The Impact of Culture on Organizations

The article entitled "Winning Teams- Winning Cultures" is a must read for all current and future leaders. The reading addresses one of the most important and deciding factors in the success or failure of an organization- culture. Essentially, culture is the set of expectations and social norms produced by the interactions and mentalities of leaders and subordinates within an organization. The article claims that poor culture alone can prevent the implementation of change, succesful collaboration between organizations, as well as basic performance and improvement. Culture is the human part of operations. Examples of poor, performance-inhibiting cultural attributes are internal competition, bureaucratic tendencies, lack of accountability, trust issues, boss-driven leadership, and passive-aggressiveness. These cultural barriers, among others, posses the ability to decimate the most powerful and promising of initiatives. The article goes on to give several examples of companies that failed in different areas based on cultural shortcomings.

One of the most important points made by the article is that a positive, progressive, and stimulating culture must begin with the leaders. The leaders are to set the example for how the culture should be within the organization. Often times, leaders have the enthusiasm and ingenuity to take positions and come up with ideas, but lack the vision to recognize that all their efforts will be wasted if they are not supported by a solid culture of employees, members, or subordinates. Thus, many promising leaders are broken by positions and leave companies because they could not handle the cultural pressures and difficulties. Leaders are charged with the responsibility to live in a way that reflects the desired culture of their organzation.

The other strong point made by the article is the need for culture to begin with individuals, so that they may eventually work together to create a social fabric that will enhance the growth and progress of the company or entity. Thus, a culture must be established that encourages personal accountability and boldness so that individuals may stand up for their beliefs and oppose poor decisions, without resorting to blaming. A proper culture allows respect, trust, responsibility, and growth to flourish, so that individuals may perform at their best, thus allowing the organization to reach unprecedented levels of synergy and performance. By establishing a bottom-up culture, decision-making is made easier, flexibility is increased, interpersonal skills thrive, and a positive environment exists. The positive culture allows individuals to navigate the various emotions of the mood elevator- a model of positive and negative feelings that affect individual behavior.

In conclusion, leaders must recognize that their vision for an organization must be adopted and internalized by all those that they lead, and this begins by establishing a culture that is well-suited for launching the organization towards success.

-Ernest Levert Jr

The Foundation of Leadership

I really enjoyed reading through the article entitled "Credibility is the Foundation of Leadership" as it allowed me to evaluate my leadership as well as the leadership potential in my peers. The article opens with a quote from a man named Gayle Hamilton of Pacific Gas and Electric- "You can't follow someone who isn't credible, who doesn't truly believe in what they're doing- and how they're doing it." Through my experience and my observations of others, I believe that one of the most difficult challenges of leadership is becoming the person that people want to follow. Sure, it's easy to claim a title, but how can you become the leader that will inspire others to perform at their best? According to the article, the key to leadership is credibility. After surveying individuals and organizations from around the world, the four characteristics that establish one's credibility are honesty, competency, foresight, and the ability to inspire. Although many other attributes surfaced, these traits seemed to evoke the most trust. One of the points addressed that I most enjoyed in the article was that leaders are known for walking the walk. I'm sure we have all encountered those who are good with words, who can make situations seem so great, but then when it comes to action, all enthusiasm wanes and the goals turn to dust. Thus, the article describes a credible leader as one who can create, communicate, and bring about an inspirational vision that will motivate others to commit. This is only possible once the leader has established himself or herself as a person of integrity. Ultimately, the leader demands trust and respect just in the way that he lives his life- you have no reason to doubt him. Though he will never be perfect, his followers trust in his abilities to lead them to where they long to be.

Another aspect discussed in the article is competency; leaders must possess the skills necessary to perform well in a role and to assist those who come to them with questions. Leaders don't have to be the best at everything, but they must bring out the best in people.

Finally, the article makes it clear that leaders must understand and base their actions and directives on the needs of their constituents. Leaders with emotional intelligence are the ones deemed to be the most effective and respected. Leaders are therefore competent, consistent, trustworthy, motivational, and vision-oriented. Once we internalize these traits, we all will be one step closer to realizing our potential.

