Each student will be required to interview a lea
Each student will be required to interview a leader in their community. They may select a business and industry leader, coach, principal, elected official or spiritual leader. The student must conduct the interview in person or over the telephone. Questions should NOT be e-mailed to the leader as live dialogue is critical to this assignment.
Before you begin the interview, the student should explain the nature of our leadership class, and the general purpose of the assignment. The student will then ask the following questions:
- How would you define effective leadership?
- Do you think leadership develops with experience?
- Are there one or two experiences you look back on as having been especially valuable in helping develop your own leadership? Please briefly describe them.
- What made these experiences so valuable?
- Have your own views of leadership changed over time? Explain how.
- Do you think leadership in your arena (e.g., sports, business) is much different from, or involves different pressures, than leadership in other arenas?
- Do you ever reflect, after the fact, about how effective your behavior was in a particular situation? Is this ever a source of new or different insights? Please share your insights.
- What do you feel is the single most important attribute for a leader to possess?
- Is there any advice you would give people early in their careers about leadership?
Asking additional questions is permitted and encouraged. When the interview is complete, the student should thank the person for their time and insight.
The student will prepare a written report of their findings. The final report should begin with an introduction to the leader selected, including the leader’s name, title, company and why this particular leader was selected. The student should then present the questions and the leader’s responses. The report will end with a summary of what the student has learned about leadership development as a result of this interview.
Module 3: Sample Leadership Interview
Selection
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to talk with Nick Darin, Vice President of Finance and Technology for J&L Industrial Supply. He is indeed a very accomplished and dynamic individual as was evidenced during our discussion. Mr. Darin offered his thoughts and experience on leadership as well as sharing some of his own personal leadership philosophy. During our interview he displayed a command for the subject of leadership showing that this is an issue that he not only cares about, but that he has also devoted some time to exploring.
Mr. Darin is an experienced financial professional and business manager. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Dearborn with a degree in accounting and received his MBA from Central Michigan University. Mr. Darin is also a Certified Management Accountant and a member of the Institute of Managerial Accountants and Financial Executives International. He has almost twenty years of experience working in financial management and has held many different positions including modeling analyst, controller and executive positions.
Mr. Darin was selected due to his extensive experience and acknowledged commitment to excellence. Additionally, I have the pleasure of working very closely with him on a daily basis and knew that his answers and comments would be very candid. I wanted to understand the steps that Mr. Darin had taken and how his leadership has developed over time because I would like to develop myself to move into a position as a financial executive in the future.
Questions
How would you define effective leadership?
Leadership is the act (challenge) of aligning (vision) both human capital (competencies) and physical resources (land, machines, technology) to attain goals or aspirations. Do you think leadership develops with experience? Please explain.
Yes, life experiences (positive & negative) influence the learning continuum towards making optimal leadership decisions Are there one or two experiences you look back on as having been especially valuable in helping develop your own leadership? Please briefly describe them.
Participating in a Business Turnaround (evaluating and managing strategic objectives) Orchestrating the Divestiture of a $200M Business Unit (executing large scale initiatives aligning resources) What made these experiences so valuable?
Both required vision and the ability to influence resources to achieve results. Have your own views of leadership changed over time? Explain how.
Yes, my views have become more strategically focused. Heavily concentrated in alignment and coordination of competencies and resources to gain competitive edge (differentiator) from business and personal perspective. Do you think leadership in your arena is much different from, or involves different pressures, than leadership in other arenas? Explain.
Not really, any differences are a result of the leaders disposition towards the way they lead. Expectations are the same for all leaders but there are different goals in some cases.
Do you ever reflect, after the fact, about how effective your behavior was in a particular situation? Is this ever a source of new or different insights? Please share your insights.
All of the time, being a type “A” individual I have the constant challenge of not driving through issues and people to get results. I will summarize with the following: “Knowledge is Intellectual, Power is Humbleness”. What do you feel is the single most important attribute for a leader to possess?
The single most important attribute is the ability to influence people driven by cooperation, enthusiasm and confidence (motivation). Is there any advice you would give people early in their careers about leadership?
My advice would be that leadership is built on a system of human competencies and physical resources. The key is being to articulate the vision, influence and coordinate available resources.
How do you identify potential leaders in your organization?
By watching them articulate their position, analyzing their thought process for complex decision-making skills, assessing their ability to think outside of the box and observing if their peers respond to them as leaders. Who is one individual that you would describe as a highly effective leader? What makes this person such an effective leader?
Michael Jordan. He had the ability to influence others driven by cooperation, enthusiasm, and confidence. In your opinion what are some of the major obstacles to effective leadership?
Individuals sometimes seek out leadership without being prepared from a skills or accountability perspective. Leadership takes time and can be risky.
Can you provide an example of a time in which you were called upon to provide leadership in a situation that was foreign to you or outside of your “sweet spot”? What skills/attributes did you find most useful?
Taking on additional responsibilities outside of my core discipline such as Purchasing, and IT. The most important skill was understanding that I was not an expert in either field and needed to ensure my staff was very qualified. Could you generally describe the characteristics of ineffective leadership?
Lack of ability to influence, motivate, build teams, take calculated risks or provide vision. Can you describe the characteristics of an effective follower? Are there any additional characteristics that you would seek in your own followers?
Effective followers understand their skill set (competencies) and how they can impact the project or issue at hand.
Do you feel leadership is a learned skill or an innate ability?
I feel both are contributors but learned skill plays a bigger role due to the constant augmenting or building of knowledge base through experiences. Do you have any other thoughts or opinions regarding leadership that you would like to share?
Just do it!
Summary
In working and talking with Mr. Darin one issue became very clear. He is asked to lead in a very dynamic and fast paced environment. This fits well with Mr. Darin’s own personality, as he is himself is a very energetic and quick moving person. He frequently must “shift gears” moving from issue to issue very quickly. In fact in some cases our interview was interrupted and we actually conducted the process throughout the day as time permitted. Mr. Darin spends most of the day circulating through the office making sure to visit each of his managers, checking progress on assignments and providing feedback and guidance on their various projects. It is not uncommon for him to pull his management staff into impromptu meetings, discussing leadership and corporate strategic objectives. Mr. Darin is definitely a “hands on” manager and drives performance in his organization.
Mr. Darin demonstrates the ability to motivate individuals to accomplish objectives and create positive change. These are two themes that I heard echoed in his responses. His personal enthusiasm is demonstrated in his approach to interacting with his staff and tackling challenging assignments. He displays a clear commitment to producing superior results that is motivating and rewarding for myself.
In my interview and observations with Mr. Darin I believe the greatest lesson learned is the fact that a leader must find the leadership style and approach that best fits them and the situational needs. He is a high energy individual who demonstrates a pacesetting style that works with a very capable and motivated staff. He has been very effective in creating positive change and displays the characteristics he espouses. I cannot say that I would be the same leader as Mr. Darin as we are both shaped by different experiences, personalities and motivation. While I would seek to accomplish many of the same goals as Mr. Darin and would affirm the comments made during the interview, I do not believe that his approach would have the same effectiveness coming from me. This interview has provided me with an excellent opportunity to understand the important issues to leadership in an executive financial management position, however it is one step in the broader development of my own leadership skill set and effectiveness.
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