From the course: Leadership Styles, Behaviors, and Approaches

Leadership for today's workplace

From the course: Leadership Styles, Behaviors, and Approaches

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Leadership for today's workplace

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- Moving from individual contributor to leader requires a different mindset and skillset. On one level, most people know great leadership when they see it, but it's another thing entirely to become a great leader yourself. The purpose of this course is to explore the best and most recognizable leadership styles, behaviors, and approaches. Most researchers and professionals agree that the fundamentals of good leadership don't change rapidly. That's why I'll be reminding you about some classic enduring leadership models that will still inspire you today. Then we'll look at the more recent emerging issues that all contemporary leaders must face. I'll be making three key assumptions, as we start with the classics and work our way forward. First, if you're watching this course, I'll assume you want to develop your ability to positively influence others. There's a difference, for example, between managing things and leading people. Most of us start our first supervisory positions focusing on processes and workflow, but we want to move beyond that and develop into true leaders with genuine influence and the ability to shape our team's culture. I selected the leadership approaches in the course with your development in mind. My second assumption is the most important one. Wherever you are currently, you can grow and improve. We can all become better leaders. Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi knew about leadership. He once said, "Leaders are made, they are not born." In that spirit, you can make progress in the course by identifying the key external skills you'd like to improve, and by adopting the internal philosophies or mindsets you can develop. Third, I'm assuming you'll gravitate toward one or more leadership approaches in the course that fits your personality and situation. As you'll see, there's no one best way to lead in all circumstances for all individuals. For some lessons, you may say to yourself, "This approach won't work for me," and that may be true. It's your job to be on the lookout for approaches that will work, that speak to you, and feel almost like they're calling your name. My goal for the course by the end is that you'll be equipped to make the best possible choices that fit your leadership situation, so you'll know which model to explore further. With that, let's start with one of the oldest approaches to leadership in the next lesson.

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