¶ … Leadership Styles:
Charismatic vs. servant leadership
The career of General Colin Powell is by any measure an extraordinary one. Powell was the first African-American Secretary of State and a much-talked about candidate for the presidency in his own right. From the very beginning of his career, Powell eluded conventional definitions of what it means to be black in American politics and created a unique brand of charismatic leadership. Powell self-identified as a Republican but was unafraid to be an advocate for a different point-of-view when debates about the Iraq War raged within in the administration of George Bush. Powell saw the involvement of the U.S. In Iraq as a flagrant contradiction of the principles he had learned while serving in Vietnam, which was to have a clear goal for an intervention; to use military force in a rapid fashion; and also to establish the support of the American people for the intervention through effective PR. [footnoteRef:1] He believed the Bush Administration accomplished none of these goals and refused to remain quiet when he felt that forces were being misdirected. He used his own experience as a guide rather than blindly following those around him. [1: Mordu Serry-Kamal, "Tribulations of General Colin L. Powell," review of Christopher D. O'Sullivan, Colin Powell: American Power and Intervention from Vietnam to Iraq (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009).]
Powell's career is highly paradoxical -- he voluntarily chose the military, a relatively regimented, white-dominated organization in an era where there was…
Trait Theory The central premise in the argument that leaders tend to be taller than followers is based on a logical fallacy concerning the nature of trait theory and leadership in general. Leadership theory focuses on what makes leaders effective, not the characteristics that put people into a leadership position in the first place. This essay will break down the argument for trait theory, why trait theory fell out of favor
Leaders and History Having a leadership position and being a leader are not the same thing, even though many people believe it is. Being appointed to a leadership role is entirely dependent upon circumstances; being a leader is an innate quality that moves beyond the tactical and into the strategic, allows those with greatness to rise to the occasion, and often results in drastic changes in society and culture. We can
The concepts of leadership -- charisma for example -- become subject to academic study and analysis. This ultimately produces insight into particular leadership types and understanding of the nature of those types (Westley & Mintzberg, 1989). Managers, therefore, can become leaders by adopting more of the traits of leaders. Any split that remains between management and leadership therefore rests on the assumption that some of the traits associated with leadership
Leader's Self-Insight 1.1: Your Learning Style: Using Multiple Intelligences I scored evenly on all of the types of intelligence measured by this self-assessment: logical-mathematical, verbal-linguistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and musical. This indicates that I am a well-rounded person with the ability to work in multiple environments on different tasks. Leader's Self-Insight 1.2: Your Leadership Potential I scored slightly more (7) on the even-numbered indicators than on the odd ones (6), indicating I have leadership
In contrast, a high-stress job, such as in a police department or hospital may create a sense of solidarity between friendly colleagues that is extremely strong to the point that it can influence job performance ratings. Bias can influence superior's perceptions of how much a friend deserves a promotion or a raise, and there is a strong sense of being part of an 'in-group' that is intrinsic to the
For Ann to succeed as a leader in her department and proceed in her ascend to more demanding roles within the hospital, there is an existing need for her to understand herself and how her peers view her. In so doing, she will be better placed to get their support by modifying her behavior. Yet another leadership complexity for Ann has to do with her visibility given her senior position as
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