12/15/2010

LDRS 5454: Leadership Philosophy

Logan Willard

Leadership is different for every person. The general idea may be similar for most people, but its the details that differ. To me, leadership is tailoring yourself and your actions so that most, if not all, of what you do has a positive impact on others. This is very important, as it means that anyone can be a leader, something I feel firmly to be true. When people think of leaders, they may generally think of people in charge, from politicians governing the country to managers running a company to ones own parents. These people manage others, for sure, but I feel like true leadership has more of a moral characteristic, rather than this mere technicality of telling others what to do. Leadership is not something that can be so clearly and accurately defined that you can call someone a leader based exclusively on their job title. There are a lot of different ideas incorporated into my philosophy of leadership, spanning all aspects of the sections covered in the course. There is a little bit of the trait approach in it, but much of it deals with how the leader acts, as well as the relationship between him and his followers. I also feel like the leader needs to drawn upon his innate talents to maximize his leadership potential, as well as be conscious of the aftereffects of his decisions, in order to do what is best for himself and others. Throughout this philosophy, a leader is not necessarily someone with a leadership position, but someone performing leadership, while a follower is someone who is a recipient of this leadership. As I mentioned before, one doesnt have to hold a leadership title to be a leader, however it is very important that those in such positions act like true leaders. There are many traits that help one in his pursuit of leadership, but these can only be truly effective if they are acted on accordingly. Five major leadership traits that were determined by leadership studies are intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability (Northouse, 2010, p. 19). Undeniably, someone who shows these traits has the potential for great leadership, but only if he applies himself to that goal. What really determines a leader is what he does with his skills and knowledge and how he affects others. Two personal anecdotes come to mind with this. I have a friend who is constantly pointed out by faculty to be a silent leader of the marching band. Though he holds no actual leadership position, his integrity and determination, as well as his good manner, make him a good role model for newer members of the band. As his friend, I have come to learn that these are innate traits of his that have helped him to be successful. On the other side of the coin, however, is a girl in the band who made her way into a leadership position early and kept it for a while based on many of her own leadership traits. In this position, she constantly had a better than you attitude and berated others for their mistakes while completely overlooking the many she made. Her fellow leaders in the section, as well as her followers, were very unhappy with how she led, which ultimately caused her to lose the position. The role of the follower is very important to leadership. After all, if no one notices or follows what a leader is doing, and thus isnt affected by it, can it really be called leadership? Overall, I would say that my approach to leadership is very follower-centered. One must gauge his followers and determine what they need to be successful, be it in a job or in an organizational group. This is very much in the realm of the situational approach to leadership. One needs to balance supportive and directive behavior to fit what is needed from his followers, sometimes to the point where he needs to change his style on a person by person basis (Northouse, 2010, p. 90). I personally have great experience in this approach to leadership. While I was the head equipment manager for the marching band, I mostly led the section by delegating. Most of the other managers knew enough of what they were doing that all I usually had to do was let them know what needed to be done, and they would do it. However, some of the managers who were newer or more unsure of themselves needed more support and direction, so I would take on more of a coaching style to help them learn what to do while still making them feel comfortable. This also factors in to another aspect of follower-centered leadership in which I am a major believer: servant leadership. Servant leadership is when one aspires to serve, to ultimately make the lives of those around him better, and discovers ways to lead in order to accomplish

12/15/2010

LDRS 5454: Leadership Philosophy

Logan Willard

this. According to Jackson and Parry, in return for being a servant leader, followers ideally provide the leader with gratitude, focus, cooperation, respect, and other behaviors important to a successful leaderfollower relationship (Jackson, and Parry, 2009, p. 57). By helping and focusing on your followers, you ultimately help yourself when they succeed. While a leader needs to be able to work for his followers and help them succeed, one thing he needs to realize is that he cannot do everything. Everyone has their own talents, and it is up to a leader to know what he is good at, incorporate these strengths into his leadership style and work, and rely on others to help him fill in the gaps. It becomes problematic when the leader, rather than trusting others to help him, stretches himself too thin and tries to do everything himself (Rath, and Conchie, 2008, p. 23). I have been on both sides of this equation. When I was first inducted into my fraternity, I noticed how little was actually done by the alumni secretary at the time. I realized that I had the forward thinking, strategic planning, and communication strengths necessary to fix this office, and thus overly expressed my enthusiasm for the job. When I was elected into office, I put my skills to work and turned it around. I figured out new ways to contact alumni, and then greatly overhauled an email list system to bring its membership from about twenty alumni to over one hundred and fifty. I used my strengths to change the office, which in turn helped to improve the current fraternitys image with the alumni. However, for all of my skills with communication and strategic planning, I wasnt nearly as great at coming up with new ideas for ways the alumni could stay involved with the current organization. I turned to fellow brothers for their ideas, and new events were created to keep the alumni more easily in touch with us. By utilizing my strengths and relying on others to balance out my weaknesses, the office and my organization have been changed for the better. Through the success of this exercise in leadership, I know for sure that trusting others strengths will be the best way for me to succeed in the future. While one may have a good set of traits, be focused on the needs of their followers, and apply their strengths to their leadership style to maximize their followers potential, it could be unhelpful, even potentially harmful, if ones leadership is applied without good conscience. Ethicality is very important to leadership because one needs to make sure the mark they leave is a positive one. They need to focus on the best in people, as well as harmony, charity, and other such lofty ideals, to make a good impression and help people have better lives (Jackson, and Parry, 2009, p. 98-99). When leaders begin to lead unethically and for their own gains, it causes strife for their followers. However, such as was seen with Enrons corporate leadership years ago, this can eventually come back to haunt oneself, meaning that, in the end, everyone loses through unethical leadership. Over the past few months, I have learned much about what it actually means to be a leader. I had a good idea of my own leadership philosophy was, but now I can better put it into words. While he may have some traits that help him be a more qualified leader, the leader must use accordingly. He must know what his followers need, and be of service to them so that they can realize their maximum potential. He has to know that he cant do everything, and rely on other to fill in where his strengths cant take him. Finally, he must act ethically in order to make sure that what he is doing is right, and will actually benefit people. I plan to keep these now concretely defined ideas with me, easy to recall, so that I can always remember how to be the best leader I can.

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LDRS 5454: Leadership Philosophy References

Logan Willard

Rath, T., & Conchie, B. (2008). Strengths based leadership. New York: Gallup Press. Jackson, B., & Parry, K. (2009). A very short, fairly interesting, and reasonably cheap book about studying leadership. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, Ltd. Northouse, P. (2010). Leadership theory and practice. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, Ltd.