“A Boss has the title; a Leader has the people” – Simon Sinek
This has been one of my favorite quotes when it comes to leadership which indicates that a leader is an influencer whereas a boss is a commander. The major difference between both the roles is that a leader influences other by giving an example of what he is doing whereas a boss dictates on what needs to be done. As Leadership is “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization (Yukl,2013).
I did my bachelor’s in management studies where I was good in managing various events and tasks held in my college, but I came to know the meaning of Leadership when I enrolled in Coventry University, London for doing my MBA course in September 2019. Within the past three months I studied the subject called ‘leading in changing world’ attending and participating in the lectures and seminars I started developing myself as a leader. We were given certain activities to do, games, presentations and debates which boosted my confidence, communication skills and made me realize my strength and weaknesses as a leader.
Leadership Brand –
There are many leaders but very few are ethical. So, for me being ethical in leadership is an important criterion. For building of my leadership brand, I have applied the 4V model of ethical leadership which consists of Vision, Values, Voice & Virtue. According to Dr. Bill Grace the 4V model of ethical leadership is a framework which aligns the beliefs and values along with behaviors and actions (Yukl,2013).
Vision – I have a vision for influencing people in the world, without any vision I won’t be able to lead anywhere. It’s vision that pulls me to work hard for my future.
Values – My inbuilt values will have a reflection in my leadership style, as my soft-spoken nature enables me to treat my team members humbly.
Voice – My voices needs to be heard by many but before that I need to speak first. I need to convey my ideas and belief’s to people working in my team through effective communication.
Virtues – I need to implement all above 3V’s in order to be a Virtuous leader.
HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS –
The Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory, developed by Geert Hofstede, is a framework used to understand the differences in culture across countries and to discern the ways that business is done across different cultures (Corporate Finance,2015).
I never had a global learning experience before, So I was very excited to work with team members from different parts of world during the first week of our seminar. We introduced ourselves and each other’s country background and got the opportunity to learn about their differences. We also used the Hofstede cultural dimensions for the comparison.
In terms of masculinity China is on the lead. Masculinity comes with the following characteristics: distinct gender roles, assertive, and concentrated on material achievements and wealth-building. There was no major difference found within China, India and Indonesia for power distance. The power distance index considers the extent to which inequality and power are tolerated. This shows that all three countries embrace hierarchy and considers power important.
CONTEMPORARY STYLES OF LEADERSHIP
There are mainly three contemporary styles of leadership consisting of Autocratic, Laissez-faire, Democratic. I will further explain how all these styles of leadership were reflected in me and how I developed the most suitable leadership style for me.
Autocratic Leadership – The autocratic leadership process generally entails one person making all strategic decisions for subordinates (Shaeffor,2014). I wasn’t a dominant leader, but I used to assign tasks for my team members without realizing that their choices matter too. I realize that this kind of leadership style is not effective when it comes to freedom of subordinates. So, I moved to another style of leadership.
Laissez-faire leadership – Laissez-faire leadership, also known as delegative leadership, is a type of leadership style in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions (Cherry,2019). By following this leadership style, I did a mistake for letting my teammates go astray as I wasn’t aware that they can’t work on their own. As they were not directed in the right way by me later, I realize that it was my responsibility to make right decisions for them with their agreement as well.
Democratic Leadership –
Democratic leadership, also known as participative leadership or shared leadership, is a type of leadership style in which members of the group take a more participative role in the decision making process (Morin,2019). I came to know about this style of leadership through Ricardo’s Semler case study & I was very much influence by it. I started practicing this leadership style and realized that while group members are encouraged to share their thoughts, democratic leadership can lead to better ideas and more creative solutions to problems.
JOHARI WINDOW –
A simple framework for looking at self-insight is the Johari window. This classifies behavior in matrix form between what is known–unknown to self and what is known–unknown to others in order to encourage a reduction of the individual’s ‘hidden’ behavior through self-disclosure and of the ‘blind’ behavior through feedback from others (Mullins & Christy, 2016).
