Leadership

Hey guys, here is a piece I wrote for examples of leadership. I thought that some of you might enjoy it.

Military and Civilian Leadership Excellence

            General Marshall and Mr. Marchionne, were both excellent leaders who displayed extremely innovative ideas for reform of their particular areas of responsibility. General Marshall’s postings as a professional and dedicated leader of various staff positions throughout his carrier, coupled with his overwhelming desire for efficiency, established within him solid experience as a leader. He continually took this experience with him to all his postings. Mr. Marchionne, developed a similar experience as an efficient leader with various civilian companies and brought this experience with him to Chrysler Group’s table.

Both, Marchionne and General Marshall, had a similar approach to leadership. General Marshall became known as a leader who did not shy away from difficult positions. When most other active duty officers would not have taken on the challenge of transforming the highly political National Guard, then Colonel Marshall highlighted his exceptional abilities by re-energizing it and making it more proficient. This assignment as the senior instructor for the Illinois National Guard and his leadership philosophy could have caused a tremendous political fall-out; however, his focus, determination, and vision for a more efficient organization led to a successful assignment for General Marshall and the National Guard as a whole. Marchionne took on the similar challenge and risk with Chrysler Group. He has demonstrated his exceptional leadership and ability to transform an organization, making it more efficient.

They both also had a philosophy of leadership that was considered radical. GEN Marshall was noted for employing his staff by demanding them to develop ways to accomplish missions and operations. He pursued this philosophy, which got his staffers to take ownership and responsibility of the missions, operations, and organizations. Mr. Marchionne had the similar approach to involving teams to take action. He revamped the traditional upper crust think tank by “flattening” it. This means that he sawed from the normal tradition of only making decisions based on the idea of the upper most echelon and began to employ sound ideas from other levels. Not only did this establish ideas from a new vantage point, but it also brought a re-energized feeling to the lower echelons, which got them to “buy-in” on the ideas and therefore, creating a fully dedicated workforce.

Mr. Marchionne and General Marshal are both exceptional examples of leaders at the highest level. They both had extraordinary visions of how to transform an organization that was considered radical by others.  They easily got other leaders at all levels within their organization to “buy-in” on their vision by employing them to develop ideas and strategies, which led those various leaders to put their best foot forward, because they now had a personal connection and investment to the organization and/or operation.

Work Cited:

Laver, Harry S., and Jeffrey J. Matthews. The Art Of Command, Military Leadership From George Washington To Colin Powell. Univ Pr of Kentucky, 2010. 60-91. Print.

Saporito, Bill, and Auburn Hills. Power Steering How Chrysler’s Italin Boss drives an American auto revival. Time, 2011. 36-41. Print

Description of Words

Enraged

The eyebrows on her forehead created an angle from which deep bulging wrinkles shot up her head. Her face turned blood red and her lips where so tightly sealed together that around her mouth was the only place that the redness escaped.

Happy

The smirk on his face could not be washed away with the most devastating news. He spoke so fast that it was hard for us to keep up and the fact that he could not make himself stand still did not help.

Autumn

The air was damp and thick. The mild odder of the wet and rotting leaves reminded me of my grandfather’s compost pile.

This was done in my English class and was actually a bit of fun. You should try it yourself. Pick some word and then try to describe it in a unique manner, in a few words.

Rainy Days

What a cold and wet morning today. On days like this I find it hard to get motivated to do anything, especially if I need to get stuff done outside! As I thought about this for a bit, I realized that rainy weather has not always discouraged me to get stuff done or even just put me in a foul mood. There was a time or more accurately a place, where rainy days were nice and put me in a better, motivational mood.

When I was living in Arizona, summers were always extremely hot and extremely dry. We could literally go for a few months without rain. This was especially the case in the first part of the summer. This long period of sunny days without a cloud in the sky might seem nice now, living here in Maryland, but this became agonizing while I lived there.

