Leadership

PSYCH 485 blog

Sally Ride

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Sally Ride was the first American Women in space (Dunbar, 2013). She was well educated, holding two bachelor’s degrees, a Master’s, and a doctorate degree (NASA, 2012). Sally Ride accomplished this goal using her leadership skills and her ability to prove her worth. Ride went on her first mission after a year long training period and provided NASA with communications and helped deploy a new satellite (Dunbar, 2013). Through these missions she continued to prove her leadership abilities. After she stopped going on missions, Ride went on to teach at UCSD as a professor in physics (NASA, 2012). 

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Ride used her leadership abilities to make sure other girls and women had the same opportunities that she did. She founded a company called Sally Ride Science that focused on mentoring elementary and middle school girls in science and physics (NASA, 2012). Sally was faced with many obstacles earlier in her career. Being the first female to do anything is a scary experience for the pursuer but imagine being the first American women in space. She set the stage and allowed others to be able to accomplish their dreams. Even today women have a hard time obtaining leadership roles. Sally was able to accomplish this in the 80’s. Ride was able to get over the organizational, interpersonal, and personal barriers to make her dream come true (Northouse, 2013). 
References:
“Astronaut Bio: Sally K. Ride (07/2012).” Astronaut Bio: Sally K. Ride (07/2012). NASA, July 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. <http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ride-sk.html>.
Dunbar, Brian. “First American Woman in Space.” NASA. NASA, 28 July 2013. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2533.html>.

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

Martin Luther King Jr.

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A servant leader is defined as, “one who offers an inclusive vision; listens carefully to others; persuades through reason; and heals division while building community” (Perry, 2010). This describes Martin Luther King Jr. perfectly. King was a man who served the people and not himself. He always had the people that followed him in mind with anything he did. King did not care about the outcome for himself but rather he stood up for the people. King was there to listen to the people that others in the United States did not think were important (Perry, 2010). When something went wrong when it came to the goals of King he did not blame others, rather he put all the blame on himself (Perry, 2010). Likewise, when something went right he did not take the credit (Perry, 2010).

 

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There are ten major characteristics of a servant leader (Northouse, 2013). These are: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community (Northouse, 2013). King embodied each one of these characteristics to the highest possible ability. Not only did he change the thought of a nation but he made a huge impact on the United States as a whole. Without his leadership, who knows where we would be today. Servant leadership is said to work when, “leaders truly believe and act upon desire to make their followers successful” (Northouse, 2013). King was able to make a change because he truly believed in what he was preaching. He believed so much in it that he even lost his life for the case. Martin Luther King Jr. is a servant leader and will be known as a man who changed the way people believed in order to better the world for his followers.

 

References:

Northouse, P.G. (2013).  Leadership: Theory and Practice.  Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

 

Perry, James. “Martin Luther King, Jr: A True Servant Leader.” The Huffington Post.

 

            TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 Jan. 2010. Web. 04 Nov. 2013.

 

 

Walt Disney- Transformational Leader

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Walt Disney was a transformational leader. A transformational leader, “serves to change the status quo by appealing to followers’ values and their since of higher purpose” (Northouse, 2013). Disney was an innovator and go getter. Disney started his career in animation by attending the Chicago Institute of Art in the evening and going to high school during the day (Langer, 2000). Disney had found something he loved and wanted to do with his life. In 1923 Disney, along with his brother, started the Disney Bros. Studio (Langer, 2000). From the beginning Disney had many people that he influenced and motivated.

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 Walt Disney

Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-114742).

