This blog is centered around the understanding of leadership in all settings. Leading is something that we will all use at some point in our lives whether it is in our career or in our personal lives at home. Not everyone believes that they have the confidence in order to be that manager or to take that next step, we all have the ability to lead. Becoming a master leader is not an impossible task but first we have to understand what it takes to be a leader.

Leading Ambitions

Being a leader comprises of being organized, punctual and very creative. These things are something that all leader have and it shows time and time again. Athletes, politicians, and even the managers at one’s job show some of these characteristics. Being a leader means being able to influence and inspire people in a way that makes them feel that the goal is never too far away. Steve Jobs is one of the first people that come to mind when thinking about a leader. Steve as most know was the CEO of Apple and he was one of the innovators that brought many products that we use and love today. Steve Jobs introduced the 1st generation iPhone as well as the iPod and iPad. These products are used by people on a major scale and Apple products are extremely popular, popular to the point where it became of the few trillion dollar companies. He ran Apple in a way that most people wish they could. Acting on innovative ideas is something that many people will discredit. People will say that a product does not make sense or that it is not ready for this to be here yet. Steve Jobs was able to provide a product that people did not know they needed yet. The modern smartphone is now something common but in 2007 when the iPhone debuted it was not. Jobs changed the world with his products but the leadership is what brought it to fruition.

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Leading people to want to work on that crazy idea of a phone had to be difficult to win over some people. At the time when people looked at a phone it was not to go on social media or to get driving directions, the idea of it was crazy. Jobs influenced an entire company of people to develop something that might have been premature for the time. Apple took a risk by spending all of that research and design for something that could possibly flop, I mean there was absolutely no prior product to do any market research on. Jobs had the skill of selling an idea, he made you envision what he saw and once that happened everything was clear. His employees believed in what his idea was and they wanted to follow behind him. Jobs is a definition of leadership by being able to get his employees to want to back him. Convincing a corporation that your idea is something they should invest in is difficult, he did it. It only takes one good situation and they nay sayers will be silenced. Leadership is about getting people to follow your lead.

You can lead a horse to water but can you make it drink?

Leader-Follower Theory Week 3

The Leader follower theory is in a way a hard concept for people to understand, you have people that have many different interpretations on leadership and what exactly it means to follow someone. “Business scholars and researchers focusing on the study of leadership development look at four major theories, including the adaptive change theory, the leader-member exchange format of leadership and the theories of social identity and adaptive change” (Grayson). Being a good leader also means you know how to be a good follower. Being a follower is not always a bad thing, there is a negative connotation about being a follower rather than a leader. All of us were followers and listeners at one point, we listened and followed what mom and dad taught us, we followed and learned what our professors and teachers taught us as well as bosses. We learn in all kinds of fashions that will propel our intelligence to another level. Some leaders have forgotten that.

            There are some who lead aimlessly and forget how to be a follower or what it means to be on the other side.  As a manager you should be able to make sure that your team members are your tools and you should use them as such. Some do not know how to properly use their tools; you wouldn’t use a Phillips head screwdriver to take out a flathead screw. Utilizing the people that you have access to in the right way is important to achieving a goal. The Leader follower relationship is so important but can be so fragile.

            If one of the people on your team is not receptive to the things you do, then they can become a liability rather than an asset. That change could be of the doing of the leader, if the leader makes changes that is not of good taste to the team and one person makes the decision to lose confidence in the leader. On the other side to be a good follower you have to be a good listener. Being a good listener is important when taking direction from your leader, some people have bad tendencies to want to be a leader even though they are not in position to do so quite yet. As a leader making sure you are acting in good faith with your team members and success will come.

            Personal relationships with employees are not a bad thing but should be kept at a distance. Never dip too much into a employee’s life to the point where you are no longer looked at as a person of high regard. Some people get comfortable with their bosses to the point where unprofessional things begin to be shown and then the boss has to make a decision to take disciplinary action. The coworker who is their friend will not like that, they will take everything personal. There is a fine line and as a leader you should know where that line is and act accordingly.

