Try asking randomly what leadership is, and you will likely get to hear something different every other time. While some will claim that it’s the ability to guide others to complete a task, others will go on the lines of it being the ability to motivate members of a team to attain certain levels. Altogether, while the definitions may differ, the general idea about leadership remains; being able to inspire others towards achieving set goals. To be categorical, leadership is to be able to identify and utilize one’s own unique personality, with a vision in mind, and further, to effectively harness the natural abilities of your team towards the attainment of this vision in a way that’s beneficial, both at personal and at professional levels (Kouzes & Posner, 2012).
Kathy Heasley, not a name to ring bells like the big CEOs to whom we’ve grown accustomed, but fairly, just as accomplished, if not more accomplished. Here is a woman, the founder, and president of Heasley and Partners, a branding company based in Arizona, otherwise called Heart and Mind Branding. Since it was founded in 1994, her company has seen increased profits in what Kathy herself claims to be a result of getting into the hearts and minds of people. This she has achieved through the continuous development of the Heart and Mind brand, holding seminars, where people get to learn about her company and to choose whether or not to partner with it. Company Brand Development Workshops and Brand Coaching activities are also one of the ways through which Kathy gets to popularize her business entity.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Kouzes & Posner (2012), attest that leadership is predisposed to the modeling of structures, which leaders can attain by giving clarity to the values that they want to achieve and also, by setting examples to others on how to go about it. Setting a good example begins by inspiring a shared vision. Ensure to make your team have a perspective that’s aligned with yours, in regard to the values to be obtained. Kathy had a vision of conquering the branding sector. This she has acquired by stepping up and challenging her own dream. She’s been at the forefront of everything within the company; she makes sure to attend workshops and seminars, shares ideas to develop the brand, and this motivates her team who feel challenged by her determination. Kathy has not only conquered the branding sector but also has come up with other business ideas that have skyrocketed the value of her company.
In business ventures, employees and even partners always want leaders who are forward-looking. Someone, they can look up to, one who has an inspirational perspective about them. Inspiration and vision always go hand in hand. Kathy is such kind of leader, seeing as she inspired her team by letting them know what her vision is. She has used symbolic words like HEART&MIND, which mirrors her idea of how to get to her audience. Such efforts have enabled her to create word pictures in the minds of existing and potential clients, relative to her branding company, and to the services that it offers. Any workforce and clientele would be inspired wholly by such measures if taken by any business entity and hence, would quite naturally want to be a part of the team that achieves the clearly defined dream (Heasley, 2016).
Business opportunities are hard to come across and this, even to those who have been in the field for quite some time, needs a very thoughtful and cautious approach. This, in any case, is where a good leader with an incisive mind comes in. Every business wants to be ahead of others within their shared field and as such, seizing opportunities that would see to this is a no-brainer. Kathy is a perfect example of such leaders. Since her business is based upon branding, Kathy saw another opportunity of creating subsidiary entities into her already booming business. She started having workshops and seminars, where people and companies would come and get lessons on how to develop their brands. She also created Business-to-Brand intensives, where founders and growing CEOs book appointments with her to get clarity and solutions to their businesses. These subsidiary entities have proven to be beneficial to her whole business since people have to pay for the services ordered.
Commitment to a course is very important, especially for any business entity. Leaders with exemplary skills know that it’s difficult to go it alone when there is a target in a place that needs a collective effort of the whole team in order to be met. Good leaders, hence, would create a good working environment by inspiring commitment. Caring about your workers gives them the security to work for you, knowing that they can trust you. A good leader makes sure to openly demonstrate this attitude and teammates and co-workers will make sure to commit, so you do not fail. Also, letting teammates know that your vision is also theirs makes it easy for them to have a say on how to accomplish certain targets. Kathy is one leader who has excelled in this department, as she has trusted her team in running her business depending on their expertise. The marketing team, most especially, has come up with good innovations on how to brand their business and this is so because they feel free to do their own part, not wanting to fail their boss. This way, everyone in the business is sure to be accountable in their field of work. More so, accountability ensures teamwork, like-mindedness and a willingness to step up for one another. When employees and co-workers get to know the importance of everyone’s contribution their confidence and commitment soars (Rogers, 2016).
It's famously said that good leaders recognize people, but great leaders appreciate them. Humans love to be appreciated; they love feeling important, and any smart leader out there ought to know this basic point. An environment where the workers are not rewarded is often stale and lacks any aura or breathe of life. Recognition of accomplishments of those that report to you can be a catalyst for the improvement of motivation and morale on the part of those working for or under you. In the case of Kathy, recognition can either be formal or informal. For instance, people know when their efforts are valued at their respective places of work. This means that, if an employer walks onto one of their workers on learning that they have achieved success in a certain area of work and makes a little pat on their back, followed up with appreciative words recognizing their effort, this specific person is most likely to feel more valued by his peers. Such recognition should be spontaneous for it to be felt. Formal recognition is also welcome where an individual can be rewarded in an organized session or a paid lunch when it’s a group. Kathy has been able to deploy these and many more methods when appreciating both clients and workers. For example, her company did branding free of charge for a period of two months to a perennial client.
The workplace is like a little community of people co-relating together as it's supported by Kouzes & Posner, (2012). Any cause of reason that would rapture the core of this community means that the workplace becomes automatically toxic. Great workplaces and officialdoms are easy to tell. Work is normally meaningful across all departments, communication is clear, workers respect one another, and also, issues to do with respect and professionalism in the workplace are solved amicably. Many organizations, however, face numerous challenges, especially when the company has difficult times. These could be workers scheming against one another, office politics or even mistrust amongst the workers. A good leader should be able to handle such times with great expertise, and with the knowledge that any small mistake under such like circumstances will plunge the company into crisis. Such leaders, like Kathy, should dig deep for solutions that ensure change. Company excursions should be organized where workers get to know one another and to interact. Competition among workers should be encouraged so as to avoid the cheap competitive games that might end costing the whole course.
A leadership position is a delicate spot to be in as we have found out along the way. In such a position, a leader is supposed to reflect the position of their status. Leadership is a lot of things other than the obvious. In Kathy’s perspective, leadership is an influence. She is able to influence her workers and clientele to good returns by being passionately charismatic. She also shows that leadership is also defined by change. Kathy stepped out the culture of her business to pursue other options which turned out to be beneficial. Through Kathy, we get to see that leadership is service, as she selflessly tries all her best to improve services to her clients. Through her, we see that leadership is a character and so is its development.
Kathy, being a woman, has outfought and disproved all the stereotypes associated with women and top collar leadership positions. She has founded and led a company for several decades and through it, has inspired people, both male, and female, from all walks of life. Through her company, many others have been inspired as a result of the development workshops and brand coaching initiatives that she continues to choose to undertake. She had a vision of continuity and as so shared and still does her knowledge to other entities just to see that everyone gets to realize their dream. Kathy must be a strong-willed, woman of steel to have conquered what she has. It shows character and selflessness to have come this far on her business journey. She is an inspirational leader more so given that even though she’s a woman in the male-dominated field, she has changed the lives both of her employees and of her clientele as well.
References
Heasley, K. (2016). HEASLEY&PARTNERS . Retrieved from http://heasleyandpartners.com
Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2012). The leadership challenge. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Rogers, J. (2016). Resource. Leadershipchallenge.com . Retrieved from http://www.leadershipchallenge.com/resource/enabling-others-to-act-inspiring-commitment-.aspx
