GET INSPIRED
LEADERSHIP STYLES
Aya M. Ismael Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering Suez Canal University
Success?! What is success? Am I successful? What does it take to be successful and do I have it? The interpretation of such a big word varies from one person to another but at the end of the day one can only agree that success is all about reaching goals and fulfilling potentials, it’s a long rough road with many obstacles in the way, but with motivation and inspiration these obstacles can be demeaned nevertheless overcome leading the way to a world full of endless possibilities. Other people successes might just be the kind of inspiration that you are looking for at this critical point of your life as a college student, so stop! take a few moments of your time and find out how they did it?!
Being successful in your job does not always mean that you were an “A” student in your college, or even depends mainly on how good technically and scientifically you are. On the other hand, there are no arguments about the importance of these things. But there are many other aspects -away from what you have learned throughout all your academic stages, either school or college- that can help you become much more successful in your job, and also help you achieve your goals faster, some of these things are “leadership styles and skills”. Well, you are probably asking yourself “What does possessing leadership skills have to do with me as a fresh engineer?” Well, The answer for that simply is; having the skills of how to be a successful leader can help you achieve your goals faster, and who knows? Maybe one of these goals is to become a leader of a team in one of your company’s projects! That is why it is important for you as an engineer to know about the different styles of leadership and how to use them to contain the different situations that might face you as an engineer. Before talking and discussing the different styles of leadership let me tell you what leadership is, “it is a process of social influence in which only one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment
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January 2010
ECHO
of a certain task”. Alain Keith who is a theorist in leadership behaviors and authorities said that leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people contributing to making something extraordinary happen.” With that small introductory behind us, it is now time to talk about the different styles of Leadership which can be mainly divided into three main types: 1. Autocratic Leadership. The Autocratic style of leadership is a classic style which depends mainly on the leader being the only decision maker and taker, with least consultation with colleagues, which means that the leader is the only one responsible for any taken decisions.
