This past weeks reading assignment and discussion were pretty interesting. In regards to Northouse, the chapter on skills approach has taught me how to evaluate a leader objectively and how they can improve. Robert Katz stated that a leader must have technical skill, human skill and conceptual skill to be successful. The level of importance varies for technical skills and conceptual skills depending on a manager’s role, but human skill is always extremely important. This is a very interesting observation, because not all successful leaders have great human skill.
There are leaders who completely disregard the people around them and still “make it to the top”. This is apparent in business and community. Does human skill make you a better leader? Of course it does, but it may not be relevant to all leaders.
During class discussion this part Thursday, the class talked about mastering the context. Bennis does a great job of highlighting a lack of leadership today. On the other hand, Bennis seems to have this irrational notion that the U.S. will always be on top.
Although the U.S. will remain a big player for years to come, I’m not certain it will dominate in the 21st century like it has for the past 200 years.
