What does it Take to be a Leader? Leadership

Background Information
Great leaders build trust and credibility with words and deeds that prove, in ways large and small, that they respect and honor their people. Every profession and walk of life has its great leaders, figures and heroes. Think of men and women who create or transform major companies. There are political leaders who reshape society. There are policemen or firefighters who risk their lives to save others. Those folks we think of as role models and we celebrate their accomplishments. In many ways they represent what we think of as the true model of leadership. Does one have to be in the spotlight to be a leader? Most leaders are rarely public heroes, and move patiently, carefully and incrementally to get things done. They do what is right for their organization.

Prompt
Write a 2-3 page paper about the essential attributes you think it takes to demonstrate leadership. How does one acquire those attributes? Can one learn them by observing or reading about them? Using the organization you chose in the Module One journal, assess the leadership attributes demonstrated by an administrator within that organization. What evidence can you find that these leadership attributes are working for that organization?

Tasks
Describe the essential attributes it takes to demonstrate leadership, including the acquisition of those attributes.
Assess whether or not the leadership attributes demonstrated by an administrator within the organization you chose in Module One are working for the organization.
Justify, using evidence, your assessment of whether or not the leadership attributes are working for the organization.
Turnitin®
This course has Turnitin® fully integrated into the course dropbox. This means that you should only submit your assignments to the dropbox below. Please do not submit your assignment directly to Turnitin.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Essential Attributes of a Leader

Successful leaders possess unique attributes that set them apart from the rest, making them effective leaders and leaders that are able to inspire their followers. These unique attributes set apart successful leaders from unsuccessful ones. They also direct their actions, decision-making, and behavior as leaders. A good leader is able to lead their organization and provide direction to their followers or employees, towards the achievement of organizational goals and targets. It is only through effective leadership that an organization can live its mission and achieve its vision.

 

A successful leader can bring his or her subordinates and employees together, bringing about organizational change through visionary and transformational leadership. He or she has the interests of the organization and the people at heart and leads with strict observance of ethical concepts and moral values such as transparency, honesty, and accountability. In addition, a successful leader is able to align employees with the goals of the organization and motivate them towards their achievement (Citation.

Acquisition of Unique Attributes

The leadership attributes listed are acquired over a long period of time through exposure to career challenges and hurdles and through leadership experience (Citation). As an individual goes through their career path, experiencing different challenges and developing ways to overcome them and get things done, they are able to acquire and develop attributes such as persistence, patience, innovativeness, and creativity (Citation).

Attributes such as commitment and being able to communicate effectively are developed over time as an individual within an organization works closely with other employees or colleagues towards the accomplishment of organizational tasks. Other attributes such as confidence and self-belief are acquired and developed through experience and withstanding various work challenges (Citation).

An individual has to learn to believe in the ability of their employees, over time, for him or her to develop confidence in the organization that he or she leads. A leader acquires values such as integrity and transparency through experience and exposure along the journey of developing an organizational culture and code of conduct. Creativity is an important attribute that is acquired over time as a solution to the desire of a leader to achieve success by overcoming recurrent organizational challenges (Johnston, 2017). Through the continuous management of workers, developing organizational plans, and building an organizational culture, a leader is able to acquire unique skills and attributes that make them successful leaders. However, there are some attributes that a leader can acquire through being taught, including communicating effectively and practicing integrity (Citation).

An individual can learn various attributes through listening, observation, or practice. A leader can observe the behavior of another leader and emulate them, becoming a successful leader. A leader can identify a deficiency in their leadership and seek to be taught or to learn from other leaders, so as to fix the deficiency. It may, however, take a lot of time and exercise to perfect learned attributes (Citation).

Demonstration of Leadership Attributes

Leadership approaches and attributes affect and influence how organizations perform and the achievement of organizational goals. The current CEO of IBM, Ginni Rometty, places moral values and a high ethical standard at the core of her leadership (Husain, 2018). She is able to motivate her employees and align them towards goal achievement. She treats her employees with respect and values their contributions to organizational development. She has been able to develop an effective organizational culture and lead the company to success through her visionary leadership. ‘You’ve got to keep women in the workforce, whether it’s through having children, caring for elder parents, all the things” (Husain, 2018).  The business success that the company enjoys today can be attributed to the attributes and leadership approach of Ginni Rometty.

Conclusion

In conclusion, successful leaders possess certain attributes that set them apart from other leaders or members of an organization. These attributes or traits are acquired over time through exposure to different challenges and scenarios in the course of their work and leadership. There are some traits that can be acquired through observation, imitation, and practice, such as the ability to communicate effectively. However, learning leadership attributes from other leaders or from school education takes a lot of time to perfect the skills learned, through trial and error. It is important that leaders identify attributes that are important in leadership and seek to fix any attribute deficiencies that they may have.

