Music is My Metaphor

To me, leadership is like the journey of a musician. Some people are drawn to it, some have a natural aptitude for it, and some stumble into it without notice.

Leadership theories range from direct to supporting, task to relationship, active to passive, and everywhere in between. And those are just the academic theories. A leader then makes it their own. Their personality, ethics, and passion shape the way they perform as a leader. In the same way that each musician has their own sound, even when playing the same instrument.

Starting at San Diego State University, in the Hospitality & Tourism Management program is like starting Piano Lessons: Book 1.

Lesson 1:


The first step is learning your major scales. You learn to identify the note both by its sound and how it is played on the piano.

The focus is on the task. You play the right key; you hear the right note; the task is completed. At this step you are still a stranger to the music and the notes. Perhaps you are only doing this because it is a class assignment, not enjoyable for you. But, path-goal theory was a success and now you know your major scales.

Lesson 2:


Learn to play a song you already know the tune of. By knowing the desired outcome of the situation, you will be able to monitor your playing and adjust as necessary to achieve the proper sound. Let's start with "Mary Had A Little Lamb."

Contingency theories state that an effective leadership style can be determined by the situation. Although it does say that you are not able to adapt your personal leadership style for the situation. If this were the case, you would be unable to play the song, even when you know the situation. Luckily, you've learned situational leadership and know that you can change your style as you play. You as a piano player are gaining experience to makes changes as you grow for improvements. You've moved into an acquaintance phase with the music and are learning what to expect when you play.

Lesson 3:

Now that you have learned the building blocks and understand how they can be combined, you are ready to write your own music. You can transform the once individual sounding notes into a beautiful melody.

Hopefully by now you've started to enjoy the piano and the playing process (or else I'm guessing you would have quit during lesson one.) Your experiences and passion will help you combine notes from the piano, other instruments, and outside influences. You can take inspiration for everywhere around you to coalesce into a melody. The transformational outcome will be greater that the sum of the inputs. You've learned that sometimes you will play the wrong key, but you can fix it, move on, and next time you'll play it right. Music and you have become partners in your journey as a musician; you can trust the notes.  

Throughout this journey, you've learned skills and competencies. You've taken bits and pieces of other musical styles to define your own distinct manner of playing. The traits that people are born with can give them an inclination to play music, but personal practice and the passion are key in becoming a successful musician.

In my journey, I'm still in lesson two. I know the type of leader I want to be, and I know the effect I want to have on the people I work with. Implementing it within the next year as I begin my career as a leader will be my experience playing a song I already know. I've had the chance to observe many leaders, both good and bad. I've learned from them, my classmates, and my teachers.  I can take what I've learned apply it to my leadership career, but I won't know what it sounds like until I play it out loud.

Servant Leadership

Servant leadership theory first evolved in 1970 in Robert Greenleaf’s essay “The Servant as Leader”. Greenleaf says that is was a leader’s job to be a servant to their followers, customers, and the community before they worked for their own personal gain. This type of leadership can have a very positive impact on an organizations success. Instead of dominating and telling employees what should be done, a leader will empower their associates and inspire them to go above and beyond. Servant leadership focuses on team building and relationships. The theory says by having good relationships with your associates and taking care of their needs, they will in turn take care of the guests and give excellent service. This style of leadership is widely seen in a company like Marriott, founded on the principle that if you take care of your employees, they will take care of your guests and in turn create loyalty and increased long-term growth. The theory incorporates employees into the decision making process therefore creating “buy-in” from employees and fostering a greater work ethic and job satisfaction. Servant leadership defines a leader through ten major characteristics: listening, empathy, healing relationships, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to human resource development, and commitment to building community. All of these help a leader become a better servant to the needs of their employees. Although servant leadership has only been around 40 years, the theory dates back to 4^th century B.C. Chanakya wrote in his book Arthashastra, “the king shall consider as good, not what pleases himself but what pleases his subjects, the king is a paid servant and enjoys the resources of the state together with the people.” The leader focuses on pleasing his subjects to create a harmonious society and a productive one at that. I think this style of leadership is helpful because it helps the leaders to be more aware of their environment and surrounding issues. I feel that leaders with this attitude are more likely to succeed as a company because every one has input and participation with the overall goal and accomplishing it. There might be some trouble when it comes to a leader’s personal goals, although if they are successful with their team, it seems logical they would move up through the company. The servant leadership style does not leave opportunity to identify a specific individual either for a success or discipline action. It makes it harder for one person to stand out amongst a group that is more focused on success as a whole rather than individual accomplishment. Overall, I think servant leadership is a good philosophy to lead by, but at times it will be necessary to adapt the leadership style to the situation. A good leader will utilize multiple leadership styles throughout their career, knowing that there is not one best philosophy for all challenges.

