Business Writing Report: Leadership, Management, and Personal Values

This report delves into the critical need for managers to evolve into effective business leaders by translating their personal values into calculated actions and strategic risk-taking. Drawing upon the article 'The Discipline of Building Character,' the report explores how managers can cultivate leadership qualities, emphasizing self-awareness, decisiveness, integrity, and mental toughness. It examines various leadership theories, including trait and behavioral approaches, highlighting how personal values influence leadership styles and ethical decision-making. The report underscores the importance of recognizing core values, adapting to unexpected challenges, and developing resilience to achieve organizational goals. It concludes by emphasizing the significance of personality development in fostering leaders who can make bold, calculated moves to drive business success.

Running head: BUSINESS WRITING
Business writing
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Introduction:
Currently business managers just do not need excellent managers; rather they look for
excellent leadership capabilities in a manager. This demand is seen in organizations because
strong leaders act as the key source to maximize production and directing the human resource
to common business goals. Without leadership, a business environment remains dormant.
However, presence of adequate leadership in business organizations promotes effective
implementation of business ideas. They play an influencing role in delegating
responsibilities, taking calculated risk and coordinating both employee and organizational
needs (Hoffman et al., 2011). Hence, business manager who aim to become a leader need to
transform their personal values and turn it to calculated actions. This report gives further
insight into the need for managers to translate their personal values in to calculated risk and
provides a discussion regarding the characteristics required by a leader with support from the
article ‘ The discipline of Building Character’.
Review of actions and beliefs to make transition from a manager to business leader
The article ‘The discipline of building character’ written by Badaracco, (2017)
provides an explanation regarding how professional responsibilities and expectations comes
into a conflict with deepest personal values. Different individuals may have different
approach to tackle such situations, however such decisions ultimately defines their individual
character. For business managers, who come with their own personal values, they need to
translates their values to build effective leadership characters. This starts from taking shrewd
steps towards improving business productivity and employee performance. Once leaders
build a strong identity of their own, they make a successful transition towards becoming a
business leader too. Hence, the Badaracco, (2017) gives a comprehensive description
regarding how a manager with expertise in management skills can engage in intuitive work

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as a leader. Many thought provoking questions can help them to transform their values into
calculated actions. Benjamin & O'Reilly, (2011) supports the facts that good leaders are those
who have the willingness to engage in courageous actions and take bold moves to improve
their chances of success.
In alignment with Badaracco, (2017) view about building leadership characters in a
manager, it can be said that managers can learn to take calculated risk only when they engage
in a process of self-inquiry. This method of inquiry helps to better handle business situations
and identify appropriate moves needed to overcome the problem. Obiwuru, (2011) further
highlights the characteristics that make good leaders survive in their job. The core quality of a
business leader includes self-awareness, decisiveness, integrity, fairness, knowledge,
enthusiasm and endurance. Hence, a business manager who personally does not endure
wrong things in their life will have to learn the tricks of endurance. In another word, it can be
said that those managers who want to become a leader must build themselves like an
endurance athlete. This is because a manager only manages business operations but a leader
has the extended role of being visionary and motivating employees to perform too. Mental
toughness is important for them to survive in a complex business environment. Adapting the
following elements of mental toughness is critical to take the right steps towards building
effective leadership characters:
1. Firstly, they need to be flexible to accept the unexpected and still motivate themselves
to re-educate and take the right calculated moves
2. Responsiveness is also an important attribute for successful business leaders so that
they can take prompt action in complicated situations. Such qualities also foresee and
manage threat in business environment beforehand.
3. The characteristics of strength and courage are also important for managers to modify
their own personal values and develop mental toughness. Managers who are timid can

