Importance of Leadership in Social Life and Business

As a collectivist society we have to deal with a great number of people in our social lives. It can range from family members to people who are living in the same area, friends and co-workers. According to Patrick Alain from Leaders Industry Magazine human beings are social animals and living together in large groups naturally meant that people needed to adopt different roles and accomplish different groups (Alain, 2012). So we do interact differently with various people adopting diverse roles. In other words, sometimes we have to act as a leader to solve a specific issue or be a follower to help, for instance, to solve a community problem.

When it comes to deriving changes in the society which impacts the social life of everyone, these are the leaders who take masses and unite them to fight for a cause. In addition, leaders inspire follower to take a specific course of action to achieve that common goal. For instance, recent uprising of Pashtuns on the other side of Durand Line is a good example of leadership in social life that is deriving change towards equality and justice.

All in all, leaders and leadership is important in our social live to derive positive changes, improve people contribution, bring order and unity as well as inspire and motivate followers towards achieving desired common goals.

In order for businesses to be profitable they must innovate. There are so many dynamics in business’ environment nowadays that keeping the pace with all the changes is tough and challenging. To accommodate customer needs constant innovation is required to be profitable, efficient and to differentiate the business from the competitors. Jeffrey Overall from University of Nipissing in his paper on a Conceptual Framework of Innovation and Performance argues that leadership is the key to innovation. In other words, to derive an organization’s culture towards innovation, influence employees to contribute, build skills and booster performance and commitment, existence of affective leaders is important. When the quality of the relationship is high and valued by all members of the organizational hierarchy functioning under the leadership, there is a greater chance of employee loyalty to the organization (Overall, 2015).

In addition, as affective leaders create self-confidence in followers, they also build morale, initiate action and motivate to build an affective work environment. Ultimately, a business will most likely be able to achieve its goals and objectives in the presence of an effective leader.

I believe leadership and management should go together to deliver the goals and objectives an organization. Managing and organization in absence of an effective and context-related leader would be difficult. It is the job of an organization’s management to mobilize the company’s resources including human resources, finances and equipment to deliver the best goods or services and bring desired profits or accomplishments. Similarly, when people are motivated and trust their management, cash is invested in the right projects or products and equipment are placed in the right places, a business’s goals will be achieved. Therefore, management should understand those key leadership skills on creating a culture within the organization that derives the organization’s values and vision.

World Health Organization in their Operations Manuel for their Staff has defined leadership as “creating vision” and management as “getting things done through balanced involvement of people” (WHO, 2010). In other words, management is about making decision. The decisions must be effective, efficient, economic and promoting equity which involves elements of leadership.

All in all, leadership and management are two key components of creation a vision and executing the objectives to achieve the set vision by taking effective decisions.

In every workplace there is a chain of command or hierarchy of positions. Relationships are managed through organizational structure. The importance of leadership emerges in managing the relationship between individuals in a workplace. Illustrating an example of a good leader versus a bad leader will make it clear on how leadership is important in a workplace.

Good leaders are clear about what needs to be done. So they are clear and create clear visions and objectives for the fellow colleagues to follow. Dissimilarly, a bad leader will confuse the subordinates and there will be no clear directions. A good leader generates new ideas, inspire others to follow in achieving them, and they are persistent in getting results. While a bad leader lacks creativity and cannot inspire others to follow him/her.

In summary, to create an effective and achieving workplace it is important to nurture leaders that can lead a business into success.

As discussed during the class and as per Learn Loft’s educational video only 26% traits of leadership are related to genetics. The other remaining are skills that can be learned and practiced. If students are taught during school time on how to become an effective leader, I believe it creates a sense of appreciation for the skills that will be useful throughout their lifetime.

Furthermore, it is important for students to experience leadership during school so they can build good relationships, work in teams to do an assignment, communicate better and develop interpersonal skills. I think, when students are put in a situation that they can act as a leader and influence team members, encourage, motivate, take decisions and create trust among team members, the experience gained will be valuable for a lifetime.

We all live in a society where we interact with variety of people. Some of those people are leaders which facilitate our day to day works. For instance, there are local shuras or a community elders who coordinate the activities of the community, take decisions on their behalf or resolve a dispute. In addition, the representation mechanism of a society through individuals in the government depicts the importance of leadership for a society. It is the grace of their leadership that will define how a society will shape. If a Shura leader is corrupt or indifferent towards the community’s benefits, that community will not inspire. Or, if a leader of a society choses only too seek his/her own interest that society will not move towards prosperity and development.

The history witnesses the existence of great leaders who shaped the history of a society. Martin Luther King fought for civil rights of blacks and changed the way that time’s society looked at them. Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid or anti institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination revolutionary, who moved a society towards justice and equality. The example of great leaders are many to emphasize on the importance leadership in a society, but, all in all, a society without a leader might fall into anarchy, I think.

For me leadership means a desire for “doing more?” When our actions inspire others to do more, learn more, perform better, act faster or get motivated; we are a leader. A true leader is the one who not only accepts more blame than his share but also does not let his team feel down at times of crisis. Leadership in its all aspects is important for me. In the presence of a true leader which we feel comfortable to interact or who we follow, trust and respect, we feel motivated, empowered, and enthusiastic to do more.

Works Cited

1. Alain, P. (2012). The Importance of Social Interaction. Leaders Industry Magazine. https://www.leadersindustry.com/the-importance-of-social-interaction/
2. Overall, J. (2015). A Conceptual Framework of Innovation and Performance: A Leadership Perspective. Journal of Leadership and Management, 1(1), 43-58.
3. Learn Loft. (2017, October 16). Are leaders born or made? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lARcQ2aHXZM
4. World Health Organization. (2010). Operations Manual for Staff at Primary Health Care Centers. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/management/facility/PHC_OM_Staff.pdf
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