Leading in a Business World

The first week of class, I wrote LEADER at the top of my notebook and challenged myself to really think about what type of person my peers would see me as in my professional career. This class has not only been inspiring to me, but allowed me to open my vision to what a true leader is.

Something that really stuck out to me throughout the entire course is when Daft makes the statement "...management focuses on getting the most results out of people...;" whereas, "Leadership, on the other hand, focuses on investing more in people..." (Daft, 2015, p.15).

I am often seen as a leader among my peers as well as to other pyramids within the organization and I am encouraged to lead my peers to think about things the way I do. This is something that has been a challenge for me to do. I can be very easily intimidated by people and building peoples trust is something that takes time. I came from a different side of the business and so when I started, I was the new person in town and I had to prove my trust. This week when I was reading in James, I was reminded of how optimistic he always remained and that’s something I defiantly need to instill in my own life.

We moved on to learning about what our personal values mean and were challenged to think about what we would want our personal mission and vision statement to say. Drucker states, “What one does well-even very well and successfully- may not fit with one’s value system” (Drucker, 1999, p.105). I was very inspired by this sentence; it challenged me to think about both my personal and professional life. Drucker states that you have to know yourself well and I could not agree with him more in that statement. How are you supposed to lead a team of people if you don’t know yourself and what you value most in your life?

Taking the Strengthsfinder assessment again was very beneficial to me and I enjoyed walking through my results with my career coach, Rachel. What I think will be the most beneficial is to have someone...