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never have psychological strength to handle adverse and tough situations in a
judicious manner.
4. Lastly, the resilience is the key source for a person who aims to become business
leaders (Riordan, 2017).
Hence, the above mentioned qualities enable a business manager to acquire the right
leadership qualities and engage in careful deliberation to take bold and calculated moves. Top
leaders have earned recognition for their work by learning to take high-risk decisions.
The main proposition of the article ‘The discipline of building character’ was that
business leaders need to refocus on their core values to resolve the toughest business
challenges. This is important because many times the deeply rooted values creates conflicts
and comes in the way of professional responsibilities. An appropriate step to refocus on core
values is to critically evaluate what values and commitment is most important in current
situations. This helps to take the right decisions and complement business operations by
means of shrewdness, persuasiveness, tenacity and self-confidences in ones skills (Caldwell
et al., 2012). Such method of recognized values and commitment according to current goals
and objectives helps a business manager to combine idealism with realism too (Badaracco,
2017). On this basis, managers will slowly build their own leadership style to achieve the
goals of their business organizations. Companies mostly look for an exceptional leadership
style in managers to add value to their organization. Such demand is rationally correct
because difference leadership behaviours have been found to significantly affect project
performance (Hargis, Watt, & Piotrowsk, 2011). Hence, leadership style is becoming critical
for success of business organization.
The development of leadership characteristics in business organization is also understood
from different leadership theories. It also reflects how their behaviours encourages employees

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to succeed and move towards the same business goals. For example, the trait theory of
leadership focuses on what common personality characteristics are needed by effective
leaders. It may involve internal traits like integrity, decision-making skills, assertiveness and
empathy. This is also related to the internal belief and process of an individual to respond to
any situation Colbert et al., 201. A contrasting insight into the leadership character is also
provided by the behavioural theories of leadership. For instance, Kurt Lewin categorized
leaders on the basis of their behaviours. He gave the argument for three types of leadership
such as autocratic leaders, democratic leaders and Laissez-Faire leaders. Autocratic leaders
are those who do not consult the team before decision making and they do not focus on team
agreement for any action. Another type of leaders are democratic leaders who focus on taking
feedback from team before engaging in decision making. In contrast to the above two leaders
are Laisseze-faire leaders who do not interfere and gives the team a chance to show their
capability. Such leadership style works if the team is highly capable (Hoel et al., 2010). All
these different leadership style also reflects the personal values and belief of an individual’s
on the basis of which the take actions within business environment.
The article by Badaracco, (2017) discussed about the process of transition of a manager to
an effective leaders. While translating their personal values to calculated business actions,
their personal values determine the ethical course of action they will take to support their
workers and organizations. This action ultimately transforms to different leadership styles.
Hence, it clarified that personal values also play a role in leadership effectiveness. The article
by Ciulla, (2014) supports this fact by explaining that combination of many personal values
of an individual determines the action of the same person in the leadership role. Therefore, a
manager’s capability as a leader can be evaluated by his/her perceptions, attitude,
motivations, personality, self-motivation and commitment. These variables are enough to

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understand behaviours of managers as leaders. This type of evaluation can reveal the value
orientation and specific skills of leaders to motivate employees.
The above mentioned points present the link between leader’s effectiveness and their
personal values. Hence, they can translate their personal values into appropriate leadership
style and calculated moves only by means of commitment and goal setting process. The first
step for them will be to determine the short and long-term goals for the organization.
Secondly, they need to engage in critical thinking process to take calculated moves. This will
depend on knowledge and insight about high-risk situation in organization and success can be
obtained amidst high-risk situation. It may also involve the meticulous task of marketing
research to understand the correct moves to success and tackles such situation (Antonakis &
House, 2013). However, if managers are not committed to business excellence, they may take
an escape route. This will mean doom for the organization. Due to this reason only, having
positive personal values is considered important to handle a complex task like leadership and
encourage the whole to work in the same direction.
Conclusion:
The discussion on the need for managers to translate their personal values to calculated
moves gives useful insight into the role of personal values for leadership effectiveness. The
article ‘The discipline of Building Character’ gave the indication regarding how personal
values can be transformed by managers to make the transition to effective leadership style.
This fact is further supported by evaluation of leadership theory, leadership behaviour and
effective qualities and mental characteristics required by organizations to success in the
leadership role. In future, to develop more leaders, it is necessary to engage in personality
development too so that their character and resilience facilitates them to take calculated bold
moves and promote success of business organization.

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Reference
Antonakis, J., & House, R. J. (2013). The full-range leadership theory: The way forward.
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https://hbr.org/2006/01/the-discipline-of-building-character
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Caldwell, C., Dixon, R. D., Floyd, L. A., Chaudoin, J., Post, J., & Cheokas, G. (2012).
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Ciulla, J. B. (Ed.). (2014). Ethics, the heart of leadership. ABC-CLIO.
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