Reflection about my narrative...

Before meeting with Lori, I was really confused on what I was going to talk about in my narrative. I knew that I wanted to talk about transformational leadership and what it means to me and how I would like to be a transformational leader but I didn't know how I was going to talk about it for 5 minutes. Lori really helped me put it into perspective. She told me to break it into parts and show what type of person I am through it. Give my audience examples of how I will be and how I wont be. It doesn't have to be very specific and detail oriented it just has to give my audience some idea of what to expect from me. I am still not sure what I am going to say and hope that when it is finished it will make sense to people. I have been brainstorming some ideas and still do not have a concrete idea as of yet. So...ill see you all in class and hopefully you are inspired by what I have to say.  

My leadership map

My leadership map begins during my childhood. It has been always reinforced throughout my life from my parents and family that I am a natural born leader. After hearing that s many times it became embedded in my brain. They praised the behaviors that displayed my leadership abilities and never doubted that it came natural to me. Since my childhood, I have aways thought that I was a natural born leader. I was born with the traits that made me this way and noticed within my peers that some of them didn't have he desires I did to lead the group. Since embarking on this journey I souly believed that people were either born with or without these qualities. As I went through college I surrounded my self with other leaders and pushed my self to learn the skills and competencies that would separate me from mediocre leaders to superb leaders that made a difference. Along with my parents, family, brothers in my fraternity, I was my coach and number one fan on my path to becoming a leader that transformed not only my life but every ones life I was in. My favorite leader is Coach Boone from Remember the Titan. He has a frequent presence within this blog because of his abilities to have a positive affect on others' lives. I enjoy watching leaders that can change the lives of those that follow them. As I tried more to be like this I realized it wasn't the traits that I possessed or the behaviors I learned from my parents that made an individual an inspirational leader, it was the passion within the person that enabled them to be how they were. You donut have to be born a certain way to have a positive affect on and individuals lives you have to have the inspiration, motivation and true desire to lead people towards the end goal. I feel that because of my path that I have been on, I am able to become the leader I need to be in certain situations in order to be effective. Because of this class I can portray in words and through my actions to prospective employers and followers that it is a benefit to them to choose me. It has allowed me to leave a lasting impression on the lives that I enter.

Servant Leadership

While searching for different types of leadership that I have not studied before, I kept coming across a very unique theory called servant leadership. The name by itself intrigued me to learn a little bit more of what it is about. My first impression was that this type of leader treats his followers as servants, not as human beings. I imagined someone barking out orders and micromanaging. Right away I felt that it wasn't the type of leadership I possessed or intend to convey in any type of leadership role, however, after studying more of what it consists of, I might have more of this style than I thought.  

Servant leadership was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in his essay written in 1970 called The Servant as Leader. His definition of servant leadership is

"The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first; perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature."

I found it very inspirational while reading experts from his essay because I very easily identify with transformational leadership. I feel that servant leadership is in essence is as empowering and revolutionary as transformational leadership. Greenleaf says the best test in deciphering whether a servant leader is successful is in the outcomes of their followers. One must ask themselves the following questions: does the follower grow? Become wiser, freer, healthier, and in turn able to become servant leaders themselves?  Displaying servant hood is "a person who has the power to order and dictate people’s actions chooses instead to put himself at the service of his people. Servant hood respect from followers because they know that instead of serving your own agenda, you truly have their interests and success at heart. Once you adopt this attitude, you begin to draw a team of passionate people willing to take your cause all the way to the top.

"Principles of servant leadership defined by the Alliance for Servant Leadership are:

• Transformation as a vehicle for personal and institutional growth.
• Personal growth as a route to better serve others.
• Enabling environments that empower and encourage service.
• Service as a fundamental goal.
• Trusting relationships as a basic platform for collaboration and service.
• Creating commitment as a way to collaborative activity.
• Community building as a way to create environments in which people can trust each other and work together.
• Nurturing the spirit as a way to provide joy and fulfillment in meaningful work."

The following are characteristics of a servant leader: calling, listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, growth and building community.