further reading: http://www.greenleaf.org/

Ocean's Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen

This is a powerpoint applying different leadership theories to the characters in Ocean's 11, 12, and 13.

Transformational Leadership

I think the movie School of Rock is a great example of transformational leadership. Jack Black's character really inspires the students to go beyond their expectations and achieve something great. One great rock band can really change the world. The clip I chose was of Jack Black's stick it to the man speech. I feel it lays the foundation for what he will build upon for the rest of the movie.

School of Rock - The Man speech

Bio on James McGregor Burns

James McGregor Burns was born in 1918. Burns attended college at Williams and obtained his doctorate in political science from Harvard. In between his college experiences, he enlisted in the Army and fought in Guam, Saipan, and Okinawa and served as a Combat Historian for the Pacific region. During this time, he was awarded four battle stars and a Bronze star for his service and dedication. Burns was very active in politics and national government during his lifetime. He won his first Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for his political biography, Roosevelt: The Lion and The Fox.  His second award came in 1970for his second political biography, Roosevelt: Solider of Freedom.  In the 1970’s he also published his book Leadership.  This book is still used today and  seen as one of the main tools in leadership study. In this book Burns made a distinction between a transactional leader and a transformational leader. A transactional leader is someone who trades reward in return for good work and loyalty. A transformational leader, a term coined by Burns, is someone who engages their employees to bring everyone together to achieve a greater outcome. This person creates change and excitement for the associates, effecting their work and personal lives in a positive manner. His ideas are still widely used today and are considered one of the best ways to inspire and enact positive outcomes.

Contingency and Situational theories

Behavior-based theories presented us with the idea that leaders are either task or relationship oriented. It wasn't until the 1970's when Fielder determined that a leaders effectiveness is dependent upon the situation.   His theory still accepts the fact that leaders are born and cannot change, but they do differ between task and relationship focused. Fielder postulated that the type of leader most desired is contingent upon the situation. The "least preferred co-worker" is used to determine each persons' leadership orientation. In the method, a person describe the traits and behaviors of their least preferred co-worker and in turn is actually describing their favored type of motivation. It gives insight into the person's values and ethics that they will be likely to follow, helping to determine if they are a relationship or task oriented leader. Fielder's model suggest that because leadership traits are stable and unchanging, it is best to adapt the work environment to the leadership type to achieve the best possible outcome. Following Fielder, Kenneth Blancher coined the term situational leadership. This took into account that yes, leadership effectiveness is contingent upon the situation but a person can learn to adapt their personal leadership style for a variety of situations. Unlike Fielder, Blancher assumed that people had the ability to change and could change their tactics based on specific scenario. Blancher also agreed that leaders were task and relationship focused, but they could also learn to be a blend of both and utilize this to achieve a desired outcome. Blancher also added that the leadership style per situation should that into account the employees' commitment to the job or task and the employees' competency to complete what needs to be done. With that, a leaders can use one of four leadership styles or even a mix of them to effectively lead in a situation. The four styles include selling (low support, low task), supporting (high support, low task), coaching (high support, high task), and directing (low support, high task). Blancher differs from Fielder because he know that employee attributes play a big role in a situation and that leaders have the ability to change their leadership theory. Fielder and Blancher both agree that effective leadership is based on the situation and that leaders have a tendency to be either task or relationship oriented.

