Effective Leadership in Sustainable Business

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

Final Essay

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MBA 716-51

Mohammad Zaman

Professor: Dr. Ellen Van Velsor

The definition of leadership can vary from person to person. It can also vary based on context. Leadership is a process where leaders influence followers to achieve a common goal (Bolden, 2013). It has become the most discussed issue within businesses and organizations. Organizations are now spending an enormous amount of money to develop leadership. First, I will address the necessary skills a leader needs to be an effective leader. Second, I will explain how one can become an effective leader. Finally, I will mention what kind of role a leader plays in sustainable business.

Being an effective leader requires certain core skills. It does not matter where a leader is located or what kind of team a leader is leading. Some of the core skills are discussed below:

Self-Awareness involves the capacity to be aware of one’s strengths, weaknesses, emotions, thoughts, and motivations. It allows leaders to understand their followers, and how supporters perceive the leader. For example, when a captain of an athletic team runs his team he has to know his personal strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. If the team leader has self-awareness, his team will play well. This skill helps a leader to be effective in any situation.

Every team has a common goal or vision. To achieve that vision leaders need creative ideas and skills to achieve the vision. Creativity helps people to perform well in uncertain situations. Creativity offers a way to discover how to complete a tough job in the easiest way. For instance, in the real world when leader faces a difficult situation most of the time they find a creative way to overcome it. These kinds of ideas usually come from the leader's personal experiences and skills.

  A leader needs to understand the task and also be able to describe the work process to the team member. Leaders also need to supervise the job process while team members work on it.

 Influence is a necessary skill for a leader. Without influencing power, a leader can not be successful. The ability to influence team members towards a primary goal makes a leader successful. Based on history, a leader such as Mahatma Gandhi had the capacity to influence people towards a common goal which was to get independence from the British colony in a non-violent way. Gandhi was successful because he knew how to influence a large group of people.

Leaders need to establish effective communication among team members. Effective communication engages all team members to understand each other and to reach the vision. For example, in one of my undergraduate classes, we had a project for a marketing class. In the first meeting, we divided the work among the group members but later we never contacted each other. When it was time to submit the project, we figured out that most members focused on the same issue. Due to lack of communication, we ended up with a lower grade. I realized that effective communication skills are crucial to lead a team.

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