Leadership Questions

Nate Roth

Leadership Reflections

1. What do I want from a leader?

I want someone that knows everything about their responsibilities and mine. In order to lead me, my leader needs to know what my job is and what it takes to be efficient so, if I’m not doing something correct, they can show me the right was to do it. If my leader does not know what it takes to do my job, how are they going to be able to tell if I’m doing job the efficiently? If they don’t know what it takes to do my job, I could be running extremely inefficient and they would never know, hurting production. I also want my leader to have good communication skills and respectfully tell me what he/she needs from me. There’s nothing worse than a condescending manager that doesn’t communicate well. I want a leader to keep me motivated and make the workplace fun. Making the workplace more fun helps with motivation, which helps with production. I want a leader to be able to take responsibility for issues and not just put it on their subordinates. I really want my leader to be competent. I want them to be able to be smart enough to make the right decisions and keep me from doing things that are redundant. Common sense is one of the most important things to wish for.

2. Yes, there is a difference between being an effective manager and an effective leader. A manager’s job is to plan, organize and coordinate, while a leader’s role is to motivate and inspire. Managers have subordinates and leaders have followers. Leaders will seek a vision; managers will seek objectives. A manager’s power is a formal authority; a leader’s power is a result of having people that want to follow. A leader will try and sell you an idea, while a manager will tell you their idea and expect you to follow orders. A leader is an innovator and a manager will follow the already paved road laid out before them. In an ideal situation a manager will be a good leader, but this is not always the case. Some managers simply do not know...