100-word response with reference/intext citation use easily accessible websites or articles for references
Due 5/14/2025
Knecht
Describe the best leader you have personally known. What makes this person such a good leader? Include in your description the characteristics detailed in the textbook. How does your leader exhibit some of these characteristics?
John Doe was a manager at a retail establishment where I was employed during my undergraduate years. It wasn’t the best job, but he was the best manager. He was the type of person that you wanted to work for. He made the job fun, empowered me to use my mind and creativity in my work, and treated me with respect. In retrospect, he was also a great leader. He focused on people, inspired his team, and was not the type of person to accept the status quo. He was always thinking out of the box. He held Saturday morning department meetings to review the new product line, but he made them fun and relevant to us, who were in college. I recall one time he said, “You’re all going to need to know this (product knowledge) because someday you’ll own a home”. The job that I held was task-based, where I would arrive and perform specific tasks throughout the evening. However, he was a visionary and taught me how to work smart, not hard, always looking ahead.
What are the essential differences between being an effective manager and an effective leader?
The terms ‘leader’ and ‘manager’ can be confusing to some, but there is extensive information available about the distinction between the two roles, although there is some overlap. According to the text, leadership involves the leader, the follower, and the situation, and a manager “accepts the status quo; leaders challenge it” (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2022). As noted in the readings, there are multiple views, perceptions, and definitions of both terms.
“Effective leadership is centered on a vision to guide change, and effective managers set out to achieve organizational goals through implementing processes, such as budgeting, organizational structuring, and staffing. Leaders are more intent on thinking ahead and capitalizing on opportunities” (Gavin, 2019). An effective manager is organized, task-oriented, a motivator, an excellent communicator, and is dedicated to their role. This, of course, is not a complete list of characteristics, but an example. An effective leader possesses many of the same attributes and qualities as a manager. The primary difference between the two is that the leader is a visionary, thinks ahead, leads by example, and empowers others. An effective manager is one who administers tasks, maintains focus on the present, and addresses what needs to be done. On a sidenote, the examples in the text are very similar to those found on the Harvard Business School website.
