Leadership In A New Light

Over the past few weeks while in Mr. Monaco's leadership class, my views on leadership have been extremly altered. One thing that has changed for me on my view of leadership is that all the leaders that we have talked to have talked about how listening is an important componet to leadership. While i knew it was in there, I had no idea that it was just as important as to listen to the group and hear there ideas as it was to try to get the group to follow you. Another thing I learned is that the tough leader is hardly ever successful. Growing up I always believed that leaders were the men who got on to there group and directed everyone by force. As I have learned though, this method doesn't work very much unless you have the ability to control the groups future. I look at myself differently because I now see that I have the traits needed to be an effective leader in my community. I have always thought of myself as a follower, but now have realized that I have most to all the qualities that a good leader must have in order to be effective. I also look at those around me more differently because the group of people I hang out with doesn't really have a leader. We all feed off eachothers ideas and I always considered us just a bunch of followers, but now I realize that we all are leaders in are own way. Some decide what we should do for the night, others decide what we eat, some decide to drive, and the others make sure that the entire group is having fun. This is how my view of leadership has changed over the past few weeks.

My Leadership Interview with Mr. Patrick Owens

1. What tactics or strategy do you use while leading other people?
- Mr. Owens believes that the most effect strategy is leading by example. He also believes that you can not lead by example unless you have had years of experience and built up a reputation of honesty and integrity. Lastly, the company is the number one priority, so when leading, he makes sure that this message is clear.

2. In your opinion, are leaders born or made?
- Mr. Owens believes that the answer is both because people have to be born with certain qualities of a leader, but unless the traits are hoaned at a later time, then they will never become a leader.


3. What struggles have you come across when having a role of leadership?
- A few struggles Mr. Owens has run into is inertia, resistance to change, and quickness to criticize. Inertia is one because when people don't know how to start a project, he has to help them along the way. Resistance to change is another because people become comfortable in the situation that they are in and as a leader, Mr. owens finds it very hard to try to get them to change because there is no certainty that change will be for better or worse. Lastly, quickness to criticize is a problem because when people hear new ideas, they all like to fire bullets at it, but as a leader Mr. Owens tries to figure out what the rest want and usually they have no ideas.


4. What has been your greatest accomplishment as someone who leads others?
- What Mr. Owens believes is his greatest accomplishment is just growing individuals into new leaders, including his children. By just enstiling values in the ones that look up to him, he feels like that is the greatest thing he can do.

5. What traits do you believe make a good leader?
- The traits Mr. Owens believe you must have to be a good leader are: honesty, integrity (the most important), thoughtfulness, inspirational, commitment, and consistency while being able to change.

6. What do you consider your greatest leadership quality?
- He believes that his greatest quality as a leader is his honest good intentions that help the advance the organization as a whole. Even though he believes this is his best quality, he also believes that unless you have many good leadership qualities, you can not be a successful leader.


7. Can you explain how leadership got you into the position or role that you are in today?
- At a young age Mr. Owens always wanted to succeed to the best of his ability. From kindergarten to his senior year of high school, Mr. Owens made straight a's every semester of every year. Even though he was a little bit of a trouble maker while growing up. He always understood that when he needed to step up and do something to the best of his ability, he always buckeled down ad got the a he was looking for. Plus, he credits many of the older lawyers that he was able to look up to when he first entered the law firm.

8. What advice would you give to kids looking to be future leaders?
- Mr. Owens said that first you need to have most of the traits that he said make most leaders. Another thing is that you must remember that it takes years to get the respect of others and only seconds to destroy that respect. Lastly, don't be scared to listen or to ask questions, when you are able to hear other ideas and gain new knowledge, it will help you become a better leader in the future.

My Leadership Candidate

One person I think would be a great person to interview on leadership would be my neighbor Pat Owens. He is a chairman of Strasburger's Corporate & Securities practice group, a law firm in downtown Dallas, and an overall good man. He got both his undergraduate and law degree at the University of Texas and is now a married and a father of two. He has become one of my dad's best friends over the past 15 years and is someone I definetly look up to as a leader.

Questions I Would Ask:

1. What is your strategy to leadeing or what tactics do you use while leading?

2. In your opinion, are leaders born or are leaders made?

3. What struggles did you find while getting to the position that you are in today?

4. What has been your greatest accomplishment as a leader in your own opinion?

Why Leader's Are Made

Leadership is an observable, learnable set of practices. Leadership is not something mystical and ethereal that cannot be understood by ordinary people. Given the opportunity for feedback and practice, those with the desire and persistence to lead – to make a difference – can substantially improve their abilities to do so.

- Kouzes and Posner, The Leadership Challenge


The quote by Kouzes and Posner that we discussed in class has many significant phrases in it that I would like to discuss. The first phrase the I think is so important to this quote is desire and persistence because it shows that the work needed to be done in order for someone to become a leader. Without the hard work and the will to push forward, people just become followers. Another phrase that I think is so important is obeservable and learnable meaning that leadership is a ton of work, but it can be learned very easily and with a little bit of work can be achieved. The last phrase that I think is important is practice because it takes practice being a leader. A person can have the desire to be a leader, but without practicing in a leadershiop position a person can never be a succesful leader. Just like Kouzes and Posner I believe that leaders are made because I think many people are capabale thing, but without honing their skills as a leader, they willn never be able to lead.