Path-Goal Theory and LMX

Behavior-based theories are one-on-one focused relationships; they can be either task- or relationship- oriented. Two major schools of thought are path-goal leadership theory and leader member exchange theory (LMX). Path-goal leadership demonstrates how a leader can motivate their follower to achieve a certain task or end result. The interactions are based on an expected outcome. In this theory, a leader will provide support by clarifying goals, removing potential obstacles, and assisting when necessary. LMX theory is more relationship-focused where the leaders and follower connection evolves through interactions. There are three phases that the relationship can follow starting at Stranger (phase one) where there is low quality interaction, no trust, and followers are motivated by some outside factor. Next, leaders and followers become Acquaintances (phase two). This involves an average quality where they get to know each other and test the boundaries of their relationship. The highest phase of the relationship is Partnership, where each member has mutual influence on each other. Each person is motivated by the other and the exchanges are very high quality. Ideally, all relationships would progress to this phase, but there are many leaders who prefer to stay at lower levels to maintain control and dominance.

The Harry Potter series offered many opportunities to observe both of these theories in action.

Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School, demonstrates a path-goal leadership interaction with the main character, Harry Potter. The overarching goal for the duo, is to find and destroy all of Lord Voldemort's horcruxes. These objects allow Lord Voldemort immortality, therefore in order to defeat him Harry must find and locate all of the horcruxes and destroy them if he wants to conquer Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Professor Dumbledore supports Harry by showing him memories that give hints and clues to objects that Voldemort may have used for a horcrux. He never gives Harry any answers directly. He shows Harry what signs to look for, and how he has found one horcrux himself.  Once, Professor Dumbledore takes Harry with him when he locates on horcrux. His behaviors help give Harry guidance on how he will find future objects. Unfortunately, Professor Dumbledore is killed at the end of the sixth book, shortly after Harry and him return from finding one of Voldemort's horcruxes. Harry is still supported by Professor Dumbledore in his journey through tools left to him and his two friends in Dumbledore's will. Professor Dumbledore has also give tools to other leaders in the Wizarding world who can continue to assist until the final goal is completed. It is only after Professor Dumbledore's death that Harry realizes he never new him on a personal level. A majority of their one-on-one interactions were solely focused on learning about, finding, and destroying horcruxes.

Lord Voldemort, who is the most powerful dark wizard in the series, can be used to observe LMX theory. Due to his lack of relationships, we can see how his leadership is undermined by those he should rely on. Death Eaters are the wizards who support and follow Lord Voldemort, although none of them can be said to have a phase three Partnership with him. However, this is based upon the fact that Lord Voldemort sees use for his Death Eaters, but he would never think any other wizard would be able to provide anything that is mutually beneficial. The only Death Eater who gets close to this phase is Professor Snape. Lord Voldemort trusts him enough to place him among enemy territory as a spy on Harry Potter, Professor Dumbledore, and the Order of the Phoenix*. Professor Snape in Voldemort's informant into everything relating to Harry Potter. Although, Lord Voldemort does use a type of magic called Legilimency to enter Professor Snape's mind to see if he is lying. There is not full trust from Voldemort's side. The interaction between Lord Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew is an example of phase one Stranger interaction. Pettigrew is a weak person who seeks out Lord Voldemort as a source of protection and power. He obeys Lord Voldemort's orders based on fear. Lord Voldemort is merciless to him and exerts his power over him even forcing Pettigrew to cut of his own hand. Lord Voldemort only relies on Pettigrew for a short time, while Pettigrew is helping him to gain his body back which he had lost years ago when he first tried to kill Harry Potter.

I could go on and on with examples but I think that each of these leaders demonstrate how behavior-based theories can be linked to specific actions. Traits are not the only indicator of a good leader.

