S633.1.2.RB - Leadership Gap

                                                             Leadership Gap
     In my years, I have noticed that my attitude towards leaders have changed, for many different reasons. In general, I would have to say that I have less trust in leaders, or that it takes a lot more to convince me of their abilities to lead. I used to look up to someone who was in a position of leadership with a bit of awe, like they had something I didn’t have.  However, as I have gotten older I realize that I am just as capable of being that leader as the next person. I have truly come to understand what people mean when they tell someone who is about to give a speech to just visualize everyone naked. It means that when you strip off the clothes and title of someone, they are the same as me.

     There absolutely is a changing trend between each generation. The change is in the respect. I fully believe that the amount of respect that leadership gets has continuously diminished over time. In my opinion, the reason for this decline is because of the amount of times leadership has been in the wrong. Now, I also believe that this is due to the amount coverage certain things get on the news, but even in leaders that have not been covered on the news are subject to the same type of scrutiny. For example, the situation with Eron back in the 90’s. Leadership seemed to be doing everything right. Employees were happy, or so we thought, and the company was making tons of money. However, it was the leadership that was crooked and brought employees down with them. Trust was broken and it was relentlessly talked about on television and the news. This broke down people trust in the corporate leadership, which in turn caused other people to start questioning their own companies’ leadership.

     I believe that the reason this has occurred is because of a higher awareness of it happening. I think it is a vicious cycle of the news making people more aware, but for every person that was only made aware, there is a person who was given an idea. That person that had the idea put in his head now commits the crimes, which get televised, reaching others who repeat the action, which then gets televised. Lets take ISIS for example. People didn’t even know who ISIS was until 9/11, yet their numbers increased significantly after the news started saturating the public with ISIS and how they were recruiting. You take a fresh young mind who just hears about ISIS, is curious about what they are and decides to research them, and then is on the next plane to Iraq. This is the same premise with the decline in trust of leaders, especially those in media.

A632.1.4.RB - Multistage Decsion-Making

   

 Multistage Decision-Making

 

     When critically thinking about my own decision-making process I believe that I use a certain type of formula, although not at all like the one outlined by Wharton that is described as dynamic programming. Maybe if I were a little more mathematically inclined and understood those equations enough to be able to apply them to everyday decision making I would be better off with more optimal outcomes.

     According to Wharton School, if you use the dynamic programming, then all the values and probabilities are known, so the answer should then be straight forward. Of course, Wharton also says that this type of decision making is more of a business move and not a personal one. 

    Wharton also lists two assumptions about problem solving that leads straight to poor decisions: complete forward planning and optimal learning.  

    Basically, when you look to far ahead and anticipate all possible outcomes and when you completely rely on past information to change your outlook. My decision making skills seem to fall squarely on both of these violations. 

     Everything I do, every decision I make, I visualize the future of that decision way, way, way down the road. I also rely solely on past experiences to alter my decisions for today. 

    I believe applying optimal dynamic decision analysis to my everyday decision making would definitely improve my ability to make better decisions. Based off the fact that I apparently use the wrong way on a daily basis, this way should definitely improve my abilities. If I could learn to look at and utilize other options then maybe the way I make decisions could start changing and making the outcomes better.  

Hoch, S. J., & Kunreuther, H. C. (2005). Wharton on making decisions. (1st edition.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

   

A511.9.3.RB - Course Reflections

A511.9.3.RB - Course Reflections

     In my original definition of leadership, I was on the right track, but it was clear that my idea of leadership more resembled that of a manager instead of a leader. I used phrases like, “make people” and “influence” to describe the actions of a leader. I was confronted with my choice of words with my professor, who informed me that my words “implied a degree of coercion” that would not be associated with a good leader. Of course, when I was confronted with those implications, I definitely did not want to admit those were my ideas of a leader. But if I am being honest with myself, those words were not accidents at all. That is what I thought it meant to be a leader. That there was an element of having some sort of “power” over people that you could somehow coerce them to do what you needed them to. I am astonished as this realization about myself. I had a completely different idea in my head about what a leader should look like and I really did think that I would be a good leader because I would put people first. I was all wrong.

     After nine weeks in this course, I would now describe a leader as someone who helps a group of people to decide what goal they are trying to achieve and then put them into positions of being able to motivate themselves to take the actions that they need to in order to reach those goals. A great leader is decisive, great at prioritizing, clarify expectations by communicating, encouraging, authentic, and persuasive. If a leader can influence you to want to take action, then he is doing a great job at leading. 

 

     Learning about the different leadership theories has changed my views on myself as a leader. Before taking this course, I was under the assumption that my ways of leading were great and there was no need to change them, because they have worked in the past. I really thought by taking the courses designed for this degree was only going to teach me how to “fine-tune” my skill. Instead, it has taught me that there is a whole lot more to leading a team of people in a company than just being a great motivator. 

     I have also learned that there is room to interject many different style of leadership into my own personal style. I just have to learn how to analyze the situation and the team members that I am working with to determine what is needed.

     As for what type of leader I am, I would have to say that I followed the path-goal theory type of leadership before. But now, I would say that it will be a mixture of different kinds of leadership theories. Although, the primary styles would follow that of path-goal theory, adaptive, and servant leadership style with aspirations to be more transformational.