What Makes a Leader or Manager Exceptional and Why Are There so Few of Them?
What makes a leader or manager exceptional and why are there so few of them?
“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
From ancient times, when people just started living in groups and organizing communities, they have been choosing a man who would take responsibility to lead them. In other words, they needed someone who would coordinate their lives and work, so they would survive not only as individuals, but also as a community. Nowadays, leaders still serve a similar purpose, but under a different context. Kruse (2013, paragraph 13) defines leadership as a “process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a (common) goal.” Yet, does achieving every goal that was set up is a definition of an exceptional leader? The result of this research shows that it is not - there is a big difference between being a good leader and an exceptional one. The first type of leader would make the job done; “exceptional” one would do the job without harming his or her team. Researchers usually differentiate the terms “a leader” and “a manager”; yet, an exceptional manager must be an exceptional leader. Thus, for the purpose of this essay, we will interpret these terms as synonyms. This research identified several important leadership qualities which may be considered the necessary attributes of an exceptional leader. These qualities include the ability of a leader to be humble, to take the initiative, to effectively delegate authority, and to be inspirational. Humility is not typically associated with successful leadership. Collins (2001) in his research examines companies that were included in top rankings of “Fortune 500” magazine from 1965 to 1995, trying to find out what makes them transfer from being considered good to great. After evaluating the sample of 1435 companies, he ended up with only 11 examples. More surprising was
“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
From ancient times, when people just started living in groups and organizing communities, they have been choosing a man who would take responsibility to lead them. In other words, they needed someone who would coordinate their lives and work, so they would survive not only as individuals, but also as a community. Nowadays, leaders still serve a similar purpose, but under a different context. Kruse (2013, paragraph 13) defines leadership as a “process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a (common) goal.” Yet, does achieving every goal that was set up is a definition of an exceptional leader? The result of this research shows that it is not - there is a big difference between being a good leader and an exceptional one. The first type of leader would make the job done; “exceptional” one would do the job without harming his or her team. Researchers usually differentiate the terms “a leader” and “a manager”; yet, an exceptional manager must be an exceptional leader. Thus, for the purpose of this essay, we will interpret these terms as synonyms. This research identified several important leadership qualities which may be considered the necessary attributes of an exceptional leader. These qualities include the ability of a leader to be humble, to take the initiative, to effectively delegate authority, and to be inspirational. Humility is not typically associated with successful leadership. Collins (2001) in his research examines companies that were included in top rankings of “Fortune 500” magazine from 1965 to 1995, trying to find out what makes them transfer from being considered good to great. After evaluating the sample of 1435 companies, he ended up with only 11 examples. More surprising was