How would I reply to the post?

At this stage in my life, I have had many good leaders and some not so good leaders. Those that come to mind quite have many characteristics included in the reading, things like being honest, committed, inspiring and creative people focused (Luthans et al., 2025). These leaders were also good because they were role models to all their reports and those that interacted with them. They had expectations that they had for us as a team and followed it as well. One leader I had was great at including us in projects and was great at collaborating with us on our ideas. They enjoyed hearing the ideas and no idea was a bad idea, what they really taught me thought was to have back up information for your idea. Along with our ideas needed the information to back up our ideas, things like why we wanted it and the financial information to support our it. A couple of my good leaders were also sincere, they were always very genuine in everything they did, and when giving feedback on something whether it be a positive or negative you knew if they were saying it that is how they felt about it and they said it constructively as well. I also ran my department, and they empowered me to make decisions and stood behind me with my decisions even when they may not have agreed. Never degraded me in front of colleagues they always talked to me privately, we had weekly staff meeting and if something came up that needed to be addressed to me about me or my department, they waited until we were alone and address it then. The text mentions leaders that are authentic, and I think the think I got the most from all my best leaders are just that, positive and strength-based, work toward development in others and to be honest. As a leader those are some of my main focuses that I try to be and attributes I try to have as a current leader. According to the article 10 ways to Become a Better Leader, and past chapters, being a good leader can impact the success of your team, your organization and yourself (Schooley, 2023). I feel like these past leaders that I consider good made me feel like part of a team and want to work toward organizational goals and make my people better.

The worst leader I had was a hard person to work for and I would say they fit many of the characteristics listed in the text. They showed managers verses leaders, things like controlling, and maintaining and telling how things should be done instead of letting us give feedback or offer suggestions (Luthans et al., 2025). This one manager always made sure they were the ones in control and never took anyone elses feedback on anything. He told us how he wanted things done and when and it did not matter what else needed to get done or if we knew what we were doing, it had to be his way. He would never talk to us unless he needed something done or to discipline us, even in front of our colleagues, we all sat in cubicles, and he never would ask us to step into his office just tell us right there no matter who was around. One time he even told me how I should sign off on an email, he did not like that I put Thank You with my signature. I did not last long in that company due to him being my boss. I had been there 9 years and 2 with him and he truly was the reason I left and would have left sooner if it had been possible. I learned from them how to be a leader not a manager, more what not to do than what to do. One thing I do not ever do is discipline anyone in public or around co-workers, when I managed a team of kitchen workers, I would always pull them into my office, and we would calmly discuss what they were doing wrong and work through it together. I would work with them on their thoughts about doing it the right way or why they felt they couldnt, and we came up with a solution together. I tried to always work with the employee and get their input on the needed action. I also learned to let employees be themselves and empowered them to get things done the way they wanted, if it was within policy and procedures, it did not matter if I did not agree it was how they wanted or needed to do it and they usually did a fantastic job. Working with my staff and getting to know them, what they need and how I can help them was something I learned from him because he didnt do that. I strive to be a good leader and I feel that this class along with having good and bad leaders have helped me be the best leader I can be.