Enable Others to Act

Quote 1:"The conductor of an orchestra does not make a sound...his true power derives from his ability to make other people powerful."
The conductor does not have an exceptional skill at playing a specific instrument but yet he has the power to make others with such skill great by having them perform as a cohesive unit. This quote shows me that a leader does not have to be exceptionally skillful. His goal should be to bring others with such skill together and inspire a shared vision that will make the group truly unique and great. Just as a conductor focuses on the people in the orchestra the leader should focus on who he is leading and trust that they will be the medium which communicates to those outside the group. In sports teams it does not matter how much individual talent one has, a leader has to arise in the group and inspire the group to pool their talents and become great.

Steve Jobs-Leadership Spotlight

Steve Jobs has revolutionized the computer industry with companies such as Apple, Next, and Pixar, all with out a college education. What has allowed Steve Jobs to enjoy a vast amount of success without a formal education? It his passion for his work and his exceptional skill at leading individuals to perform at their very best. Steve Jobs is not a perfect leader, he does not have all the characteristics of an emotionally intelligent leader, however he still inspires others and leads them to higher levels of innovation. The below Glog further explains his role as a modern day leader.

Glogster

Challenging the Process

Patch and Gandhi are both excellent examples of leaders who challenged the process. The similarity between both of these individuals, when challenging the process, is that they implored new innovations and solutions to a problem or process that had already been addressed numerous times. Gandhi used peaceful militancy as a means of revolt. Gandhi truly was a pioneer. Rather than inspiring the people of India to revolt violently as so many people have done in the past, he inspired his followers to revolt peacefully claiming that it will lead to true progress. Patch sought a new method to treating patients. Rather than look at the problem he looked at the solution. Both Patch and Gandhi's methods were new and radical. In order to get others to follow in their footsteps they had to devout themselves willingly to their new conventions and be ready to pay a steep price for them.

The problem with any young leader is that they do not have the time or experience under their belts to label them as credible leaders. This greatly inhibits the young leaders attempt to challenge the process. If an older, more experienced leader challenges the process he is seen by many as being forward thinking and innovative because of his credibility. However if a young leader was to challenge the process many would view him as being radical because he does not have the experience that many look for in a leader, especially one who is challenging the process.

Inspire a Shared Vision

There are several behaviors one could argue that are necessary for a leader to have in order to inspire a vision to others. However, I would like to argue that displaying confidence is the most important behavior a leader must have if he wishes to inspire his vision to others. In my experience the person I have always rallied behind as being a leader could be described as confident. If I am going to follow in someone's vision I expect them to be confident in their own vision and confident in their actions to pursue this vision. MLK delivers his speech concerning Civil Rights with a strong and confident voice. The great speech he had written would only have been half as effective if he did not deliver it in such a confident manner. Coach Boone for Remember the Titans came off the screen in both his actions and in his words as a confident individual. The only way a group of 17-18 year old boys were going to listen to Coach Boone and follow his vision was if Coach Boone himself was confident in all his actions in leading this new team. Thus, confidence is vital for a leader to have in inspiring his vision upon others.

I have always been a big believer in the phrase "that actions speak louder than words. " On the athletic fields I seek to lead others through my actions. My vision every season has always been that everyone gives 100% effort on the field. The way in which I inspire others to do this is by giving 100% effort myself. I am confident in my actions and let my fellow teammates know I am confident in them. If they are having a rough game I show them I remain confident in them by feeding the ball to them even if they are timid to take it. If they know I am confident in them and I have their back they will give me 100% effort and thus become more confident in themselves.

Model the Way

In my mind Modeling the Way means to instill your values and standards to others through your actions. In order to do this successfully one needs to do many things such as communicating your values to others and understanding what motivates your own self. However the commitment I found to be the most important in modeling the way is commitment 1.3 from our packet. It states that leaders are willing to stand up for his/her beliefs. I find this commitment to be the most important because no matter how well one communicates his vision if he is unable to stand up for what he believes in the persons he leads will not want to follow his vision because it appears to them that he is unable to fight even for his own ideals. Standing up for what you believe in is the most important commitment a leader can make, when others see this sacrifice for a vision they are more readily able to follow the said vision.

In a leadership role standing up for what you believe in is a vital commitment as a leader but also one of the hardest to make because one puts much at risk with this commitment. As seen in the OTL report and in Pay It Forward the leader ends up losing his life for standing up for what he believes in. Now in many cases standing up for what you believe in does not require the risking of one's life, but one has to be willing to make that sacrifice. A prime example of standing up for what you believe in can be seen from leaders on the athletic fields. If a team leader wishes for his fellow teammates to play with honor and dignity he will model that behavior. If a ref makes a bad call the team leader will not lose his composure and demand others to keep there's. In this sense the leader is standing up for what he believes in by keeping his cool and making sure his teammates do not do anything that would show disrespect. Thus, the leader has accomplished his goal of making his team a respectable and dignified unit.

Personal Credo-Revised

The purpose of this assignment is to put into words the values I hold close to my heart and also to serve as a constant reminder in how I should live out my life each day.

Personal Credo

Be Honest- I am an honest person who can be trusted.

Listen to Others- I show respect to others and help them with their problems. In return others will show me the same respect.

Go All In- I will give my best and complete effort.

Seek Perfection- The quest for my best self witch leads to self improvement.