2013年10月7日月曜日

Chapter 2

Leaders are not managers. Here's a visual example below.





As you can see, leaders are in the front line to 'lead' a certain group of people, while managers are simply 'forming' a group to their objective. This portrays how leaders are actually seen from their subordinates unlike managers; you may know your leader but may not know much of your manager. The manager does not actually have to do some work as long as the community does not fall apart, therefore, they only need to keep the group informed. On the other hand, leaders have to be a good demonstration to 'show and tell' how the people in the group should behave. I think this is exactly why leaders are more rewarding than managers because people follow leaders, contrary to people obeying managers. This also makes leaders a more difficult burden than managers, as the leader's action/speech/mistake can affect the whole community. 

Even in workplaces, it can be described as below. Leaders are the one in charge, but managers are only the ones in the middle of a network. Imagine the leader as the tip of an arrow. Imagine that missing. It would be a problem, right? For a network, one missing piece would not affect much if there were someone else to take the place. However, a leader withholds the direction a group needs to proceed, as in Shackleton's expedition. Thus, it is important to have a good leader.




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Moreover, the book mentions to 'be visible'. This can be explained by examples of actual leaders such as Obama, president of the United States of America. He cannot fool around because he is in charge of the whole country; he can even be regarded as the 'face' of America. Such representatives have the responsibility to lead the nation, and I think one of the reasons he got reelected was that his speeches were 'calm, confident, and reassuring'. Leading At The Edge mentions having the right tone can motivate others to survive. I think Obama has the same quality that Shackleton had. It would definitely be cool if we could work on our speeches through our presentations and become as confident as Shackleton was.





1 件のコメント:

  1. I like the photos you used to emphasize your points, they made them really clear :) The one with the running figures made me think about how a person will fail as a leader if they just run in his/her own pace, and lose consideration for those trailing behind him/her. It also reminded me of my track team, how my coach was really a role model; he lead long and short distance runners alike in our menus. Watching him press forward each time motivated me to do the same. I also like how you contrasted "leader" and "manager." That never popped into my head. I think that the best kind of "leader" is someone who can also be a "manager" - be able to both run in the front and be a member of the circle.

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