Leadership Paper: Describe the leader(s) in relation to key course concepts. 1. Intro: Summarize the leader's key strengths, values, goals and achievements. You might also discuss key influences, challenges, passions, weaknesses, seeming contradictions, strong traits, and most surprising characteristics. Include some quotes from your leader, people who worked with him or her, and major articles written about him or her (e.g. in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, NY Times, etc.). You may choose to focus on a leader's role in a specific company (especially if he or she was he founder), or discuss the leader's career progression (which may require a separate section). 2. Leadership skills and styles. Describe relevant aspects of the person's leadership skills, styles, behaviors, traits, strengths, weaknesses, derailers, etc. (Some of these topics could be merged with extra topics below.) Support your assertions with examples. What does this leader value (espoused or actual)? Would you describe this leader's decision making style as autocratic, participative, empowering, centralized, de-centralized, laissez-faire, etc.? Is this leader more task oriented or relationship oriented? Is this person more of a leader or a manager? Is this a positive, energizing leader? Goal oriented? Authentic? 3. Which leadership theories or approaches are most useful in examining this person? Select at least one theory for in-depth treatment, and describe additional theories that are relevant. Examine transformational vs transactional, servant leadership, Path-goal, and others. Is this leader often described as visionary, innovative, or a change leader? Charming, charismatic, inspiring? Hard-driving, results driven, strategic? Socially responsible, ethical, focused on sustainability, conscious capitalism? Which Path-Goal behaviors fit this leader best (all leaders will have some)? Dig into the details of the theory to find matches to the behaviors of your leader. Path-Goal theory includes 8 categories of behaviors (table 13.4), Servant Leadership includes 10, and Transformational leadership has 4 key behaviors as well as observable outcomes. Provide examples, explanations, stories, or quotes when possible. For instance, if you believe your leader is/was a transformational leader, describe how he or she exhibited key behaviors (e.g. inspirational motivation), and what effect the leader had on followers and outcomes (see table 13.4). If you believe your leader is charismatic, be specific in describing why 4. How does this leader use power and influence? Does this leader share power, delegate, use participative decision making, or empowerment? (Note, in addition to chapter 12, see parts of chapter 11, and page 451.) What sources or types of power are most apparent? (Reward, referent, etc.) What tactics and techniques does this leader use to influence or persuade others? How has this leader used or dealt with organization politics? Does this leader develop and mentor other leaders? Address the \"dark-side\" of charisma or power if you think it might fit. 5. Conclude with a brief summary of \"lessons\" learned. Additional topics that you might include (as a separate section, or included in one of the sections above): Consider these sections if you can't find enough information for all the sections above, or if your team is larger than others in your class. Organization characteristics. How did the leader (or founder) create, influence or shape the organization's culture, structure, values, strategies, vision, mission, etc.? And/or, how was their leadership influenced by or constrained by the existing culture, values, history, structure, industry, and other factors? Career progression (for leaders who progressed in several significant leadership roles in different companies). How did this leader shape his or her management career? What enabled this person to be successful leading a number of different organizations? What lessons were learned? Emotional intelligence. Examine detailed skills and abilities within the scope of emotional intelligence. Describe which of these skills or abilities have been evidenced by the leader. Other potential topics: Communication skills, organization communication Conflict management, mediation, facilitation Emotional intelligence (see the handout for specific components). Social capital, networking, relationship development Negotiation, organization politics Metrics, analytics, big data Other topics? Check with me to discuss other potential topics that may be more relevant to the leader or company you selected. Research methods: You may use published documents, interviews, company documents, speeches, survey data, personal observations, YouTube speeches, or other methods. I recommend that you start by looking at leaders who are mentioned in the textbook, and by looking at companies that you admire, or in your own industry. The 100 Best companies list is also a good source, but many interesting entrepreneurs won't be on this list (yet). Then search the library website for journal articles about your leader. Harvard Business Review, and journals from Sloane, USC, Stanford, are often useful, as well as the New York Times, Forbes and Fortune. I'd prefer that you use high quality resources and original sources, rather than summarized information on blogs. If you do use an opinion blog (for insightful or colorful quotes), be sure to identify it as such in the paper. When researching a leader in your own company, be respectful and sensitive to any confidentiality issues. [Note: Many leaders (e.g. Jack Welch) have written books, but their advice doesn't necessarily reflect what they actually did as a leader.] References. Be sure that you are careful to cite all sources (using any consistent method). There are websites online that can advise you on how to avoid plagiarism, and we have access to turnitin.com on campus. Every sentence in the paper should be your own unless it is contained by quotation marks, and credited to the author. When taking notes from articles, be sure to write your notes in your own words to avoid accidental plagiarism. If you obtain information from a website, cite both the webpage and original source whenever possible. CHOICES AND PRESENTATIONS: Please let me know which leader(s) you would like to choose, and whether your group will present on this topic