Three Interests in Leadership - Essay Example

Reflection on Leadership: HDL 660 1 As a result of HDL 660 seminar, I have developed the following three interests in leadership. Firstly, I have developed the interest to influence others as a leader. The HDL 660 seminar has helped me to realize that leaders can influence the people they lead in a big way. This is because leaders are expected to give directions in the organizations they lead. For that reason, therefore, I have developed an interest of being a role mode to the people I will lead in future, so as to influence them to achieve the objectives of the organization. Secondly through the HDL 660 seminar, I have developed the interest of being a morally upright leader. The HDL seminar has actually emphasised on the need for leaders to morally upright people and people of high integrity. Through the HDL seminar, I have learnt that without being morally upright, a leader cannot effectively be a role model and influence the people he is leading to embrace his ideals; this is because people normally embrace the ideals of people with high level of moral uprightness because they can trust them (Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999). For that reason, therefore, I have developed great interest in being a morally upright leader. Thirdly, the HDL 660 seminar has helped me to develop great interest in being a self-confident and an assertive leader. The HDL 660 seminar has actually made me to realize that without having self-confidence a leader will not be able to effectively fulfil his leadership responsibilities. This is because the main responsibility of a leader is to give directions and to guide the people he his leading to achieve the goal and the objectives of the organization that he/she is leading (Terry, 1993). For that reason, therefore, a leader must be self-confident and he/she should be firm enough in his/her decisions. The HDL seminar, therefore, has made me to have great interest in being an assertive leader. To be able to effectively apply these principles on leadership that I have learnt in the HDL 660 seminar, I will go about exploring and researching the applicability of these leadership principles in the following two ways. Firstly, I read extensively on the application of these principles in leadership. Secondly, I will interview various leaders who exhibit these principles, so as to know from them how they have managed to effectively apply these leadership principles. 1. Leaders are normally different from other people in the following ways. Firstly, leaders should be genuine in their lives and in their behaviour because the people they lead look up to them as their models (Avolio, 2005). For this reason, therefore, leaders should never lead a double life, because such a lifestyle will make the people they lead to ridicule them and not to take them seriously. For that reason, therefore, while other people can lead a double life without much negative effects, leaders cannot lead a double life without scandalizing the people that they lead. Secondly, leaders are different from other people in that they must be visionary and they must be firm in their decisions, and not be swayed or confused by the conflicting opinions of the people that they lead (Griffin, 2003). This is because an effective leader must have clarity of thought and he/she must be able to firmly give directions to the people that he leads. For that reason, therefore, while other people can be indecisive and not firm in their decisions, leaders must be decisive and assertive. Leaders are, however, the same with other people in that, just like other people, leaders also have normal human weaknesses and limitations, and for that reason, therefore, they should be humble and be ready to be corrected and to accept responsibility for their failings in their leadership responsibilities (Carey, 1992). The context of leadership affects the behaviour of leaders in the following way. If a leader works in a context whereby the people have high moral values and have very high goals and they are working hard towards attainment of the goals, the leader will also, of necessity, have to exhibit high moral values, and will also have to work very hard towards the attainment of the set goals. Conversely, if a leader works in a context whereby the people do not exhibit high moral values and the people are demotivated, the leader may also not be strict in his moral behaviour, and the leader may also be influenced by the people he is leading not to work very hard. 2. The following are the values of informal networks and mentoring relationships in developing my leadership style. The first value of informal networks is that informal networks allow me to gain a lot of knowledge on leadership. This is because through informal networks, I will be able to interact with various people in positions of leadership, who will help, through their vast experiences in leadership, to know what I ought to do so as to be a competent leader. Through informal networks also, I will be able to interact with various members of the public, who will help me to know what they thing about leadership and how they conceive effective leadership. For these two reasons, therefore, informal networks will allow me to gain a lot of knowledge on leadership. Secondly, in developing my leadership style, informal networks will help me change the aspects of my personality that prevent me from being an effective leader. This is because, through