Reflection on Leadership

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Reflections on Leadership
Names
Institution Affiliation

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Reflection on Leadership
Leadership Definition
When I first joined the leadership course 12 weeks ago, I defined leadership in terms of
formal positions rather than the practice of having an influencing on the workers irrespective of
their positions. Leadership is a complex concept and exists both as a verb and as a noun.
Leadership may refer to a position or role and not necessarily practice. For instance, a person
may, through some dubious means become a manager with no leadership capacity (Wegner,
2016). Indeed, managers with questionable leadership qualities have informed most of the
discourse like Peter Drucker’s which differentiation between leaders and managers (Chin, 2015).
On the other hand, leadership as an action does not depend on position. For instance, some
ordinary employees are so good at what they that the managers consult them. Such employees
exercise more influence on fellow workers compared with the one applied by the manager, yet
they do not have a leadership role and perks.
Moreover, the issue of nature or nurture in leadership brings forth the concept of
differences in leadership situations requiring different leadership styles. Differing conditions call
for varying leadership and leadership styles (Thompson & Vecchio, 2009).
To be sure, there are naturally good leaders than others, just like there are differences in
the performance of various other tasks. And as Casse & Walravens (2015) put it, not everyone
can become a great leader, but everybody has the innate capacity to become a better leader.
Accepting the fact that everyone has different leadership qualities would enable an individual to
seek for ways to improve his leadership capabilities.
Going through the leadership course and personal experience from my work, I have not
only changed my definition of leadership but my perception as well. I used to define leadership

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concerning formal positions, and the exercise of authority rather than influence. Currently, I find
merit in the description of leadership as exercising control over followers through the application
of formal or informal control (Lawrence & Pirson, 2015). In the story, we can learn a few things.
First, leadership is not a position, and leaders will accomplish a lot through their followers even
when they do not have formal titles such as managers or supervisors (Hannah, Sumanth, Lester,
& Cavarretta, 2014). Getting stuck at the idea of leadership as official positions or roles inhibit
the exercise of influence by people who feel that they do not qualify as it is not in their job
description. In the same vein, it is clear that having a formal position or role does not make an
individual a leader. The offices are littered with managers and supervisors who use legal
authority structures to harass the employees in the name of leadership (Tyssen, Wald, Spieth, &
Project Management Institute, 2013). However, being a manager does not necessarily imply that
such a person cannot be a leader. Instead, it means that he or she has formal structures which he
or she can utilize to lead the employees in his or her department effectively. In other words, Peter
Drucker's differentiation between leaders and managers is a false distinction as leaders can be
managers and vice versa (Drucker, 1998).
Second, everyone is a leader. Each is born with the capacity to lead, meaning that
leadership is genetic (Oliveira & K. A. C., 2016). At the same time, as we interact with our
environment, we develop leadership skills in different ways, meaning that nurture has a part to
play in leadership (Porter, Riesenmy, Fields, Roach, & Burnie, 2016). The type of leader we
chose to become has determined by the environment in which we live. We all exercise leadership
in one form or the other, and none is qualitatively inferior or superior to the other. A teacher and
the president of the United States of America are both leaders exercising their influence in
different ways and over a different number of people. Also, Activists who can convince two of

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his or her friend to protest over an injustice are leaders. The upshot: there are unlimited chances
for a person to exercise leadership. We cannot all be presidents, teachers, activist leaders, but we
can all offer leadership in our unique small way.
Third, leadership skills, like any other skill, can be improved and perfected. Once we are
all agreed that everyone is born a leader, it is essential to realize that formal or informal learning,
coupled with practice, can improve our leadership skills and capabilities (Zaccaro & Klimoski,
2001). There are no classes that teach people skills on how to become presidents. However, a
president can learn to practice leadership skills at his position better than his or her predecessors,
or better than other presidents in the world. Still, training can improve a person's oratory and
organizing skills for him or her to be a frontrunner and thus increase his chances of becoming a
president. Parents exercise leadership over their children, and they can learn better parenting
skills, thereby improving their leadership in their homes.
Significant personal observations about leadership acquired during the course
The critical function of self-reflection lies in its capacity to help the individual to make
sense of his or her life through the retrospective analysis of thought and organizing the same into
a coherent whole to support future decision making. According to Weick (1979), self-reflection
is an essential concept in any effective leadership model as it enables the leader to
compartmentalize experience and at the same time, create connections between them. The mental
processes that take place in during reflection allow the brain to organize current knowledge and
experiences with previous ones and make a comprehensive whole. In that case, without
retrospection, it is hard to benefit from learning as the mind continues being controlled by old
dominant thought patterns (Ilies, Gerhardt, Le, & 2004).