Saturday, February 23, 2008
Can you be a leader? Can I? - theory on titular leaders explored
To lead a person does not have to be in charge, so to speak. Leading is a step away even when you are not the named leader in a group project or any type of activity in life. To me, any input is leading in some sense. If people in your group are having trouble with an idea and you know how to take that idea and re-mold it into something the group can understand better that is a form of leading. Anytime a member of a group or society puts their ideas out into the world they are leading in some shape or form because other people will always be listening. Leading is all about taking your ideas or other's ideas and putting them into action. Leading is about helping people and doing what you can to make things work. Being a named leader isn't necessary to help through the process. Take for instance the first day we talked about what a leader was with Kouzes and Posner's book. The first step to leading is modeling the way. If you are sharing an idea or showing people how to do something or even making sure to take part in a group activity you are modeling the way. According to Kouzes and Posner that definitely means you are a leader. Leading is not all about getting a spot light shown on you and having someone "put you in charge." It's about how you use the tools that you have as a person and how you help others to understand by modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act, and encouraging others to act. By being a leader without the title you are already challenging to the process by letting your leadership ideals shine through when you aren't even expected to do so. I believe leading is not about a title you are given, rather something that everyone can do no matter what situation they are in. In my opinion, everyone can lead, but some people choose to explore their abilities and become more improved leaders than those who do not choose to explore their individual talents.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I didn't think of it that way Manda. That was an excellent thought. You're right: Everyone is a leader in a project. Some people are just louder than others! We all all worker bees working toward the same goal, usually with equal effort.
Your blog was so possitive. I agree that any input is leading in some sense. Just a simple comment can alter the results. Sometime i feel that when we are not the main leader we feel unimportant.
I love you ideas but what would you do if the actually leader of the group tells you that you are over stepping bounderies by taling you ideas? in other words, What would you do if the actual leader of the group gets jelous at you for making people think like you and not like the actually leader?
know?
I agree. Not everyone is suppose to stand in front of a group of people and take them to next level, however, each person in that group can aid in moving the entire group to the next level. I think we forget sometimes that just because there is a great leader in place, that they are the only ones who actually did all the work. Well, this simply is not true, it is the work and effort of those who are not the leaders who actually take the group upwards.
Post a Comment