...And The Leader Is...

Greetings and Salutations,

So for the past nine weeks, we have been on a journey together in hopes of discovering the key ingredients to making a great leader.  But before I show what the result was, I want to take a brief moment to show what I have learned in this blogging experience.  First, I have a better understanding of what a great leader.  Second, I understand the importance of great leadership.  Thirdly, I want to encourage others to be great leaders themselves.  You see, what I took away from leadership is it is not about me; never was.  It IS about the people who will follow me.  It is about understanding their needs and aspirations and being a positive influence to them so they achieve greatness!  That is what learned about leadership.

You see, in the picture above, this is the mindset of some leaders and they tend to react in a cover my ass manner.  Well when you think about it like that, leadership is self-serving, self-centered, and quite honestly, completely ineffective.  There is a difference between understanding that a leader takes responsibility (a positive response) and it's the leaders fault (a negative response).  A responsible leader gives the necessary tools and work to the followers to achieve the goal.  A fault leader does just enough to not get fired!  

Maya Angelou's quote above, probably explains leadership's affect on followers in the most eloquent way.  When you think back to your favorite leader, manager, supervisor, teacher, etc., the first thing you remember is how you felt because of that person's positive influence on you.  I have never heard anyone say, "Man, he/she is great leader whom I have great respect for even though they make me feel like absolute garbage!"  Who says that?  When you deal with an influential leader, you will feel better and more confident about your task than before the time you first met them.  If a leader is supposedly so great, but they make people feel inadequate or unlikely to achieve the task at hand and the task is not done, it was not the follower who failed, it was the leader!  See the impact of leaders on followers on the short video below:

So there you have it.  And now without any further adieu, let's see what our final leader looks like!  Heck, we've waited nine weeks for this moment!  So, we took a dash of integrity, a sprinkle of intelligence, a hint of motivation, a pinch of sociability, and a cup of self-confidence.  We add that to a pre-mixture of experience, problem-solving skills, and social judgement and let that marinate overnight.  Next we mix transformational leadership, authentic leadership, adaptive leadership, and servant leadership and then pour in the pre-mixture.  We bake it at 350 degrees for an hour and serve it with an understanding of cultural and gender bias in leadership and what do you get?

Cue trumpet fanfare.....

We get YOU!

This is a mirror, by the way ;-)

You are the next greatest leader!  Leaders don't wait for someone else to take the lead!  Remember what we talked about this entire blog.  Leadership is not a position, it is an action.  YOU need to take that action by applying the concepts we discussed in this blog.  Cue the light bulb floating above your head!

I certainly hope you have enjoyed reading this blog and that I have at least wet your appetite to learn more.  There are a ton of books on leadership and how to apply them in your current professional and social life.  Always keep learning, always keep aspiring to new heights, and never let anyone get you down.  Remember, we can all be great leaders as long as we understand the idea that many times, we have to be the follower.  When you understand the intricate balance between the two, you will truly understand leadership.  Thank you so much for reading my blog, but sadly, it has come to an end as I have completed the nine week leadership course.  I have other blogs which I encourage you to take a look at.  Until we meet again, take care of yourself!

This blog series was completed for course PA-6665 Leadership in Public Administration in the Master of Public Administration program at Troy University.  For more information about the MPA or other degree programs at Troy University, visit www.troy.edu.