Military Capstone: Strategic Leadership

Military Capstone: Strategic Leadership

Introduction

Leadership is the process of influencing people and directing them to accomplish their collective goals. Growth is synonymous with what a leader pursues to achieve. This we say, because for a leader, personal as well as collective (growth of his team on the whole) growth is very essential in order to fulfill his responsibilities. Growth, in leadership sense, is achieved through being one's “own” leader (Whitehead, 1933). This means checking one's own actions, engaging others to meet similar objectives, meeting shared results along with appreciating and compelling to “do more”, building coalition among followers and building transformer systems.

In this rapidly changing and fast paced world it is believed that leading life successfully has become a tough thing to do. In our life we have to make several decisions for its betterment. Sometimes we make rational decisions and some other times we become unable to properly analyze and comprehend a situation and reach to some irrational decisions. But the good thing is that every good decision brings confidence in us and every wrong decision enriches us with experience. With the help of this experience and some other traits we begin to give directions and guidance to people and that is how the story of leadership starts. Leadership is a very deep and intriguing phenomenon (Mahoney & McCue, 1999).

Growth of the entire team is important to a leader. As God cares for His people, so does a leader, for his followers. This means a growth in their personal and skillful careers, which does not necessarily have to overlap each other. Growth is achieved through commitment to improve and learn from mistakes. This growth may not be visible in tangible forms very soon, but is can always be indicated through the character and attitude of the entire team. A relation with God inculcates into knowing one's self and inner traits; something that is very important to achieving growth and spirituality for leaders. In this essay we will define the leadership styles and motivations of a particular leader with whom we enjoyed close association and collaborated work connections.

Base of Power, Leadership Motivation, and Leadership Style

“Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves to be great”- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

From the pre-historic times till today, people have always been curious about the undoubted spirit of effective leadership. They have been curious about how these traits were inherited and implemented. History contains many illustrations of effective leadership tales of explorers, historians, educators, scientist or businesses. Effective leaders prove themselves to be eligible to carry on and fulfill the dreams of other people. Efficient leaders have shaped nations corporations, education systems, and the lives of millions of people. In general, leadership is a process in which, a person utilizes the limited resources for the effective and efficient organizing, planning and implementing of any task (Khurana, 2002).

Leadership is also found closely linked to another concept, power. This means the ability or authority ...