Leadership
Leader: a person who guides or directs a group. While there are definitely more in depth definitions of leadership this simple definition is a good introduction to this chapter. Leadership is a central theme to this book and the following articles will explore some aspects of leadership that relate to my career goals of starting and running a recreational therapy consulting business. I have also included some exercises that can help build leadership skills that will be necessary as I work my way toward my goals. Currently I am not in a leadership position at work so the information that I have gathered and included in this chapter will be used as I worked toward my goals. All of the information in this chapter has been included with the purpose of making myself a better leader and manager. I have included teaching materials at the end of the chapter summarizing the information below.
Leadership Articles:
Leader: a person who guides or directs a group. While there are definitely more in depth definitions of leadership this simple definition is a good introduction to this chapter. Leadership is a central theme to this book and the following articles will explore some aspects of leadership that relate to my career goals of starting and running a recreational therapy consulting business. I have also included some exercises that can help build leadership skills that will be necessary as I work my way toward my goals. Currently I am not in a leadership position at work so the information that I have gathered and included in this chapter will be used as I worked toward my goals. All of the information in this chapter has been included with the purpose of making myself a better leader and manager. I have included teaching materials at the end of the chapter summarizing the information below.
Leadership Articles:
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Entrepreneurship and Innovation: How Leadership Style Makes the Difference ?
Satyabir Bhattacharyya
In this article the author addresses leadership and how it applies specifically to entrepreneurs. The author first describes what entrepreneurship is and gives some examples explaining how/why those companies fit into that category. This information directly relates to my aspirations by getting me to think more specifically about what the goal/role of my RT consulting business will be and also to give me a perspective on how to make my business more effective to give it a higher chance of being successful. One topic that was interesting for me was systematic purposeful innovation. "Successful entrepreneurs do not wait for a bright idea to strike; they do not look for the big time innovation that will revolutionize the industry that are operating in nor do they work to create a multi-billion dollar business." This quote is leading up to the idea that ideas with more modest pretensions may eventually turn out to be more successful than you can predict when created with the intention of creating value and making a tangible contribution. Successful entrepreneurs aim high, they try to create new and different value propositions or combine existing resources into more productive configurations. This concept is aligned with my career aspirations and the information and tools in this book can help me to reach those goals. It is important as a new leader with a new venture that I am knowledgeable about innovation and most importantly how to manage. This article highlights how entrepreneurship is hard work and that it is to be treated as a duty and practiced. Some of the key points to entrepreneurial management include: view change as an opportunity rather than a threat, make innovation attractive to employees, recognize that all existing products/services/markets/distributions channels/processes/and technologies have limited health and life expectancies, and to reward and recognize positive work culture and practices.
Some common traits among successful leaders include: selecting and retaining the right executive team and reposing complete trust and confidence in them, clearly articulating your vision/overall objectives/and expectations thereof, and providing suitable rewards and recognition for outstanding delivery and achievement of corporate objectives. This article had very helpful and relevant information for working toward my career aspirations and improving my leadership skills.
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leadership_article_2.pdf | |
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Growing Concerns Topics of Particular Interest to Owners and Managers of Smaller Businesses
Edited by David E. Gumpert
The five stages of small business growth
By Neil C. Churchill and Virginia L. Lewis
This article related to my aspirations by offering information about the five stages of small business growth and potential challenges in each stage. The article is filled with models and charts that clearly depict all of the information included in the article at each stage. The key points of this article is that the style of the owner and financial circumstances are important to the success of a business so are business size, diversity, complexity, management style, and organizational goals. The 5 stages which small companies pass listed in this article include: Existence, Survival, Success, Take Off, and Resource Maturity. One of my goals after reading this article is to use this information to be able to assess the stage that I am operating and use this framework to better understand existing problems and anticipate future challenges as I work toward my career aspirations and start my own RT consulting business. Understanding the contents of this article and being able to apply it to my business will aid in current challenges, be helpful to anticipate challenges at the 5 different stages, and provide a basis for evaluation the impact of government regulations and policies. This last point is very specific to my need in becoming a great manager and leader and reaching my specific career goals, this information and understanding is critical to my success. I also found this article helpful on that it identifies key management factors and factor that relate to business owners related to the 5 stages of small business growth. This article will continue to be a resource as I work toward my goal of starting and running a RT consulting business.
Edited by David E. Gumpert
The five stages of small business growth
By Neil C. Churchill and Virginia L. Lewis
This article related to my aspirations by offering information about the five stages of small business growth and potential challenges in each stage. The article is filled with models and charts that clearly depict all of the information included in the article at each stage. The key points of this article is that the style of the owner and financial circumstances are important to the success of a business so are business size, diversity, complexity, management style, and organizational goals. The 5 stages which small companies pass listed in this article include: Existence, Survival, Success, Take Off, and Resource Maturity. One of my goals after reading this article is to use this information to be able to assess the stage that I am operating and use this framework to better understand existing problems and anticipate future challenges as I work toward my career aspirations and start my own RT consulting business. Understanding the contents of this article and being able to apply it to my business will aid in current challenges, be helpful to anticipate challenges at the 5 different stages, and provide a basis for evaluation the impact of government regulations and policies. This last point is very specific to my need in becoming a great manager and leader and reaching my specific career goals, this information and understanding is critical to my success. I also found this article helpful on that it identifies key management factors and factor that relate to business owners related to the 5 stages of small business growth. This article will continue to be a resource as I work toward my goal of starting and running a RT consulting business.
