What Does It Take To Be A Global Leader?

What Does It Take To Be A Global Leader?
Leadership, specifically related to global trends, involves facing essential

challenges such as motivating followers, mobilizing their knowledge, skills and abilities,
creating and implementing an organizational vision and managing change. Several
schools of thought have ascended as to how leadership can be explained and how it
should be exercised, assessed, conceptualized and even defined. Equipped with
culturally specific data which correspond to the culturally accepted and globally
expected characteristics, leaders should provide leadership that would transform an
organization from the as-is to the as-required form of leadership scheme.
It is essential to be aware of the new management and leadership trends in a
world that is changing inevitably that would contribute to the development of the
organization. It is affirmed that leaders, whether effective or ineffective, influence
followers by which affect their lives, either positively or negatively. Leaders inherently
have more power which makes them more influential to their followers. And this
influence over followers carries a great responsibility of the impact on followers, and
thus, leaders become involved in improving and establishing organizational goals and
values. In the study of Spohn (2018), he introduced Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective People” to the global trends in leadership highlighting the significant
impact to the organization. Covey thus identified the seven habits as:
Habit 1: Be proactive. In his use and understanding of the first habit, he is careful
to emphasize that being proactive is taking responsibility of one’s own life and is
indicative as a behavioral function of decisions. As what Covey conveys, the definition
of proactivity is interconnected along with the trait of responsibility.
Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind. This has many beneficial characteristics, as
beginning at the destination helps the leader grasp the beginning point, understand
where the individual currently resides in the decision process and gives a path to follow,
ensuring success throughout each destination point. This visionary exercise becomes a
key determinant in accomplishing goals and effective measure of the ultimate goal.
Habit 3: Put things first. Covey stresses that this habit is responsible for the
actual creation of the visualization. Highlighting time spent with urgent and important
task will free an individual by putting “first things first” that may lead down the path to
effectiveness.
Habit 4: Think win-win. Covey goes to argue that win-win is a simple frame of
mind that seeks solutions which are equally beneficial to all parties involved.
Intepersonal skills of a leader are essential. In this habit, it emphasizes the importance
of seeking a mutual benefit of both the leader and followers.
Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. This type of listening is
defined as emphatic listening to understand and then to be understood. This habit is a
core component in ethical leadership theory and transformational leadership theory.
Habit 6: Synergize. It is where the effective leader stimulates the intellect of
followers by encouraging them to look at problems differently and to think outside the
box. All the previous habits build on each other, culminating in an effect where the
whole is greater than the summation of each of the individual parts. This habit of
effective leaders permeates to all aspects of life, particularly to communication and
creativity, whereas the opposite effect of negativity reflects itself synergistically through
a narrow mindedness reality of control or unhealthy dependence. Covey emphasizes
the importance of this habit by suggesting a person to access intuition, creativity and
visual insight as well as analytical, logical and verbal characteristics if the brain is
functioning in its entirety or synergy.
Habit 7: Sharpen the saw. Covey concludes his seven habits of effective
leadership by alluding to the need of renewal. It is a multi-step process in which several
areas of an individual life will be impacted including physical, social, emotional, spiritual
and mental. Each area has different characteristics which define an individual. These
balanced approaches revolve around the previous habits but need continual attention
for an effective leader.
Covey’s seven habits are building blocks to effective leadership, but then, it could
also have a negative impact in the organization if they are not managed properly.
Prioritizing the wrong theories could lead others and ultimately the organization at risk.
The same way, in an organization, no leader can be good at everything which leads to
the conclusion that all of those habits should be balance in order to maintain an
effective leadership that upholds the win-win premise. Leaders must know their
particular strengths and how to draw upon the complementary strengths of others.
Covey’s habits are indeed helpful in guiding others to be effective. What it takes to be
an effective leader is that he should possess positive leadership styles and
characteristics aligned with Covey’s seven habits, and with guided priorities because it
will affect the organization, followers and the leader himself.
Reference:
Spohn, D. (2018). An operational definition of effective leadership: was Covey right?
Review Pub Administration. 6(2),251. doi:10.417212315-7844.1000251

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What Does It Take To Be A Global Leader?

Leadership, specifically related to global trends, involves facing essential

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