post for 4/12

I thought that Harvey’s writing for today was an awesome way to lay out a few leadership concepts, and use a road map to ask the right questions in order to be a more effective leader. I found it interesting that he stated that “research cant provide answers to the puzzle of leadership” (p. 201). My first thought after this was, “how do we improve as leaders then without researching how to get better?”. I enjoyed the stories and examples used throughout the writing and definitely thought they were effective ways to communicate points. Personally, the most interesting question to ask for me was “How do we get there?”. I think often, it is so easy to get caught up in the goal and vision of a process or plan. Furthermore, in my mind leaders are people who come up with these plans or visions to get a group to a destination. However, the best leaders in my mind are the leaders who can most effectively communicate how the group can get there. In the section around the next question Harvey writes that followers “expect clarity, direction, and action”. While creating the big picture goals and plans usually get associated with effective leadership, I have become more interested in how leaders manage the day to dat emotions, feeling, and actions of their followers. How do leaders keep their followers on track without micromanaging? How do they approach a situation in which a follower simply doesn’t care? I really enjoyed this reading and thought it showed just how complex of a puzzle leadership really is.

3 thoughts on “post for 4/12

  1. Theresia Keppel

    I also thought that these questions were a great path for leaders to follow. I also think they provide a great backbone for leaders to come back to in times of struggle or confusion. Having a plan and questions to get there seems to be really effective.

  2. Olivia Cosco

    I also talked about these questions in Harvey’s reading. I think they are important questions that must be asked if leaders want to get to a common goal. I also think these questions are easily overlooked when thinking about leadership and Harvey did a great job at explaining this process.

  3. Kendall Miller

    I love the “How do we get there” question. Breaking down goals into processes is crucial when trying to achieve goals, and as you said, people can get so caught up in the goal and don’t have a plan to actually reach it. Leaders need to take macro issues and fragment them into easy-to-swallow pieces that common people can actually get behind. Great post.

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