Leadership Practice

In this chapter you will learn to:

Identify leadership behaviors.

Identify the characteristics associated with leadership traits.

Identify leadership styles.

Identify transactional and transformational leadership practices.

In The Real World

Your friend, Katie, began a school internship with an event planning company last year. You have not seen her for some time and finally run into her at school. You caught up on what has been going on.

Finally, you ask her about that internship. Katie says, ‘That internship was a wonderful experience. I learned so much more than just event planning there. As a matter of fact, I still work there part-time and have an offer to go full-time after graduation.’ ‘Wow,’ you respond, ‘That’s not what I hear from others about their internships.’ Katie laughs, ‘I just got lucky I guess. I hooked up with this very powerful leader named Dan. Today he is my mentor.’

Katie sees your level of interest and decides to share her story about the internship that turned into a job. She begins, ‘I felt really lucky to land that internship because I wanted to be a meeting planner. But I didn’t expect the level of training I received there. When I was paired with Dan, he was intimidating at first – he seemed sort of stern. He is a senior manager in charge of an entire division for the company. I was amazed that he didn’t just have me shadow some junior person.’ ‘Wow,’ you say, ‘I guess he likes working with younger people.’

Katie replies, ‘That wasn’t my first impression of him. In fact, I think he was going to dispatch me to someone else after our first conversation.’ ‘What happened there?’ you ask. ‘Well,’ Katie begins, ‘We sat down and he started firing questions at me about who I am, what I want to accomplish, what did I know about the company and so on. I thought I was really blowing it. When the conversation was over, Dan told me to report to his office at eight the next morning and to be prepared to learn.’ Katie finishes.

You tell Katie, ‘That guy does sound intimidating.’ ‘He was at first,’ Katie responds, ‘But after watching him in action, I realized he is a powerful leader who is very respected by the followers. I think that’s why he has the best division in the company. At the end of my internship, we had a wrap-up interview.’ You ask Katie, ‘What happened there?’

Katie looked embarrassed as she responded, ‘He told me I am a high achiever and that I have earned the opportunity to stay on as a part-timer while I finished school. He gave me a development plan to be completed by the time I graduate. He told me that the successful completion of that plan could lead to a full-time job with the firm.’ ‘Wow!’ you respond. Katie continued, ‘Yup, I feel like I have been transformed by my working relationship with Dan. I graduate in two months and I completed my action plan last week. When I showed my accomplishments to Dan, he just smiled and said that I had just earned a full-time position.’ As you look at Katie telling her story, you eventually say to her, ‘Ya know? You do seem different. You don’t seem like a kid anymore. You seem kind of worldly all of a sudden.’ Katie smiles and says, ‘Thanks, I feel that way too.’