Leadership effectiveness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Leadership effectiveness - Essay Example Effective leaders are born as well as made. A leader may possess natural traits of leadership. Nevertheless, he has to go through the grind to master the skills of leadership. In this process, he is being made a leader (Effective Leadership Skills, 1996-2009). This process may consist of training that includes educational qualifications and on-the-field training. Intrinsically, everyone is a leader in his own right because people depend on him in certain respects (What is Effective Leadership 2010). But there are certain people who are spotted as first among equals and they make their grade over a period of time experiencing highs and lows on the way. And they continue to be recognized as leaders all their lives! I engaged Thomas Varghese on an interview. Thomas is the plant manager in a large electrical corporation employing over 5000 people. The interview lasted about an hour when I questioned him on the principles that made effective leaders. Mr. Varghese does not waste time and answered off the cuff. His mannerisms made it clear that leaders are self-conscious of what they do and say. Leaders are human beings, but they are cast in a different mold. There are traces of super human in them (Killian, Shaun; 2005-2007). They appear to be infallible and it takes an effort, sometimes minimum and some times maximum, to keep them aware that they are simple human beings (Rose, Ed; 1998). The reason that leaders appear super human is that they represent strong and noble traits. Without these traits, they may not be able to survive as leaders. But they have these qualities in some measure or more measure. But they need these qualities without which their days as leaders could be numbered. Abraham Lincoln had these qualities, Mahatma Gandhi had these qualities, and in the eyes of the Germans, even Adolf Hitler had these qualities. But the qualities that Hitler displayed were misrepresentative of the truth and they stood exposed. In the interview with Mr. Varghese, three basic principles emerged that a leader required so that he could be effective. One, the leader had to be alert. The leader was a man with a mission. He had to be above situations and circumstances. Two, the leader had to be goal-oriented. And finally, the leader had to have strong personal traits and an eye for failure. Two solid theories of leadership Trait Theory The leadership provided by Mr. Thomas Varghese is described as trait theory because it draws upon good traits especially those that are relevant to the progress of the department. The staff members at the plant are desirable of using their creativity and are resourceful to pool in their talents to achieve excellence. The culture of progress in the plant is such that the outcome of any work can be only excellent or very excellent (Bolden, R et al, 2003, p6). Contingency Theory Leadership in the plant is so nurtured and encouraged that one can feel the aura of excellence. The

Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it Essay - 2

Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn - Essay Example This led to self-obsession coupled with blaming myself and asking what could have gone wrong to the extent people were then ill-treating me that way. Due to bullying, ill-treatment by people and be called names, state of inadequacy crept in my life whereby I started believing what others were saying about me. Thus ended up being emotionally distressed, which led to depression to the extent of being constantly angry at whomever I mingled with and eventually finding attending my classes meaningless. This significantly did affect my grades though initially I was too obsessed with self to notice until the situation had advanced. My situation then comprised of self-hatred, engrossed by self-pity and sometimes regretting before turning to self-harm, which took many months before compelled to seek therapist’s assistance. My recuperation was gradual characterized by attending classes partially though initially being a struggle not only in trying to live but also to thrive. Getting back to my ordinary life was quite a task but through encouragement that I should not give up, my grades started improving. This is to the extent of scoring highly in school because after recovery I focused on catching with what I had lost while experiencing depression and had kept me from studying as necessitated. Presently, despite the depression being a horrible experience, I am presently proud of what it has made me to be. In life, I never thought one day I will ever experience such a low situation thought it has made me learn essential lessons. I have learnt life irrespective of its horrible experiences with necessary resilience cannot turn me being a failure. Since, I should not to give up because pain is inevitable in life and especially for me to grow as I appreciate each opportunity. I also learnt there is always h ope and solution for each situation despite how exigent it appears. In conclusion, experiencing depression during my