After completing my interview with my Godmother Andrea, I realized that different people define leadership in all different ways. For my first question, I asked Andrea what characteristics she believed a leader possessed and she responded with “intelligence (which isn’t necessarily smarts), wise, empathetic and loyal.” I found this very interesting because it wasn’t quite what we talked about in class but how she defined each characteristic seemed to fit in with leaders qualities. Another interesting response I got from Andrea was when I asked her what has made her a successful business leader and she responded with, “Being able to be open to all opinions and to be able to see all sides of all issues and making the final decision based on what’s best for the company. “ She went on and also said, “I believe being a good listener is a very important trait for a good leader. Being able to take criticism and correcting yourself to become a better all-around leader. “ Lastly, I asked Andrea who had influenced her in developing her leadership skills, and she responded with a very surprising answer. She said that for one of her first jobs she had a terrible boss, that would just order people around with no meaning and no insight. She said her boss would throw temper tantrums and she said that that really showed her how NOT to lead. All in all I feel like this interview was very successful, and gave me further insight into an actual business woman’s leadership qualities and experiences.
This was an enjoyable post, Preston. When K & P told us that leaders had four traits, one of them was inspiring. Inspiring, you may remember, meant not just having a vision, but including your followers in creating the vision. This is what your Godmother was refering to when she said that leaders need to be open to opinions of others and listen to their feedback.
ReplyDeleteThis was clearly a valuable exercise for you!