Term Paper on "Leadership a Mission Statement"

Term Paper 7 pages (2392 words) Sources: 7

[EXCERPT] . . . .

I can always know that I must weigh the externalities of my behavior and come to a conclusion about which action is morally superior.

Leadership Style

There are a lot of leadership styles. Most can fit within two categories of transactional and transformational. I know that transformational leadership is the sexy thing these days, where all the leadership heroes are, but what the world really benefits from is having people who make things run really well. I like my systems and my linkages and my patterns. That makes me perfect for transactional leadership, because that style plays to my analytical strengths (MindTools.com, 2013). I think the website actually does a disservice to transactional leadership and describes it poorly. I envision transactional leadership as being a leader oriented towards improving the quality of everyday actions and functions (transactions). Such leaders are important for companies that do not need a major change, but rather just need to do things a little bit better than they did before. This is actually the most common type of leadership, and it does not need to be autocratic at all.

How transactions are improved, for me, usually relies on servant leadership When I first learned about servant leadership I was unsure of how that qualified as leadership. The definition of servant leadership as being focused "on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong" (Greenleaf, 2013). For me, this is my family and my company. At the company, being dedicated to improvements is a recognition that my role as leader derives from my particular skill set, which orients me to understanding the organization in ways that most people struggle with. To make sure that the organization maximizes its outputs is simply a matter of empowering my teams. So what I need to do is to get the best people together, give them guidance and let them use their own talents and skills to excel. I once wrote a case on W.L. Gore, the company that makes Gore-Tex. Interesting company, and their leaders are largely facilitators and experts without formal job titles but with a lot of referential authority. I thought that was a great idea, a billion-dollar organization that is almost completely flat and without formal leadership. Just a team of loosely-organized people working towards a common goal. It's a very interesting way to run a company, but the leaders are servants. They just facilitate things for their teams, and that is an approach that I like, and it was really interesting to see a company apply it so successfully in the workplace.

One thing about my leadership style is that I am always trying to refine it. I continually study new theories and look for examples in the real world that can help to refine my leadership philosophies. I do not feel that one is every truly finished learning until one is dead. And even then, who knows, maybe we learn all the secrets of the universe. The point is that I am constantly learning and seeking to improve my leadership capabilities.

Conclusion

I have given thought to what kind of leader I want to be. I believe that by taking stock of what I want to get out of my career -- how it will help me achieve my dreams in life -- I can get a better sense of my path and how I can become a leader in my path. I know that I want to be a certain type of person and those personal ideals are very important to me. I want to know that I can trust myself, so figuring out my personal philosophy helps to bolster my confidence in my own abilities.

For me, I know that I will always continue to grow as a leader. I look to the world's best leaders for examples of how I can be better, and I look to the past to inform myself about the theories and philosophies that underpin modern leadership philosophy. This helps me to come up with a philosophy that is a good fit for me. It seems to me that I have a lot of natural ability and I understand myself well enough to find the perfect fit, so there is no time like the present to work towards my goals.

References

Entrepreneur. (2013). How to write your mission statement. Entrepreneur Magazine. Retrieved November 17, 2013 from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/65230

Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved November 18, 2013 from http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html

Greenleaf. (2013). What is servant leadership? Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership Retrieved November 18, 2013 from https://greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/

Johnson, R. (2008). Kant's moral philosophy. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved November 17, 2013 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/

McWilliams, A. & Siegel, W. (2001). Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. The Academy of Management Review. Vol. 26 (1) 117-127.

MindTools (2013). Leadership styles. MindTools.com. Retrieved November 18, 2013 from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm

Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2011) Consequentialism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved November 17, 2013 from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/ READ MORE

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