Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Joshua A. Yampolski
Woodbury University
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Abstract
A leader is one who wears many hats, understands all aspects (or where to obtain and research
knowledge on all aspects), of every situation he or she may face, throughout the roller coaster of
life. Leaders can take many forms and even shapes. Common characteristics of leaders include:
intelligence, kind hearted, team players, and passion. Breathe in your nose for three seconds and
out your month for a period of six seconds. Let your mind form linkages, and create an
experience that is unique and personal just for you, as a reader. Leaders come in all shapes and
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Insights In Being A Successful Manager
Breathe in your nose for three seconds and out your month for a period of six seconds. In
1998, Peter Senge, said, “organizations learn only through individuals who learn” (p. 139)
What is Leadership?
Historically, “leadership has been conceived around an individual and his or her
once said in response to the difference of a “leader and a boss…” Teddy answered that, “the
leader works in the open, and the boss is covert… The leader leads, and the boss drives.”
What is to come in the next year; five years from now; or even tomorrow? If the readers has any
interest in leadership, one understand that being a leader involves making choices such as
“slowly killing ourselves with our own destructive emotions or letting go and living?”
(Clemmer,1999 p. 62)
Common characteristics of leaders include: intelligence, kind hearted, team players, and
complimentary skills required to complete a task, job or project.” (WebFinance, Inc., 2011)
Rather than simply focusing on the words that are juxtaposed and manipulating the contents of
Leaders can guide you on lives many journeys, and create loving families that can bond
over the simple matters of life. Einstein was a leader. Martin Luther king was too. Sports stars
are other forms of leaders. How are these human beings leaders? They share many common
characteristics, dreams, and goals in life. Try to discover some similar personality traits.
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Take a moment. Jot down three common personality traits. A plethora’s of linkages
should become apparent between what you created in comparison to characteristics of evident
leaders.
History of Leadership
The idea of leadership has greatly evolved throughout the ages. No matter who you are
in the world, be it an executive, scholar, child, wife, husband, or other element this vast universe
contains; all life forms in the galaxy should always stride for perfection. Perfections not only of
ourselves, but also for the ones around us including our loved ones, our friends, teammates and
yes even our employees. Human beings as caring animals, need to comprehend the importance
motivate, and inspire their team. In the 20th century one would define these traits as a manager,
however today there proves to be a difference. Managers and leaders have different have various
According to Peter Drucker, author of The Effective Executive, “Your first and foremost
job as a leader is to take charge of your own energy and then help orchestrate the energy of those
around you.” Whereas, Pearce & Cogner, believe leadership is determined by “an individuals
capacity to influence peers and by the needs of the team in any given moment.” (Pearce &
Cogner, 2003, p. 4)
According to Peter Senge, In order to be a successful leader, one must possess “the
ability to learn faster than your competitors “ (1994, p. 5) Leaders must “tap into people’s
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Leaders understand that in order for Change to work, a “transition” must “occur”.
(Bridges, P. 3) Due to this it is important to recognize, that changes are situational whereas
transition involves a “psychological process” that “people go through to come to terms” with any
given “new situation” (Ibid). In 2003, Bolman & Torrence’s in their book, Reframing
What Is A Leader?
Do you have a game plan or routine that you follow in relationship to your daily activities
Tasks such as brushing your teeth, taking a shower, checking e-mail, eating three meals a
day…
Or are they innate, branded onto you like some sort of cow?
When an individual ponders over the word leader, various items flood ones mind.
Perhaps, images of Army Officers, Policeman, Sergeants, or Explores entered your imagination.
Others may visualize videos pertaining to Executives, Captains, War Heroes, Presidents, or even
Pilots. But what does this really mean? How does this help individual build clarity of vision?
According to Tim Collins, the key ingredient a company must possess in order to become
great is “having a Level 5 Leader”. What this entails is having an “executive in whom genuine
personality humility blends with intense professional will.” (Collins, p. 252) A level five leader
possess clarity of vision, and according to Collins, a Level 5 Leaders have the rare ability to
“produce high degrees of success but not enough to elevate companies from mediocrity to
sustained excellence”. (IBID, 253) The only way a company will be able to transform from
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According to Peter Senge (1994), “Building Shared Vision” is an idea that “has inspired
organizations for thousands of years” (p. 9). The idea of building a shared vision is essential to
all future leaders on a global level. Organizations using this have the ability to “bind people
Pearson and Cogner, 2003, expanded on the idea of shared leadership. Shared leadership
includes both “dynamics and opportunities” is an intriguing to some, yet to other professional
scholars “shared leadership is still quite primitive”. (Pearce & Cogner, 2003, p. 4) The idea of
shared leadership can be traced back to 1924, when Mary Parker Follett created The Law of
Situation was to “let the situation, not the individual, determine the orders”.
Shared leadership has been studied using “three quantitate survey-based approaches”.
(Perce & Cogner, 2003, p. 297) Groups have been analyzed as “(a) a whole, (b) a sum of its
parts, and (c) a social network” (Ibid) Throughout the activities that were being examined the
Shared leadership does have it’s drawbacks, as not everyone on a team has the
“knowledge, skills, and abilities” to lead. It is important to understand, that a true leader, possess
the ability to step back from a situation; hence it is of the upmost importance to grasp the concept
of shared leadership.
