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MY VISION OF LEADERSHIP:
Leadership is a procedure of influencing and motivating others to achieve a mutual goal. Leader of an organization has the potential to change the organization culture and resolve severe problems creatively. Good leaders are open and flexible and they work can handle bad situations in such a manner so that it turns out to be a fortune. According to my vision of leadership, a good leader should have the following characteristics (Rausch, 2007):
ü Potential to motivate: The major objective of a leader is to motivate people through his speech, activity, writing etc. leaders should not try to teach anything. Instead of giving dull lectures a leader should explain why one should do something. He should be able to clarify his logic so that there is no doubt in the mind of people.
ü Social Awareness: A leader should be aware about social system and social activities. Clear understanding about social network will help a leader to influence people.
ü Self- awareness: A leader is expected to be completely aware about him. He should know his strengths as well as weaknesses. Otherwise he won’t be able to approach others. His capabilities and limitations will decide how he should approach and what will be his leadership style.
ü Vision: Leaders should be clear about the vision and influence people accordingly. The clear understanding of the desired goal will help that person to motivate and control its activity.
ü Collective goal: A leader should keep aside its personal issues, emotion, interest, ego in order to attain a greater target and should work for collective interest.
ü Disciplined and Organized: A leader should be disciplined and organized. He must lead himself towards the right direction in an orderly manner. As he is the role model to others he should be careful about his own activities which have great influence towards others (Robbins, 2011).
Steve Jobs has inspired my understanding of effective leadership. He founded Apple in 1976 in the garage of his parents. Now it is world’s one of the most valuable companies. He had transformed the industries of personal computers, music, tablet, phones, animated movies, digital publishing and retail stores. Steve job believed that innovation is the key factor which distinguishes between a leader and a follower. Few characteristics of this iconic leader are discussed below:
ADAPTIBILITY: Steve Jobs was adaptable to changes and a good leader should have this quality. In this universe, change is constant. In order to compete and sustain in the changing environment one needs to learn adaptability.
INNOVATION: Steve Jobs is the greatest example how innovation changes and reinvents industries. He recognized that the Mac cannot record CDs and missed the opportunity in the online entertainment. Therefore he developed iTunes software along with iTunes Store. It made the procedure of buying and managing music online easy (Hellriegel, Slocum, & Woodman, 2001).
CONFIDENCE: Steve Jobs was very confident about the success of his products. He researched in depth about the demand and gap in the present market and therefore he launched his products. He was very confident about the target market segment and continuously modified the products.
URGENCY: According to Steve Jobs time is one of the greatest tools for success. He developed products before a customer identifies the need for that product. This quality is really admirable.
When an individual works in an organization, the colleagues, he or she is being surrounded by, plays a vital role in one’s career. In case of mine, the organization I am a part of provides me with ample opportunities to know my real strengths and areas that need concerns. The daily interaction and communication with my colleagues gives a vivid portray of myself and encourages me to lay stress on areas where I need to develop and grow in a better way. They instantly let me know if I had done any mistake and how should I change myself (Srivastava, Bartol, & Locke, 2006)
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As I progress through my MBA I would like to inculcate some leadership traits in myself that I view as a necessary thing for a good leader:
ü I should learn from my previous mistakes. My experiences will help me to improve my skills a s a leader.
ü I need to boost up confidence and need to learn thinking in a positive manner.
ü I want to improve my communication skills so that it can effectively appeal the target audience.
ü I need to learn decision-making strategies and its relevance and application in different fields.
ü Teamwork gives an opportunity to learn how to interact and communicate with the team. It helps to develop leadership qualities and helps to nurture the analytical mind.
ü I should learn how to motivate others and stimulate people in a positive way.
It takes time to be an effective leader and one should continuously develop the leadership skills. One needs to be focused and determined and must have a creative approach for solving problems. Innovation is one of the most important aspects of leaders. These are the factors, which need to be kept in mind to lead an organization, a community or a team.
References:
Rausch, E. (2007). Leadership in management education and development: criteria for quality decisions. European Business Review , 19 (3), 257 – 268.
Robbins, S. P. (2011). Organisational behaviour (6th ed.). Pearson Australia.
Hellriegel, D., Slocum, J. W., & Woodman, R. W. (2001). Organizational behavior (9th ed.). South-Western College Pub.
Srivastava, A., Bartol, K. M., & Locke, E. A. (2006). Empowering Leadership in Management Teams: Effects on Knowledge Sharing, Efficacy, and Performance. The Academy of Management Journal , 49 (6).
Leading in Changing world 