Leadership skills

I believe to have effective leadership skills is to have a good understanding of yourself. This is a stepping stone when understanding other people. Knowing your strengths, weaknesses, skill sets and values are a few of the many important factors when trying to respond and influence others or resolving conflicts. I know from personal experience that I enjoyed a manager that had a democratic style which encouraged team participation and various ideas. No one wants to work with a micro-manager or one that is interested more in themselves being an authoritarian or dictator. What I would like to gain from the Management Theory class is to be able to learn as much as I can and to be able to apply what I have learned. I have pondered what makes some leaders or managers better than others. It seems as if there are people who were born to lead or manage a team naturally by being positive, enthusiastic, sensible mentoring skills and encouraging their subordinates to be creative. On the other hand, there are managers that are moody, inconsistent, and neglect intellectual talent. People don 't want to work with managers with such traits therefore ending up resigning their position. A prime example lacking leadership was the McDonald brothers; however the McDonald brothers overcame their weakness when they hired Ray Kroc who was a good leader and made the McDonalds corporation a success. I believe anyone has the ability to lead, but it takes a lot of discipline, determination and dedication just to name a few of the traits of becoming a leader. It will not happen over night and there will be mistakes made along the way, but the rewards of personal satisfaction and knowing that you are contributing to the organization are great and very satisfying.

References

Hitt, M. A., Black, J. S., Porter, L. W. (2012). Management (3rd Ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.
Maxwell, J. C. (2002). Leadership 101: What every leader needs to know. Nashville: Thomas Nelson

References: Hitt, M. A., Black, J. S., Porter, L. W. (2012). Management (3rd Ed.). New York: Prentice Hall. Maxwell, J. C. (2002). Leadership 101: What every leader needs to know. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.