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Defining Leadership

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Clarifying Leadership Principles
Amy Hy
Capella University

Clarifying Leadership Principles
Leadership, though often talked about, didn’t seem to connote a clear and distinct definition. History views leadership as an innate ability, hierarchy, controlling and aggressive philosophy. Leadership had been used interchangeably with the term management. (Hopen, 2010, p.4) Evidently, management enforces control and administration based on organization values and goals. To manage is to maintain orders, with a focus on structural systems and administer efficiency in routine tasks. However, the view of leadership and management has evolved as technology and the economy advances. I see leadership as the art of mastering social influence by building personal values through self-awareness with an enduring personal humility that constantly seeks courage despite of failures and daringly inspires teamwork through care, sincerity and originality. The manager’s view is more near-sited and is likely to accept the status quo and while the leader challenges the impossible, but nevertheless, with the rise of acknowledged workforce, leadership and management goes hand in hand. The leader inspires teamwork by promoting shared values, while the manager guides and reinforces organizational goal and structure efficiency. An example of a dual leadership and management is often found in City Managers. A City Manager is hired by the City Council to serve as the chief executive of the city government that deals with all personnel matters. The City Manager is the chain of command for all employees. (Roberts, 2011) In sum, both successful leadership and management envision strong human interaction among team members. The method to lead and manage has shift from dominance to authority to inspire and promote teamwork with a shared organization value.

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