Microsoft Word - BU450 Lesson 4
ASSIGNMENT 04
BU450 Leadership Skills
Directions: Answer in complete sentences and be sure to use co
ect English
spelling and grammar. Sources must be cited in APA format. Your response
should be a minimum of one (1) single-spaced page to a maximum of two (2)
pages in length. Margins 1” all sides, Headings Bold, Type Style and Size Times
New Roman, 12-point, Software - MS Word
Part A
Describe charismatic leadership in your own words.
Part B
Explain what is meant by the statement that charismatic leaders use active impression
management with their followers to support their image. Provide and elaborate on one (1)
original example.
Part C
Access the following article using ProQuest, the Ashworth College online li
ary: ATTACHED
Elrod, D.J. (Aug XXXXXXXXXXThe Importance of Being Authentic. Strategic Finance, (94. 2), pp. 14-
16.
Respond to the following:
1. In your own words, describe what it means to be an authentic leader.
2. Why is authenticity important for leaders? Provide two (2) reasons.
Part D
Why is charismatic leadership considered a double-edged sword that requires careful monitoring
to avert abuse? Provide two (2) reasons and one (1) original example illustrating this
phenomenon.
Dept Comp
Leaders are those individualswho have a vision that can
inspire others to work with them
to achieve it. Leaders may be
described as confident, charis-
matic, and passionate, but the real-
ity is that they come in all shapes
and sizes, and, like so many things
in life, there isn’t just one right way
to be a leader. And there’s certainly
no shortage of advice on how to be
a leader. Countless essays and
ooks have been written on the
subject. To the average person, it
can be a little overwhelming and
confusing.
Yet one trait stands out above
all others: Leaders should strive to
e authentic.
What does “authentic” mean?
According to Me
iam-Webster.com,
one definition of authentic is “not
false or imitation; real or actual,” and
that’s what it means in terms of
leadership. Authentic leaders lead as
who they truly are without imitating
others or pretending to be some-
thing they aren’t. This doesn’t mean
that they don’t learn and develop
over time or change their leadership
style based on their experiences. It
means that they stay true to thei
eal self and lead from that
perspective.
Why is authenticity important
for leaders? It removes any pre-
tense about who they are and how
they should act—freeing them to
leverage their own strengths. It
also builds trust across the organi-
zation because the team is getting
the real person rather than a
leader pretending to be someone
else. No organization can succeed
in the long term without trust.
Also, authenticity burnishes a
leader’s reputation. A highly
espected leader attracts high-
caliber talent that helps the orga-
nization find further success. This
self-reinforcing cycle can help
teams reach new heights.
Leverage Your Strengths
Everyone has strengths and weak-
nesses or areas for improvement.
As a leader, it’s important to
emember that no one on you
team expects you to be perfect, but
they aren’t as forgiving if you
aren’t honest with yourself about
your limitations. In most cases, if
you’ve been selected as a leader,
you probably have significant
strengths that outweigh any weak-
nesses you may have, so it’s impor-
tant to leverage these strengths and
uild on them while you work on
your areas for improvement. If
you’re upfront about the areas
you’re working on, your team will
support you and even cheer you
on as you develop new strengths.
When I became a manager, it
wasn’t the first time I had led a
group, but it was the first time that
I was the official leader of a sizable
team. Everyone on my team knew
this, and I readily admitted that I
was finding my way. At first, I was
apprehensive because my predeces-
sor was a well-liked and successful
manager with many years of expe-
ience. Our team was considered a
high-performing team, and I didn’t
want to mess things up. Though I
had attended some management
and leadership courses, I was still
unsure about how I wanted to
lead. I was fearful that the team
wouldn’t accept me as their leade
and that I would fail as a result,
ut I was confident in my abilities
and resolved to focus on the things
that I knew I could do well.
By focusing on my strengths
and leveraging them as much as
possible, I was able to excel in
these areas while I learned in othe
areas. For example, planning and
organizing have always been one
of my strongest skill sets. As a
The Importance of
Being AuthenticHow many times have youworked with or for a person you
thought was being straightfor-
ward and honest, only to find out
later that he or she was fooling
you and others to achieve some
goal? Good leaders don’t do this.