I always looked forward to the latter parts of summer, to a time that Tucsonians called monsoon season. Most might think this is ridiculous, because they think of a monsoon season as a time of constant never ending rain. I suppose you have to live in southern Arizona to understand. Around Tucson, this time is referred to the common afternoon thunderstorms that are built by the mountains surrounding the area, which bring massive amounts of rain down in a short period of time. This could happen almost every evening for several weeks. You see before the rain starts coming. Everything becomes so dry, that the scenery turns brown. The massive Saguaro cacti become thin, as they lose their stored water. But only after a few rainy afternoons, the scenery starts to regain color. The cacti begin to swell. The leaves of the palo verdeand and mesquite trees turn green again.

This reincarnation of life in southern Arizona, brings with it good feelings. Those late afternoon thundershowers are nice and give me motivation. I suppose the feelings, which are associated with rainy days, depend on where one lives.      

Subtitles???

I'm a bit upset!

Okay, first off I want everyone to know that I am extremely patriotic and love this country to the fullest. I also don't like the whole idea of constantly apologizing for our ways. However, this dilemma has more to do with a personal issue that I would like to gripe about!

A few weeks ago while I was watching TV, I saw a preview for a new Will Ferrell movie. In this movie he makes fun of the complete overacting of Spanish soap operas or novellas. This immediately struck my fancy, because my wife enthusiastically watches novellas and I always make fun of the over macho, over acting. Along with the theme of the novella style, the movie is entirely in Spanish, with English subtitles. Even Ferrell himself speaks Spanish and is not dubbed. Regardless of my lack in being anywhere near to novice at Spanish, I really wanted to go watch this movie with my wife. She agreed and it would have been a great night.

The reason I said that it would probably have been a great night is do to the fact that we never went. We never went, because hardly any movie theaters near us are showing the movie. Then to add insult to insult, the ones actually showing the film only have limited show times. This is a Will Ferrell movie! I understand not all people enjoy his comedy, but the majority of people do. He’s hilarious! The only explanation for this complete lack of interest in the film is that most people would have to read subtitles.

 Like I stated earlier, I love this country and its ways, but this pisses me the F___ off. Are we, Americans, really that darn ignorant and lazy that we can’t enjoy a movie because we would have to read subtitles? I could make an argument of, “in other countries,” but I will not. Instead, let us just stop being lame idiots.  

Anyway sorry, I’m just upset that I pretty much have to wait until the DVD release to be able to give my wife a hard time by ripping on the over acting, over macho ways of the novellas.

Okay I'm back at it!

     Something strange occurred to me the other day, as I was tagging along with my wife's shopping expedition in the mall. All the different people, shopping, eating, or just cruising by the stores, were all similar to me or were similar to the people in my life. I don't mean similar as in the way I looked or the clothes I wore, but what they were currently doing with their lives. And, I don't mean being in the mall either.

     People I saw with in the same age range as me were college students. The ones a bit older had graduated. They all lived in a house outside of the city and drove everywhere. They also complained about the gas prices.

     
Other people that I just could not relate to myself, still held a connection to my life. If they seemed familiar with someone else in my life, then they were connected to that someone. **That guy over there, walking past footlocker, with a gut hanging over his belt, must be a cop. Like the one that pulled me over for speeding. That lady trying on shoes must be a cheerful woman, working the counter at a coffee shop. Like the lady that always smiles and tells me have a nice day as she rings me up. That little boy, complaining to his parents because he wants a toy, is a brat, because my buddy’s kid is brat and they act the same.**

     
As I thought about this for a minute, I realized that these people are most likely nothing like I think they are. So, why do I see them this way? It probably has something to do with some great psychological explanation, which could easily be explained by some concept that would just fly right over my head. So, I'll just call it "self-sightedness." I'm not sure if I'm the only one who sees people around them in the same way, but it would be nice to know. Do you experience "self-sightedness as well?