Personal Leadership Proposal

Current Issues in Leadership

Saint Leo University

After reading the personal leadership conundrum article I connected to more than one topic
question. I have chosen two conundrum questions to complete my project. The first question is”
and the second relatable question is “How will I be able to effectively lead those who have
negative stereotypes of working for/or with females?”
There are many definitions of transparency, many contexts in which the word is used, and
many useful distinctions made by experts within those contexts. However, like you I am attracted
to clarity and simplicity, especially in management. A definition I happen to like has two parts:
(1) Openness, candor, the free flow of information. (2) Dialogue with stakeholders. Transparency
is very much related to freedom, the quality of our relationships, the quality of our lives and the
sustainability of our society. I would say that more often than not transparency facilitates
freedom and enhances the quality of our relationships: individual-to-individual, individual-to-
organization, and organization-to-organization (McManus, 2006). Transparency is related to my
conundrum question “How do I lead people who don’t believe I should be doing the leading?
The use of this can bring understanding and common grounds in the workplace.
Women and men are often differently placed to work within the emerging dominant logics of
management. The gender patterning considered are skewed rather than clear-cut. In relation to
organization-based discourses and practices, leadership is dominated by white men. Some men
are tempered radicals, inside-outsiders acting for change. Some women leaders question the
foundations of business and global power relations, and point to fundamental gender inequalities.
Whilst they are recognized figures, they are operating at the margins, self-identified as activists.
Other influential women provide training in the alternative practices of leadership they advocate
(Höpfl, H., & Case, P. 2007). This relates to my second conundrum topic about “How will I be
able to effectively lead those who have negative stereotypes of working for/or with females?”
Over the centuries femininity has been stereotyped as dependent, submissive and conforming,
and hence women have been seen as lacking leadership qualities (Burns, 1978.) Today, the way
communication is shared amongst leaders is in a very strategic way. The reinvented
communication function must address communication systemically, not functionally. That means
including people with knowledge of technology, finance, human resources, training and
development, line management, and the legal department in operationally relevant
communication discussions, problem solving, and implementation (Shaffer, 2000). A leader has
conceptual skills and the ability to think analytically, break down problems into smaller parts
(WBS), recognize the logical relationships between activities (CPM) and the implications
between any one problem and another (interfaces), deal with ambiguous situations (risks) and
change management skills. A leader should not have to worry about not being respected
definitely when they know their craft.
The two leaders I have chose to interview is my Store Manager, because she has taught me a
lot about transparency and how it can prevent negative energy and situations from happening.
Her contact phone number is #######
The second leader I chose is Renee Porter, the former director of the Rape crisis center. She
has dealt with the negative stereotypes of being a female with so much power. She is a public
figure who is always fighting for women who have been rape victims, physically and mentally
abused women, etc.
 I have conducted a thorough interview for my two chosen leaders. The following questions
are assigned to Melinda Hall:
1.) How do you handle the negative stigma of being a female leader of other female/male
victims and others?
2.) I read an article where you were forced to resign from your position of being the director
of the Rape Crisis Center, can you tell me why?
3.) Do you think it was because of your gender and nationality?
4.) Do you still help all types of victims and women who are seeking help even though you
no longer have all the resources you once had? How do you lead and help them given
minimum tools and resources?
5.) What has been the most challenging part about leading a group of people who are all
dealing with some form of abuse and negative energy?
6.) And what has been the most rewarding moment?
The following questions are assigned to Miranda Hughes Interview Questions:
1). Do you think transparency could help deal with leading people who thinks you don’t
deserve the leadership position you are in?
2.) What does transparency mean to you?
3.) Why do you think some people do not respect authority?
4.) Have you ever had to fire someone because they would not listen to your command? If
yes, how did you go about the process?
5.) Having a bad seed in the group can spoil the rest of the bunch. Situations like this can be a
domino effect and before you know it you have an entire staff who does not listen nor respect
their leader. How did you contain the unresponsive employee from the other employees?
 References
Burns, J. (1978). Leadership (1st ed., Cass canfield book). New York: Harper & Row.
Feit, M., & Wodarski, J. (2004). The conundrum of human behavior in the social environment.
Binghamton, NY: Haworth Social Work Practice Press. (2004). Retrieved October 27, 2019,
from INSERT-MISSING-DATABASE-NAME.
Höpfl, H., & Case, P. (2007). Women and leadership (Journal of organizational change manage
ment, v. 20, no. 2). Bradford, England: Emerald. (2007). Retrieved October 27, 2019, from INSE
RT-MISSING-DATABASE-NAME.
Janssens, M., & Steyaert, C. (2019). A Practice-Based Theory of Diversity: Respectifying (In)Eq
uality in Organizations. Academy of Management Review, 44(3), 518–537. https://doi-org.saintle
o.idm.oclc.org/10.5465/amr.2017.0062
McManus, T. (2006). Transparency and other hot topics. Emerald Publishing Limited, 2006.
ProQuest Ebook Central.
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/saintleo/detail.action?docID=285544.
Created from saintleo on 2019-10-27 17:25:52.
Shaffer, J. C. (2000). The Leadership Solution. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Retrieved
from
http://search.ebscohost.com.saintleo.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=51903
&site=ehost-live&scope=site