References

Husain, H. (2018, January 10). 5 Leadership Qualities of Ginni Rometty that has Made IBM a Force to Reckon with. Retrieved July 30, 2019, from https://blog.taskque.com/ibm-force-reckon/

Johnston, A. (2017). Book Review: Leadership-as-practice: Theory and application.

Van Eeden, R., Cilliers, F., & Van Deventer, V. (2008). Leadership styles and associated personality traits: Support for the conceptualisation of transactional and transformational leadership. South African Journal of Psychology, 38(2), 253-267.

Stacey,

Your analysis and discussion on what an effective leader is and your portrayal of the effectiveness of leadership at IBM by Ginni Rometty is excellent. You clearly show that she is a very effective leader and can convey her vision to her followers. Your work would be outstanding if you properly supported it with sources of evidence (citations & references) as the lack of these can lead to questions of validity and credibility. Credibility and validity are important in academic writing, especially in course writing as we do not do the research to make factual statements. Therefore, the use of citations and references is extremely important. I have provided a guide to citing your work below.

Your writing is clear, concise, and succinct, and would rise to the level of exceptional with the proper use of citations. Please take note of this and if you have any questions or need further explanation, do not hesitate to contact me. Lets work on this so that this improvement can be made.

 

Dr. Bob

 

Citing Your Work!

 

It is important to cite sources you used in your research for several reasons:

• To show your reader you’ve done proper research by listing sources you used to get your information
• To be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas
• To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by other authors
• To allow your reader to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your paper by way of footnotes, a bibliography or reference list

Citing a source means that you show, within the body of your text, that you took words, ideas, figures, images, etc. from another place.

 

Citations are a short way to uniquely identify a published work (e.g. book, article, chapter, web site).  They are found in bibliographies and reference lists and are also collected in article and book databases.

 

Citations consist of standard elements, and contain all the information necessary to identify and track down publications, including:

 

• author name(s)
• titles of books, articles, and journals
• date of publication
• page numbers
• volume and issue numbers (for articles)

 

You must cite:

 

• Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is not common knowledge
• Ideas, words, theories, or exact language that another person used in other publications
• Publications that must be cited include:  books, book chapters, articles, web pages, theses, etc.
• Another person’s exact words should be quoted and cited to show proper credit

 

When in doubt, be safe and cite your source!

 

Plagiarism occurs when you borrow another’s words (or ideas) and do not acknowledge that you have done so. In this culture, we consider our words and ideas intellectual property; like a car or any other possession, we believe our words belong to us and cannot be used without our permission.

 

Plagiarism is a very serious offense. If it is found that you have plagiarized — deliberately or inadvertently — you may face serious consequences. In some instances, plagiarism has meant that students have had to leave the institutions where they were studying.

 

The best way to avoid plagiarism is to cite your sources – both within the body of your paper and in a references of sources you used at the end of your paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Essential Attributes of a Leader

Successful leaders possess unique attributes that set them apart from the rest, making them effective leaders and leaders that are able to inspire their followers. These unique attributes set apart successful leaders from unsuccessful ones. They also direct their actions, decision-making, and behavior as leaders. A good leader is able to lead their organization and provide direction to their followers or employees, towards the achievement of organizational goals and targets. It is only through effective leadership that an organization can live its mission and achieve its vision.

 

A successful leader can bring his or her subordinates and employees together, bringing about organizational change through visionary and transformational leadership. He or she has the interests of the organization and the people at heart and leads with strict observance of ethical concepts and moral values such as transparency, honesty, and accountability. In addition, a successful leader is able to align employees with the goals of the organization and motivate them towards their achievement (Citation.

Acquisition of Unique Attributes

The leadership attributes listed are acquired over a long period of time through exposure to career challenges and hurdles and through leadership experience (Citation). As an individual goes through their career path, experiencing different challenges and developing ways to overcome them and get things done, they are able to acquire and develop attributes such as persistence, patience, innovativeness, and creativity (Citation).

Attributes such as commitment and being able to communicate effectively are developed over time as an individual within an organization works closely with other employees or colleagues towards the accomplishment of organizational tasks. Other attributes such as confidence and self-belief are acquired and developed through experience and withstanding various work challenges (Citation).

An individual has to learn to believe in the ability of their employees, over time, for him or her to develop confidence in the organization that he or she leads. A leader acquires values such as integrity and transparency through experience and exposure along the journey of developing an organizational culture and code of conduct. Creativity is an important attribute that is acquired over time as a solution to the desire of a leader to achieve success by overcoming recurrent organizational challenges (Johnston, 2017). Through the continuous management of workers, developing organizational plans, and building an organizational culture, a leader is able to acquire unique skills and attributes that make them successful leaders. However, there are some attributes that a leader can acquire through being taught, including communicating effectively and practicing integrity (Citation).