OPEN – Before participating in team works there were some qualities of mine like optimism, patience, effective listening which I was aware of it as they always reflected in my behavior also making it open to others & easy to observe.
HIDDEN – Hidden behavior is that which individual conceals it from other group members and don’t communicate it. There are some weaknesses of mine which I choose not to reveal.
BLIND SPOT – This a behavior which is known to others and unknown to self. I wasn’t aware of some of my strengths and weaknesses but feedback from my teammates helped me to recognize my blind spot. I was appreciated by my teammates for my positive energy and enthusiasm for the work I was doing. The only negative feedback I received was of lack of controlling, one of my team members said I was extra lenient which sets the team members loose to do anything. Such kind of behavior is not always good.
UNKNOWN TO ALL – I am still in quest of my unknown capabilities which will assist me in becoming a successful future leader and influence the people around me.
I have seen significant development in my leadership style throughout my MBA journey which enabled me to learn about many theories of leaderships as well as leadership styles and developed me to face the challenges in global exposure. I am looking forward to implementing them in my future endeavors. I aspire to be a leader who brings people up from their comfort zone in order to make them grow and transform.
REFERENCES –
- Cherry (2019)’Pros and cons of Laissez-faire leadership’ [online] available from – https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-laissez-faire-leadership-2795316 [ 7 December 2019]
- Corporate Finance Institute (2019)’Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension Theory’ [online] available from – https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/hofstedes-cultural-dimensions-theory/ [8 December 2019]
- Hofstede Insights(2019) country comparison [Online] Available from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/china,india,indonesia/ [8 December 2019]
- Morin (2019)’Democratic style of leadership’ [online] available from – https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-democratic-leadership-2795315 [7 December 2019]
- Mullins, L., Christy, G. (2016) Management and Organizational behavior. 11th edn. Pearson
- Shaeffer (2014)’The leadership journey’ Harvard business review [online] available from https://online.stu.edu/articles/education/autocratic-leadership.aspx [7 December 2019]
- Yukl. (2013), Leadership in organizations. 8th edn. Pearson
GLOBAL BUSINESS 
people may hear your words, but they feel your attitude that’s why ethics are essential. every leader must possess the 4v’s of ethical leadership. I agree with the democratic leadership being the best type of leadership as it will influence the members and benefit the entire team. Johari window has given pretty good idea for analysis your flaws for improving them. what leadership qualities and flaws does do you possess? do you try to know your weaknesses and overcome them?
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Hi Sakharkar M, thank you for your valuable comment. i completely agree on what you said. Ethical leadership helps individuals demonstrate conduct for the common good that is acceptable and appropriate in every area of their life. If a leader is not ethical they try to deceive people, we can look some examples of unethical leaders like Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya whereas ethical leader like Ratan Tata and Bill Gates influences others. Yes Johari window framework is excellent way for recognizing self’s potential and weaknesses as I realized that I possess leadership qualities like Optimism, empathy, influencing whereas my drawback was loosing control on my teammates which I overcomed in my next task given.
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A good leader always works for its people, with its people, and takes the best decisions in favour of its people. Developing good leadership qualities is very essential. Meanwhile a boss always does what he feels is to be done but a leader always does whatever his people feel is right. Qualities like being patient, a good listener, decision maker, hardwork etc must be reflected in a leader. It is found in some of the studies that taking care of the employees is very important for the better upbringing of the company. Which can only be achieved by a good leader and not by a bossy personality. One must also know their flaws and try to improve their selves. And must take every criticism positively.
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Hello Sana Salim, Thank you so much for sharing your views on Leader and Leadership qualities , I completely agree on what you said. Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could.” – Steve Jobs.
Being a boss doesn’t grant you devotion, nor does it inspire those around you. It only grants you the power to enforce your directions. But a good leader doesn’t need that power, Leaders simply set the example for people to follow. Bosses give orders and observe, while leaders can be found in the middle of the effort, working hard, encouraging their colleagues, solving issues, and shouldering responsibility.
