Leadership

1. (40% MANDATORY QUESTION) In the context of this course, what is the essence of leadership?? What would be evidence of effective or ineffective leadership? How does one exercise leadership? Please be sure to address all three components of this question.

As evidenced throughout this course, leadership can hardly be defined or classified by a single word or phrase. There are a multitude of behaviors and processes that collectively exemplify leadership ,however, if asked to define the essence of leadership in a single phrase, Heifetz and Linsky perhaps do it best by describing leadership as a "reciprocal process between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow." The key here is that true leadership comes not from a title, but rather from a willingness to follow a CREDIBLE individual whose power comes from shared goals, trust, and relationships.

Effective leadership involves "mobilizing people toward adaptive change." To further illustrate this point, let us look at technical challenges. Technical challenges are those that already have a blueprint for a solution, not much learning occurs, and the constituents almost always go back to the same norm. These situations can typically be handled by an authority who provides direction, protection, and order. Leadership conversely, as Heifetz and Linsky point out, is dangerous business that rarely has an easy answer. Leadership is about getting people out of their comfort zones, helping others learn, and creating new norms. Effective leadership is evidenced by the inspired action of others. In other words, the constituents aren't just following the values of their leader, but rather those values become internalized and shared amongst all members of the group.

It should be clear that leadership is no easy task, but Kouzes and Posner provide a terrific framework for exercising leadership that includes the following processes: model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others, encourage the heart. In addition, it is also important not to neglect the numbers; certain leadership decisions have to account for cold, hard facts as well. We have discussed the aforementioned activities in detail in class and thus will not be regurgitated here. However, it is vital to note that all these processes mean nothing if the person aspiring to lead is not credible- for credibility is the foundation of leadership. Constituents must be able to believe in their leaders: "Leadership is in the eyes of the people; it is they who proclaim you as a leader."

2. (20% optional question) To what extent are those exercising leadership required to manipulate their followers? Is this necessarily bad? Please relate to the thinking and models of K&P and H&L.

Manipulation often carries a negative connotation. People typically associate manipulation with selfish gain. However, good leadership almost always necessitates a degree of manipulation toward a common goal. This manipulation however is not done in an evil or deceitful manner, but rather provides the foundation for what Heifetz and Linksy refer to as a "holding environment." According to Leadership on the Line, a holding environment "enables you to direct creative energy toward working the conflicts and containing passions that could easily boil over." You see, those exercising leadership are often required to create conflict but also to harness this conflict in a productive manner. Often manipulation is referred to as an art, well, the concept of creating a holding environment is part of the ART of leadership. As discussed throughout this course, they key to manipulating people in a holding environment is to heat people above the threshold of learning, while keeping them below the limit of tolerance - thus maintaining work at the "productive range of distress" (aka the goldilox rule). Ultimately, the manipulation aspect of leadership boils down to "disappointing people at a tolerable rate."

4. (20% Optional question) What example or examples from current events (student's choice) illustrate the principles of leadership, as taught in this course (H&L, K&P, and Shaffer)? You may use either negative or positive examples, or both. The object of this question is to show the instructor that you are able to relate the principles of the course to real-world events.

While it may be clichй' and perhaps a well documented in our course, I'd like to call upon Bill Bellicheck as a primary example of good leadership. What makes Bellicheck such an interesting case is that, as a head coach, he is also an authority figure. Thus, he is operating in the upper right hand quadrant of the authority/leadership matrix. Yet despite his title as an authority, it is Bellicheck's leadership skills that truly make him unique. As evidence of this,