Question 1: How would you define successful leadership? What standard do you apply when evaluating leadership success? Is it possible to predict success based on organizational cultures or other factors? Provide examples to support your answer.
Solution:
Successful leadership is the ability to channel and coordinate the energy of the group to attain the desired goals of the business. It is the capacity to motivate and inspire followers to go beyond the distance of their perceived limitations, to rise to the challenges of the task at hand, and to seek out innovative and novel solutions. In a word, success leadership is empowering. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”
A successful leadership can be evaluated by the following standards:
a) Example – A successful leader leads by example, which is the key to authentic leadership. This is demonstrated by working hard, making difficult decisions, taking risks, and personal sacrifices.
b) Integrity – There are no shortcuts to success. A successful leader is honest, dependable and uncompromising on his or her work and business ethics.
c) Solid goals – A successful leader has solid goals and direction, which are communicated to the team. The leader makes the team identify and take ownership of the business’s goals in order to motivate them to achieve these goals.
d) Knowledge – A leader is equipped with knowledge and skills necessary for the enterprise. The leader leverages the team’s best chance of success by knowing and understanding the obstacles, competition and risks present in an endeavor.
e) Autonomous – A successful leader provides for autonomy by empowering the members to think, innovate and own the solution to a problem.
f) High Expectations – A successful leader expects a high level of excellence from the team. Expectations create results; people want to