¶ … Leadership Comparing and Contrasting Leadership:

Juxtaposing Six Authors' Two Theories for Success

Leadership is a complex and fulfilling task. Being a good leader, one can say, is an inborn quality. For this reason, not many individuals are as such, and not many are successful. However, there are some examples of leaders who have changed the world, and who include Martin Luther King, Jr. And Bill Clinton, amongst others, individuals who present us with fantastic models of leadership. Yet this paper will focus on two specific theories. The first relates to the article on "Leadership in a (Permanent) Crisis," by Heifetz, Grashow, Linsky, and the second relates to theories proposed by Hersey, Blanchard and Jonson, in their book, Management of Organizational Behavior. These two sources will then, present differing views on leadership, which will be described, compared and contrasted below.

In their article, Heifetz et. al. (2011), describe various tasks that a leader must undertake, and their view is that these tasks must always be conclusively analyzed, yet very effective as well. The authors thus begin by stating that leadership is not only always in a state of crisis, but also in a perpetual state of uncertainty. Before even going into the metaphorical meat of the problem, they state the following:

1. A leader must foster adaptation,

2. A leader must help people develop best practices,

3. A leader must develop better practices to enable the organization to thrives as well as contribute to current success,

4. A leader must embrace equilibrium,

5. A leader must keep people in a state where they are...

A leader must introduce change, but introduce it slowly and methodically,
7. A leader must generate leadership,

8. A leader must give opportunity to other,

9. And a leader must help others adapt.

The reason I have listed these many tasks of a leader is because these are repeatedly mentioned in the paper, as vital tasks that a leader must fulfill and tasks which must be taken into account if a leaders should have a successful and impactful tenure at an organization.

The authors then mention that despite these responsibilities, a leader must be able to juggle them well. Such things as "economic crises," are not simply rough patches to get through, and the leader must always be ready for such tides, as these will never truly disappear, as they are caused by constantly changing fluctuating expectations and the often-found urgency in today's businesses, an impact of our technological advancement and "speed of light"-like communication strategies.

In view of these issues, the authors of this article mentioned that leaders must not "hunger down" or press "reset," as they should rather look toward the future, as this will most likely have the most important and most positive impact. Furthermore, the authors here stress, above all, adaptation, and mention that this will most likely help the organization in question survive in any economic environment. In this respect, they mention three cases: Best Buy, Beth Israel Deaconnes Medical Center, and Egon Zehnder International.

These organizations all fostered good leadership through things such as: helping the company adapt…