Leaders and Learning: Exploring the Three Ways of a True Leader

Running head: LEADERS AND LEARNING
Leaders and Learning
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1LEADERS AND LEARNING
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way”- John C.
Maxwell (Maxwell 2018). The concept of leadership could be defined as the status of power
that is held by a person in a group with an objective of achieving some specific and common
objectives. It could be considered as a platform where individuals could showcase his or her
inter as well intra personal skills and present the efforts of every individuals, integrating them
for a common achievement. A leader is always an inspiration for a group and he is the one
who bring in the group together and create something out of absolutely nothing. He is the one
who go an extra mile in order to make the things happen. This paper is going to elaborate on
exploring all the three ways (knowing, going and showing) of a leader by making use of the
theories of organisational learning and substantiate it with some examples of leadership.
It is to note that a leader is not only himself a leader but in fact, he also creates a sense
of leadership within all the members of his group in order to make them feel wanted and
responsible (Schneider 2017). Leadership or being a leader is not a bed of roses. A leader has
many responsibilities upon him. It needs the development of all the set of characteristics
which makes a person ample of taking the centre of attraction and attention.
Knowing the way- This category of the skills of leadership is all about the strategy and
the vision. It is to note that a true leader has the foresight. He has the vision as well as the
potential to see the future of the organisation. Vision is one of the most important
characteristic of a leader and leadership. If a leader has the vision, it could gain him the
necessary efforts and trust that he needs and seeks from his followers. Having a clear set of
vision could make the most unachievable goal achievable (Mens, Scheier and Wrosch 2015).
A leader is always required to communicate about his vision with his followers. He must also
keep in mind that his vision are communicates in effective manner to them so that they are
actually moved by it (Czarnetzky 2016). Furthermore, it is also to the responsibility of a
leader to foresee the upcoming future as well as develop some set of effective strategies in

2LEADERS AND LEARNING
order to make the necessary changes in order to achieve the desired goal. The vision and the
innovative approach that a leader possess is directly related to the success. Vision is the one
that describes the future destination.
Goes the way- A leader is the one who do not afraid of taking the initiative (Kouzes
2014). Success is never achieved through easy paths. There are several obstacles that one
might find while climbing on the stairs of success. There is no journey where there is absence
of obstacles and a map would not always be accurate either. With the same, sometimes,
shortcuts too do not work out. It is the true leader who know how to diffuse these obstacle
and mediate the conflicts in disastrous situation (Obholzer 2018). He goes a long way to do
so and make his team achieve the vision. He is the one who also work for keeping the
problems at bay and avoiding the obstacles is important for the growth of company. He is the
one who recognises and addresses the problems before they start to become a full-fledged
issue. It is also to note that this step is one of the most misused steps in leadership.
Individuals often want to be a leader and tell their followers where to go and how to go. They
are not willing to do the things that they ask their peers to do but it is to mention that a true
leader is the one who is always the very first individual to do what he is saying other to do.
He is the one who creates an example for others.
Showing the way- Individuals seek for clarty in every aspect of their life. Clarity
refers to the roadmap in order to get the desired outcome. A true leader understands that the
employees want to know the plans of their organisation for the future success. He also knows
that the individuals want to know the way they could fit into the big picture. Every leaders
should understand that the journey of the organisation would not be that simple and linear
(Senge, Hamilton and Kania 2015). Every course would be filled with obstacles and possible
detours that he or she could not avoid in any way. However, it is also a fact that knowing the
ways that are worth exploring and the way that are too risky to explore is one of the great