In today’s competitive and diverse yet unstable global economy, good effective leaders are not only found in managers of large successful companies but anyone is capable of motivating and inspiring people in order to make small changes in our world and have huge long term effects. Not only can a leader inspire and influence their workers to want come to work to do better and be the best worker possible but there are great leaders throughout history who have had great effects on people’s lives and others who have changed policies and laws to better the world around them. As we discussed at great length in class, it was important for a leader to set a good example by being honest, knowledgeable, confident and hard-working; so that if needed the boss will get in there and get their hands dirty in order to get the job done with the confidence to take care of problems as they arise. A leader must be fair and have integrity and do what they say and say what they mean as well as treating others the way that they would like to be treated. Emotional intelligence is also imperative when it comes to having a positive attitude and staying calm when things go wrong because when failure occurs there are lessons to be learned (Jones). A leader that sets a good example for others to follow creates trust and confidence in their workers which leads to better production.
Effective leaders should also be goal oriented, keeping their eye on the prize, while setting high standards for their employees as well as keeping the work environment fun and exciting with incentives and positive feedback which inspires and motivates employees to want to be at work and do well which also results in long term success. Assigning duties to the most competent person as well as setting reasonable goals will produce the best quality of work and encourage people to be honest. In “Essentials of Contemporary Management” this is referred to as transformational leadership (Jones).
A good leader must also have great communication skills. Setting clear expectations of exactly what the goals are of the assignment and making sure that the person or persons understood is important for success. Good communication requires good listening skills and an open mind. Holding regular meetings in order to encourage input from others to see what’s working or not and then analyze and implement that feedback for future projects. Damage control and problem solving to make