essay - GMAT: Issue 34

People are likely to accept as a leader only someone who has demonstrated an ability to perform the same tasks that he or she expects others to perform.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Answer:
I, in general, agree with the statement saying that people are likely to accept as their leader a person who can perform the same job that he or she wants others to perform, although some complementally explanations are required.

My belief in leadership is aligned with the statement. Only a person who can convince others that he has an ability of performing the job well can obtain their supports. In other words, a person who doesn't have any knowledge or understanding in the specific area that he belongs to can't exert leadership, since his colleagues and subordinates don't show their respects to him. In my country, Japan, this is tremendously true. Only great artisans can have apprentices. Only business persons who have great innovative minds can be accepted as great leaders.

The statement, however, needs some corrections. First, a person who can't perform a certain job anymore can also exert leadership. No wonder that almost all coaches in professional sports such as baseball or football don't have the same ability to play the sport as the players. Yet it is possible that they can exert their leadership. Why? It's because they have deep knowledge and experience in the area and as a result they can apply them to the present situation. Moreover, look at industries where technological changes frequently happen, say, Information Technology industry. Most of senior level managers don't know any specific products such as Windows Vista, which is the latest dominant operation system working on personal computers, but they can be respected by their colleagues or subordinates because of their ability of quickly catching a concept of state-of-the-art technologies and their fundamental understandings toward basic principles.

Finally, I would like to mention serious situation that can be happened in case an inappropriate person is in a leader's position. Remember many MBA, which stands for Master of Business Administration, graduates who doesn't have specific knowledge or experience failed to operate the business that had been acquired in M&A, Merger and Acquire. Since they could not exert leadership, they failed.

To sum up, my belief toward leadership matches the statement as a whole, although some complements are required.