"It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." 
-Professor Albus Dumbledore

Pearson-Marr Archetypes

This week in class we took a personality test that is supposed to help us understand our "story", which then we can apply to our leadership development. When I first got my results for my archetypes I was a bit confused. I scored highest in Warrior and Lover equally. To me, these seem like complete opposite and conflicting life stories. But, the more I thought about it and discussed it with my coworkers; it seemed to fit me well. A warrior is someone who courageous, determined, and competitive. They do not like to lose and do their best when they are on a mission. I think this describes me because I am very dedicated to my job, and determined to show improvement within my position. My mission right now is to graduate and enroll in a management training program. I want to work for a company that will push and challenge me to grow and learn. A lover defines my second story. They are someone who is full of love for other and for life. They love beautiful surroundings and appreciate their coworkers. A lover is different from a caregiver because they see others as their peers, not someone in need of help. I think this really defines my lifestyle as well. I love nature and I am looking to relocate somewhere with beautiful scenery like Northern California. A lover is good at providing that extra touch to make an experience really special. I think this also something that I am really working towards. I try to personally engage with every guest I come in contact with to create that lasting impression.

As a warrior leader, I will learn to excel in goal setting, motivate my team to give their very best, and become a good coach.

As a lover leader, I will be passionate and charismatic, encouraging my team to bond and create close relationships.

my role model.

This is my mom, one of my heroes and role models. She is a full-time mom, out-patient nurse manager and until just recently a full-time student too. Not only does she find time to be there for me and my sisters, she enriches her own careers and goes after her own dreams. She is able to balance and prioritize all the things important in her life and her dedication to work has not cost her her family or marriage. I love that she is dedicated, yet always has time for that one extra thing. I know that her ambition will lead her to the management job she deserves. Her employees love her almost as much as her daughters and husband do. I hope this is something like the legacy I will leave behind as well.

nsmh nationals

This past weekend I attended the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality’s 22nd Annual National Conference. I can not even begin to explain how much I enjoyed this experience. Not only was it eye-opening and completely exhilarating on a professional level, but also helped me develop on a personal level. Carl and Brian can't say enough how getting involved will help you network and maintain relationships, but really, it’s a difficult sensation to describe what Nationals was like. The biggest thing to understand is, when else would you ever be in the same room as so many hospitality professionals who came there TO MEET AND TALK TO YOU!? The answer is never. No matter how many AH&LA or CRA mixers you attend, those people did not come to meet college students. If the day you sit down to interview with a company that you hope to god will hire you upon graduation, you had better hope its not the first time you are ever meeting them.

If you are like me, then meeting professional who have VP or Director attached to their name is a very scary experience. And for the most part, the only time this ever happens is in a professional, formal setting which makes it extremely difficult to be yourself and establish a good connection. Nationals offer a platform to meet people in a very relaxed and casual setting. The networking suites offered laidback meet-and-greets to build some sort of rapport with the company representatives before interviewing with them the following day. For me, the most fun I had was hanging out downstairs at the lobby bar one night. And, no it was not because I was drinking. Kayla and I got into a rather rowdy game of Yahtzee only to be called out by our advisors for not doing homework. They were there having some wine with some Hyatt representatives and other advisors. And one other slightly important person, whom not only did I completely offend at first, I would have to say I turned it into a pretty good first impression. After the embarrassment of being caught playing Yahtzee rather than studying, I candidly asked one of the guys if he was a recent alumni or a student advisor (on my defense he looked pretty young..) Apparently he is one of the co-founders of NSMH, Michael Burkeen. After a quick recovery, Kayla, Galit, and I ended up chatting with him for over an hour. Turns out even bad mistakes can put you on good terms with some good-to-know people and this is an experience I surely will not forget.

