Aaron Bucknor
March 3rd, 2025
BUSI240
Leadership Interview
During the assignment, I interviewed with John, the Corporation's Operations Manager.
John has a team of 25 people and has been in a leadership position for 10 years. John, among
other leadership responsibilities, oversees day-to-day operations, directs team players, and
accomplishes organizational goals.
When questioned on how he trains his team daily, John prioritized transparency and
mentorship. He approximates that he uses 60% of his time in coaching and the remaining
percentage in focusing on individual things and productivity. His biggest challenge as a leader is
likely handling conflict between team members. In conflict, he utilizes active listening,
mediation, and formal process in problem resolution.
Despite all these challenges, he finds great satisfaction in seeing team members grow
professionally. He also modifies his leadership style to accommodate some needs since people
must be motivated in different ways. Typical approaches to motivating him use praise, reward,
and development. He also encourages team-building activities and has initiated activities such
as quarterly retreats and problem-solving group meetings to foster team cohesion. His interest
in the employee is not restricted to work assignments only, as he attends mentoring and
professional development.
Asked for advice for the new leaders, John stressed flexibility, learning every day, and humility.
Looking back, he concurred with some of his past errors and stressed the need to be receptive
to listening and learning.
According to the interview answer, John exhibits transformational leadership
characteristics, as explained in the textbook. Transformational leadership, as Robbins and Judge
(2021) define, is a definition of leadership characteristics where workers are encouraged and
motivated to perform beyond their responsibilities and work on personal and career growth.
These are evident in John through the communication process, the motivational process,
individualization, and investing in team building. Conflict resolution skills and staff mentoring
are included in this school of thought leadership.
Leadership is a recurring subject in the Bible, and biblical worldview upholds the
principles of servant leadership, humility, and stewardship. In Philippians 2:3-4, we are
instructed, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more
significant than yourselves.". Make every one of you not only look out for your own but also for
the others. This is the verse following John's leadership philosophy because he is concerned
about the development and well-being of his team members. In addition, Proverbs 27:17
illustrates how important mentoring is: "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."
This is echoed in the way John is interested in fostering and developing the professional and
personal qualities of his team members.
While we try to improve our knowledge on transformational leadership, I came across
an article by Smith and Jones (2022) titled "Transformational Leadership and Employee
Performance" in the Journal of Organizational Leadership. As stated by the authors in the
article, effective transformational leadership improves team performance, job satisfaction, and
organizational performance. One of the most significant of the things that can be learned from
the article is that transformational leaders who are genuinely mentoring and motivating their
members develop a culture of participation and trust that aligns with John's leadership
approach. The prioritization accorded to motivation and mentoring in the article is also found in
John's techniques like achievement recognition and opportunity for growth.
Overall, John Smith is a perfect example of transformational leadership principles in the
way that he demonstrates team building commitment, conflict resolution, and individual
motivation techniques. His leadership aligns with both scholarly theory and biblical principle
through adherence to the humility, mentoring, and flexibility facets of quality leadership.
John's leadership is based on the strength of human resource investment. It produces an
organizational culture that cares about people, motivates them, and leads them to work at their
best ability. His focus on employee training and communication builds a positive organizational
culture that supports cooperation and productivity. By using direction and autonomy in balance,
John encourages innovation and self-leadership among his followers, and improves individual
and team performance. Moreover, his adherence to biblical values puts into perspective the fact
that leadership is service and stewardship, not power. John illustrates in his life the type of
leaders who can make a difference and impact individuals one works with and register long-
term success. His life serves as a model to the future stars on how the application of
transformational leadership adds value to workplaces and even to one's life.
References
● Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2021). Organizational Behavior (18th ed.). Pearson.
● Smith, J., & Jones, M. (2022). Transformational Leadership and Employee Performance.
Journal of Organizational Leadership, 10(2), 45-60.
● The Holy Bible, Philippians 2:3-4 (ESV).
● The Holy Bible, Proverbs 27:17 (ESV).
