Leadership Reflection: People, Culture, and Contemporary Leadership

This report provides a detailed reflection on leadership, exploring various leadership styles and theories discussed in a leadership course. The author identifies their personal leadership style as primarily democratic, emphasizing open communication and team decision-making. The report delves into different leadership approaches, including transformational and charismatic leadership, drawing insights from renowned leaders like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. The author analyzes their strengths, such as people management skills and fostering a positive work environment, while also acknowledging areas for improvement, such as the need for a more flexible approach and the ability to provide constructive feedback effectively. The report concludes with an action plan for enhancing leadership skills, emphasizing continuous learning, seeking feedback, and adapting leadership style to different situations to achieve team and organizational goals. The assignment showcases how a leader must adapt their leadership style and learn from others to be successful.

People, Culture and contemporary leadership
Reflection

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Introduction
Leadership is crucial for the success of any business. It is important for individuals to
consistently work upon their leadership abilities in order to lead teams of the future (Yukl, 2013).
This course has been extremely helpful for me to understand the importance of leadership in a
business organization as well as throw light upon my leadership skills. Leadership attributes of
an individual play a vital role in defining the kind of a leader the person will become. A great
leader is bestowed upon with the responsibility of guiding, motivating and assisting followers
(Bryman, 2013). Leaders are imperative for the growth of any organization because leaders
effectively guide the team to consistently perform better in the work place. They can be reached
out to by different team members and work towards addressing team members’ grievances and
resolving conflicts as and when they arise. Therefore, leaders play a critical role in the success of
any business. This reflective report highlights upon the different leadership theories that we have
studied in this course. I have also tried to identify my leadership style. Various activities and
questionnaires were conducted throughout the duration of this course which have helped me gain
a deeper insight about my leadership skills.
Leadership styles
Various leaders have different leadership styles. Different situations demand varied leadership
styles and it is important to note that no particular leadership style works consistently in every
situation (Bolman & Deal, 2017). The different leadership styles that were introduced to us in
this course were democratic leadership, transformational leadership, Autocratic leadership,
Charismatic leadership, Laissez-fair leadership and many more. I learnt from this course that
different organizations, businesses, departments and teams require different forms of leadership
for growth. No specific leadership style can work for everyone (Day, 2014). Therefore, it is
important that leaders must be able to comprehend the required leadership style for a given
situation and act in accordance with the same.
We also learnt about various renowned leaders like Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Barack
Obama and many others including their leadership styles. During the class activities, we were
given various situations and we were asked to adopt the best leadership style for that situation.

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This is where I learnt, that with a team of self-motivated, competent, cooperative and
experienced members, democratic leadership style can be adopted in order to allow everyone to
freely communicate and make combined decisions (Bhatti et. al., 2012). On the other hand, if the
team members are young people who are full of energy and vigor but lack the required
experience, then charismatic leadership strategy can be adopted to motivate them in the right
direction. This is the first time that I learnt about charismatic leadership. This is ideally, the
ability or the style of a leader to lead a team where authority derives from the leader’s charisma
and flamboyance (Spisak et. al., 2013). There are many youngsters who are fresh out of college
and require a leader to motivate them. In such cases, it is imperative that the leader is someone
that the team members can look up to. However, I also understood that charismatic leadership
involves the charisma of a leader but it is also backed by the leader’s competency and skill. For
example, Elon Musk is a charismatic leader who has a flamboyant personality and his employees
can look up to him. He is a pioneer of innovation and technology in a business and his
impeccable decision making skills make him a charismatic leader.
Through different case studies, we studied about different leaders that have led the world and
how each of them differed in their strategies and tactics. Leadership is not only important in
organizations but it also important to run countries and economies with efficiency. This is why
most countries elect or select leaders who can guide the country to development and growth. The
reason why state elections are so important are because it is critical for the people of a country to
select their leaders because it is these leaders who will represent the country for the next few
years.
One interesting thing that I learnt in this class was transformational leadership. These are the
leaders who become a part of a team and change the face of it in the most effective manner (Kark
& Shamir, 2013). As the name suggests, transformational leaders create a transformation at the
very core of a team and assist as well as motivate the team into the entire change management
process. While studying this course, I identified that this is the kind of a leader that I wish to
become. Transformational leaders are visionaries and foresee the future in the most effective
manner. They see a vision, set goals towards it and work towards achieving them. Through this
course, while conducting research on leaders, I also started learning about different leaders.
Since then, I have always admired Jeff Bezos who is the CEO of Amazon Inc. The company

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merely started as an online book store and today there is nothing that cannot be found in
Amazon. The leadership abilities of Jeff have changed the shape of Amazon entirely (Rubin,
2013). Today, it is the largest Ecommerce organization which operates in over 94 countries. This
is solely the result of Jeff’s leadership style and futuristic vision for his company. Amazon has
launched numerous products, online and offline stores as well as has garnered a massive number
of customers from different parts of the world. This is why I find Jeff Bezos as a leader very
inspiring and he is someone I look up to.
My leadership style
I have always been a positive personality and I have a lot of friends. My people management
skills as well as the ability to develop relationships with them have been competent. I never got a
chance to lead a large number of team, but from my little experience and this course, I have
reflected that my leadership style is democratic. I treat my team members like friends and I
continue to allow them to make the team decisions after open communication and coordination. I
never force either of my team members to obey me or set any unreasonably high expectations
from them. I also tend to set goals for team members after thoroughly communicating with them.
As a leader, I have always been appreciated for creating an environment of open communication
within the team. I allow all my team members to speak their minds freely and never think twice
before addressing an issue that they believe exists even if it includes me. Therefore the work
culture of my team is always vibrant and positive. This also allows the influx of creativity and
allows team members to work to the best of their abilities. My leadership style has been largely
influenced by the fact that I personally work best under leaders who allow my creativity side to
grow and encourage me to take decisions by allowing me independence in the team. As a leader,
I try to establish a connection with each of my team members so that I can understand and
identify the sources of motivation for each of them.
I have learnt through this course that different situations require different leadership styles and
this is why I try my best to be flexible with my leadership style. I also try to watch interviews
and presentations of well-known leaders in order to seek inspiration and learning. I truly believe
that under my leadership, I prefer team members are who are largely self-motivated and can take
a high level of ownership for the team’s goals. As a leader, I also prefer clarity of goals. I am