Grayson, L. (2017, November 21). The Meaning & Impact of the Leader-Follower Theory as It Relates to Management & the Workplace. Retrieved February 1, 2020, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/meaning-impact-leaderfollower-theory-relates-management-workplace-33607.html

Team Meetings:

Team meetings is the time set aside for the team to discuss and review aspects of a project or themselves.  In a team meeting the goal is to progress in going forward towards reaching a goal and to get updates on what else needs to get done in order to finish something, a new issues that arises that needs to get addressed or even just a check up on the team to see how everyone is doing individually. For a meeting to be effective there has to be a good flow of ideas and decisions. Sometimes someone will be in a meeting and it becomes a water cooler conversation and things never really get done, most high schoolers and college students know that. In the real world in corporate there can be situations where the actual topic at hand is getting neglected and things are not being addressed. Staying on topic and focused is important in order to have an effective meeting. There have been times where I’ve been in meetings and initially, we ask about how the weekend was and next thing we know we have been talking about the game for 30 minutes. Time is of the essence and proper utilization is key, no one wants to do more work than what they have to and prolonging things with small talk can get in the way.

Team Meetings Week 4

Team meetings is the time set aside for the team to discuss and review aspects of a project or themselves.  In a team meeting the goal is to progress in going forward towards reaching a goal and to get updates on what else needs to get done in order to finish something, a new issues that arises that needs to get addressed or even just a check up on the team to see how everyone is doing individually. For a meeting to be effective there has to be a good flow of ideas and decisions. Sometimes someone will be in a meeting and it becomes a water cooler conversation and things never really get done, most high schoolers and college students know that. In the real world in corporate there can be situations where the actual topic at hand is getting neglected and things are not being addressed. Staying on topic and focused is important in order to have an effective meeting. There have been times where I’ve been in meetings and initially, we ask about how the weekend was and next thing we know we have been talking about the game for 30 minutes. Time is of the essence and proper utilization is key, no one wants to do more work than what they have to and prolonging things with small talk can get in the way.

Now there are more ways to communicate than ever. Options like Zoom, Skype, Hangouts are all viable options to telecommunicate over the internet in order to have meetings without boundaries. In today’s age more people are traveling for work than ever, most times when you are walking in the airport you see businessmen and women walking around on their phones and laptops, it just common now. The option of face to face interaction over the internet is a great option. For my position I work on a separate campus than the rest of my team so I video conference with them to see where we are with projects and things of that nature. For me it is something I use on a weekly basis so I’m familiar with the process, but there are flaws. Video conferencing is not the same as in person communication, similar does not always mean equal. You lose certain parts of interaction from video conferencing, for example you don’t get to see body language as well. Yes, you are still on video so you can see what the other person is doing but it is just not the same. I have had interviews over the internet and it’s hard to sell yourself to a potential employer. The solution in this particular situation is to make the best effort to physically go to the interview but this was the best option for me at the time.

Culture, Ethics and Diversity Week 5

Apple’s company is wildly successful and has brought products that have literally changed the way we look at technology. The iPhone is single handedly the most important device of the 2000’s, it changed the way we look at technology and changed our expectations of mobile phones forever. The iPad was a product that built upon what the iPhone was, and Apple was cemented as one of the most popular tech companies of all time. Apple was not built in one day and was not a company that did all of this with one or two people. it takes a village to build companies like this and it takes everyone to have the passion to achieve the goals of the company. Apple’s culture is what made everything work and that led the company to high places

Culture is defined as “the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions” (Tarver, 2019). Everyone has to be on the same page and mesh with each other, in other words all of the cogs in the machine must work. Now the culture that Apple built is based heavily on an innovative mindset. The company is constantly looking for the new best thing and are always on the hunt for something new and how to be the best at it. Another part of their culture is perfection, they want their products to be the best and the most beautiful in the market. Apple strives for perfection and they do hit the mark in more ways than one. “Apple’s organizational culture comes with a policy of hiring only the best of the best in the labor market. Steve Jobs was known to fire employees who did not meet his expectations” (Meyer, 2019). 

Steve Jobs as the CEO of Apple he helped build the expectation of Apple, he had an expectation of excellence and that standard is still being held to this day. Tim Cook the current CEO has worked with Jobs before his untimely passing for a number of years and he wants to keep Jobs memory alive by keeping up his expectations for the company. Jobs did in fact fire people when they did not meet his expectation and that was felt throughout the entire company. With him doing that it meant that he means business so that is the aggressive way of showing his expectation is the most important thing at Apple. Apple’s culture is simple and black and white, be innovative and follow the lead of the CEO, it’s not the most glamorous thing but it works and has been working for years. The culture in New England for the Patriots is not too much different, they also follow the business as usual mindset.

Tarver, E. (2020, January 29). How to Tell If Your Corporate Culture Is Healthy. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corporate-culture.asp

Meyer, P. (2019, February 15). Apple Inc.’s Organizational Culture & Its Characteristics (An Analysis). Retrieved from http://panmore.com/apple-inc-organizational-culture-features-implications