Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Ben SL1

Chapter 1: Explain the differences between leaders and managers.  Would product owners and scrum masters be leaders, managers, both, or neither?
                    Leaders are people that inspire. They get people to believe in something and to work for it. Managers simply organize and handle the manner in which people work. Scrum masters and product owners would be both, since they have to get people excited about working, and they also have to oversee peoples' jobs.
Chapter 1: Hunter says that leadership is a skill, not something many are born with.  Do you actually believe this?  Have you always believed this?  What evidence have you seen in your life to back up your response?
                    I do believe this to be true in most cases, but I also believe that someone can be born with the rough ability to lead, but needs help fine-tuning his leadership skills. A friend of mine had great focus and attention to detail, but he was always quiet. As he hung out with my rowdy and rambunctious group of friends and me, he started to become more vocal. I think this has developed him into a much better leader, though most of his leadership skills are simply innate.
 Chapter 1: The word "influence" comes up dozens of times in the first chapter.  Why does Hunter keep talking about it?
                    Influence is a key aspect of being a leader. To be an effective leader, you have to be able to influence your team even when they're low of spirit. You also want to have the right type of influence. People are much more willing to follow a friendly, guiding influence than an aggressive, punishment-based influence. 
Chapter 2: In what places in your life have you earned authority?  How did you get it?
                    Sadly, I can't think of any instances in which I was given an official title of authority, but when I'm babysitting my little cousins, it's understood that I have the authority. This is in part because their mother told them to heed my command, but also because, collectively, we recognized my superiority in the aspect of life experience and rational thought.
Chapter 2: What is a legitimate use of power by the leaders of a FRC team?  How often should this be used?
                    I believe in leaders should have the power to reassign people from task to task. Of course, this power shouldn't be used liberally, but when someone has been asked multiple times day after day to work on a task, to stay focused, they should be put on a different task since they are apparently incapable of doing that job. Again, this is a last resort. You would simply talk to them at first, reason with them and do all you can to help, but sometimes someone just isn't equipped to carry out a certain job, so assign the job to someone able to complete it. 
Summary
                    I learned about servant leadership and the difference between power and authority. Influence is pertinent, and leading and managing aren't the same thing.

2 comments:

  1. "collectively, we recognized my superiority in the aspect of life experience and rational thought". Best. Comment. Ever. And for the record, I can think of a number of times where people gave you authority (an informal, earned respect that yields power), even if you didn't have a title.

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  2. I agree that the power given to leaders on our team should be enough for reassignment, especially from filler jobs, but it definitely shouldn't go to their head. Unless of course, their supreme in their knowledge of life and rational thought. Also, hooray for that quiet guy!

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