•A511.1.5.RB - Leadership Analysis

Understanding the concepts of leadership and management are processes that are often made very complex.  I don’t understand why we as a society must define both in such multifaceted and often complicated ways.  In my personal opinion, both terms can be defined in a one word definition; leadership inspires, while management directs.   However, as simple as this may be, many so called experts will disagree with me while some would hesitantly agree with me. 

In 2011, renown leadership expert Henry Mintzberg participated in a special issue of the journal, Strategy & Leadership, where he made two profound statements (to me anyway) that I think speaks volumes to the field of leadership.  (1) The problem with the concept of leadership is that it implies everyone else is a follower.  To me, this speaks to the basic instinct of all living things; survival.  Not everyone or every living creature is willing to be a follower; many seek to be the “alpha”, which is defined in many circles as the individual in the community with the highest rank of authority.  I feel this applies also to the business community as it relates to organizational and individual success.  Many leaders have left companies because they themselves wanted to be that person in charge, thus not followers.  In the same sense many managers have left companies because they did not believe in the leadership vision in which they worked (more to come on this later).  (2) The notion that one can be a leader and not a manager, originally postulated by Harvard Business School professor Abraham Zaleznik, is wrong. An executive cannot lead without managing.  If they’re not correlated in some way, the organization may become dysfunctional and inefficient. I agree whole-hearted with Mintzberg’s statement that for a person to truly comprehend the understanding leadership and management, individuals needs to occupy both roles within their career path. I believe this point is supported by the video of Simon Sinek's, “WHY…of leadership”.  How can a leader become successful if they do not know how to inspire employees or even connect them?  As Mr. Simon Sinek stated, Dr. Martin Luther King did speak of a dream that the audience shared, not a plan on how to overcome.  However, if he himself had never been deprived of such human rights, how would he know this (not by reading a book).  It has been said that to truly appreciate winning, one must experience defeat; to appreciate freedom, it must be taken from you; and I believe to truly embrace leadership and management, one must experience the good and bad of both roles. 

    

As far as Herb Kelleher and the question of why does Southwest Airlines exist, I think the slogan “Freedom to Fly" makes sense only when it is understood.  By in itself the slogan may seem somewhat blah.  On the other hand, when it is explained by leadership, it carries a different meaning which encompassed with a sense of motivation and even inspiration. I myself did not understand it, until I conducted further research on the slogan “Freedom to Fly".  I believe the same goes for the speech by Dr. King.  It is one thing to read a message, but when explained by a great leader, it can take on a totally different meaning.  This leads me back to that statement I made earlier on how leaders and managers have left companies because for various reasons.  The bottom line is in most situations people don’t leave companies and jobs; they leave because of poor leadership and management.  Mr. Kelleher and Dr. King proved this to be true.  Even when Southwest and its employees went through tough times, employees stood by the company and even though people knew the civil rights movement would not be easy, they stood by the words of Dr. King.