Description

Apply concepts from the US Air Force Readings or the 3 Women CEO Readings and apply then, using detail to a situation that you are familiar—work, school, church, etc.

.Reading Horton's Thirteen Traits of Effective Leaders really resonated with me. Two

of the traits he describes that I have seen people struggle with on a daily basis is

accountability and empowerment. One specific example of accountability that I see

all the time at work is when someone has a question, which they know the answer to,

but still, ask a boss/leader for the answer. I had a discussion with my boss about this

because I was confused why some people do this and he stated that they ask because

they want the boss/leader to be accountable for the decision they make just in case it

is wrong or goes bad. After knowing this, when someone asks me a question that I

know they know the answer too, I will say something along the lines of " use your

best judgment" or " what do you think?” 

This helps people learn to become

accountable on their own. Any great leader I have known personally is always

accountable and which makes them a great leader. Another experience I have seen

in leadership is with empowerment. I had a previous boss who would now let

his employees be empowered. This was very frustrating to me because when I had

great ideas they would get shot down right away or not even brought to the table at

all. Like Horton said about real effective leaders is, " Leaders listen to all ideas and

take the time to explain why a new one can or cannot be adopted". So when a leader

empowers the people they are leading while listening, great things will happen. What

I have learned with my experience is that leadership is not easy. Just like Horton

stated, " While the 12 previous traits are not rocketed science, they are difficult to

embody all the time". By knowing this, I want to take these traits and use them

effectively in my new leadership role at work. 

Example two:

I am very interested in the thirteen traits of elective leaders by Colonel Horton

and I would like to take myself as an example. I am operating an online store

selling fashionable clothes, boxes, and shoes. I work as a general agent and

have many individual agents who buy products from me and are like retailers.

I think I have demonstrated many traits mentioned in Horton’s article. First, I

show respect. Instead of treating individual agents as my subordinates, I treat

them as my friends and partners. I also use rewards to motivate and praise top

performers. For example, I give discounts to top ten individual agents whose

sales volume is among the largest. I also reward those who recommend new

agents to me. The third trait is discipline. 

According to Horton, those who do

not meet the standards should be disciplined and appropriate discipline is

important for maintaining high morale and good order. Considering that the

price of the products that I sell is high and what I want to do is ensure the

authenticity of the products. If I find an individual agent mixes fake products

and authentic products, I will stop cooperation with the agent and report him

or her to other agents. These traits help me develop good relationships with

the agents and my store also runs well because of my credit and sincerity. I

agree with Horton that these traits are important for an effective leader.