Overall, Nationals was an amazing experience. Even the relationships I developed with people in my own major whom I had never and probably would never have gotten to know otherwise. Nationals offer a way to get your foot in the door and start building those relationships that will one day land you the job of your dreams. My only regret is that I never attended earlier in my college career. Carl can tell you as many times as he wants to get involved, but it’s pretty hard to describe what an event like Nationals feels like. Even though this year was my first to attend, I’m hoping it won’t be my last.

the trait debate

According to trait-based theories, people are born with specific traits that are lifelong and understanding these traits can help predict a persons' actions, thoughts, and logic. These theories such as the Big Five can predict an employees behavior on the job. There are some aspects of this that are generally true, such as extraverts tend to be more successful, have higher salaries and receive more promotions. But one could easily understand that a person who is more outgoing would be more likely to ask for promotions and higher salaries. They would have the confidence to go after more opportunities than an introvert. Using the Big Five model would be a good tool as a supplemental evaluation. The biggest problem with trait-based theories assumes that a person is born with them. That it is impossible for a person to acquire necessary leadership attributes without being born with them. There is a lot of evidence that leadership skills and traits can be learned and developed over time. I would hope that my leadership style will shape and transform through my learning and experiences on the job, and I believe they will. It would be amazing if a company could survey all their employees and determine the future leaders via a short test. Management team recruitment made easy. But fortunate for the rest of us, who might not be gifted with perfect confidence and speaking composure, leadership can be learned. Studies have shown that managers' styles can change over time through experiences, feedback, or help of a consultant. Leaders can change for the worst and change for the better. Leadership should be a learning process and a life long challenge. Just as no one is born perfect, no one is born the perfect leader.

disney magic

Anyone who hears the word Disney immediately starts thinking of fairy tales and Prince Charming. They think of the magic of Disneyland and Disney World and all the interactive magic that come with it. But when I hear Disney, I think of innovation. I think of creativity and growth. Walt Disney was an amazing leader who inspired his employees to do the impossible. He didn't even call them employees, they were called imagineers because they could create anything they could conceive. Walt Disney's leadership style thrived on creativity and group collaboration. He was always asking for his associates' input and their ideas. He would present a new idea to his animators and then ask them to figure out how to do it. He would dream up elaborate talking animatronics and then he and his imagineers would figure out how to design it. He valued and respected all of the people who worked for him. Under his reign they made groundbreaking innovations in animations, film, television, and interactive theme park technology. His legacy still lives today and is evident throughout all Disney enterprises. He was a leader who left a trail for those to follow. But, Disney did not always have it so easy. His first animations were not successful and he lived in Hollywood for a few years before inventing Mickey Mouse. He had dedication to his dream and drive to keep trying without success. He took his challenges head-on and strived to improve himself. Walt Disney once said "Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world." He believed that the journey never ends and as a leader, you should never stop growing. 

my leadership story

The other day in class, we had to share some of our leadership values and ideas with one another and then write each others "leadership" story. It was interesting to see how every one's style is just a little bit different. Every one's story had a slightly different focus on how they would be a leader. At first, I started thinking "Oh no! I need to change my style because someone else is better and more effective than mine!" But then I realized that I liked being different. I want to stand out as leader and leave an impression on the people I work with. I want to inspire my employees to have a dream and not just be there for the day-to-day requirement. I want my leadership to inspire passion in others. Whether its passion for hospitality or a passion for painting, having the passion to go after your dreams is an extremely powerful motivator. And for me so far, having superiors who have passion for their career, has a very positive impact on the work environment and overall success. They are a role model for someone I hope to become.

So now that I've rambled for long enough, here is my story...

Aby sees leadership as a collaborative effort. Through her experience and research of leadership she has created her own vision of what leadership is. A leader should be someone who is there to help their employees grow, learn, and succeed. A leader is there to watch over their employees and succeed together. Honesty is a clear value that resonates from the leaders down to the employees. Aby says that if they are not honest then there is no room for respect. Aby is going to be a leader that will see herself eye-to-eye with her employees, not someone who is looking down or over them. She will treat everyone with respect and push her employees and herself to grow and learn together.

possibilities

life is full of possibilities. there are opportunities to learn and grow in every experience. through this blog i will begin to explore my leadership style and theory. it will help to define my leadership lifestyle and to track the changes along the way. i take on every challenge as a chance to improve my skills as a leader and as a person. welcome to my journey :)