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Opportunity Recognition as Pattern Recognition: How Entrepreneurs "Connect the Dots" to Identify New Business Opportunities
Robert A. Baron
I found this article especially relevant and interesting in regards to my career aspirations. This article explains that there are many factors that can play into recognition of opportunities for business ventures and three that are especially important include: engaging in an active search for opportunities; alertness to opportunities (the capacity to recognize them when they emerge); and prior knowledge of a market, industry, or customer as a basis for recognizing new opportunities. "Pattern recognition is the process through which specific persons perceive complex and seemingly unrelated events as constituting identifiable patterns" - perceive links between seemingly unrelated events and changes. These patterns then become the basis for identifying new business opportunities. As I read through this article I felt as though my ideas for my RT consulting business developed in this way of "connecting the dots". This article explains that all aspects of an opportunity may not be initially recognized but if you proceed with what you do notice opportunity may be expanded or refined. This is really encouraging and exciting. My broad range of experience as a RT is a major bonus in developing my business and coming up with new and original ideas for consulting. My goal is to convert my ideas and visions into a reality, a profitable company supplying a service to enhance the lives of many people. This article has given my the knowledge I need to build entrepreneurial skills and leadership skills to reach my goals.
Robert A. Baron
I found this article especially relevant and interesting in regards to my career aspirations. This article explains that there are many factors that can play into recognition of opportunities for business ventures and three that are especially important include: engaging in an active search for opportunities; alertness to opportunities (the capacity to recognize them when they emerge); and prior knowledge of a market, industry, or customer as a basis for recognizing new opportunities. "Pattern recognition is the process through which specific persons perceive complex and seemingly unrelated events as constituting identifiable patterns" - perceive links between seemingly unrelated events and changes. These patterns then become the basis for identifying new business opportunities. As I read through this article I felt as though my ideas for my RT consulting business developed in this way of "connecting the dots". This article explains that all aspects of an opportunity may not be initially recognized but if you proceed with what you do notice opportunity may be expanded or refined. This is really encouraging and exciting. My broad range of experience as a RT is a major bonus in developing my business and coming up with new and original ideas for consulting. My goal is to convert my ideas and visions into a reality, a profitable company supplying a service to enhance the lives of many people. This article has given my the knowledge I need to build entrepreneurial skills and leadership skills to reach my goals.
Exercises to improve my leadership skills:
Exercise 1:
The following exercise will be used to deal with negative employees when that situation arises. In the mean time I can practice this skill with negative coworkers/classmates/peers. Being able to appropriately deal with negative or difficult people is essential to becoming a great leader/manager because they are always going to exist. As of now due to my lack of leadership experience and tolerance for negativity this is a skill that I can definitely improve upon. I have practiced and discussed this exercise with my peers and we found that it can be very effective in improving leadership in this area.
Exercise 1:
The following exercise will be used to deal with negative employees when that situation arises. In the mean time I can practice this skill with negative coworkers/classmates/peers. Being able to appropriately deal with negative or difficult people is essential to becoming a great leader/manager because they are always going to exist. As of now due to my lack of leadership experience and tolerance for negativity this is a skill that I can definitely improve upon. I have practiced and discussed this exercise with my peers and we found that it can be very effective in improving leadership in this area.
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Exercise 2:
This exercise is used to take action on building leadership skills. This is used to build a leadership strategy and will be adapted and updated as needed during my leadership evolution. This can be done independently as I strengthen my leadership skills or done with a small group of peers. It can be helpful to do this exercise with peers so that you are held accountable for the information you put on your strategy plan.
This exercise is used to take action on building leadership skills. This is used to build a leadership strategy and will be adapted and updated as needed during my leadership evolution. This can be done independently as I strengthen my leadership skills or done with a small group of peers. It can be helpful to do this exercise with peers so that you are held accountable for the information you put on your strategy plan.
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Exercise 3:
This exercise is essential to meeting my goals. I must rely on networking for information and support as I work toward my goals (short, medium, long) and gather as much information as I can to make my aspirations a reality. Not only will discussing/identifying networks be helpful, but following through with a well thought out plan for communication with them will be essential to my success.
Establishing Networks
Effective leaders intuitively understand the value of forming strong
communication networks. This activity asks participants to discuss the
definition of communication networks, the different types of these networks and
benefits of having networks in and outside of an organization. Following this
discussion, participants list the current communications networks they utilize
and define additional networks they need to establish to achieve their
organization's vision. When this is completed, develop an outline to follow when
making their first contacts with new partners or constituents. This outline
includes how participants will share the vision,talk about goals for reaching it and
the benefits for the new constituent.
This exercise is essential to meeting my goals. I must rely on networking for information and support as I work toward my goals (short, medium, long) and gather as much information as I can to make my aspirations a reality. Not only will discussing/identifying networks be helpful, but following through with a well thought out plan for communication with them will be essential to my success.
Establishing Networks
Effective leaders intuitively understand the value of forming strong
communication networks. This activity asks participants to discuss the
definition of communication networks, the different types of these networks and
benefits of having networks in and outside of an organization. Following this
discussion, participants list the current communications networks they utilize
and define additional networks they need to establish to achieve their
organization's vision. When this is completed, develop an outline to follow when
making their first contacts with new partners or constituents. This outline
includes how participants will share the vision,talk about goals for reaching it and
the benefits for the new constituent.
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