Creating Leaders By Building Global Citizens

Running head: GLOBAL CITIZENS
Sociology
Name of the Student:
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Author Note

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Leadership can be referred to be the ability to lead others and inspire them to follow a
trail towards a goal. Leadership is very important too guide people towards the right path. These
skills are very relevant and determine success. Leadership ensures a clear vision which allows
people to understand how they are supposed to follow the path and work accordingly to achieve
goals. Leadership can be defined as the ability of allowing others to become confident about their
goals and aspirations. In order to become a leader, one must possess the necessary leadership
skills to guide people towards the right direction. A person can emerge as a good leader by
acquiring relevant leadership skills by reading books. One such exemplary books, which is
immensely popular, is On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis. The book shall be reviewed
and analyzed in this article with respect to few criteria (Bennis & Bennis, 2010). The author was
one of the pioneer figures to contribute to the field of leadership study. His works received more
significance, relevance and popularity through his books, which are among the best sellers which
focuses on leadership. Bennis also coauthored many books on leadership. He also interviewed
great leaders from America during 1990s, among whom are Ray Kroc on one hand, who is the
founder of McDonald while Neil Armstrong on the other hand.
There are many excellent books which focus on Leadership, among which One
Becoming a Leader is an exceptional works, as it points out the very necessity of self
development. As Bennis has highlighted in the book that a very important aspect for becoming a
leader is to know one self. The situations in which a leader has to world, is also to be understood
by the leaders, in order to be able to guide and set directions for the followers. The circumstances
in which a leader acts, is very important as it determines the effectiveness of the leadership as
employed by the leader. Thus, a leader must be aware of the circumstances, the people or the

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followers and various other factors which are crucial for affecting the leadership and how the
leader must act in the system.
Leadership often gets impacted due to the context and situation in which the leader must
act. Some leaders and their decisions are influenced more than others. In other words, some
leaders allow the situation to affect their decisions more, rather than maintaining objectivity
while taking important decisions. A successful leader should be able to take decisions
objectively, while keeping in mind the greater good and the bigger picture, rather than focusing
on the current scenarios and circumstances. Bennis, makes his point clear by taking example of
Norman Lear who leaded television production, in the book. Lear was daring enough to produce
television shows which did not conform to the norms and codes set by Sitcoms during the 1960s.
He always looked for opportunities to do things differently rather than what were always stated.
He emphasized on understanding the context rather than matching the status quo (Bennis &
Bennis, 2010). Therefore, Bennis has put emphasis on the need to understand the context in order
to lead, with the help of Lear’s example. In order to master the context, it is important to be
expressive and give importance to the instincts. A person can only emerge as a leader under the
guidance of correct leaders, whose guidance should be followed as vision allowing progress in
the path towards the goal. Lear, by following these objectives, could create sitcoms which were
very different from the established types and opened new avenues with his ground breaking
creations.
There are few criteria which should be followed in order to become a leader. These traits
are not inherited by a person but eventually develop and acquire during the years of growth and
with experience. If a person wants to be an effective leader, it is important to have passion,
vision, maturity, trust and self knowledge. In the chapter Knowing Yourself, Bennis has