UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

MANAGEMENT CENTRE

MODULE: IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIES

ASSIGNMENT 5

INTRODUCTION

When you are the second to last out of fifteen children, being a leader is something that is hardly ever expected or demanded of you. There is always someone older, wiser and more experienced who is more capable and willing to take charge of whatever situation may arise. However, in spite of all those siblings, at the fairly young age of fourteen years, I found myself in the unusual position of being in charge of all my mother’s finances and household activities. Due to a separation of my family, I became an only child with my mom working double shifts three to four times weekly. During that period of my life my level of maturity had to be drastically elevated to allow my mom to maintain her sanity, for the bills to be paid and things kept in order at home. I took on this challenge and thus my desire to go into accounting and finance was developed. However, at this point in my life, could I have considered myself as a good leader? What exactly does it take to be called even a great leader?

According to Draft(2006), “Leadership is the ability to influence people toward the attainment of organisational goals.” He also continues by stating that, “Leadership is dynamic and involves power to get things done.” The people element in the definition of leadership plays an extremely important role since a leader is the motivating factor that drives individuals to achieve the company’s goals. Without a capable team, the leader will be ineffective. That is the driving force behind Jim Collins “Level 5 Leadership”. Therefore according to Collin’s hierarchy, I was more or less a capable young man that then became a contributing team member in the household. There is never the need to go beyond those initial levels since my mom was the head or the real