Leadersip , effective leaders what makes them effective - Research Paper Example

The research paper explores the phenomena of leadership, an intriguing subject that has attracted much attention of researchers and scholars of every age. It is undoubted that leadership is one of the most researched upon subject in the history of mankind and literature available on the topic is extensive in nature with variance in each theory and philosophy. For the purpose of simplicity this research would only focus on the attributes or practices that make a leader effective and inspirational.

The domain considered for this research is the business arena, excluding political, public or social leadership. The analysis or research methodology for this endeavor is based on explorative approach where management books, articles from reliable sources and peer reviewed journals would be considered. The purpose of this research is to explore and understand the recent trends in leadership and the attributes that make a leader effective, comparing popular literature with real life leaders serving their organizations.

According to Stephen R. Covey (2003), highly effective people have seven habits that make them great leaders. These habits essentially point towards the attributes possessed by great leaders of modern post industrial revolution or knowledge based economy. The first habit, being proactive indicates that effective leaders take initiatives, make decisions and own the consequences of decisions made. The second habit or attribute defined by Covey (2003) is the ability to predict the future, devise a vision and a mission statement by self discovery with alignment to values and principals inherent in the leaders beliefs and faced scenario that bring success to the group.

The third attribute of putting first things first, emphasize on the planning skills of leaders, prioritizing the most important issues while keeping check the principals and