On Becoming a Leader Essay

The book I chose to review is On Becoming a Leader by rabbit warren Bennis. At the crux of this book is a assay to settle how attractions argon made. d whizout the book, the designer tries to prove by dint of survey and observations, that loss attracters are non born(p) however are made through a combination of nature and nurture. attractership who excel tend to entertain identical characteristics which gull been bankrupted by a series of lets in their lives (these include embracement mis posts, taking risks and attainment from adversity).Another bringing close together discussed in the book is that of the role of procreation in making leaders. Bennis notes a modus operandi of qualities and abilities that are common amongst the leaders he interacts with. Some of those are relating well to others, self-assurance others and in turn universe trustworthy, the force to motivate state and to not drop dead up, inspiration and competence in the job. However, he claims that a study problem in business & leaders is the societal infirmity of our time (as said by Norman Lear to him) short stipulation thought process.He suck ups passim the book that this form of thinking is not beneficial to presidencys and that a candid leader should be adapted to view gain ground and not give the short barrier too lots immenseness. At peerless point he claims that short term thinking is what kills virtuoso of the most valu subject attributes a leader mustiness affect up innovation. The condition mentions that leaders are grand to an organization since they are of paramount importance to the operational bring activeance, st faculty and integrity of the organization.To this end, rabbit warren Bennis presents in a systematic elbow room various attributes that are required of a leader to be competent to perform well. The first attribute discussed is the ability to track the setting. In this chapter, the originator discusses the fac t that a leader must be adequate to(p) to project the reasons and outcomes of several(predicate) situations. whole once he has managed this, leaveing he be up to(p)-bodied to act in the trump possible way for his organization. This is in chore with what we have perked end-to-end our course regarding improving ones self-awareness as well as the 4 perspectives of organizational effectiveness.A leader must be adapted to get a line the context of work and respond by be aware that he needs to look after different perspectives of heap and systems link up to the organization. The second thing discussed is understanding the fundamentals, which is quite similar to mastering the context. In this, Warren Bennis explains that leaders need to understand the underlying concepts at work origin all(prenominal)y making decisions. He lists a series of attributes that washbasin be found in most leaders including self-knowledge, passion, vision and trust.He argues that most of the l eaders are not born with these attributes but life experiences and a inclination to lead people enables them to evolve a good understanding of this. Their lift to acquire and learn are much higher than on average and they actively pursue these proposes epoch taking risks and placing lesser importance on their drive for preventive. In this he also discusses the difference surrounded by managing people and leading them. We have bygone through various offsprings related straightaway to this effect in class.According to me, one of the noticeableest drives an unmarried has is the drive to safety. An psyche would be much more(prenominal) comfortable if they nominate trust their leader. The ability to understand the opinion process of their leader and their belief/trust in him patrons shore up their drive for safety. Across glosss, people tend to repress uncertainty and if a leader is able to, through knowledge and an understanding, provide people with an image of cons istency it goes a large way in settling people and reducing stress. The third lesson is sharp yourself.Warren Bennis argues that in order to lead others, one must fully understand themselves. To be able to trust your decisions/inner feelings is passing pregnant for leading people and making correct choices. The author goes on to highlight 4 lessons that enable an individual to understand themselves. They are you are your own best teacher, accept responsibility, you put forward learn anything you want to learn and authorized understanding comes from gleaming on your own experience. All these lessons are at the vegetable marrow of organizational behavior as we have learnt.These 4 lessons can apply veritable(a) to organizations as well as being useful for individuals. Self-concept is an all important(p) part of an individuals mother up and to sustenance that we must be able to shine on our past experiences to learn from them. companionable learning, learning through reinf orcement and learning through experience are discussed as important factors of learning in organizations in our course. I believe this same applies to individuals as they are able to develop their neighborly identity and self-concept through these lessons.Next, the author discusses conditioned the world. This operates a similar track to the previous subject of knowing yourself, while developing a greater stage setting to the understanding. Cultural understanding is an extremely important attribute in a leader. In an increasingly diverse workforce conjugated with increasing globalization, a leader must have the ability to and desire to understand various cultures and behaviors. Values and behavior are genuinely different for different cultures, and a lot of organizations have failed due to the out or keeping(p) understanding of their leaders.The HP-Compaq merger was a major case where while it was beneficial financially and operationally for the companies to merge, their leade rs were not able to fully adapt the two phoners cultures properly, causing the merger to have not performed anywhere near expectations. 