Leadership Gap

A633.1.2.RB

Chapter 1 of the Obolensky text begins with a reflective exercise. Create a reflection blog that responds to the questions asked in this exercise.

1.   Has your own attitude to leaders changed in your life, and if so how?

My attitude towards leaders has significantly evolved throughout my life and continues to do so as I pursue my personal and professional goals. I believe there are two main factors that have contributed to this change:

1. Education has been a major factor in my understanding and expectations of what leaders are and how they influence others. Growing up in an environment of mainly minorities with limited opportunities, I came to identify leaders as those in elected positions, teachers, managers of business, and those in authority positions. Basically anyone whom made decisions that affected others and their way of life. As I progressed through my formal education, I realized that leaders (or leadership) is so much more. I began to realize that leaders were those who skillfully united others towards a goal using their characteristics and traits in order to capitalize on the strengths of others to achieve a common purpose. As my education and exposure to leaders increased, my expectation of leaders and their abilities also began to expand. I no longer associated leaders as just those I list above, but with anyone who led others; to include the “informal leader.”

2. The other significant aspect involved my decision to participate in leader roles. First I began seeking leadership roles later in my high school activities and into my college career. In fact, I received leadership training during my undergraduate studies in the Army ROTC program. It was one thing to study and observe leaders, and anther to study and practice leadership. Actively participating in leader roles has (and continues to) provide “real world” lessons of success and failures that have reshaped my concept of leaders and the influence they have.

2.    If we take as a starting point the attitude to those in authority/ leaders as held by your grandparents, and then look at those attitudes held by your parents, and then by you, and then by the younger generation, is there a changing trend? If so, what is it?

As previously noted, in a limited opportunity environment, leaders were mainly those outside of my immediate family as a result of lack of education and values. The values that my family possessed involved working hard to provide for the family. For example, my grandparents and parents had high school educations with no leader experience other than being heads of the family. Furthermore, I believe that as a default, they were aware of their shortcomings and accepted others to be the leaders that influenced the outcomes because fulfilling this role was beyond their scope of knowledge and experience. I do recall growing up as a kid, I too subscribed to this frame of mind only because it was the only example I had. In fact, in my family, I was one of a very few who pursued a higher education and roles of leadership. Having done so, I do notice at times that my parents and other elders yielding to my input or recommendations as they are aware that my knowledge base and experience various matters extend beyond their understanding. I believe that as the younger generations are exposed to social media and real time information outlets, their concept of leader and their influence will evolve much quicker than those that have not shared the same influx of information (i.e. previous generations).

3.   Why do you think that this has occurred?

With the increase of out spoken individuals/groups that flood these mediums (social media, blogs, websites), their willingness to participate and voice their opinions will be easily absorbed and to some degree expected as their generation embraces technological advances that contributes to blasts of information.

Additionally, while we live in a world with more information about leadership and leadership practices why is it that we have an apparent gap in the quality of our leaders and how do you think we can close this gap?

With the ever-changing technological capabilities that shape information sharing and knowledge management, new methods and tools are being developed which increase the dimensions that business and society operate in; thus adding to aspects of chaos. According to Obolensky (2010):

The development of chaos mathematics and quantum mechanics seems to go against traditional deterministic scientific theories hundreds of years old, and yet they have reaped great results… So perhaps it is no surprise that in the field of leadership the need for a more non-deterministic ‘complex’ approach is emerging.

With such advances comes new dynamics to leadership. Today’s leaders need to be adaptive and “plugged-in” to many outlets. More importantly, closing the gap of producing quality leaders will require creative insight and communication that only those who know how to identify and negotiate the influences listed above, will become more agile and adaptive in staying abreast of change in their respective fields and those they mean to lead.

Reference

Obolensky, N. (2010). Complex Adaptive Leadership: Embracing Paradox and Uncertainty. Ashgate Publishing Ltd. Kindle Edition.