Business Question — Leadership Book Selection Reflective Essay Outline

Introduction

1. Attention Grabber (quotation, summary, anecdote, question, statistic, etc.)
2. Thesis Statement (topic + opinion/revelation about the topic)

Body Paragraph I

1. How was your perception of leadership different before and after reading the selected text?
2. Explain/Elaborate
3. Provide an example

Body Paragraph II

1. What information/elements in the book influenced your perception of leadership the most?
2. Explain/Elaborate
3. Provide an example

Body Paragraph III

1. How will you use the information you learned to guide future leadership behaviors in your personal and professional lives?
2. Explain/Elaborate
3. Provide an example
4. Conclusion
5. Restate thesis
6. Significance of information learned about leadership

Note: Each body paragraph should be a minimum of 5–7 sentences long. Introduction and conclusion paragraphs must be a minimum of 3 sentences.

Lead to Win: How to Be a Powerful, Impactful, Influential Leader in Any Environment by Carla A. Harris (Author)

Solution

The Book Lead to Win: How to be a Powerful, Impactful, Influential Leader in Any Environment provides valuable insights on how to navigate the complex and dynamic leadership landscape. In a world where constant challenges and changes characterize the business environment, the book by Carla Harris provides an illuminating guide to transcending traditional leadership paradigms towards contemporary settings.

In the book, the author includes a list of 10 pearls of intentional leadership, which are the attributes that aspiring leaders must have to ensure they become impactful and powerful regardless of where they work. The pearls of intentional leadership have helped reshape preconceived notions by ensuring that all book readers go beyond the leadership titles towards embracing intentional actions.

Amidst the pearls is a key transformative journey that emphasizes execution, empowerment, transparency, and collaboration, which provides aspiring leaders with a blueprint for leading with purpose rather than titles. This reflective essay highlights how my perception of leadership has changed from reading the text “Lead to Win” and how this will shape my leadership behavior in the future.

Difference in Perception of Leadership Prior and After Reading the Text

Prior to reading the book “Lead to Win” by Carla Harris, my perception of leadership was based on the notion of hierarchy, power, and authority. In this case, my view of a leader was a person holding senior positions in an organization and dictating tasks that must be completed to ensure the achievement of organizational goals.

However, reading the selected text has enhanced my understanding of leadership by highlighting the profound transformation the leadership has undergone. This has helped me change my previous understanding and appreciate that contemporary leadership goes beyond having authority or seniority to engaging in intentional actions, being empathetic, and promoting continuous personal development.

In addition, Harris (2022) emphasizes the transformation of leadership from execution to empowerment, further challenging my prior perception of leadership. For instance, Harris’s idea that effective leadership involves changing from individual contribution to work to ensuring everyone is empowered was a turnaround for me since this helped me understand the importance of shifting leadership from personal achievements to nurturing those around the leader.

In this case, the first pear of intentional leadership that, “leadership is a journey from execution to empowerment,” became a guiding principle in reshaping my notion of leadership. A key example was Alleyson’s case in the book, where she was an individual contributor working on a marketing project to execute tasks based on predefined guidelines.

However, her leadership journey transitioned to selling a new marketing idea (vision) to clients, hence challenging the status quo. This demonstrates that leadership goes beyond following instructions to finding opportunities, taking action, and influencing outcomes.

Elements in the Book Influencing My Perception of Leadership

The key elements that played a significant role in influencing my notion of leadership revolved around Harris’ ten pearls of intentional leadership, specifically transparency, collaboration, and transformation ability. These elements provided valuable insights into what leadership means in a complex and dynamic environment.

In the case of transparency, amplified in pear #2, which states “that people’s feeling about a leader influence how they perform and deliver,” Harris (2022) emphasizes the need for truthfulness and openness with teams to foster a culture of honesty which resonates with my principles deeply.

This concept was a changing point for me since it challenged my previously held notion that leaders must demonstrate confidence by emphasizing the need for leaders to demonstrate transparency and appreciate vulnerability since this builds trust within a team. For example, the book highlights the importance of transparency during a crisis by emphasizing that leaders must be transparent, decisive, visible, and empathetic during challenges.

This can be done by ensuring the leader communicates and acknowledges what they know or don’t know during a crisis while also ensuring uncertainties are addressed by providing direction and guidance, hence fostering trust and resilience. Another key element influencing my perception of leadership from the book was collaboration, highlighted in Pearl #5.

It states that no one can do it alone and discusses the need to leverage other people’s relationships, knowledge, and experience to promote success. Harris (2022) highlights the need for leaders to foster diversity and utilize different perspectives and talents to promote innovation and drive success. This element challenged my traditional view of a leader as the sole decision-maker towards an understanding of the need for collaborative efforts to build strength and promote collective intelligence.

A key example from chapter 5 of the book was the discussion by Harris (2022) on the importance of partnerships and collaborations in business to ensure competitiveness in the rapidly changing landscape. This has helped me understand that effective leaders value collaboration and find opportunities to engage with others toward achieving shared goals.

How Lessons from the Text will Guide Future Leadership Behaviors

The insights I gained from reading the text by Carla Harris will be instrumental in shaping my future leadership behaviors. At a personal level, leadership pearl #6 provides crucial insights on the need to be intentional in leadership rather than relying on titles.

This concept has become a key guide in my personal and professional growth, and it will guide my decisions and purposeful actions. In addition, I hope to utilize knowledge from the book to transition from executing tasks as instructed to ensuring my team is empowered to ensure their talents flourish.

This further emphasizes the focus on intentional leadership through the transition journey from execution to empowerment. The insights I learned on openness and transparency, especially during the crisis, will also influence my leadership behavior by guiding my communication approach.

During crises and uncertainties, I hope to promote transparency and honesty in my communication while showing empathy towards others to foster trust and resiliency as part of my leadership approach. Lastly, I seek to integrate partnerships and collaboration in my approach to leadership since the book provides valuable insights into the need to seek diverse views to promote innovation and success.

For example, I will use collaborative principles to establish cross-functional collaboration within teams to help promote knowledge-sharing, create an inclusive environment where everyone feels heard and valued, and foster innovativeness. In this case, the lessons from the selected text will serve as a guideline or roadmap to help me navigate my future leadership career.

Conclusion

The book “Lead to Win” has provided me with foundational knowledge on leadership, guiding my understanding of the topic towards a paradigm shift from traditionally preconceived notions. In this case, the key leadership theme of intentional action towards leadership rather than mere titles has had a significant impact on my perception.

For instance, it is evident that the lessons learned from the book are of great significance to my future leadership behaviors as a person and a professional. For instance, the emphasis on collaboration, intentional leadership, transparency, and empowerment of other people provides a guide not just for leadership but also for other aspects of life.

In this case, the book has informed, empowered, and influenced my perception of leadership from the conventional leadership approach towards leading with a purpose, and being an intentional and impactful leader.

Reference

Harris, C. A. (2022). Lead to Win: How to Be a Powerful, Impactful, Influential Leader in Any Environment. Avery