Hello, and welcome to my blog!My name is Leroy Fenn. I am writing this blog as part of the PA6665 Leadership course at Troy University. This course is part of the Public Administration graduate program at Troy. This course is an elective for my program, and I selected to take it because the knowledge gained regarding leadership will enhance my skill set, giving me additional tools to use in both my personal and professional life. Being a great leader is critical to create a great organization. When serving as a public servant, being a great leader means being innovative, creative, and empowering. What I hope to take from this class will be to combine the great information I learn with the discussions generated between me and my fellow classmates, and develop this new knowledge into tools that can be incorporated not only in my current workplace, but also into my future, whatever it may hold.
A little about me: I live in Philomath, Oregon with my wife of 26 years and our old dachshund Otto. We have two children who are both in college; one is in their first year of their master’s program, and the other is in the second year of college. You might be wondering why someone my age is pursuing their master’s degree, and I often wonder that myself! I have a thirst for knowledge, and an honest drive to help my community, and to really make a difference in this world. Even at my age, there is still an optimist in me that says “yes, you can make a difference”. In the end, I think most of us want to help one another and try to leave this world in a better state than we found it. I work for the Benton County, Oregon as an Office Manager, managing the finance, budget, and grant functions of the Sheriff’s office. I enjoy working with numbers, so working in the areas of finance, budget, and grants is a natural fit.
A little about me: I live in Philomath, Oregon with my wife of 26 years and our old dachshund Otto. We have two children who are both in college; one is in their first year of their master’s program, and the other is in the second year of college. You might be wondering why someone my age is pursuing their master’s degree, and I often wonder that myself! I have a thirst for knowledge, and an honest drive to help my community, and to really make a difference in this world. Even at my age, there is still an optimist in me that says “yes, you can make a difference”. In the end, I think most of us want to help one another and try to leave this world in a better state than we found it. I work for the Benton County, Oregon as an Office Manager, managing the finance, budget, and grant functions of the Sheriff’s office. I enjoy working with numbers, so working in the areas of finance, budget, and grants is a natural fit.
What this blog is about: This blog is about leadership. Each week, I will discuss the weekly activities from class, and provide my own twist to the topic. What did the readings or weekly topic mean to me? How can (or how would) I use the information I gleaned from the past week in my circle of influence? Lastly, what local, statewide, or national events relate to the topic? My goal is to create a posting each week, and as I write my blog, I welcome any feedback that you may have. If you agree with me, let me know. If you do not agree with me, let me know. Feedback is how I learn other perspectives and grow!
This week, we began discussing chapter one of Leadership: Theory and Practice by Peter G. Northouse. Northouse provides a discussion on assigned versus emergent leadership, and the different bases of power. This provided a foundation for our classroom discussion of whether a person is born with leadership traits, or if these traits are developed through training; or the argument of nature vs. nurture. What a fantastic topic! It provided for some excellent discussions in our class.
When discussing leadership traits in terms of nature vs. nurture, my opinion is leadership includes aspects of both qualities. Some people are born leaders. I think about those people I went to school with, such as the different student body presidents, the debate team leaders, and students who participated in DECA and FBLA. These were the young men and women who went above and beyond to represent our student body by assuming a leadership role to help foster change. I still see some of those people today, and each of them serve in various professional fields as leaders. Two of them are founders of businesses and serve as the CEO’s of their respective companies. Others are lawyers and doctors. All are leaders in their field. At such a young age, I can’t help to think that these people were born with some level of predisposition towards leadership (nature), as I can’t imagine that there would have been time at such a young age to have obtained sufficient training (nurture).
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Does this mean that an average person (such as me) cannot become a good, or maybe even great, leader without being born with obvious leadership qualities? Of course they can! In addition to the importance that nature plays in a person becoming a great leader, nurturing plays an equally important role. Without the proper training in leadership, even the most predisposed leader cannot effectively guide his or her organization and gain the moniker or an emergent leader. Along with the attributes of nature and nurture, there is one other attribute that a leader must possess: drive. A person must be driven to leadership in order to be successful at it. Like other things of value, leadership success is not easy to obtain. It takes hard work, diligence, studying, self-discipline, and a genuine interest and thorough understanding of the people you lead. After all, you can’t lead without followers, and if you do not understand the needs and motivators of your followers (and nurture them accordingly), there is a good chance they will not follow you for long.
In my closing thoughts, in reading Three Star Leadership, I found an interesting comment that I think sums it up:
“Leaders are sort of born, Leaders are always made”.
Have a great week!
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