14 S T R AT E G IC F I N A N C E I Au g u s t XXXXXXXXXX
frontline manager, my job was
more focused on accomplishing
the goals set by the senior leader-
ship team, so I leveraged these
skills to help my team accomplish
the goals successfully. In the
meantime, I developed and honed
my influencing skills by working
with my mentor and my cu
ent
manager to improve in this area.
Had I approached the role as a
know-it-all new manager, I would
have been dogged by the image I
had to uphold rather than leverag-
ing my strengths to buy time to
work on my areas for improvement.
My team supported me because
they got the real me, not some
impostor, and in the end my first
manager role was a success that led
me to increased responsibilities and
igger roles in the future.
Build Trust
At this year’s IMA Annual Confer-
ence & Exposition, Stephen M.R.
Covey closed out the event with a
session called “The Speed of
Trust” that was based on his book
y the same name. In his speech,
Covey talked about how high-trust
organizations tend to be collabo-
ative, innovative, creative, and
effective, while low-trust organiza-
tions tend to be the opposite. In
high-trust organizations, things
get done faster and at a lower cost.
Covey builds a strong case fo
trust in organizations, but his
advice won’t change a thing if
you’re practicing his principles
only for the sake of following the
latest things you’ve learned about
leadership. To be truly effective,
you can’t simply imitate his
ideas—you have to sincerely
elieve in them and live them in
an authentic way. Otherwise, those
you lead will surely see right
through your efforts.
One of the best examples I have
of an authentic leader occu
ed
several years ago when a new
leader took over a group I was in.
The previous group leader was
successful and had built the group
around her leadership style, which
was very different from the new
manager’s style. There was notice-
able apprehension among team
members as the new leader took
over. But the new manager essen-
tially laid everything on the line in
an all-hands meeting focused on
helping the team get to know him.
He talked about his values and
ideas and answered questions
about himself as a leader. He put
himself up for close scrutiny by
the team and won a lot of respect
and trust in the process.
Not only did he explicitly state
his values and leadership approach
in a single meeting, but he pro-
ceeded to live by them in his suc-
cessive interactions with the team.
Actions do speak louder than
words, and as our relationship
with the new leader developed, we
ealized that his actions were con-
sistent with his words from that
first all-hands meeting. His level
of candor and transparency built
even more trust with the group.
He started with the right idea and
didn’t try to hide who he was o
how he wanted to lead. He was
authentic, and the trust he earned
as a result helped our group evolve
into that high-trust organization
that Covey described in his talk.
Burnish a Reputation
Every leader has a reputation. It
may be ill-formed from little
information, or it may be support-
ed by a long history of leadership.
Regardless of how this reputation
is derived, it sticks with you wher-
ever you go in an organization,
and, in some cases, it may follow
you to different companies. It may
change over time as you gain more
experience or take on different
assignments, but it’s always there.
Again, one of the surest ways to
uild a solid reputation is to be
authentic in your approach to
By David J. Elrod, CMA, CPA
LEADERSHIP
Au g u s t XXXXXXXXXXI S T R AT E G IC F I N A N C E 15
16 S T R AT E G IC F I N A N C E I Au g u s t XXXXXXXXXX
leadership. Stick to your core prin-
ciples. Doing so earns you a lot of
espect and makes people want to
work for you. The more people
who want to work for you, the
more likely you’ll attract high-
caliber team members who can
help you reach even greate
heights. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle
where success
eeds success.
In one of my previous compa-
nies, my team in Finance supported
a large internal organization that
generated most of the revenue fo
our company. The leader of that
organization was a young, charis-
matic guy who had spent his entire
career with the company, rising
steadily through the ranks to be-
come a senior vice president. De-
spite his relative youth, he was a
very popular leader who attracted a
lot of the top talent in the company,
and those who worked for him
were extremely loyal to him, includ-
ing those on the Finance team who
supported his organization.
My first impression of him was
that he seemed like an average guy
at the company. He had a huge role
there, yet he was down-to-earth and
straightforward. There was no blus-
ter or sheen that came with his title.
Instead, what you saw was what you
got, and this permeated his leader-
ship style. His authentic approach to
his role won him many fans and
made him successful, and that
approach helped him attract the top
people to perpetuate his success.
Stay Authentic
Authentic leaders focus on thei
strengths and work on their weak-
nesses with their team’s support