After going more in depth about Servant Leadership Theory, I find my attitude changing about my personal leadership goals and thoughts. I feel that I am very strongly connected to this theory. I and anyone else who share this trait have to be weary of how much they put people before themselves because there is a fine line between developing others to their full potential and completely losing your own vision in goals. With this type of leadership it seems easy to lose sight of what your trying to accomplish and get caught up in what the followers are doing and how they are progression. The following are links that go more in depth with Servant Leadership and how to develop this skill.

http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1481/build/g1481.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership

http://www.greenleaf.org/whatissl/

http://www.leadersdirect.com/servant-leadership

I hope this works...

Click below to see my Midterm on Ocean's 11

http://www.scribd.com/doc/51351106/HTM-491-Midterm

Remember the Titans Coach Boone Speech...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_HFCYz4x6o

James MacGregor Burns...

James MacGregor Burns was born in Melrose on  August 3, 1918. His passion for history started an early age. He majored in political science at Williams and earned a PhD in government at Harvard.  He received a Pulitzer Prize and National Book award in 1956 and 1970 for two different books. While establishing his leadership theory, he shyed away from transactional management and focused on the mutual benefits of the leader and follower. He is best known for his contributions towards transformational, aspirational and visionary schools of leadership theory. He is the author of several books on leadership and the leadership style of US Presidents. His newest adventure is working on the politics of the Supreme Court.

Gossip Girl...

I love the show gossip girl because it allows me to live vicariously through the lives of Manhattans elite. The main characters are a group of friends that live on the upper east side of Manhattan. They are in their second year of college so it is easy to relate to where they are in their lives. Although they are a couple years younger than I am, I can remember that time in my life quite clearly. Instead of recalling just one episode, I will incorporate their overall leadership style throughout the series.

Path Goal Theory:

Blair: Directive  - throughout the entire show, she has shown the most qualities of being a leader. In essence she is the leader of the group because she is very convincing and she will do what she wants regardless of what anyone else says. The only reason she seems to be the leader is because most of the schemes are her idea. Throughout high school they called her "queen B" because she always had a group of minions that followed her around and did whatever she said. She also is very directive toward her housekeeper Derota. She barks out orders and expects them to be followed right away. With her friends she is always very convincing on why she is doing what she is doing. She always has a good reason whether it is with good intentions or bad intentions. Regardless of how they feel, she always has some task for them an directs them in the way she wants them to carry it out.

Chuck: Clarify - He is the most powerful of all the character. He is the soul beneficiary of Bass Industries. He gets what he wants when he wants it. He is a smart business man for how young he is. Although he is not as rash and outspoken as Blair, people give him what he wants. He always says "let me make this clear." Even if he is in the wrong he always wins in the end because people are intimidated by his power. He has hundreds of employees that are under his wing and he always makes it clear to them what he wants and how he wants them to do it.

Serena: Supportive - Serena is the most compassionate character of them all. Although she has money like the rest of them and is the most famous of them all, she always tries to find a way to be there for her friends. She has been through the most out of all the characters. She was sent away to boarding school in her first couple years of high school so when she comes back she must try and redeem her reputation. She has toned down a lot and has become sympathetic towards anyone going through some sort of battle. Although she remains selfish in her own ways her intentions are always good. She is a mentor to her brother and has become the leader of her family since her mother cant really be trusted by anyone.

Nate: Participative: Nate has the least of the leadership abilities. He tends to be the follower of the group and participative in all of their schemes. He has the connections to get things done and has lead the group every once in a while. He always has a purpose in whatever their scheme might be for the episode.

Dan: Goal Oriented- Dan is the outsider of the group. He is the only one who comes from Brooklyn and has high goals towards becoming a writer. His family has money only because his dad married Serena's mom. In the beginning of the show you wouldn't catch Dan in one of the groups petty schemes. He was always found in the library or doing something academic oriented. As he has become more acquainted with the upper east side and gotten to be good friends with most of the group he is becoming apart of more and more schemes. He always has the ultimate goal in mind. He never lets the group get off track. He is  motivator in that he is the most logical one of them all and doesn't let them get side tracked on what they are ultimately trying to accomplish.