Case Assignment 2 BMT855DD
Case Analysis #2 BMT855DD By: Ben Ashkin
Greg Mortenson: A Leader Under Fire
1 I would definitely describe Greg Mortenson as an “Authentic Leader”. In our text authentic leadership is described as a type of leadership that can be nurtured, and develops over a lifetime, can be triggered by major life events, and that a leader’s behavior is grounded in strong ethics. The definition continues on to say that there are four authentic leadership components: Self-awareness, Internalized moral perspective, meaning knows the right thing to do and is driven by ethics and fairness, balanced processing, meaning they are fair minded and open to others, and they possess relational transparency, meaning they are honest and straightforward with followers. In addition there are also five major characteristics of an authentic leader. They: understand their purpose, have strong values, trusting relationships, self-discipline and act from the heart.
Based on the information given in the case, “A Leader Under Fire”, it is clear that Greg possessed many of these attributes of an authentic leader. He had a major life event that triggered his leadership. This event made him self-aware and gave him a purpose. His purpose was to help those who had helped him, he knew what the right thing to do was and he had strong values which allowed him to do what he felt was right.
2 Moral reasoning is a thinking process with the objective of determining whether an idea is right or wrong. Transparency, means operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. Furthermore, in a social context, transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability. In my opinion I do believe that Greg exhibited these components as part of his leadership. While after the allegations of unethical behavior and wrong doings, Greg didn’t immediately defend himself, however, this was due to a serious medical situation. Had he not been so self-aware, he
Greg Mortenson: A Leader Under Fire
1 I would definitely describe Greg Mortenson as an “Authentic Leader”. In our text authentic leadership is described as a type of leadership that can be nurtured, and develops over a lifetime, can be triggered by major life events, and that a leader’s behavior is grounded in strong ethics. The definition continues on to say that there are four authentic leadership components: Self-awareness, Internalized moral perspective, meaning knows the right thing to do and is driven by ethics and fairness, balanced processing, meaning they are fair minded and open to others, and they possess relational transparency, meaning they are honest and straightforward with followers. In addition there are also five major characteristics of an authentic leader. They: understand their purpose, have strong values, trusting relationships, self-discipline and act from the heart.
Based on the information given in the case, “A Leader Under Fire”, it is clear that Greg possessed many of these attributes of an authentic leader. He had a major life event that triggered his leadership. This event made him self-aware and gave him a purpose. His purpose was to help those who had helped him, he knew what the right thing to do was and he had strong values which allowed him to do what he felt was right.
2 Moral reasoning is a thinking process with the objective of determining whether an idea is right or wrong. Transparency, means operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. Furthermore, in a social context, transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability. In my opinion I do believe that Greg exhibited these components as part of his leadership. While after the allegations of unethical behavior and wrong doings, Greg didn’t immediately defend himself, however, this was due to a serious medical situation. Had he not been so self-aware, he