willingly among others. Good or effective leadership skills will help a leader advance the goals of the organization and move the team towards the delivery of its vision. In this book, the author has mainly discussed people skills that would help a leader in managing people. It is important to note that it is essential for the manager to have great people skills to inspire the people they are leading to work towards achieving the goals of the organization. This is noted in the five different levels of influence that are discussed in the book specifically level two and three of influence. In level two, the member of the team work willingly for the leader at the third level, the fruits of labor begin to show in their hard work. It is therefore essential for good managers to poses leadership qualities so as to effectively manage the teams that they lead. Works cited Agarwal, R D. Organization and Management. New Delhi: McGraw-Hill, 1986. Print. Maxwell, John C. Developing the Leader Within You. Nashville: T. Nelson, 1993. Internet resource. Read More