Final Week

Hi All,

My leadership journey is complete! But then again, should I say just getting started? It seems as though eight weeks of my leadership course in Centenary College. The professor did a great job in navigating the class through all of the concepts and terms that we learned.

It is important to note that leadership can most certainly be learned. It is your responsibility as a leader to want to learn how to develop and sharpen your skills as a leader. The most powerful tool we used in the eight weeks of this course was a leadership assessment. Leadership assessments should be the first stop on your leadership journey. It gives you 360 degree view of your leadership skills and abilities from yourself and observers around you. Assessments give you a good idea of what skills you are already strong in and weaknesses (opportunities) where you can spend a little more time in to improve. I have already started to implement things that I have learned in my career and my direct manager has noticed. I have learned to accept ideas put forth by other team members and make everyone feel that they are contributing to common good of the team. When you have a culture where everyone feels comfortable and trusted to make decisions on their own, you are set up for a high performing environment. Leaders need everyone around them to be successful in order for them to see success as leaders.

Regards,
Markus

Week 5

My journey to becoming a better leader has certainly improved while taking my leadership course in Centenary college. But, I must say the class has not been easy for me. The difficulty has not come from the type of work being asked of me, but the work in addition to my career and personal hobbies. This leadership course is only the second class I have taken on my road to an MBA and there is still opportunity for me in regards to how I get all of the required work done.

The leadership course itself has helped a great deal. So far I have learned about different styles of leadership. I have also learned the importance of being an example of the type of behavior you expect from your constituents. I have already applied this to career. I make sure to work with integrity to get things done the right way and with a sense of urgency. I focus on the behaviors of my constituents rather than the results. Behavior focused leading will lead to more long term success. This course has also helped me with decision making in my current role. I have now realized the importance of having the ability to look at something from multiple perspectives. I no longer search only search for confirmation of an idea I have, but something that may disprove it as well. This allows for a more broad range of thinking. This allows you to understand an issue from multiple viewpoints in gives you the opportunity to make decisions with the common good of the group in mind.

Regards,
Markus