Case study what makes a leader
Leadership is a concept that should be well understood by people at all levels. In this paper, the researcher critically reads an article titled ‘What makes a leader’, written by Goleman Daniel a publication of 1998. This will be followed by presentation of three major things that were interesting, things the reader disagreed with and finally three questions the reader has about article or what it means for leaders.
One of the most interesting and new concept from the article is emotional intelligence. According to the author, emotional intelligence include the following; ability to motivate self and others, having empathy, ability to freely and easily socialize, self awareness and self regulation. These components are integral part of a successful leader. However, this does not mean that other leadership characteristics do not contribute to an effective and successful leader.
Another important and interesting thing from the article is the issue related to who becomes an effective leader. In most cases, individual who are thought to have the desired leadership skills end up performing poorly. I agree that leaders having emotional intelligence use the aforementioned components to create an environment in which a firm prospers.
On the other hand, those who seem to be ineffective leaders when given leadership role end up performing beyond what was expected of them. Ideally, it has been shown that leaders are born and not made. Individuals can undergo through trainings in order to acquire better leadership skills. However, the concept of emotional intelligence is in-born. This is the major reason why some individuals who are not deemed to be the right fit for a leadership position end up performing extremely well.
It was also interesting that the management in most cases fail to recognize and appreciate leaders who exhibit intellectual emotion. Usually, leaders or employees who freely show their emotions are deemed to be weak leaders or not fit to be future leaders. This is one of the reasons why most firms recruit new leaders who eventually fail in meeting a firm’s mission, vision and objectives.
I do not agree with the concept that one can easily learn the concept of intelligence emotions. In my view and what I have seen from well known leaders such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gate and Richard Brandson, it is not easy for managers and future leaders to acquire major components of intelligent emotion. For instance noting and accepting one’s weaknesses is an issue that cannot be taught rather it is in-born and nurtured from childhood. I do not believe that one can teach old dog new tricks.
Similarly, although the author indicated that motivation is an important component in leadership, I do not fully agree with the notion that external motivators are not important. From existing literature, although internal motivation, which comes from individuals play a major role in creating a bunch of effective and successful, leaders, lack of external motivator usually ‘kill’ their morale.
Questions
1. Apart from self-regulation, what other components can help leaders to avoid acting unethically especially when opportunities present themselves?
2. It is my understanding that too much socializing between the leader and his subject might be a recipe for disaster, where and when do leaders draw a line between leadership and socialization as well as empathy
3. What set of external motivators can help individuals nurture their leadership skills?