A Day in the Life of Yolanda Valdez
Peter F. Drucker, an Austrian-born, American Management consultant once said “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things”. On paper, anyone can make himself or herself look like an efficient leader. You can say that it’s not until you follow an employee around for a day to figure out how efficient they actually are. Yolanda Valdez, VP of Marketing at Clear Vision Group, was followed around for a day so that the reader could determine just that. Clear Vision Group, a company under S.G. Davis, is a leading global designer and distributor of eyewear and sun wear for men, women and children. They operate under the retail name ClearVue. “Clear Vision is a marketing-oriented company that bases its strategy on understanding customer’s needs and developing and delivering distinctive characteristics that appeal to customers.” (Hellriegel & Slocum 542). Understanding that the company is structured around marketing tells us that Yolanda plays a major role in the direction of the company. As we investigate the nature of an average day of Yolanda, we begin to see whether she is doing the right things, or simply just doing things right.
When trying to understand where Yolanda excels or comes up short as a manager we will look at the seven key competencies for individual, team, and organizational effectiveness. These competencies will shed some light on how to be an effective leader and help her organization prosper. From the textbook, “A competency is an interrelated cluster of knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by an individual, team, or organization for effective performance.” (Hellriegel & Slocum 8) Overall, there are seven of these competencies which include; self, diversity, across cultures, communication, teams, change, and ethics (with ethics being at the center of the other six categories).