When I look back at the idea of what a leader's role is and how I view the
leader it has changed over the past several years especially. My attitude
toward leaders has changed greatly over the lifetime and especially the last
several years. I have learned several valuable things over the past several
years which I can say has come from experience and educational learning. I
originally thought that leadership and management were relatively the same
thing.The idea that a leader is a natural ability that some may have stated in the past and the thought that leadership cannot be taught. I do believe that leadership can be a tool that is taught with proper guidance and instruction. Leadership in my own perspective has changed for the reason that leaders are individuals who have a understanding of what the employees and fellow co-workers need and desire.
If we look back at what our grandparents experienced in leadership roles we
can see a fundamental difference between what they had and what is happening
today. The leader of yesteryear was the type of leader who led in more of an
authoritative style and the directives that they issued were not second
guessed. The leaders of today have become a team player and have developed a
method of a sense of joint leadership corroboration with the workers and
allowed the workers to have an active role in the leadership process. The leaders of today are looking for an immediate results and returns on the work that they are providing. The leaders of today have the technological advantage and they have an increased critical thinking ability as a whole. With that being said does that make the leaders of today better than our grandparents? The answer for me is no because the leaders 50 years ago were faced with different challenges and the technology that was at hand was different.
I believe this fundamental change has occurred because of the improvement in
communication and technology. The increase in the educational opportunities
that has become available to society has allowed many things to become
transparent in the leadership role. The improvement of these has allowed the
average worker to become more of a free thinker and want to become more
involved in the decision making process. The idea of being an important part of the team has become a way of life in the workers of today. The Generation Y workers of today are looking for immediate acknowledgement or feedback on the work they have supplied. The Gen Y workers have a very focused ability to get the job done and they want it done now. The generation as a whole is more technological savvy then the baby boomers. This can be attributed to the culture of today.
The gap in the leadership of today can be attributed to conflicting ideas on how leadership should be defined. The definition of leaders can be interpreted several different ways according to the source you are researching. The market for leadership training and all the corners of the market so many people claim to have can be a reason why leadership quality can be identified. The leaders who are providing this training may use tactics that have not been fully tested and explored. With this lack of experience the curriculum and quality of training may have serious flaws.
