Leader Interview
16 February 2018
Foundation of Organizational Leadership
Dr. William Behrens
Purpose
The purpose of this interview is to collect information on leadership from Commander (CDR) Mosi’s perspective. CDR Mosi is a naval flight officer and the Executive Officer of Naval Station Activity mid-south in Millington, TN.
Interview Questions
1
2
Do you make a distinction between management and leadership? If so, what is it?
3
What do you think is the role of the follower?
How do you define leadership, and what makes one an effective leader?
4
What are the significant challenges facing leaders of the future?
I define leadership as having the ability to inspire others to greatness. As a leader I set a vision for them, I expect them to meet that vision while encouraging their individual talent to meet that vision. What makes an effective leader is having a vision and setting that vision for individuals, and serving those that I lead to meet that vision. A servant leader “concern himself with the well-being of others, empowers, and develops others towards self-actualization, empathizes with and heals others, and behaves in an ethical manner. (Greenleaf, 2008).
How do you define leadership, and what makes one an effective leader?
For example; I like to use a fire analogy: As a leader I need to tell followers that I need a blue flame (that’s the vision), and I have people that I know can give me a blue flame. Fire requires three elements (Oxygen, heat, and fuel source) One follower is oxygen, the other is heat and another one is fuel (wood). A blue flame requires lots of oxygen, then I will ask a lot of my oxygen, on the other hand for an orange flame I need lots of heat but little oxygen, all the time inspiring everyone to meet that vision.
How do you define leadership, and what makes one an effective leader? (cont)
Absolutely, management is the ability to having a check list and meet those checklists and pushing out those checklists. A manager can go out there and task you all day long by email, whether you attain it or not is not his problem, he don’t care, just get it done.
Leadership is step above of management, is having those checklist and inspiring individuals to meet those check list. A leader will give the vision, give you the check list and then ask if you know how to accomplish it, if you don’t, let me help you get there, let me serve you, do you have the tools you need to reach that goal, what’s your road block and remove road blocks.
“Leadership and management are different concepts that overlap” (Northouse, 2016, p.17).
Do you make a distinction between management and leadership? If so, what is it?
The role of the follower is to make sure they understand the task at hand, what is the vision, they need to have the ability express what their road blocks are. This is not to be confuse with excuses, these need to be legitimate road blocks. If you understand the vision and how to attain that vision.
“effective followers are recognized by certain attributes which include; “1) They manage themselves well, 2) They are committed to the organization and to a purpose, multiple, or person outside themselves, 3) They build their competence and focus their efforts to maximum impact, 4) They are courageous, honest, and credible” (Kelly, 1988, p. 144).
What do you think is the role of the follower?
The one that comes to mind now, is the ability to bridge values with generational gaps. Work ethics, coming to work every day and doing the work diligently is ethic. How you get that job done changes over generations. Back in the days everything was written by hand. Now everything is done by computers, it was the next generation that brought computers online. Now the old school guy says, I need you to hand write this. But the new school guys say, I don’t need to write it by hand. I can use a computer.
They need to be able to grasp the values and then implement those values with their innovations of the day. The millennial right now, they don’t understand things that the gen X understand; example; because if you show a cassette to them right now they don’t know what that is. We have evolved so much that we have an MP3 player.
What are the significant challenges facing leaders of the future?
During the interview CDR Mosi highlighted some of the approaches, mindset, and theories we’ve seen in our literature. He clearly defines the difference between Leader and follower, and make a point that a leader is step above a manager, meaning that a leader needs to know how to manage and understand the difference. “Leadership and management are different concepts that overlap” (Northouse, 2016, p.17). He also touched on serving followers/subordinates, which relates to the servant-leader mindset. I found the fire analogy interesting and understood the connection. Leaders must assist followers ensuring that they have what they need to succeed by showing the path and removing obstacles, this is the path-goal theory.
Conclusion
References
Greenleaf, R. K. (2008). The servant as leader. Westfield, IN: The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership
Kelley, R.E. (1988). In praise of followers. Harvard Business Review, 66(6), 142-148
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