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fairly calculated and I try to sit with my team and establish clear and SMART goals for the
team’s performance. I believe in regular follow ups and effective feedback sessions. As a leader,
I believe I would work hard towards establishing an effective feedback mechanism in order to
really focus on the growth of each and every team member of mine. This course has truly helped
me in understanding the importance of transparent and effective feedback in a team. The course
is extensive and covers even very small aspects of effective leadership. Therefore, a lot of my
understanding of my leadership abilities has been because of the course. The next section of the
reflection highlights upon my action plan that I required for myself to improve upon my
leadership’s skills.
Recommendations to improve my leadership style
I have had very little leadership experience but from my understanding after studying this course,
I have realized that there are various areas of my leadership style that I need to improve upon. As
a leader, I am highly democratic and that can come in the way of effective leadership. Team
members can start taking the leader for granted if the leader is not strict at times (Braun et. al.,
2013). Therefore, for a democratic leader too, it is important to draw the thin line so that team
members can speak freely but also have a due respect for the leader and obey orders as and when
required.
As a leader, I really encourage open and free communication and I prefer that the team members
can speak their mind in front of everyone. I was always very confident that my communication
skills in a team and especially as a leader a very effective. However, I received a feedback that
team members do not feel very comfortable in addressing issues because there is no privacy.
Hence, I would try to involve in one on one conversations with the team member when I get an
opportunity to lead a team in the future. Making team members comfortable is also an important
responsibility of a leader (Hackman & Johnson, 2013).
I would indulge in reading more books and working towards adopting a very flexible leadership
style and a thorough analysis of the given situation. I would also try to observe and understand
more about the life stories of other leaders who encourage me. By doing so, I will be able to
learn and adopt a better leadership style. I would also try to consistently seek feedback from the
organization and team and try to take it constructively in order to improve my leadership.

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I am a people’s person and I tend to find it difficult to becoming strict with people but I need to
understand that certain situations demand the leader to take stern actions and be strict with the
team members. Therefore, I will work towards working on the same. I will consistently seek to
improve upon my leadership skills in order to ensure that team and organizational goals are
achieved.
Conclusion
Leadership is highly important for the success of an organization. Different leaders have
different qualities and leading styles. No single leadership style can work for every team of for
the same team under every situation. This course has introduced me to a large number of
leadership styles that can be adopted by leaders. I also tried to conduct a thorough analysis about
my own leadership style and how I can improve the same.
This course has been very effective in enhancing my learning on the subject. We conducted a
number of activities and questionnaires which helped us in gaining a practical insight about
various leadership styles and how different leadership styles prove appropriate for different
situations. Overall the course has been extremely effective. I have understood that I need to
consistently improve and work upon my leadership skills. There are many great leaders who
have changed and led to the growth of teams, organizations and countries. I will seek to learn
more by gaining awareness about their experience and adopt the same when I get to lead a team
in the future. Leadership is not just a promotion or a position in the organization, but it is a
responsibility that must be fulfilled to the best of one’s ability in order to make sure that the team
culture, team motivation and eventually team performance improve and goals are achieved (Men,
2014).

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References
Bhatti, N., Maitlo, G.M., Shaikh, N., Hashmi, M.A. and Shaikh, F.M., 2012. The impact of
autocratic and democratic leadership style on job satisfaction. International Business
Research, 5(2), p.192.
Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons.
Braun, S., Peus, C., Weisweiler, S. and Frey, D., 2013. Transformational leadership, job
satisfaction, and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust. The Leadership
Quarterly, 24(1), pp.270-283.
Bryman, A. ed., 2013. Leadership and organizations. Routledge. United Kingdom.
Day, D.V. ed., 2014. The Oxford handbook of leadership and organizations. Oxford Library of
Psychology.
Hackman, M.Z. and Johnson, C.E., 2013. Leadership: A communication perspective. Waveland
Press.
Kark, R. and Shamir, B., 2013. The dual effect of transformational leadership: Priming relational
and collective selves and further effects on followers. In Transformational and Charismatic
Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition (pp. 77-101). Emerald Group Publishing
Limited.
Men, L.R., 2014. Why leadership matters to internal communication: Linking transformational
leadership, symmetrical communication, and employee outcomes. Journal of Public Relations
Research, 26(3), pp.256-279.
Rubin, E.N., 2013. Assessing your leadership style to achieve organizational objectives. Global
Business and Organizational Excellence, 32(6), pp.55-66.

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Spisak, B.R., Nicholson, N. and van Vugt, M., 2011. Leadership in organizations: An
evolutionary perspective. In Evolutionary psychology in the business sciences (pp. 165-190).
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Yukl, G.A., 2013. Leadership in organizations. Pearson Education India.