Follow the Leader…

Leaders are around us every day. Weather it be a professor, boss, or someone you look up to. At the beginning of class Monday Dr. Chilcutt started us out with by putting us into groups so we could come up with a common definition and traits of a leader. In my particular group we identified a leader as a person who has professional authoritative qualities that separates them from others. We also discussed some character traits of a leader. Some examples we thought of were professional, someone you look up to, authoritative, controlling, and powerful. Did you have any other definitions or character traits that came to mind after our discussion in class? I was thinking that being a leader and having leadership capabilities are two separate things. In order to be a successful leader one must have leadership capabilities. Leaders can see if their leadership style is effective through feedback.
Dr. Chilcutt discussed the different types of leadership styles in class. There are A, B, C, and D leadership styles. We took a test to see what leadership style suited us best, and shockingly mine was pretty dead on. I was split between an A and B leadership style. If a leader knows his or hers style then they should be able to be more productive in what they do. They should be able to understand the kind of people they need to be around in order to be successful.
Knowing the qualities of a successful leader are important. When you are following someone as a leader or someone you look up to you want to make sure they are qualified as someone that is worthy of leading you. For example when voting for a person such as a president, weather if be for the university or the United States, you are going to make sure that person has qualities that make he or she capable of being a successful leader. I would have to say it’s somewhat hard to come by successful leaders. Not everyone can do it. It takes a person of great stature to take on such a role. Can you think of any organizations or teams that once had a successful leader then there was a change of leadership and the organization or team was not as well off? I would say this happens much more in sports teams than organizations, however it still occurs. One particular example that comes to mind is the Alabama football team. When asked the question, who was our defensive leader on the team this past year? Who would you say? It’s tough to say. Maybe Donta Hightower, Marcell Darues, or Mark Barron? You can’t really identify one. However two years ago when we won the National Title most people would answer that question by responding Rolando McClain was our defensive leader. He was the one responsible for everyone on the field at the time. He made the play calls, check off the audibles, and lead the team in tackles. Those are qualities a leader demonstrates.
In closing I leave you with a couple of questions. Who will be Alabama’s leader this year on the field? Would you consider yourself someone who has leadership capabilities? And lastly, what would you say your strongest leadership quality is?
Roll Tide-
Max McGIll