Essay on Leadership: Sample Essay
Characteristics of a good leader essay: Excerpt
First, being a good leader requires a "tremendous sense of dedication . . . you don't even consider the dimension of time. You do everything you can, without limit, to do what's best for the kids and the school." Second, a principal must be "humanistic. . . . There is not a biased bone in his body. He looks at a kid and sees a person, not his ethnicity, his race, or his class. He connects with the person, without prejudice." Third, a good leader must be "knowledgeable." Mastruzzi speaks here of a knowledge gained through experience and reflection on experience.
Characteristics of a good leader research paper: Excerpt
Robert Mastruzzi's belief in the unbiased, colorblind stance of a good leader combines with his pride in the rich mixture of students at Kennedy High. Because students are drawn from a wide geographic area, the school population does not closely reflect the surrounding Riverdale neighborhood. In contrast to the Riverdale population, Kennedy is blacker, browner, and poorer. There is a sharp contrast between the complexions and lifestyles of people inside and outside of the school. Kennedy is a zoned high school and attracts students from as far away as West Harlem in Manhattan.
Essay a good leader: Excerpt
The finding that good leaders are also judged as good followers makes sense when viewed within an institutional framework like the military establishment. The principle represented applies as well to other institutions, however. With the increasing complexity of our society, the role of the institutional leader demands something more than leaping on a white charger to gallop off in a solely self-determined direction. Typically, he must effectively lead his group in directions which have been assigned to that group. Given this circumstance, the leader must himself be a good follower or his group may find itself destroyed or performing inefficiently in a total organizational mission.
Diversity Leadership: Full Text
The demographic shifts within the United States have created new challenges for educators. There is no question that US schools are becoming increasingly culturally diverse. It is estimated that, at present, more than half of the students in urban schools are minorities (Orfield, 2001). By the year 2050, more than half of the US population will be other than non-Hispanic White (Marx, 2002). As cultural diversity becomes a greater factor in schools cultural awareness on the part of teachers and educational leaders is becoming imperative. The role of leaders is often perceived as the ultimate authority figure, decision-maker, problem-solver and traditional leadership approaches continue to ignore the demographic changes. Maxcy (2002) observes that, “Entire genres of educational administration research and writing have overlooked these culture shifts” (p.50). Approaches to leadership and diversity continue to be prescriptive in nature, listing the many qualities necessary for effective change in schools, however, most approaches fall short by failing to explain how to develop these qualities within leaders. Cases of successful leadership in diverse settings not only depend on the style of leadership, but the principal's ability to promote diversity on a daily basis. School leadership has the critical role of making certain of inclusive teaching approaches that encourage culturally relevant teaching practices and implementing appropriate pedagogical approaches.
Although rapid demographic changes are occurring in our society, some student groups (i.e., Latino and African American) continue to perform at mediocre and failing levels (National Center for Education Statistics, 2005). For many, finding these groups at the lower ends of school success has become common place - often attributing failure to home cultures. These changes demand greater emphasis of cultural knowledge and intercultural development in professional development programs. This entails a greater analysis of the findings by various researchers to determine key areas of leadership that will perform effectively in diverse environments.
As schools are confronted with these dramatic demographic shifts, schools need to respond by providing adequate leadership in these diverse settings. As traditional studies of organizational leadership evolved from systematic forms of organizations to more humanistic and behavioral approaches to organizational development. This shift in emphasis for leadership development, especially educational leadership, is one that recognizes the importance of people. Simply, organizations cannot function effectively if the needs, desires and well-being of its participants are ignored. Educational organizations are human organizations with the responsibility to enrich, fulfill and provide individuals with opportunities for personal growth. This requires leaders to provide educational organizations with the direction and vision to emphasize cooperative and contributive human existence. Historically, demographic changes in schools have been met with specialized cultural programs of inclusiveness, multicultural education and other diversity programs. Clearly, these are important aspects of diverse educational settings. However, many of these programs result in an in-group, out-group dichotomy that does not foster the full potential of diversity. It is through my experience working with cultural organizations for 17 years that I've learned that the power of diversity can be maximized only when organizational, curricular and pedagogical approaches focus on the individual, regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation or religious affiliation, that enhances the individual's ability to create benefit for themselves and for their community.
More recent trends in educational leadership are leading researchers to ask deeper, more profound questions about leadership These are questions that deal with persona, ethics, morality, compassion, philosophy and faith. Clearly, these are not areas commonly found in educational leadership research, however, recent studies are leading us toward this next phase.
Looking at the qualities of effective leadership, we find that qualities fall into two realms: a) procedural knowledge qualities (i.e., management skills, knowledge of power structures and processes, techniques and practices, etc.) and b) human qualities (i.e., charisma, vision, drive, sense of purpose, etc.). Not meaning to belittle the importance of procedural qualities of leadership, effective leadership does not derive from simply following procedures or a road map. Effective leadership entails the qualities possessed by the individual at a deeper, more spiritual level, that allows one's leadership to effectively implement the procedural. The challenge of school leaders today and the future is not only to recognize the demographic nature of organizations, but the ability to lead effectively in these diverse settings.
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