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I like your work, you explain the content in a pretty simple and interesting way. Looking forward for more of your blogs. Please keep inspiring us with more such contents.
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👌👍🏻👍🏻
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Hey Multazim, Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you have find this as an useful information about leadership styles and theories. If you want to know further about effective leadership then please do follow my blog.
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I liked how you briefly explained everything about leadership. being leader isn’t an easy thing to do, but I believe that one day you will be a great leader. The only thing is that you are way too soft with the people, they may take advantage of you humbleness, you need to be cautious.
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Hey AsmaBintAbdullah, Thank you so much for your precious comment, it boosted my confidence level. Yes I agree on your advice as my teammates provided feedback for me on the same thing. I believe every individual needs to be treated with compassion and my soft spoken nature makes me go more loose on qualities like controlling the team as I cant speak to them in high pitch or in frustation. There’s lot of patience in me which keeps me calm even in stressful situations.
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This is so amazingly you explained about the difference between leadership and boss. Leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could.
But you has explained so briefly and I appreciate your work.
And one of my favourite qoute by Michael Jordan – you must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.
Keep it up.
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Hello Gulnar, Thank you so much for your precious comment and appreciating my work. Yes I completely agree on what you said. A boss dictates whereas a Leader lifts others with himself. A boss manages their employees, while a leader inspires them to innovate, think creatively, and strive for perfection. Every team has a boss, but what people need is a leader who will help them achieve greatness.
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Overall your idea about leadership is pretty decent. I agree with most of your content and It’s pretty amazing how you are able to evolve with your experiences. Also i have a question regarding what is a leader’s best asset and would wanna know if you got it?
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Hey Sam Stark, Thank you so much for appreciating my work and commenting on it. Yes my journey till now has assisted me for my individual growth as there were some ares where I was lagging behind but now I have overcome my shortcomings. According to me the Best asset leader could have is his Team. A team which believes in their leader and supports him, follows him is the most valuable asset. As I stared my blog with a quote by Simon Sinek, “A boss has title, a Leader has people”. if you earn the respect and trust of your team you’ll become their leader, and the title will return to you as a gift.
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Democratic leadership style is personally liked by me and also I think it is a successful style of leadership. I’m sure it builds a good relationship between the teammates and the leader. one quick question on this great blog, how will you measure the results after implementing them in real life?
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Hi Rishikesh, Thank you so much for you valuable comment. Democratic Leadership style is personally liked by me as well and yes its definitely builds a strong bond among the leaders and team members as Democratic leaders keeps the lines of communication open. I can measure the results by getting feedback from my team members as Leaders know they aren’t perfect, and they understand that nobody else is perfect, either. That’s why great leaders ask for and embrace feedback. Leaders also know that constant feedback, delivered the right way, is the best way to encourage good work, provide guidance, and create connections with their teammates.
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I like your work, you explain the content in a pretty simple and interesting way. Looking forward for more of your blogs. Please keep inspiring us with more such contents.
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Hi Alfiya,
I like your work. Great explanation of leadership styles and theories done, As you have used various model for evaluating your development as a leader, why according to you Johari model is the most suited one ?
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Hi Murtuza, Thank you for your valuable comment. Personally I think Johari window is the most useful tool for helping us build self-awareness and gain an understanding of how others perceive you. If you are working with others on a regular basis, the Johari Window is particularly good for helping you build your awareness and relationships with those in the group. Using the Johari Window will help improve your communications with others, enhance your relationship skills, develop your metacognitive ability and most importantly, give you more clarity around who you are and how your representing yourself to the world.
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Loved how you’ve explained the minute details in such a convincing way. Looking at your blog, I’ve come to know that you’re soft spoken, don’t consider it as a disadvantage because it is your strongest point. People look out for those who are humble over those who are rude. That is what the marketing as well as all the industries seek. And yes, your writing skills are commendable. Good luck, you have a long way to go!
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