While I was thinking about what I could write for my blog, I decided to google the word leaders. I found an article titled, “Fortune ranks the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders”. Interested, I decided to take a look at the list. Surprisingly enough, there are definitely people that made the list that wouldn’t have crossed my mind in a million years. People who have made the list range from Pope Francis, CEO’s, and a previous President, a lead singer of a rock band, an actress, a MLB ballplayer and more. Their ages range from 16 years old to over 80 years of age.
What I found interesting is that under each name was a small paragraph indicating why they were placed on the list. Some had determination, others overcame great obstacles during times of adversity, others simply took a chance on an idea that they had and believed in.
Northouse (2013), indicates that there are many different ways to define what leadership is. (p. 2). For instance, Bono (the lead singer from U2 and number 8 on the list) states, “real leadership is when everyone else feels in charge”. I find it fascinating that what may be your definition of leadership probably is different from mine but yet most of us would view Fortune Magazine’s list of the greatest leaders as accurate. We could see how what they accomplished and how they persuaded followers was essentially successful.
Reference:
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Fortune Editors (2014). Fortune ranks the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. Retrieved September 18, 2014 from: http://fortune.com/2014/03/20/fortune-ranks-the-worlds-50-greatest-leaders/
I really liked that you found this article. Some of the people I find it hard to believe are considered leaders others I can understand.
Buffett is 83 years old and makes tons of money. He just recently took over Prudential Real Estate. He probably used problem solving skills when he bought that company (Northouse, 2013, p.48). He saw that the large real estate company was having financial issues so he thought now was the time to buy it.
Number 46 a 16 year old girl named Malala Yousafzai who has over come odds to fight for girls to go to school is something that I really enjoyed. She was all over the news when she was shot by men who did not like that she was standing up for women to go to school in her country. I believe that she is a true leader. This girl has been knocked down by her people and still receive death threats now but she continues on in what she believes in. This is a true example of a leader. At this point in our readings I am not even sure where she would fit in. Maybe a trait. She was born with bravery because not to many women or girls in her country would dare to do what she has done.
As I started reading through the list of these 50 greatest leaders of our world, I found myself taking count. I ended up counting 18 out of 50. That’s 18 women out of 50. I wish I knew more about the criteria of this list and how it came about. I can think of a number of women for Fortune magazine to have made a point of balancing this list of great leaders. For example, Margaret Thatcher, Benazir Bhutto, Mother Teresa, etc. It is little things like this where we can make the effort to show women and men are equal.
I also have come across that article about the Fortune World’s Top 50 Leaders. I find it fascinating on who they consider to be a leader and the traits they are looking at. I would agree with some of them such as the Pope and Bill Clinton. I think the fascination with the Pope is his dedication and his human skills. We learned in the skill approach how top leaders need to have higher levels of human skills then other levels of leaders (Northouse, 2013, p. 45). Personally i think that having human skills is most important in any level of management. If you do not know how to work with people effectively then you are not going to be able to manage a team let alone work with your clients. I also think Bill Clinton has great human skills too. He is an advocate for so many great causes. They both know how to talk to people and show respect to other no matter what level they are on.
The CEO of Ford looks like he was considered based on his conceptual skills. We learned that conceptual skills are based on working with ideas and concepts (Northouse, 2013, p.46). Obviously he has great conceptual skills since his company is profiting so well.
The list seemed to be composed of successful business leaders, political and religious leaders. It would have been interesting to see more variety or a few lower level leaders that are working hard to get to the top. I guess this list of top leaders could inspire others.