Leadership Insight Exercises

Of the elements in the leadership definition in Exhibit 1.1, p. 5 which is the easiest for you? Which is hardest? Explain.

Out of all the elements in figure 1.1, I would have to say that “Change” would be the hardest for me. This is because when it comes to doing something a certain way for sometime, it becomes second nature to me. When I a have to change something that becomes second nature to me requires a lot of work. I would consider “Influence” to be easiest for me. This is because I feel that I am very good at affecting other people.

What do you consider your own strengths and weaknesses for leadership?

I feel that my strengths are Followers, Influence, and Intention. I feel that my weaknesses are Shared purpose, and Change.

Describe the best leader you have known. How did this leader acquire his or her capability?

The best leader that I have encountered would be a pastor by the name of R.A. Vernon. I believe that he acquired his capabilities through educations and the help of mentors that he looked up to. He has his Doctorate in Theology and he goes about running the church he has, as a business and he does a very good job at doing so.

Complete Leader’s Self-Insight 1.1 p. 11 to learn about your own “intelligence” for dealing with collaboration and with the other new realities facing organizations and summarize your findings and then answer the questions in the Scoring and Interpretation section.

How do your intelligences align with the changes taking place in the world? I feel that my results fit more with the collaborative style that I feel the world and business world is turning more to.

Would you rather rely on using one intelligence in-depth or develop multiple? I would definitely like to develop multiple. I feel that this makes you more versatile when it comes to dealing with different individuals daily, there has to be a balance.

How do your intelligences fit your career plans and your aspirations for the type of leader you want to be? I feel that my results matched up well with my career goals of working in sales then moving into some kind of management position. Logical-mathematical Intelligence= 1

Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence= 2
Interpersonal Intelligence= 3
Intrapersonal Intelligence= 3
Musical Intelligence= 2

Evaluate your own leadership potential by completing Leader’s Self-Insight 1.2 p. 17 and summarize your findings. My results consisted of a score of a 5 for Leadership and 6 for Management. I feel that both traits are important when it comes to becoming head of a department or organizations. In the summary after taking the Insight, it talked about how management skills are needed in-order to be the best leader and I agree!

Complete Leader’s Self-Insight 1.3 p. 17 to test your people skills and see if there are areas you need to work on and summarize your findings. From my results I need to work on certain things in one area. Working with Authority and Networking I am on track with. People Skills- I need to see more of my co-workers outside of work and engage with them socially.

Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) would fall under the “leader-as-hero” mindset and Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger (who made news in January 2009 by successfully landing U.S. Airways flight 1549 on the Hudson River) would be more typical of the humble Level 5 leader described in the text. Describe why each would fit into their respective category. (If you are not familiar with these individuals you may need to do some research to develop your answer). Jeff Bezos being a multi-billionaire for is creating of the world’s number one e-commerce’s website Amazon. This building of this company brought him fame and billions of dollars giving him the “leader-as-hero” for creating what he did and being number 1 at it. Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger being a person that gained fame by doing his job, what he was suppose to do but at the same time saving 155 lives. In this process of saving lives, he did not soak himself in glory, he was just simply doing his job giving him the “Humble Level 5”. Submit Chapter 1 Assignments in dropbox.