-Ernest Levert Jr

Communication

Communication is essential for any group to function. However with different types of people in every group, there are different styles of communication. To be an effective leader, one must be able to utilize each style of communication so as to relate to every member of the group. Without relating to your other group members, you have a group full of leaders, or “too many cooks in the kitchen.” The problem with that is a lack of communication, and ultimately a lack of execution due to personal differences. The four styles of communication are direct, spirited, considerate, and systematic. Each has their pros and cons. For example, the direct style is best for getting goals accomplished in crunch time, but not for social situations whereas the spirited side is the opposite. Considerate styles are agreeable, not acquiescent, and systematic styles are orderly and logical.

These being the words of Jordan K. Macon

Level 5 Leader

I used to think that to be a good leader required that one always had to generate ideas. I thought a leader had to be extroverted and have his hands in all aspects of the group to ensure that work gets done. I was surprised when I learned that a level 5 leader actually is introverted. He is humble, yet has the will to get tasks accomplished. As opposed to being a micromanager, a level 5 leader needs to be more of a catalyst for the group in an attempt to get goals accomplished. Also, the focus on the group as opposed to the individual is a humble quality of this leader. Humility is a necessary quality for a leader in order to keep the leader honest and realize that his success is attributed to the group as a whole. He realizes that he is not trying to accomplish a task by himself. What surprised me the most was that the level 5 leader was equated with an executive. Being a business major, I may one day have the opportunity to be an executive and these are qualities that I have.

These being the words of Jordan K. Macon.

Post on "Everybody Wins"

Reading this presentation by Gene Smith titled "Everybody Wins", really interests me because I wanted to see his perspective on leadership. Mr. Smith is a highly influential African American male in college sports and at OSU, so it was important to read about his strategies. One of the topics that stood out to me was his "Levels of Accountability". This feature stayed with me because it asked leaders to acknowledge reality. Even though you are a leader at school or at work, you have to put things in perspective. You are only one person so you have to realize your capabilities. I also thought the topic of emotional intelligence was very informative leadership is based on relationships. The four fundamental capabilities; self-awareness, social skill, self-management, and social awareness are vital aspects for emotional intelligence. Each capability has its purpose and it used effectively, will help you become a better leader. Even when Mr. Smith discussed the 6 leadership styles, he displayed the positives and negatives of each style. This allows for balance within each style so leaders are more well rounded. Leaders should always look for ways to adjust to the times and stay diverse and utilizing those 6 leadership styles allows for that. In the future, I hope to read my material from Mr. Smith because he is a positive role model at OSU. Even though he works in a demanding profession, he still finds time to impact the community here at OSU.

Public Speaking

The article on public speaking was very helpful. I can be shy when I'm talking in front of people I don't know very well. I get even more nervous when I'm being graded since public speaking isn't my strong suit. I had to talk about an article in my psychology class last week and I was kind of nervous because it was 15% of my grade for the quarter so the first thing I did was refer back to the public speaking article. The main thing the article emphasized about public speaking was practice and I did just that. I practiced my 10 minute presentation over and over again until I memorized all the important facts and after a while I could recite my entire presentation without consulting my notes or the power point slides. Another good tip the article gave was relaxing. When I started out talking in front of the class, I was nervous even though I had practiced and made one or two speech errors but a few minutes into the presentation, I got comfortable and was more relaxed and all the words just flowed better. The last tip I used from the article was going into a room that was similar to my classroom set-up (Group-study rooms at Thompson library) and I imagined that I was standing in front of every one in the class and presenting the topic. All in all, the presentation went well and I really enjoyed it so I encourage every one to refer to the article when in need of presentation and public speaking tips.

Harold Washington Article

After reading this article about Harold Washington, I realized that Harold's persistent was unmatched by his peers during his time in office. With all the racial tension in Chicago during the 80's, it is remarkable that Harold made a significant impact on Chicago before his untimely death. Being an African American male forced Harold to endure many challenges but his strong determination helped him succeed. One of the goals Harold wanted to accomplish while mayor was assisting and providing for the minorities in Chicago. Washington and his team provided various projects to help the unfortunate minorities. There were programs that helped with residential assistance, minority businesses and health care. Washington did have some dislike from his peers but he didn't let that stop him. Before Chicago elected Harold, it was a republican city and a lot of minorities felt they had no help. With the election of Harold, there was hope and optimism for the future. I didn't know much of Harold before reading this article but he was one of the most influential African American leaders we have witnessed. I believe that many students could learn from Harold Washington and I hope we can produce more leaders like him in the future.