Interview with general manager of food company

I undertook to interview the general manager of a local food processing company on issues of leadership. I asked him to tell me about his daily activities ranging from how he handles his workers, how he manages to keep a good working relationship between the management and the workers and among the workers themselves. He opined that in order to be successful in leadership, one needs to be armed with several styles of leadership so that they may select the most suitable for the situation at hand.

He added that different work set-ups demand different styles and therefore it is critical that a leader weighs the options first before making the critical decision on which style to adopt. He was assertive that the authoritative style of leadership works wonders in most of the cases and the results are never regrettable, but he also thought that a bit of care-free style can sometimes be used for brief periods to give the works a breather and release tension (Lowe, 2009).

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Previous work experiences, he said, matter a lot and should be incorporated into the task at hand to make problem-solving easier.

Being confronted with a troublesome issue one had encountered earlier makes it easier for them to solve even if the work environment is different. He further added that in leadership, experience is the key word and leading from the frontline is a guarantee for success. He gave an example of himself saying that he has managed to be as successful as he was courtesy of leading by example.

Teamwork and openness, he continued, is necessary so that a leader may be well versed with the reality on the ground and also involve everyone else in decision-making before making the final decision. Read about difference between behavioural theory and contingency theory of leadership

This makes everyone feel involved and it keeps them motivated, creates a good working relationship and improves productivity. He saw leadership as a very complex task and advised that anyone aspiring to be a leader should be prepared to deal with the unexpected and even the unknown. Dynamism and cool headedness was his preferred approach in dealing with such situations which he said should always be anticipated. He saw nervousness as a liability, the main contributor to lack of composure and tactic which accounts for more than ninety percent of failure in leadership (Lowe, 2009).

Focus, consistency, and predictability were his areas of emphasis. Many people fail in leadership because they do not concentrate up to the successful completion of their task, he said, adding that a leader must be consistent so as to achieve consistent results that can be evaluated as well. On the area of predictability, he saw it as the main driving force in any leader because it makes one aware of what the society expects of them and therefore they always strive to live up to the challenge.

Age as a consideration in leadership was seen as a factor, although to a lesser extent. He revisited the issue of experience which he said is acquired as one matures but one does not need to be that old so as to lead. He sought to explain that there is no connection between age in terms of experience and age in terms of the years one has lived. No one should claim or attempt to lead people if they can not be trusted or relied upon. He explained that these are the basic principles upon which leadership is based.

No success can ever be realized if leadership were guided by principles other than trust and reliability, although a bit of shrewdness coupled with ingenuity makes the difference between successful leaders and highly successful leaders, he concluded. REFERENCES Lowe, (2009). Leadership Rreview: Giving Yourself a Purpose Adds Clarity to All Actions and Decisions That Follow. Lowe, (2009). Interview Success System: A Step By Step Guide to Simple Strategies That Will Get You Hired.