Business Case

Leadership

There are differences between being a leader, and being a manager. You can be a great manager and a poor leader, or you can be a great leader and a bad manager. A leader is important because they are the people that embrace and manage change. Managers are important because they focus on producing order and stability. Leaders are important because they are able to motivate workers and they try to instill into other employees that motivation and embracing change are important in productivity of the company. Managers help leaders carry out their visions.

Being a leader is a large responsibility within a company. There are many important factors in the guidelines for being a successful leader. I feel that knowing what qualities are wanted in a leader, it helps me to know how to present myself. Knowing how to be a better leader will also help me to advance within my current company and help me to know how to be a great leader if I am able to acquire my own bakery.

Being able to embrace and promote change is very important. From working in retail for over ten years, I learned that there is always some change that I would have to embrace. While not every change is simple, or even easy to embrace, it must be learned and promoted within the company. Motivating other employees to change is not always easy. There are certain aspects of change that some do not embrace well. As a self acclaimed leader, I place high value on motivation. However, trying to motivate others can be difficult sometimes. The hardest part of embracing change is trying to motivate others to embrace it quickly.

With working with the public, it is important to be just and fair with rules and regulations. While some people do not understand change, it is important to be able to clearly explain and promote the changes within the company and clientele. Part of embracing change is being able to explain it and answer any questions a person may have about it. For example, the store I worked for has a fuel rewards program where you could earn cents off of your fuel per gallon purchase. Recently, our corporate office changed the fuel rewards program. It caused such an uproar with our clientele that some of the employees did not even know how to respond. Sometimes it was hard to convey to others how the program had changed, especially when they were set in their ways and unwilling to accept change. At that point, it was usually where I stepped in. I learned that sometimes you have to speak to both the employees and the clientele like they are small children in order to get them to understand. There were a few instances where I had to call a manager because the customer was that unhappy with the service I was able to provide. As a leader, I try to assess and handle the situation before involving a manager. Nine times out of ten, I am able to handle it and the customer walks away happy.

Being able to maintain