At the heart of caring leadership is concern for others. The leader must not look down on others or treat them as machines – replaceable and interchangeable. The leader must be sincerely and deeply concerned about the welfare of people. The character of caring stands in clear contrast to the character of bullying. The caring [...]
The leader must understand her or his own world and how it relates to the world of others. One cannot solve the equation of others when preoccupied with the equation of self. Empathy for employees cannot be developed if the leader is emotionally involved with personal problems. Problems with alcohol, problems with money, and problems [...]
Genuine enthusiasm is an important trait of a good leader. Enthusiasm is a form of persuasiveness that causes others to become interest and willing to accept what the leader is attempting to accomplish. Enthusiasm, like other human emotions – laughter, joy, happiness – is contagious. Enthusiasm shown by a leader generates enthusiasm in followers. As [...]
The leader must know the job – or invite loss of respect. It helps if the leader has done the job before and done it well. Employees seldom respect the individual who constantly must rely on others when making decisions, giving guidance, or solving problems. Although employees usually show a great deal of patience with [...]
The first requirement for a leader is a strong sense of purpose. A vision of what could and should be is a basic force that enables the leader to recognize what must be done and to do it. Vision inspires others and causes the leader to accept the duties of leadership, whether pleasant or unpleasant. [...]
One of the classes that I am taking this semester, my senior year of college, is a class on leadership and motivation. One of the textbooks that we are using for the class is “The Art of Leadership” by Manning and Curtis. Now that we have actually started to use the book for readings and [...]
