In The Leadership Challenge, written by Kouzes and Posner, the last chapter focuses on the power of everyday leaders “because leadership is not about position or title” (Kouzes and Posner, 2012). Leadership is about building relationships, being credible, and doing what you say you are going to do. A transformational leader has the power to lead others to new places and to motivate others to strive for a high level of performance. Transformational leaders have to believe they can have a positive impact on others and use their actions to convince others that they can be leaders too.
Nelson Mandela died this week at age ninety-five and he left a legacy as one of the most important leaders in modern history.Throughout Nelson Mandela’s life, “many of his defining moments involved acts of compromise, pragmatism and reconciliation” (Myre, 2013). Nelson Mandela used different opportunities to reach out to people who were not his ally. Instead of fighting in a war he decided to fight in an election to “advance the cause of black political rights” (Myre, 2013).
One of the most memorable opportunities was in 1995 rugby World Cup in South Africa. Rugby was dominated by white people in South Africa, but “Mandela went to the stadium in Johannesburg and put on the green jersey of the national team, the Springboks, before the championship match with New Zealand” (Myre,2013) The crowed, who was predominately white, of 80,000 began to chant “Nel-son.”
Nelson Mandela served one five-year term in South Africa and the voluntarily stepped down. This was an extraordinary act because Africa is a place “where many leaders expect to rule for life, and often do” (Myre, 2013). Nelson Mandela utilized the skills of being leader and the virtue of compromise...
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...s with my own actions. Leadership gives us the opportunity to demonstrate the best of who we are. Leadership constantly presents challenges, and those challenges will define me as a leader and how effective I can be for my coworkers, family members, and friends.
Works Cited
Arbinger Institute. (2010) Leadership and self-deception: getting out of the box. San Francisco,
CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2012). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary
things happen in organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
McClure, L.F. (2000). Anger and Conflict in the Workplace. Manassas Park, VI: Impact
Publications.
Myre,Greg. (December 8th, 2013). Nelson Mandela and the Virtue Of Compromise. Retrieved
from http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/12/08/249562974/nelson-mandela-and-the-
virtue-of-compromise.
Transformational leaders exhibit personal and professional qualities that other want to emulate and follow. These leaders advance the mission in combative environments. Transformational leaders propel the growth of the team through communication. Finally, transformational leaders leave a legacy that instills pride, moral, and determination for future success.
Bass (1990) states that transformational leadership is identified by different patterns of behavior. Firstly , transformational leadership delivers the charisma to be a leader in order to gain respect and trust. Secondly, the characteristics of a leader show efforts to change a purpose of the transformation process and to effectively communicate. Finally, transformational leadership proposes that leaders treat employees individually to show them attention and provide them coaching and advice to show that you care about your employees. However, Wang and Howell (2010) claim that transformational leadership is in every individual.This means an individual can develop their potential to enhance their abilities and skills to improve and overcome any weaknesses. In relation to group work transformational leadership helps to grow common values and beliefs, and to inspire group members to reach their group goals. In this type of situation, leaders treat equally towards members and to make them feel comfortable. However, on occasions problems occur during team work which puts a leader into a situation to overcome the condition. For example, if one of my team members has no belief in me to lead the group, my attitude towards the group and the member will change as they have shown a lack of confidence and interest in teamwork. According to Novicevic, Harvey, Buckley, Brown & Evans (2006) explains that authentic leadership is when a leader shows their individual responsibility in what they were responsible for in their organization. Novicevic, Harvey, Buckley, Brown & Evans (2006) discusses a particular style of leadership which is the matrix of executive leadership. This style of leadership occurs when a leader has lost confidence in them self. The
According to (Burns), “transformational leadership can be seen when "leaders and followers make each other to advance to a higher level of moral and motivation." the strength of the vision, transformational leaders are get followers to get their expectations, and motivations to work and achive their goals.
In class, I learned about Kouzes and Posner’s five practices that relate to Transformational Leadership; they include modeling the way, inspiring
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B., (2007). The leadership challenge, (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.
Barack Obama has made no secret that over the past three decades Nelson Mandela has been the greatest influence in his life. Coming from an African ancestry, Obama drew inspiration from Mandela’s life and influenced Obama to take himself upon a journey of self-discovery and find his own voice (Obama, 2004). The repercussions of Mandela’s inspirational work caused Obama to become a part of an anti-apartheid divestment movement in college and to shift to focusing on law and politics (Epstein, 2013). Now that Barack Obama has become President of the United States of America, he has consistently quoted Mandela in all his keynote speeches speaking of freedom and equality and his actions and words are inspired by the desire to emulate Mandela’s powerful actions and movements and the examples that he set, in the 21st century (Killough, 2013). Even within the tribute to Mandela, Obama (2013) says “You can make his life’s work your own…It stirred something ...
In my search for the meaning of transformational leadership outside of coursework, I found multiple definitions of this title. There happened to be one that I enjoyed reading most because it embodied the full significance of what a transformational leader is. Business dictionary (n.d.) specified that, “Transformational leader is a style of leadership in which the leader identifies the needed change, creates a vision to guide the change through inspiration, and executes the change with the commitment of the members of the group”. In this essay I will discuss elements that have been transformational to myself, changes that I have made and intend to make in my life/workplace. As one continues
Throughout life, there are and have been leaders who have helped change and shape others view of the world by their charisma, strength, morals, and kindness. These particular people can help to create a vision along with intellectually stimulating people to broaden their horizons and to be successful in business and personal accomplishments. At one point of time, there was someone who I considered a leader, who motivated me by applying what is known as the Transformational Leadership Theory. Transformational leaders “inspire and empower” (LugoSantiago, 2016, p. 18) other individuals to become more well-rounded along with helping to achieving overall goals. With the Transformational
James MacGregor Burns has defined leadership as “leaders inducing the followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and the motivations – the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations – of both leaders and followers” (Burns 1978. p.19.)
Transformational leaders are for the most part lively, energetic, and enthusiastic (Hawkins, 2011). Not just are these leaders concerned and included all the while; they are likewise centered around helping each individual from the group to succeed too. The components of a transformational leader
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2012). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary
In summary a truly spectacular person was lost this december, and together the whole world wept for the loss of an international leader. Nelson Mandela will continue to be remembered as a soft spoken, assertive, righteous man who embodied leadership characteristics such as courage,understanding, and communication. All of which he used when ruling under a mixed management style leaning heavily towards the strategic side due to the fact that people admired him because of his expert and identity influence which he had.
The case study and readings in this class have painted a clear picture of the various ways one can be a leader, the catalyst that has inspired the least likely to lead to action and the many different capacities in which one is a leader. From the parent whose child is the victim of abuse to the CEO of a major corporation, leadership can spring forth and blaze trails never imagined by others. I learned that on my journey to executive leadership, I can begin leading in my current capacity as an analyst. I do not need to wait to be given the “thumbs up” to lead, as I can be a leader in many ways everyday. Leadership is not about magnificent speaking or major endeavors, “it is about coping with change” (Kotter, p.31, 2003). We all are subject to situation dealing with change daily, it is all about how we cope with it and how others interpret and accept our coping skills.
Transformational leadership focuses on what the leader can accomplish instead of his personal characteristics and how his relationship with others. This leader “helps to bring about major, positive changes by moving group members beyond their self-interests and toward the good of the group, organization, or society (Dubrin, 2007, p. 84). The essence of this leader is to develop and transform people.