Leaders look for opportunities to change the status quo. Leaders enlist others to see a similar future as they do. Leaders strengthen others by building strong teams. Leaders set the example, create standards of excellence and help people as they work toward objectives. Leaders recognize individual contributions and celebrate their accomplishments.

Whether or not you are a born leader, if you strive to improve yourself on these five practices you have one critical component that these five practices could not do without, self-motivation. So even if you are not a born leader but you have self-motivation it might be more accurate to say you are a leader in training.

First, there has to be a clear need for change. Second, the objectives of the change must be clearly stated. Third, group participation to clarify the changes might be needed. Fourth, broad guidelines to achieve the objectives must be stated. Fifth, details of a change that will most affect a group should be left to that group. Sixth, state the expected rewards from the change. Seventh, reward those who helped in the change (Tucker pg 339).

If an organization follows these key parts it should be possible for them to make productive changes.

In the unconscious incompetence stage individuals have minimal leadership experience or competence and fail to realize that fact. In the conscious incompetence stage individuals realize their short comings but still do not possess the requisite skills. In the conscious competence stage individuals realize where they are doing well and where they still need improvement. In the unconscious competence stage individuals apply their skills naturally without realizing it(Tucker 217).

After reflecting on these leadership development stages it is clearly important for more developed people to help out individuals who are less developed in order to further the leadership development of the less developed individual.

Usually people associate management with leadership, however this is simply incorrect. Managing is not the same as leading (Tucker pg 218). In the operations of organizations, a manager usually has a formal position and plans, organizes, directs, etc., in order to control individuals. A leader, on the other hand, exerts influence on individuals in order to achieve something. A manager is usually more focused upon short term goals, while a leader is focused upon a longer term personal vision.

In business there might also be a golden ratio of sorts when it comes to Human Resources and budgets. Some of the general guidelines to using the materials provided, i.e. money, are simple enough: do not invest everything in wages, make sure to invest in safety and quality, etc. However, these guidelines are not enough. To truly be in the scope of the architects of the Parthenon and the Great Pyramid of Giza, there has to be a more refined method to the ratio of program investments planned by a Human Resources Department. But, until someone discovers the golden ratio of Human Resource budgeting, we will be left to educated guesses and some beneficial planning.

This might seem far from the topic of management but I feel it is a parallel to the HR Simulation. While the simulation allows students to examine the inner decisions of human resource departments it is a much better learning experience than simply talking about the theory of human resource management. However, there is a flaw. No one is shooting at us. After examining some of the top companies to work for I have noticed that they all have some sort of strong corporate culture that instills something in its employees that appears to motivate them and allow them to grow. Sadly, I have no idea how to add this to the simulation. I have no method of incorporating words into numerical calculations that a computer could return with respect to employee views. So, until that day I will practice with my rifle and techniques and wait for the bullets.

When someone appears to be rude, it is hard to be in the top categories of leadership. Even if the person is not rude at all, appearances are crucial. I would almost go so far as to say you might have a better chance being an actor in order to be a great leader. Or, the answer might be more down to Earth - not everyone is meant to be a great leader.

It might be out of pure chance that who you know now can help you in the future. However, this can not be the only way. Maybe it is important to be an outgoing friendly person. Maybe you need to attend panels and lectures on the topics you wish to pursue as a career and seek out the speakers afterwards. Maybe you just need to be involved in everything on campus so everyone becomes a contact. Most of these ideas seem like horrible answers. So, to provide a proper answer I would suggest going to the Career Center.

This lack of interaction that might lead to happiness reminds me of a story I was once told. A woman in New York City was followed by a suspicious man for a few blocks, however, it was not long before the man ran up to her and stabbed her many times. This was done in the middle of the afternoon on a fairly populated street. She was some how able to escape while yelling for help. It was not long before the man caught back up with her and continued to stab her. She again yelled for help but her fate was sealed and she was killed.

The point of this story is that no one called the police because everyone thought someone else would do it. However, that is not the only message in this story. The fact is that no one went to stop the man from killing the woman and it seems improbable that over the distance of a few blocks no one was of the physical strength or ability to help the woman. Which means someone probably could have helped stop the man from killing the woman but chose not to. I understand that a situation like this is daunting but it is also an avoidance of discord.