Discussion:
There are many leadership theories, styles, and best practices. We have learned concepts regarding the trait, skill, and behavioral approaches to leadership; ethical leadership; transactional, transformational, and charismatic leadership; and more. We have seen case studies of these leadership styles for leaders in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. This assignment will give you the opportunity to speak to a leader in your community and see how the leadership theories from our class connect to their experience as leaders. In this assignment, you first need to identify a leader for you to interview. This leader can be someone you know or someone you do not know. The only restrictions are no direct family members (ie: no parents, siblings, etc.). You will need to develop a suite of questions to ask the leader, regarding their leadership style. 10-15 questions should suffice. An example of a question might be: "To what extent do you focus on relationship building versus assigned tasks with your followers?" or "What leadership skills (technical, human, conceptual) are most important for you as a leader?". The purpose of the interview is to connect the course content to the actions and beliefs of a leader. After you interview this leader, you will need to write a 900 words synthesis (double spaced, 12 point font) of the experience. Describe what you found most insightful from your experience, where your interview subject agreed or disagreed with course content, how you imagine you will use this experience moving forward. This assignment provides you significant discretion, so I trust you to make this a valuable learning experience. If you need assistance finding an interview subject or developing questions or have any questions, do not hesitate to let me know and I can help. The deliverables to this assignment include:
• A copy of the interview questions
• A summary of interview question responses
• An analysis of your interview