For this discussion board post, think about a leader you've worked or played for in some capacity (this person could be a manager, coach, team captain, teacher, etc.). Briefly describe the experience of being one of this leader's followers - what did you like/dislike about working/playing for this person, what kind of effects did they seem to have on your group's performance, etc. Then, say whether any of the ideas from our course pack and class materials for this week can help to describe this leader. For example, did this leader have any of the personality traits our text suggests are beneficial for leaders? Did this leader demonstrate any of the types of leadership behaviors discussed in the course pack? Did the leader's behavior seem consistent with any of the leadership theories discussed in the remainder of the chapter (e.g., transformational leadership, situational leadership, leader-member exchange theory, etc.)? EXAMPLE POST: Prior to going back to school for my Ph.D., | worked in a college financial aid office at a university in Michigan. The leader | worked for (the Director of Financial Aid) was someone | really admired and enjoyed working for. | don't think | would have spent five years working in financial aid had | not been working for her (i.e., | probably would have left to go back to school earlier if I'd been working for someone else). Her leadership had a number of positive effects on me. Specifically, she challenged me to take on increasing levels of responsibility and challenge in my role, and when | was successful in learning new skills and solving problems for the office, | was recognized for my performance and promoted to a new role. | learned a lot and became a significantly more valuable employee as a result of working for this leader. | think this leader demonstrated some of the personality characteristics that are associated with leadership effectiveness. Specifically, | think she had very high levels of conscientiousness and emotional stability, and this combination made her very competent and able to deal with the demands of a very stressful role without being overly affected by negative emotions. With regard to the behavioral approaches to leadership, this leader definitely demonstrated the "empowering leadership" approach. A big part of why | valued working for her was that she delegated meaningful tasks to me, gave me a lot of coaching support as | worked to learn new skills, and rewarded me with additional responsibilities and opportunities when | was successful. | think the leader-member exchange (LMX) model of leadership applies well to this leader's style. She definitely had an "in- group" of trusted followers (including me) and an "out-group\" of followers that had a different relationship with her. This could have been a bad thing if people in the office believed that she was simply playing favorites (and putting people in the in- or out-groups for unethical reasons), but in this case it was pretty clear that the people in the in-group were those who were willing to work hard and take on challenging tasks that might not have strictly been in their job descriptions. So, new employees could earn their way into the "in-group" by working hard and being willing to take on new challenges and responsibilities