An individual can learn various attributes through listening, observation, or practice. A leader can observe the behavior of another leader and emulate them, becoming a successful leader. A leader can identify a deficiency in their leadership and seek to be taught or to learn from other leaders, so as to fix the deficiency. It may, however, take a lot of time and exercise to perfect learned attributes (Citation).

Demonstration of Leadership Attributes

Leadership approaches and attributes affect and influence how organizations perform and the achievement of organizational goals. The current CEO of IBM, Ginni Rometty, places moral values and a high ethical standard at the core of her leadership (Husain, 2018). She is able to motivate her employees and align them towards goal achievement. She treats her employees with respect and values their contributions to organizational development. She has been able to develop an effective organizational culture and lead the company to success through her visionary leadership. ‘You’ve got to keep women in the workforce, whether it’s through having children, caring for elder parents, all the things” (Husain, 2018).  The business success that the company enjoys today can be attributed to the attributes and leadership approach of Ginni Rometty.

Conclusion

In conclusion, successful leaders possess certain attributes that set them apart from other leaders or members of an organization. These attributes or traits are acquired over time through exposure to different challenges and scenarios in the course of their work and leadership. There are some traits that can be acquired through observation, imitation, and practice, such as the ability to communicate effectively. However, learning leadership attributes from other leaders or from school education takes a lot of time to perfect the skills learned, through trial and error. It is important that leaders identify attributes that are important in leadership and seek to fix any attribute deficiencies that they may have.

References

Husain, H. (2018, January 10). 5 Leadership Qualities of Ginni Rometty that has Made IBM a Force to Reckon with. Retrieved July 30, 2019, from https://blog.taskque.com/ibm-force-reckon/

Johnston, A. (2017). Book Review: Leadership-as-practice: Theory and application.

Van Eeden, R., Cilliers, F., & Van Deventer, V. (2008). Leadership styles and associated personality traits: Support for the conceptualisation of transactional and transformational leadership. South African Journal of Psychology, 38(2), 253-267.

Stacey,

Your analysis and discussion on what an effective leader is and your portrayal of the effectiveness of leadership at IBM by Ginni Rometty is excellent. You clearly show that she is a very effective leader and can convey her vision to her followers. Your work would be outstanding if you properly supported it with sources of evidence (citations & references) as the lack of these can lead to questions of validity and credibility. Credibility and validity are important in academic writing, especially in course writing as we do not do the research to make factual statements. Therefore, the use of citations and references is extremely important. I have provided a guide to citing your work below.

Your writing is clear, concise, and succinct, and would rise to the level of exceptional with the proper use of citations. Please take note of this and if you have any questions or need further explanation, do not hesitate to contact me. Lets work on this so that this improvement can be made.

 

Dr. Bob

 

Citing Your Work!

 

It is important to cite sources you used in your research for several reasons:

• To show your reader you’ve done proper research by listing sources you used to get your information
• To be a responsible scholar by giving credit to other researchers and acknowledging their ideas
• To avoid plagiarism by quoting words and ideas used by other authors
• To allow your reader to track down the sources you used by citing them accurately in your paper by way of footnotes, a bibliography or reference list

Citing a source means that you show, within the body of your text, that you took words, ideas, figures, images, etc. from another place.

 

Citations are a short way to uniquely identify a published work (e.g. book, article, chapter, web site).  They are found in bibliographies and reference lists and are also collected in article and book databases.

 

Citations consist of standard elements, and contain all the information necessary to identify and track down publications, including:

 

• author name(s)
• titles of books, articles, and journals
• date of publication
• page numbers
• volume and issue numbers (for articles)

 

You must cite:

 

• Facts, figures, ideas, or other information that is not common knowledge
• Ideas, words, theories, or exact language that another person used in other publications
• Publications that must be cited include:  books, book chapters, articles, web pages, theses, etc.
• Another person’s exact words should be quoted and cited to show proper credit

 

When in doubt, be safe and cite your source!

 

Plagiarism occurs when you borrow another’s words (or ideas) and do not acknowledge that you have done so. In this culture, we consider our words and ideas intellectual property; like a car or any other possession, we believe our words belong to us and cannot be used without our permission.

 

Plagiarism is a very serious offense. If it is found that you have plagiarized — deliberately or inadvertently — you may face serious consequences. In some instances, plagiarism has meant that students have had to leave the institutions where they were studying.

 

The best way to avoid plagiarism is to cite your sources – both within the body of your paper and in a references of sources you used at the end of your paper.