Leadership Studies Interview
I recently had the honor of interviewing someone in our community who has had more than thirty years of leadership experience in our community. The interview ended up taking much longer than I expected because I was so influenced by what he had to say, I did not want to miss anything. Mr. Kevin Henderson started his career as a cook back in the 60's for the Jolly Ox (Steak & Ale) restaurant. His leadership abilities were quickly realized, and he was promoted to Store manager. From there he moved on to the Shoney's Restaurant Corporation where he remained for twenty five years serving as a regional supervisor, and finally working his way up to the President of the Steak House Division of Shoney's. This consisted of the Fifth Quarter chain, Pargo's Restaurant chain, and the Barbwires Steakhouse chain. Kevin was in charge of over 5,000 employees in his division and led the company in profits as well as efficiency ratings. He is now the Director of Comprehensive Food Services for the state of Tennessee and directs the food services of hundreds of locations such as schools, prisons and state facilities across Tennessee. My conversation with Kevin took a direction that I did not expect. He attributes his success to the leadership traits that he has learned over the years, and quoted many of the very ideas and theories almost verbatim from our class lecture. This was an incredible experience to witness first hand how these traits become behaviors and practices.
Throughout the course of our interview, Kevin laid out the history of his leadership experience, and pointed out how he has learned many of his characteristics from watching other people. Kevin Heavily noted how leadership and management styles have made a drastic change over the last 40 years from the "my way, or the highway" (Henderson) approach, to a servant leadership approach. Mr. Henderson recalled a plaque that use to hang in his bosses office in the 60's that read "Beatings and hangings will continue until morale improves!" This was the strategy that was used back then, but disregarded the lingering question of "Why" in the eyes of the employees. Kevin provided me with a great analogy that explained the concept of putting a screw into a board with a hammer. "You can drive a Screw into a board with a hammer, and it will go in; however, both the screw and the board will end up forever damaged and the board will eventually wiggle loose.
Chad Miller, manager of Buffalo Wild Wings in Dubuque, excellently showcases leadership characteristics each time I work with him. Throughout my one and a half years working underneath him, I have witnessed many great exchanges of leadership from Chad to customers, employees, and his other managers. He remains professional, shows his passion for the sports within the restaurant, as well as the food and atmosphere, clearly communicates effectively, and has inspired many people to move up within the company. However, another great example of leadership comes from the Director of Student Life, Diversity, and Leadership of Northeast Iowa Community College, Kara Popp. She exudes professionalism, while maintaining a light atmosphere during the time I work with her. Her communication style clearly shows her passion for the school by consistently instilling excitement and enthusiasm into her audiences. As president underneath of Kara, I have transformed into a proper leader. Although my previous leadership experience, as an 18 year old manager at a McDonald’s restaurant, showed my immaturity throughout my tenure, but beca...
In the Leadership Challenge, 4th edition, it is Kouzes & Posner (2007) intention to present a road map for individuals to follow on their leadership journey. The authors stress that “leadership is not a gene and it’s not an inheritance.” Leadership they assert is “an identifiable set of skills and abilities that are available to all of us” (p. 23). They make clear that the “great person” theory of leadership is “plain wrong.” Leaders are our everyday heroes who do extraordinary things on a regular basis (p. 23).
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B., (2007). The leadership challenge, (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
I chose this particular concept due to the need for effective leadership in today’s workforce as it pertains to employee development. In most cases, many businesses have ineffective leadership development programs that are designed to tear down employees rather than build them up. I have experienced such a lack of leadership through past employment experiences, however, those experiences have afforded me the ability to recognize and prevent those issues from occurring today. I have noticed a lack of focus on behalf of organizations where employee turnaround is the highest. There is nothing more stressful than an organization that is continually trying to see you fail added in with the daily problems of an adult life. The importance of leadership development is found in the constant need for strong and intuitive leadership throughout today’s modern organizations (Rowland, 2016). Organizations of the modern setting will need to explore alternative and innovative avenues to implement effective leadership skills as it pertains to specific industry cultures and or competition. I personally believe that the diversification of today’s workforce has promoted a positive change in how employees are treated and how organizations operate competitively in today’s business
Something that I can truly attest to is that people are not born with these leadership qualities, they must be inspired. Inspiration is a positive influence to the mind or soul of a person that usually comes from the people around them. People can be inspired by teachers, family members, friends and even strangers. My inspiration comes from my family members and my CNA instructor because their urge and passion for education has lead to their success. Deriving from a family of nurses, professors, principals and business women, I have nothing but all the motivation I need to succeed. They want nothing but the best for me and that is why their lives and decisions have such an impact on my life.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2007). The Leadership Challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA:
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2007). The Leadership Challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA:
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.
Destiny, brought the book True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership into my life and I want to bring it into the lives of others. More specifically those who may believe they weren’t born with the characteristics or traits to become a leader or those who have not found their passion or purpose in life; their “True North.” The book, written by Bill George and co-author Peter Sims, compiles a series of interviews with 125 managers from Howard Schultz of Starbuck’s to Dan Vasella of Novartis. The interviewees guide readers through their journey to become the leaders they are today; discussing their failures, successes, obstacles, personal tragedies and triumphs. The stories of each manager prove the True North’s thesis, which is no one person is born a leader and there isn’t one path to becoming a leader. The book is separated into three sections: 1) Leadership is a Journey 2) Discover Your Authentic Leadership 3) Empowering People to Lead. Before giving overviews of each section, it is important to define an authentic leader.
As I have developed in my job, school, and as a person, I found that I enjoyed helping others and want to become a leader. This paper will further describe how my experiences and background have shaped the leader I am today.
In organizations aspiring for growth and continual improvement, relationships are more intricate and alternatives more numerous than the either/or imposition implied by the notion of leaders and followers. Practically no one leads all of the time. Leaders also work as followers; all in all, “everyone uses a portion of their day following and another portion leading” (Galie and Bopst, 2006, p. 11).
To inspire and influence others, a leader must possess many skills and abilities. As motivational speaker Peter Northouse, states, “a leader should be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant” (Northouse, 2013) Moving an entire group of individuals toward a singular goal is a considerable undertaking. Without effective communication skills and a clear vision of what needs to be accomplished, one will feel like they are trying to herd cats rather than leading.
Becoming a leader isn’t easy, just as becoming a surgeon or a writer isn’t easy, and anyone who claims otherwise is fooling himself. However, learning to lead is a lot easier than most would think it is, because every individual contains the capacity for leadership. In fact, almost everyone can recall some sort of leadership experience in his or her life. Any experience in leadership, from a camp counselor to a CEO, is a sufficient place to start when taking on the challenge of becoming a significant leader. Author Warren Bennis devoted his life to exploring the ways of leadership for the average individual. Several resources offer compelling evidence that each individual interested in a position of leadership must know the ins and outs of Warren Bennis’s On Becoming a Leader.
For the assignment, I interviewed Mr. David Sable. Mr. Sable is the Executive Director of Student Services for Radford City School. Mr. Sable oversees Special Education programs, 504 programs, food services programs, homelessness, and he is the division testing coordinator. My leadership journey began after I attended an initial special education eligibility meeting in 2011. Before the eligibility meeting, I never even thought about educational leadership. I envisioned myself as always being a teacher, and nothing more. My decision to attend this particular eligibility meeting was the best professional decision I have ever made. This eligibility meeting was the first time I witnessed Exemplary Leadership.
Northouse, P. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.