Am I A Resonant Leader?

January 20, 2017

I think that I can answer whether I am a resonant leader or not by simply saying that I believe that I am.  However, one must accept the possibility of being a resonant leader without actually being in a leadership position.  I am a “leader” who is not in a command authority position.

I feel as if I am a resonant leader.  I think I exemplified many of the basic qualities prior to pursuing my MBAA degree through Embry-Riddle.  That being said, the past few semesters have opened up new thought patterns about leadership that I have adopted.  For instance, although I thought of myself as a logical and analytical thinker, I learned a lot during my opening MSLD course.  I delved deep into what compromised a critical thinker.  How did one conduct an analysis that ran a circle logic that would provide an answer once one completed the exercise?  The tools used in critical thinking helped boost my value to my organization as I began to incorporate those things.  Technical expertise within an area is important when attempting to gain the trust of others.

I had always felt that I was able to connect with people and network various support groups within an organization.  However, I didn’t realize how important that was until I began the Masters of Science in Leadership (MSLD) 641 course.  I realized that connecting with people was part of having emotional intelligence.  Having emotional intelligence lead to becoming a resonant leader.  The fact that this course talked about these characteristics has helped me re-align my priorities when it comes to performing my job.  This can be exemplified by building trust and relationships.  One has to have the trust of others in to be effective.  That means having values and a moral compass.  Doing the right thing when no one is looking is one way of having values and morals.  The Army likes to say, "Choose the hard right versus the easy wrong".  

In the book, “Resonant Leadership”, Boyatzis and McKee talk about the importance of compassion and hope.  Retaining those qualities gives an individual a better chance at being a resilient or resonant leader.  I had also worked very hard in the previous year as I pursued a policy of adding value to my organization.  By the time the holidays rolled around in December, I was on the verge of burning out.  I sacrificed a lot for the organization, but felt that I was unable to do enough.  That was where compassion and hope came in.  Learning about those traits helped to guide me through a renewal process.  This helped me gain resilience in a stressful situation, but it also helped me realize that I had to be able to offer the other people in the organization hope.  Hope that things can and will get better if we all work towards a common goal.  It also demonstrated that I needed to be able to demonstrate that things can change, even when it appears that the weight of a large organization is resisting that change. 

How to differentiate between hard power and soft power?  In Nick Obolensky’s excellent book, “Complex Adaptive leadership 2^nd Edition”, Nick likens some of the leadership traits to the Yin and Yang.  On one side there is the hard power and on the other side is soft power.  Each of the Yin and Yang contain a small circle of the opposite color within their areas.  In this way, Obolensky was stating that a good leader had to have a mixture of both hard power and soft power, and no when to utilize which.  That requires being able to communicate with and read people and situations.  A superior leader does this seemingly without effort.

I do believe that given an opportunity to be in a position of authority, my life experiences will help to keep me emotionally grounded.  I believe that I have the communication skills and the emotional intelligence necessary to excel as a leader.

John Hescott

References:

Boyatzis, Richard. McKee, Annie. (2005) “Resonant Leadership” Boston: Harvard Business

            School Press

Obolensky, Nick. (2016) “Complex Adaptive Leadership 2^nd Edition”. New York: Taylor &

            Francis

Boyatzis, Richard. McKee, Annie. Johnston, Frances. (2008) “Becoming a Resonant Leader”.
             Boston: Harvard Business Press