In your reflection blog, consider how difficult it must be for a leader to grow into a person who can lead a system-wide change effectively. Perhaps you remember leaders who attempted system wide interventions but failed because they were not capable of pulling it all together. On the other hand, you may know leaders who were able to do what you thought would be impossible. From your point of view now, what is required for a leader to be successful?
So it has been far too long since I've been here. I'd like to say that I have some great reason but after three years and a host of life events I'm running out of steam. So for the three of you that read this I will endeavor to be more reliable. For my professor, I offer apologies and no excuses. Though if you have any words of wisdom for a student hitting the wall please feel free to email them to me.
Anyhoo...I should get to answering the above questions!
What is required for a leader to be successful?
I have often held that emotional intelligence is one the keys to successful leadership. That being said, another key is the ability to get along with people. It seems simple on the surface but highly unique people can carry some undesirable traits. Einstein was a womanizer and Alfred Hitchcock was highly vindictive; both of these men rose to the tops of their fields despite these faults. It is speculative but in some ways I argue that having a certain part of you personality that is like biting on tinfoil is required to rise to the top. At some point one has to take a stand and not be afraid to make hard choices. That being said, the same personality traits that lead to being able to make hard choices are the same traits that allow someone to become selfish or vindictive.
This is why I argue knowing one's self and knowing one's own emotional reaction to stimuli is paramount to successful leadership across a multi-variable spectrum. Einstein really just did math, Hitchcock just made movies, they weren't truly leading across different spectrums. I order to accomplish such a feat a leader has to build a support network, create a common vision, bring together disparate goals, and remove or convert subversion. This takes people skills! People skills is such a colloquial term but I think it is germane to the discussion. Charm, vision, sense of humor, principles, assertion without aggression, these are all people skills and without them it is likely that a leader will self-destruct at a certain level.
I have seen this in action. I worked for a supervisor that seemed to be in a position just beyond his abilities. In many ways he was a good leader but he lacked the ability to see beyond himself. This led to conflicts with other departments, increased tensions with staff, and a decrease in production. In time things began to entropy as the system turned on itself and what started out as an attempt to create change across all systems ended up with squabbling factions. It was rather fascinating to watch.
I have often held that emotional intelligence is one the keys to successful leadership. That being said, another key is the ability to get along with people. It seems simple on the surface but highly unique people can carry some undesirable traits. Einstein was a womanizer and Alfred Hitchcock was highly vindictive; both of these men rose to the tops of their fields despite these faults. It is speculative but in some ways I argue that having a certain part of you personality that is like biting on tinfoil is required to rise to the top. At some point one has to take a stand and not be afraid to make hard choices. That being said, the same personality traits that lead to being able to make hard choices are the same traits that allow someone to become selfish or vindictive.
This is why I argue knowing one's self and knowing one's own emotional reaction to stimuli is paramount to successful leadership across a multi-variable spectrum. Einstein really just did math, Hitchcock just made movies, they weren't truly leading across different spectrums. I order to accomplish such a feat a leader has to build a support network, create a common vision, bring together disparate goals, and remove or convert subversion. This takes people skills! People skills is such a colloquial term but I think it is germane to the discussion. Charm, vision, sense of humor, principles, assertion without aggression, these are all people skills and without them it is likely that a leader will self-destruct at a certain level.
I have seen this in action. I worked for a supervisor that seemed to be in a position just beyond his abilities. In many ways he was a good leader but he lacked the ability to see beyond himself. This led to conflicts with other departments, increased tensions with staff, and a decrease in production. In time things began to entropy as the system turned on itself and what started out as an attempt to create change across all systems ended up with squabbling factions. It was rather fascinating to watch.
I think growth into a leader is incredibly difficult. I believe that a good mentor is needed, as well as ability to accept feedback. Without proper guidance the path to success is very hard. I know for myself I see where I am struggling and part of that is I don't have a good support structure in place. My own failures have led to a self-assessment where I need to scale back outside activities to focus on core goals. This took some hard knocks and it has helped me understand that no one succeeds in a vacuum.