            Walt Disney had a vision and did everything in his power to make this vision a reality. The process he went through to get the empire he developed showed how he changed and transformed as a leader. Disney’s dreams became true due to the fact that he had the four main leader characteristics. The four main leader characteristics are: vision, rhetorical skills, image and trust building, and personalized leadership (Northouse, 2013). Disney had lots of charisma. In his line of work, animation for children and adults, charisma is one of the main ingredients in what made Disney so successful. Not only did he have charisma but he also embodied inspirational motivation. Disney motivated people through his animation and helped portray his ideals. These motivations and ideals helped shape society during his “rein” in the animation world. Not only was Disney the main animator in Hollywood, he also developed programs to help children develop artistically. Disney wanted all children to have the opportunity to succeed in anything they wanted to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbYeyEZv3T8 (Click link to watch)

Youtube video

 

References:

 

Mark Langer. “Disney, Walt”; http://www.anb.org/articles/18/18-00309.html; American National Biography. Online Feb. 2000. Access Date: Wed Oct 30 2013 20:07:08 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) 

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

Team Leadership- Football

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Leadership is represented all over the football field. In a recent game where the Detroit lions played the Cleveland Browns, one of the players took on a leadership role for the team. The coach is a leader when it comes to performance. This player, Tulloch, gave some motivation to the team on the side lines. They seemed to be down for the count but after this speech they came back and played each of their positions well which in turn made the group function as a whole. This is what a team is. A team has a hard time functioning without having any interaction with each other while working (Northouse, 2013).A football team cannot play well if each member of the team does not interact with each other and perform the role that they are there for. 

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While this may just look like something a football player would just follow, it takes a coach to tell a quarterback what play to call. It is then the quarterback’s responsibility to make sure each player knows what play it is and how to run it. Then it is the players that must accomplish their role in the play which is either protecting the quarterback or running for a catch. Each player has a role they must fill or else the team cannot advance down the field and would end up losing. The coach is the leader of the performance but the quarterback is what keeps the team functioning. The coach has had much leadership experience in order to get this job. Typically team leaders with experience will share the leadership roles (Northouse, 2013). That is what the coach does with the quarterback. The lesson reading claims, “groups or teams are judged on their performance and their achievements” (Northouse, 2013). This is definitely the case for a football team. If they do not function well as a team they will not win. If they do not win they cannot advance and will not be able to go to the super bowl. 

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.


Style Approach and Leadership

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There are many approaches to leadership. It is important for future leaders to know about different types of leadership approaches. I would like to think since we are college students we will one day be future leaders if we work hard enough. Now just because we are college students, this does not mean we will be good leaders. Leadership traits I feel are developed over time. It takes a person will strong moral character to be a good leader. But it takes someone with those strong morals and the ability to learn and grow to be a great leader. 

The style approach embodies all aspects of good leadership. The style approach, “focuses on the behavior of the leader” (Northouse, 2013). There are two behaviors that are important to the style approach. The two behaviors are task and relationship (Northouse, 2013). A task behavior is a behavior that is focuses on the goal or end product (Northouse, 2013). A relationship behavior will, “help followers feel comfortable with themselves, each other, and with the situation”(Northouse, 2013). It is important to posses both of these behaviors because having only one will result in failure as a leader. 

I have seen cases where a person is completely task oriented. I personally witnessed this when I was onboard a vessel during my time in the military. The officer I was shadowing only cared about getting the job done. When it came to the men who worked so hard for him, he could care less about their feelings towards each other or even the military. It got to the point where I could tell his sailors resented the officer and would not produce for him. As an officer, it is your job to care more your sailors mentally as well. This leader lacked that behavior and through his demands for accomplishment of goals forgot about his men. There were some that due to the long hours and stress ended up losing their families. This officer is no longer in the navy.

On the other hand I have witnessed a leader that was solely relationship oriented. The leader wanted everyone to like her and wanted the department to all be her buddy. This leader never enforced deadlines and never demanded any respect. Due to this she was unable to make the department accomplish goals and lost her job in result. Both of these cases highlight the reasons why it is important to have both task and relationship behaviors in your leadership style. One without the other will result in poor leadership and people that do not follow you. But, if you can balance the two behaviors, you will be a great leader.

 

 

 References:

 

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

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