Text: Better Business s2

Video Title: Leadership – CH2MHill

Run Time: 3:50

Classroom Application:

Assess student’s ability to identify and describe specific leadership skills and traits.

Synopsis

When Kurt Workman, digital communications manager CH2M Hill, thinks about leadership, he thinks of it along a spectrum. On one side is a leader who is liked by everyone; on the other, is someone who is feared by everyone in the organization. To Workman, a great leader is someone who falls in the middle of this spectrum, and who is respected. He lists the traits of a great leader and discusses a project manager he worked with who exemplified great leadership.

Discussion Questions

Management and leadership reflect different skill sets that often overlap within a single person. Effective leadership, as opposed to management, is a complex notion that is difficult to capture. Though effective leadership is often situation-based, it is always grounded in the willingness of others to follow.

1) What differentiates managers from leaders for companies like CH2MHill?

Quiz

Question 1

A great leader is someone who ______.

1. inspires feelings of fear among others in an organization

2. threatens others with consequences in order to get a work done

3. is never harsh to others

4. can be easily emulated

5. inspires others to do better than they would have on their own

Answer: Choice 5

Explanation:

Choice 5: As Kurt Workman observes in the text, "a great leader is someone who can kind of inspire others to do better than they would have on their own, someone who's adaptable, someone who when things get really tough and everybody's at the point of freaking out a little bit, someone who can kind of bring it back in and say it's ok, we can get through this, we can have a plan to get through this."

Choice 1: A great leader is a person who inspires others to do better than they would have on their own. A great leader demonstrates a balance between someone who is liked, who can be tough when needed, and who is respected.

Choice 2: A great leader is a person who inspires others to do better than they would have on their own. A great leader demonstrates a balance between someone who is liked, who can be tough when needed, and who is respected.

Choice 3: A great leader is a person who inspires others to do better than they would have on their own. A great leader demonstrates a balance between someone who is liked, who can be tough when needed, and who is respected.

Choice 4: A great leader is a person who inspires others to do better than they would have on their own. A great leader demonstrates a balance between someone who is liked, who can be tough when needed, and who is respected.

Question 2

Why is empathy considered an important leadership quality?

1. It demonstrates a heightened sense of those around and helps establish healthy relationships.

2. It eliminates the possibility of conflict within the team or organization.

3. It helps sustain the image of a good leader who must be feared.

4. It increases the adaptability of those working in the organization.

5. It helps a leader to narrow his/her span of control.

Answer: Choice 1

Explanation:

Choice 1: Empathy is an important leadership quality. A great leader demonstrates a balance between someone who is liked, who can be tough when needed, and who is respected.

Choice 2: The text does not mention this.

Choice 3: A great leader demonstrates a balance between someone who is liked, who can be tough when needed, and who is respected.

Choice 4: The text does not mention this.

Choice 5: The text does not mention this.

Question 3

Who among the following demonstrates the qualities of a great leader?

1. Jeremy, a middle-level manager in a manufacturing firm, is aggressive and hard driving, and is feared by his team members.

2. Sharon, a senior manager in a telecom firm, is kind and gullible—traits that make her equally popular with those who perform well and those who do not.

3. Linda, a junior executive in an ad agency, is highly adaptable and many of her colleagues credit her with helping them accomplish much more than they would have had on their own.

4. Dana, the Vice President of a reputed media firm, believes in the status quo and systematically suppresses employee complaints against the management.

5. Kylie, an intern in a national daily, is ambitious and believes in establishing the right connections in the right places and is not particularly concerned about minor ethical lapses which, according to her, are a small price to pay for future success.

Answer: Choice 3

Explanation:

Choice 3: As Kurt Workman observes in the text, “It doesn't matter what level you are in an organization, you can be a leader. And a great leader is someone who can kind of inspire others to do better than they would have on their own, someone who's adaptable, someone who when things get really tough and everybody's at the point of freaking out a little bit, someone who can kind of bring it back in and say it's ok, we can get through this, we can have a plan to get through this.”

Choice 1: A great leader demonstrates a balance between someone who is liked, who can be tough when needed, and who is respected.

Choice 2: A great leader demonstrates a balance between someone who is liked, who can be tough when needed, and who is respected.

Choice 4: A great leader demonstrates a balance between someone who is liked, who can be tough when needed, and who is respected.

Choice 5: A great leader demonstrates a balance between someone who is liked, who can be tough when needed, and who is respected.