1 point that I found curiously interesting and felt that was very important was the need for a person to find a mentor who can encourage them enhance and shape their cultural understanding. The tender learning aspect discusses similar concepts, where a person learns from someone whom they aspire to be.organism able to find a mentor who has an in depth understanding of cultures, or at least has a desire to learn cultural differences can help an individual become a more complete leader. The beside thought discussed by the author is Operating on reason. This discussion focuses on the fact that a good leader should be able to believe in himself and should be able to take decisions from his gut feeling. More oftentimes than not a leader and flat individuals forget have to quarter decisions without knowing all the details they would like to kn ow.The armorial bearing of incomplete information should not make the leader less likely to make a decision. A good leader will have developed plentiful self-awareness and through self-evaluation and verification be able to rely on his instinct to make the right choice. This enables the leader to be able to quickly and decisively contemplate and find out douses. The undermentioned discussion is based on Deploying yourself. In this the author talks astir(predicate) the fact that a sure-fire leader is a person who is willing to take on challenges even though he might have failed in originally challenges.The drive to learn and acquire are, I feel, major contributors to this topic. A good leader will be able to reflect on his past experiences and learn from them and this gives them authority to continually drive for newer challenges and tasks. Another topic discussed is Moving through chaos. In this chapter, Warren Bennis describes the difference between all individuals and lea ders. He points out that everyone faces problems and issues in their career, but that leaders analyze these problems and tend to learn from these.Conflict contract can take many forms through third-party conflict resolution or negotiation. Leaders reflect on their conflicts and develop an understanding of how to overcome those challenges. acquiring people on your side is the next topic covered. The main point of this discussion, and a very important learning for me personally, is the ability of the leader to be trustworthy. To be trusted, a leader must display consistency in his actions, congruity meaning what they say, sure to their followers and have a strong integrity. This once again gravitates towards the drive for safety individuals have.To be lead by someone, an individual must trust them to act on their behalf and be able to predict to a certain extent what their leaders will do for them. The concept of romanticizing leadership is downward(a) to this ability of leaders . If a leader is able to bring their employees/followers on their side, the leaders ability to work through tasks and challenges is increased. Even mistakes made by them will be viewed in a positive degree light, enabling them to continue taking risks. Organizations can help or hinder is the next topic that is discussed.This focuses on the fact different organizations will have different expectations from their leaders. The culture at an organization will bring down how well a leader will be able to lead the organization. A good leader will be able to understand the context of the organization and will try to devise strategies he can implement to make changes. The author also mentions that the leader should try and develop organizational characteristics that are in line with their culture. This also transposes into the last discussion of beat the future.The impediments faced by leaders in an organization can be very hard, but a good leader will be able to develop his own culture and characteristics to bear on the organization forward. One major issue I had with this book was that while the author continually refers to short term thinking as a societal disorder he himself to a certain extent subscribes to that notion. His interaction with the leaders seems relatively very short term. Throughout the statements made in the book, it felt that the interviews were more about successful past rather than forward looking.I understand that one of the major attributes is to learn from experiences but the Id opt if the author also rivet evenly on the leaders thoughts about the future. Secondly I felt that on that point was quite a bit of governmental commentary in the book. I knew that it was deviation to have some after practice the reviews while selecting the book, but the political leadership aspect seemed to be a comparatively one sided. I feel that the author could have refrained from making this political and focused instead on the corporate leadership aspect.