The Leadership Challenge
1) The authors of the book entitled “The Leadership Challenge” are or also known as and who are colleagues at the School of Business in University, California. is not only highly regarded as a leadership scholar and experienced executive, but The Wall Street Journal has quoted him as one of the twelve best executive educators in the United States. He is also a famous speaker, who shares lessons learned about leadership from over 20 years of original research, and leaves his audiences encouraged with sensible leadership tools and tips that can be applied at work, at home, and in their communities. On the other hand, is an international renowned scholar who has published more than 80 researches and practitioner-oriented articles, and is currently on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Business Ethics, Leadership Review, and Leadership and Organization Development Journal.
2) Initially, the first edition of the book was written in 1987, which was described by as “seminal and totally original, and became a modern classic on leadership practically overnight”. In the book’s latest edition, which is its third edition and written in 2002, emphasized that it has “new cases, concepts, and action steps that are even riper and more important, goes away beyond their earlier work and have made yet another brilliant contribution to leadership studies”. In the latest edition of the book, date is not a factor in its analysis because the participants interviewed in the accomplishment of the book do not include the leading performers of that time, but instead, the common leaders in different public and private organizations worldwide. Date is not a factor because theoretically, the leadership of such individuals, as the book concluded, did not change with the present leadership styles being adopted and implemented today.
3) The main ideas of the book include the stress on the fundamental aspects of leaderships that are being addressed in the current situation of organizations, such as speed in the turnover of employees, the changing workforce in an organization, and work relationships in relation to team-building. The book emphasized on considering two sides or aspects of the leadership equation, which includes the leaders and their followers, and argued that one aspect, cannot be successful without the support of the other. With this, it can be understood that the concept of leadership is a mutual process between those who have chosen to lead and those who have chosen to follow. From this statement, it can be deduced that successful leadership is related to the saying, “It takes two to tango”, such that in leadership, the leader and his or her followers interact effectively and efficiently to accomplish a beautiful dance.
Another important point made clear by the authors is that leadership is a set of discernible, learnable practices that can be mastered by anybody, who desires to lead, such that leadership becomes dependent on the traits of the leader. These traits include having a certain charisma to attract others to follow them openly towards common desires and interests or being charismatic. An additional trait is valuing people, which must be implemented by a good leader to by giving importance and becoming sensitive to the needs, wants and expectations of his followers. An effective leader must give due credit to those who have done well and must have this effective ability to establish loyalty among their followers.
Last major point emphasized in the book is the adage saying, “Credibility is the foundation of leadership”. A leader should be credible for him or her to lead, and must possess traits such as honesty, competence, aspiration, and a forward-looking attitude. Leaders primarily work through and with other people, and helps establish the conditions that enable others to be effective. Because of these functions, they are expected to fulfill a set of functions that may be performed by any different persons in different roles throughout a community, by being credible enough in gaining the trust of his or her followers.
4) I have learned from this book that for one to be able to become a successful leader, one has to follow certain fundamentals in the aspects of leadership. These fundamentals must be based on the procedures suited in the management of an organization. In addition, a successful leader must have to have skills and intelligence to be able to adopt its practices, which are essential in leading his or her followers, and lastly, he or she must be highly credible and reliable to gain the trust and confidence of his or her followers. In a business organization, it is important that the leader or the management must know what style of leadership is to be used. In addition, the hallmark of all successful leaders is to keep going despite set backs. He or she must have a positive attitude, should be optimistic, has ideas, always sees a way out, and will not give up easily. Because leaders have a variety of roles, they are responsible for making decisions that help their organizations adapt and succeed in competitive environments, and these entitles them also to make mistakes. However, they take every mistake as a learning experience and not committing them twice. Strength of character and will are the moral qualities of a leader, the principles that motivate and control his or her functions to make the right choices. Moreover, humility is necessary to define a leader’s ability and limitations especially and in the correct measuring of other people’s worth and value. These can be used immediately to set as a foundation for a leader in his or her service to the company.
5) The book attempts to clarify the topic of leadership and describe the critical role that it plays in human organizations. The practices and principle described in this book are based on years of extensive research studies conducted by . Its origins were in a research project that the authors began in 1983, with a purpose of understanding the actions and decisions of different individuals when they were at their “personal best” in leading others. The uniqueness of this book lies on the fact that instead of interviewing star employees in excellent companies, the authors interviewed ordinary people regarding their extraordinary experiences.
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