informal networks, I will be able to enquire from the members of the public that I informally interact with, about what they find in me or in my personality to be inconsistent with effective leadership. Through the feedback that I will get from the people that I informally interact with, therefore, I will be able to learn about my weaknesses as a leader, and to make an effort to overcome the weaknesses that prevent me from fully developing my potential as a leader. Apart from informal networks, mentoring relationships are quite important in developing my leadership style. This is because apart from learning leadership in class, getting advice from those who have been in leadership for a long time is quite important. Through mentoring relationships, therefore, I will be trained, by those who have vast experiences on leadership, how to become a competent leader. In my journey to become a competent leader, the mentoring relationships will help me to overcome some common mistakes and personality weaknesses that hinder many people from becoming competent leaders. Also, through mentoring relationships, my mentors on leadership will give me practical guidelines on what I ought to do so as to become a competent leader. For that reason, therefore, mentoring relationships are of great value in developing my leadership style. 3. Ethics is central to leadership because of the following reasons. Firstly, leaders are looked up by the people they lead as the models of virtue. For that reason, therefore, in order for the leader to be respected and to be taken seriously by the people he/she leads, the leader must be a person of high moral integrity. If a leader fails in his/her moral responsibilities, the leader will scandalize the people he/she is leading, resulting in lack of respect for the leader by the people he/she is leading. Also, since the leader is looked up as a model of virtue, if a leader fails in his/her moral responsibilities, the people he/she is leading may also be influenced by the unethical behaviour of the leader to also unethical in their practices. For that reason, therefore, ethics is indeed central to leadership. The second main reason why ethics is central to leaderships is that the duties of leadership entail ethics. This is because the leader is meant to lead the organization in applying its vision and living up to its mission, so as to realize the goals that it has set. The application of the vision and mission of an organization demands the application of the corporate ethical responsibilities of the organization. For that reason, therefore, it is the duty of leaders to ensure that the organization that they are leading lives up to its ethical responsibilities. For that reason, therefore, a failure in ethical responsibilities of an organization means a failure in the leader who is leading the organization. The third main reason why ethics is central in leadership is that ethics is quite relevant in the productivity of an organization. This is because organizational ethical guidelines are put in place so as to ensure that the organization will be able to achieve its intended goals. This, therefore, means that the ethics is quite relevant for the productivity of an organization. In business organizations for instance, business ethics is meant to ensure that the business organization relates well with all the stakeholders of the business organization, leading to more productivity in the business organization. For that reason, therefore, ethics is indeed central in leadership. 4. The following are the three “take aways” that I gained from 660 HDL, Developing Human Potential seminar. Firstly, I have learnt in the 660 HDL seminar that leaders need to fully develop their potential so as to be competent and effective leaders. In this seminar, I have learnt that the main impediment to effective leadership is undeveloped personal potentials. For that reason, therefore, I have learnt in this seminar that it is quite important to develop one’s leadership potentials fully so as to be an effective leader. The second lesson that I have learnt in this seminar is that self-esteem and self-confidence are quite important in leadership. Through this seminar, I have learnt that without self-esteem and self-confidence one cannot reasonably achieve much as a leader. This seminar, also, has taught me how to develop self-esteem and self-confidence. For that reason, therefore, I will make an effort to have more self-esteem and self-confidence. The third major reason that I have learnt in this seminar is on the need for the leaders to be visionary and to be assertive in their decisions. This seminar has made me to realize that in order for one to be an effective leader, he/she should be visionary and should also be firm and assertive in their decisions. For that reason, therefore, I will commit myself more to be a visionary and firm leader. References Avolio, B. (2005). Leadership development in balance. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Bass, B., & Steidlmeier, P. (1999). “Ethics, character, and transformational leadership Behavior”. Leadership Quarterly, 10(2), 81-217. Carey, M. (1992). “Transformational leadership and the fundamental option for self- Transcendence”. Leadership Quarterly, 3(2),217-236. Griffin, N.S. “Personalize Your Management Development”. Harvard Business Review. USA: Harvard University Press, 2003. Terry, R. (1993). Authentic leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Read More