Why Leadership Matters

As a student of business and leadership, I have spent a great deal of time reading literature on effective leadership and management of people. In this past week, in two separate classes, we have dicussed what makes a good leader, and what makes a bad leader. Of course, being in a classroom it is all theoretical in nature.

I belong to an organization of sorts for a game I play online in my spare time. I was recently promoted to a position of some status within this organization. Almost immediately, I became aware of the flaws within the organization. Now that I was in, I could see the blatant mistakes the manager of the organization was making. Isolating people within the organization, allowing people to form definate cliques, saying things like "Don't bitch at me," to her "employees", failure to consider changing the way things are done to a more effective way "because other's don't do it that way," and the list goes on and on. I see all these little things and understand the implications of them because I am educated in it.

Those of you who know me well know I am not one to keep my opinions to myself. So I decided to talk to her about it, explaining why some changes needed to be made in order to be more effective as a manager and benefit the organization as a whole. I explained how I was not the only "employee" feeling this way, and that perhaps she should consider taking some of my suggestions to heart. I did not attack, rather I simply offered up some advice.

As a leader, one must be able to listen to the suggestions of their followers. Apparently, this manager failed to learn that lesson, and I was completely blown off "because other organizations don't do it."

Leaders are visionary. They are motivating. They are communicative. They are necessary. Sadly, many of the people out there in management posistion are just that... managers. Leaders are few and far between, diamonds in the rough, they have an effect on success. They matter.

I hope all is well in your world....