WHAT KIND OF A LEADER DO I WANT TO BE?

Sameer Motiramani
Marketing A - 098
Leadership Lab

What kind of leader do I want to be? To answer this question, I’ll have to define what
goals do I have in life that would require me to take up a leadership role. As a future
MBA graduate, I might land up a job and might work as a manager in a firm, thus
most probably, I’d be assuming the role of a Transactional Leader. However, I have
some aspirations of my own too. Since I have a creative bent of mind, I wish to work
in domains that leverage my creativity to the maximum. For example, I had
developed an android game from scratch, all on my own. Coding, character and
environment design, animation, sound design, all of it was single handedly handled
by me. Back then I used to wonder, how amazing it would have been, if there were
4-5 individuals, with exactly the same mindset and potential as that of mine, who
would follow under my lead, give valuable suggestions to improvise, and work at
their optimum level. Given the current hypothetical scenario, I believe I would have
to assume the role of both, a Transactional leader and also a Transformational
leader to stimulate the true potential of my team, and encourage improvisations
coming from them.

To lead my team effectively, I would want to possess the below mentioned qualities.

1) Visionary: Transformational leaders use their strong insight to look toward a

better future and spot the minor difficulties preventing efficient execution.
They are able to discern the direction that their company must take to
compete in their industry. Hence, being a visionary is a must have quality for
me to be able to visualize my end goal and chart a path to reach it.

2) Openness to new suggestions: Transformational leaders are always

receptive to innovation, no matter where it may occur. They are continually on
the lookout for chances to approach problems differently and are always
receptive to fresh concepts, no matter how they may arise. Talking about this
from a game development perspective, new ideas, a different way to
 approach a situation, and changes that would make the game more
interesting or efficient would always be welcome for me.

3) Willingness to take Intelligent Risks: No change occurs without some

chance of failure. A transformative leader must be prepared to think through
these risks and what they might entail for the organization's future. If an idea
seems practical and the advantages outweigh the dangers, the leader must
be willing to explore it further. The leader must also know when the risk is too
high and a fresh strategy is required. From the point of view of my scenario,
investing money in running ads to promote the game while expecting a
profitable revenue from the downloads would be an example of risk.
Willingness to take intelligent risks is a quality I wish to possess.

4) Inspire participation from teammates: Innovation must be ingrained in a

team's culture for it to occur. Everyone, not just one or two "idea people,"
must be creative in order for the transformative leader to succeed. The role of
the leader is to be an example of overall innovation and creativity. Everyone
must be expected to think creatively and to acknowledge concepts and ideas
even when they don't produce paradigm-shifting effects, including the leader.
Teams with transformative leaders are ones where everyone is an idea
person. Looking at the nature of a creative environment, active participation
and valuable inputs from the team is a must. Thus, I wish to inspire my team
to come up with new and innovative ideas, and be outspoken and not shy
away.

5) Take a Just in time approach: This is the quality of a Transactional leader, a

must have for me in order to get the work done on time. Sure, I would want
creative thinkers, but they shouldn’t be thinking and nitpicking forever. Hence,
as a leader I wish to nurture my team to innovate, but be punctual with
deadlines, which would ensure the completion and execution of our projects
well within the stipulated time.

Practice makes perfect. Hence to attain the above mentioned qualities, I would
begin by starting to work in teams and assuming leadership roles. Since I would
want to live by the qualities I have mentioned above, I will nurture my team
accordingly and observe their response to my leadership. For example, like I said, I
want to encourage active participation from each and every member of the team in
an attempt to not leave any stone unturned. If my attempt actually succeeds and I
see my team taking interest in the tasks and trying to come up with solutions, I’ll
consider my techniques to be a win. However, if it's otherwise, I’ll have to adopt new
ways and improvise to get better at a quality I want to possess. So only by taking up
leadership roles in projects, do I believe I’ll be slowly able to attain all of these
desired qualities.

In conclusion, a leader's ability to be effective in an organisation greatly depends on

his or her capacity to develop consensus among the team members, articulate a
clear vision, and adapt his or her own leadership style to the needs of the group.

All of this is taken into account by transformational leadership, which involves the
leader having a clear understanding of the direction he wants to take the company,
influencing the staff to help them see how crucial the change is, and then working
with them to implement it. On the other hand, transactional leadership takes care of
the diligence, punctuality, and extrinsic motivation factors, all of which are a must
have as well to get optimum results.