Leadership Studies Interview Research Paper

Leadership Studies Interview

I recently had the honor of interviewing someone in our community who has had more than thirty years of leadership experience in our community. The interview ended up taking much longer than I expected because I was so influenced by what he had to say, I did not want to miss anything. Mr. Kevin Henderson started his career as a cook back in the 60's for the Jolly Ox (Steak & Ale) restaurant. His leadership abilities were quickly realized, and he was promoted to Store manager. From there he moved on to the Shoney's Restaurant Corporation where he remained for twenty five years serving as a regional supervisor, and finally working his way up to the President of the Steak House Division of Shoney's. This consisted
Kevin Heavily noted how leadership and management styles have made a drastic change over the last 40 years from the "my way, or the highway" (Henderson) approach, to a servant leadership approach. Mr. Henderson recalled a plaque that use to hang in his bosses office in the 60's that read "Beatings and hangings will continue until morale improves!" This was the strategy that was used back then, but disregarded the lingering question of "Why" in the eyes of the employees. Kevin provided me with a great analogy that explained the concept of putting a screw into a board with a hammer. "You can drive a Screw into a board with a hammer, and it will go in; however, both the screw and the board will end up forever damaged and the board will eventually wiggle loose." (Henderson) Short term results can be achieved through toxic leadership, but long term goals will almost always fail. Throughout his experience with the Shoney's Corporation, Kevin noticed this approach being used, and vowed to change this within his area of leadership. He attributes his success to this very
During our interview, Kevin performed a card trick to prove a point. He had selected the 6 of diamonds and laid it face down on the desk without my knowledge. He then told me that I was going to figure out what the solution to the problem was (what card was on the desk). He began to ask me a series of questions that caused me to rule out various suites and numbers of cards. I was astonished to find out that after only a few questions, I had figured out what card was on the desk. It made me feel like I had rationally come up with the solution on my own, thus making me feel important about my accomplishment. Rather than criticize others, ask them questions to make them realize on their own what mistakes they are making and how to improve upon