David Kolb, in 1984, published his findings regarding Learning Styles. He discovered,
that “we internally decide whether we wish to do or watch, and at the same time we decide
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whether to think or feel.” (Chapman, 2010) In other words, individuals grasping an experience,
choose to either “(a) watch or (b) do, and our emotional response to the transforming experience
preferring to (a) think or (b) feel.” (Ibid) This is important because it enables us to understand;
Accepting the fact that everyone in life has personality flaws is greatly important to
understanding the key elements of leadership roles. In 2005, Feinberg and Tarrant created the
“self Destructive Intelligence Syndrome” whereas, “smart people act stupid because of
personality flaws” (p. 6) Unfortunately, “pride, arrogance, and the unconscious need to fail” has
Joseph Luft and Harry Ingram, created a model, “to help understand how we process
The model breaks behavior relationships into 4 quadrants, “represent the whole person in relation
2011)
Creative Games, Juggling, Group Meditation, Softball, Scavenger Hunts, and the Web of
Interconnectedness are just a few of the many examples of team building activities.
These activities, “promote development and awareness in the right-side of the brain,
Team building activities encourage indivuals, increase ones skills sets, and even
team-building activities assist the team in increasing their organizational performance along with
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other metrics used for measuring whether a task at hand is successfully completed. Team
Building activities along with the utilization of new games can help individuals develop the skills
The value of teambuilding goes beyond the knowledge and tools sitting inside ones brain.
Rather communication skills are of the upmost importance to reach ones leadership potential.
Challenge, stimulation, problem solving, creativity, and ultimately decision making; are
all associated with positive motivation, inspiration, and teamwork. Leaders todays need to
understand that, “stimulating activities uses the intuitive brain to solve the problem… People
who can solve problems creatively can make decisions”. (businessballs.com/motivation, 2011)
It is essential to all organizations to integrate team building exercises into the workplace.
According to Susan Heathfield, in her to article, How to Make Teams Effective, she
discusses how teambuilding enables, “the bigger picture…” to “drives your actions; your
function exists to serve the bigger picture”. (P. 1) Additionally being a team player at the
workplace, “is a result of feeling part of something larger than yourself. It has a lot to do with
“Team activities and games promote communications and better mutual understanding - essential
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The ability to communicate is the most essential function of a true leader. Sports
metaphors “contain little information about status and hierarchy”. (Perce & Cogner, p.19)
“Lets go Dodgers!” is a saying virtually everyone in Los Angeles, California has heard
being screamed at Dodger Stadium or on a broadcasted baseball game. Due to this, many
Additionally, “depending on the demands of the moment, individuals can rise to the
occasion to exhibit leadership and then step back at other times to allow others to lead.” (Pearce
It is important to recognize, that each team member brings his or her unique perspectives,
knowledge, and capabilities to the table. “At different junctures in the team’s life, there are
moments when these differing background characteristics provide a platform for leadership to be
Creating Gold
Teambuilding and having an understanding about shared leadership can help companies
create gold. In a perfect world, everyone: no matter who you are or where you live, would have
the opportunity to focus on what they love to do in life and pursue this as a career. Unfortunately
we live in a world more where individuals are more interested in concepts such as
Schadenfreude; taking “satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune (Random House
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Think Differently!
Breaking the rules is only half the battle. The inspiration to motivate a team is the true
test of today’s leaders. Below are 5 questions that will assist you as an individual to increase
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Conclusion
A leadership role takes years of practice to master. Numerous assets need to be studied
and researched for the vast knowledge to sink into a future leaders mindset. A true leader has the
ability to make light of the small things, and constantly adapt to the situations they face at hand.
What skills have you developed at work, at school, throughout lives hardships?
These skills directly transfer to many of the essential characteristics of being a true
leader. A true leader is hard to come by, and if your work place is lucky enough to have a level
5 leader, your place of work should do everything in their power to keep up their good work.
Level 5 Leaders are more difficult to find than winning the California State Lottery. According
to Kaplan, “managing your own career is 100% your responsibility”. Grasping this concept will
enable you to create a competitive advantage for yourself. Creating a competitive advantage for
yourself, requires the understanding of leadership and teamwork. Leadership and teamwork
enables one to think creatively, and increases performance and productivity at the workplace.
Throughout this paper, did you remember to pause in between every paragraph. If so
good work. Following instructions is a critical skill to master in order to be a successful leader
today. Simple teambuilding activities such as the following instructions mind game; not only
motivate individuals it inspires them as well. Be an inspirational leader at home and in the
workplace. The next time your office has a morning meeting, try starting it with a simple
breathing exercise, or by going around the room playing telephone. Perhaps an easy game, but
player beware: “the medium is the message” and the message is easily lost during the game of
telephone. In conclusion, teambuilding activities have capability to bring people closer together
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REFERENCES
Bolman & Torrence , Reframing Organizations, San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
(http://www.businessdictionary.com, 2011)
Conger & Pearce, Shared Leadership: Reframing The Hows And Why of Leadership
Sage Publications, INC. 2003,
Clemmer, Jim, Growing the distance: Timeless principles for personal, career and family
success TCG Press, 1999
Collins, Jim. Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve
Harvard Business Review, July-August 2008, P. 1-11
Chapman, Alan On David Kolb’s original concept review, code, diagrams 2003-2010
Retrieved From www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htm
Senge, Peter. Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization.
New York: Currency Doubleday, 1994. Pp. 3-26, 139-173
Random House Dictionary, 2011, Random House, Inc. Retrieved on iPhone Application