Michael Kaelin

Business 1010
MFW: 9:00-9:50

My Renaissance
It is hard sometimes to judge your own growth and skill development. Hard work,
over time, builds experience and professionalism, but growth and change can be a slow
process and difficult to assess. Through critical analysis, though, I have found that since
the beginning of the this semester I have learned many critical skills that have added to
my character and potential. College, for me, is meant to expand my horizons and my
abilities to make educated decisions that will better my future and the future of others
around me. The better my decisions, the more likely that I will be able to avoid
preventable errors, or at least keep them to a minimum. Through this essay I will
describe how concepts of business have helped me to expand my critical leadership
thinking skills and enhanced my observations of everyday life, including work, family
and social life.
Business is unlike many subjects and careers out in the world. There is no
general formula which we can follow in order to achieve success. Business depends on
far too many variables. While some strategies may prosper in some environments, they
will fail in others. In order to learn what works, we must use trial and error. Although, this
method can be very time consuming and inefficient ,it may be possible to achieve
success in a shorter amount of time. In a reading by Edward G. Engh called A Very
Brief History of Trade, we learn that business has been ongoing since the golden days
of Greece and Rome, thousands of years ago. If we look back and examine the history
of business up to our present time, we gain massive amounts of information from
historical trial and error. The conclusion that I have come to after studying business is

that the best way to become a proficient business man is to learn from the mistakes and
achievements of individuals in the past. This can be applied to many aspects of
business, and in my case, this includes leadership, which is a fundamental aspect of
business.
Throughout this course we have studied ways of thinking that can minimize error.
At times there can be no way of fully eliminating error--they are unavoidable. Many
errors can be eliminated by a critical thinking process that takes into account the
immediate effects of a decision and also secondary effects. These skills are critical to
business leadership. When hiring a manager, a firm will want an individual who can not
only minimize the amount of error, but handle errors as efficiently as possible when they
occur. Our book examines a few ways in which we can improve our critical thinking
which in turn will minimize losses. One reading in which this principal was critically
analyzed was General Principles of Management by Henri Fayol (p. 219). In this
reading Fayol points out 14 general principles of management. One of these principles
that is crucial to eliminating error is discipline. In the text Fayol states, Nevertheless,
general opinion is deeply convinced that discipline is absolutely essential for the smooth
running of a business and that without discipline no enterprise could prosper (p 222, line
26). Fayol also goes on to say that discipline minimizes error by making sure that small
details are not missed. Ignoring small details can be a result of laziness, and when it
comes to business, small details can make for large returns.
Critical thinking is not the only trait that a manager must possess. Managers are
leaders, and, by definition, in order to be a leader you must have followers. In order to
obtain followers your employees must gravitate towards you and feel that you are

eligible to be their leader. One reading we covered that explains this concept is called
Not Enough Generals Were Killed, (p.251) by Peter Drucker, a very well known
management consultant. In this reading Drucker analyzes managerial traits that will help
increase the employees results. Drucker states, An effective leader is not someone
who is loved or admired. He or she is someone whose followers do the right things.
Popularity is not leadership. Results are." (p. 252, line 15) This shows a very important
leadership quality. If one leader is able to obtain better results than another leader, it is
beneficial for a company to keep the leader with the better results.
All of these readings proved very helpful to me in learning leadership and
managerial qualities. If I am to be a more successful leader than other individuals, I
must act on principles that they are not. One aspect of this class that I enjoyed were the
connections I was able to find between different business philosophers. One example of
these connections lies in Peter Druckers article, that was previously mentioned, relating
to Henri Fayols teachings, confirming the importance and validity of these teachings.
Drucker states, Leadership is not a rank, it is a responsibility (p.252 line 19).
Responsibility correlates back to Fayols concept of discipline. There are many other
connections in the book with readings relating back to the industrial revolution. During
this time the industry in the United States grew exponentially. As a result of this, industry
suffered from centralization. When some industries became immense, all management
became located in one central location. The result of this was that all the important
decision power was located in one spot, giving employees and industrial workers no say
in industry decisions. In order to achieve change workers were forced to form unions
and go on strikes. From this we can learn a very important managerial and leadership

truth, which is that your followers and their ideas matter. We must be attentive to their
group and individual needs.
In the end, I feel like I have gained leadership knowledge and managerial
principles from taking this class. The class content and the lessons I have learned will
be important to my future success. How well I can solve problems and how well I can
get results from my workers is going decide what level of success I will experience as a
manager and leader. In my case I would like to become as influential as I can. We only
get to live one life and we must either choose to do nothing or change the world.