Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Leadership - Essay Example Who is a Leader Though there are various different views and definitions about leader and leadership, to come to a specific consensus about who is a leader may be a difficult task. To be very simple, a leader is one who has leadership quality. A leader can either be a man or woman who has the ability to get other people to do what he likes them to do even if they don’t like to do it. As Howard Gardner noted, a leader is a person â€Å"who could get other people to what they don’t want to do and like it† (Parker and Begnaud , p. 3). A leader is expected to be able to create interaction between him and his followers involving a structuring or restructuring of the situation, perception and expectations of the his followers. When it comes to a bit broader view about leaders, they come in all different shapes and sizes. They may be young or old, men or women and regardless of caste, region, religion and so on. they are found in all different levels, like Church, Polit ics, Government, Business, House, Community and sports (Corcoran, p. 3). All different leaders at different levels possess more or less different qualities, like transformational, charismatic, situational etc. A leader is one who listens to his people, supports and encourages them to get them involved in decision making process as well as problem solving processes (Holbeche, p. 72). Based on this view, a leader is one who influences his subordinates or followers by supporting them and encouraging them so that they will be motivated to get involved in all the relevant decision making and problem solving activities. He not only listens to the concerns of his followers, but also suggests possible solutions and finds better ways to help them by solving their issues. A leader tries to get his people to follow him or her to a specific objective. A political leader has his own specific objectives or destination that he likes to motivate his people to move towards that destination. A busine ss or political leader has thus certain objective and his activities or leadership attempts will be largely influenced by his intention to lead his people towards the ultimate goal. Contemporary perspectives on Leadership Leadership is basically a quality, necessarily an inborn quality according to some academic researchers and not so according to some others. Though there are various theoretical perspectives regarding leadership, trait theories are widely discussed and are considered to be highly important in contemporary business and political landscapes. In recent years, Warren Bennis contributed much to leadership studies and researches and has strongly disagreed with the concept that leadership is an inborn quality. In contemporary leadership literatures, Warren Bennis is perhaps the most widely discussed name. According to him, â€Å"leadership is the capacity to translate vision in to reality† (Corcoran, p. 3). Warren Bennis is the founding director of American Leaders hip Forum and he has authored more than 26 books in leadership and its very related functional areas. Leaders (1986) and On Becoming a Leader (1989) are some of his best-selling book about leadership (Thomas, p. 4). Warren Bennis tried to avoid the traditional view associated with leadership thinking and the concepts of trait-theories. He argued that leaders are not just born, but are made or created through training, developmental program and

Fictional children's story about homelessness + critical component Assignment

Fictional children's story about homelessness + critical component - Assignment Example Therefore, he could not ask her to get him a new pair. One day he decided, it was time to get new shoes at his own. He’d been saving money for a month now. And today he could finally paint the fence outside Robinson’s house and get the remaining money that he needed for buying the shoes. While passing a shop on his way, Sam noticed his reflection in the glass window. Except for the fresh wound from last evening, he thought he looked presentable. A day earlier, Sam was on his way to the basketball court when a random car stopped near him for merely a second. The window rolled down and a stone came out and landed on his forehead. So, seeing his reflection, Sam adjusted his hair to hide the wound and continued heading towards Mr. Robinson’s house. The Robinson’s place was a huge white house with a beautiful front garden. The fence Sam was to paint surrounded the lush green garden, and added to the homely feeling of the house. Ringing the bell, he was invited in by Mrs. Robinson. The house felt warm, cozy and welcoming from inside as well. She led Sam to Mr. Robinson’s study where she offered him some homemade cake as well. Sam instantly developed a liking for the Robinsons family. Sam was 14 years old. So he got the work on basis of a class assignment in which he had to share a thrilling experience. He told Mr. Robinson that he had decided to paint for the assignment but his house neither had a fence nor anything else that could be painted. Mr. Robinson agreed to help and provided him with the paint brush, a bucket of paint and a pair of his son’s old clothes which seemed newer to Sam than the ones he was wearing. So, Sam kept them and decided to work in his own. Sam found the painting job easy. Being near the Robinsons family was a pleasant experience for him. From time to time, Mrs. Robinson would come out to check how he was doing, and gave him something homemade to eat on every visit. Robinson’s family comprised of the parents, a 4 year old daughter and a son of Sam’s age. After a while the family came out in the lawn to enjoy the sun. The boy started playing with Jack, his dog. The little girl sat near her mother scribbling on a drawing pad. Mr. Robinson sat on the lawn chair and got busy reading the newspaper. Sam smiled watching them. In nearly two hours, Sam’s work was complete. Stepping back and looking at his work, Sam felt thrilled, noticing that he had done a decent job. The Robinsons liked it too. So he took the money and headed towards the shoes’ shop. On his way, he kept nibbling on the brownie Mrs. Robinson had given him for the way. He did not remember the last time he had something so tasty to eat. Sam crossed a pet shop on the way. His glance rested on a kitten sleeping in a white cage. With a creased forehead, he watched the kitten for a minute. He went inside and bought it with the money he had saved for the shoes. He kissed the cat and whispered in it s ear, ‘I will give you something that I don’t have’. A few minutes later, he knocked at the door of the town’s shelter that he lived in. References Capdevila, G. (2005). More Than 100 Million Homeless Worldwide. Retrieved from http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=28086 This article highlights how homelessness has become a worldwide problem in the developed as well as developing countries. The government policies and inadequate housing plans suppress the poor and force them to live without proper housing altogether. The story is themed on this