MBA617 Weekly Podcast

Welcome Emerging MBA617 Leaders! Hi, I’m Dr. Valerie Arguello! It is my honor to welcome you to Leadership in Business. I am very excited to be your instructor this semester, and I cannot wait to meet you when this course officially begins. In my greeting, I call you “Emerging MBA Leaders” because we are all on a journey to learn the importance of leadership in business. We are all learning and growing despite our previous experience or education, and the online learning environment requires a moving and dynamic approach. The world is rapidly changing around us. Also, with it, leadership is changing—the traits and skills, the culture and expectations, and even the behaviors of leaders themselves. This course is about the interaction of all those changes. The MBA journey you are about to embark on will guide you to a continual God-flow of formation and transformation in you and your leadership. Prepare to emerge!

In this final week, we will explore leadership theories on gender, culture, and diversity. While reactions to diversity vary, great leaders recognize it as key to building world-class teams. A diverse team, when well-led and motivated, gives an organization a unique edge. Discussions often focus on demographics like gender and race, but psychological diversity—personality, values, and abilities—can be even more impactful. May the Lord greatly bless you today and cause you to shine, stand out, and be fruitful in everything. Now, let’s finish strong! 

Leadership must reflect our values and ethics. Ethics supply the foundation of values and morals. Values supply the power that drives our leadership, whereas our morals represent our standards of right and wrong. So, the practice of ethical leadership is a two-part process involving personal moral behavior and moral influence. A mark of great leadership is how many great people will join their great team. Every confident leader knows the importance of building a team. But how is that accomplished?  In Week 6, we will dive into business leadership ethics and team leadership, including self-leadership. Synergism, where combined efforts surpass individual contributions, plays a key role in effective teamwork. In your analysis, you will explain why teams achieve more together than individually and why team leadership is essential for organizations. May the Lord greatly bless you today and cause you to shine, stand out, and be fruitful in everything. Now, let’s keep focused!

This week as you begin to examine and study adaptive leadership, think about in what capacity God gifts you to help the development of others. How do you exercise that gift? How do you apply adaptive leadership principles to your professional field and your MBA studies?  As we enter Week 5, we’ll explore adaptive leadership and followership theories. Adaptive leadership focuses on mobilizing followers to tackle challenges and thrive. Leaders help followers adapt to situations to achieve their goals. You will analyze the need for adaptive leadership in modern organizations, discussing its challenges, principles, and practices in your field. Finally, you'll describe motivation's role in the workplace and integrate an ethical perspective into your analysis. May the Lord greatly bless you today and cause you to shine, stand out, and be fruitful in everything. Now, let's keep going!

This week, as you begin researching and examining the servant leadership theory, think deep and wide about how this truth of leading by serving is important for someone who desires to become an effective leader and how they can illuminate the aspects of servant leadership.  As we move into Week 4, we will examine authentic and servant leadership theories more deeply, focusing on the servant leadership paradox of placing others first. You will discuss the servant leader’s role in organizations, explore self-leadership's natural reward strategies, and learn how mental stimulation enhances task enjoyment. Additionally, you will examine using technology to boost brainpower and integrate ethics into your discussions, application exercises, and projects. May the Lord greatly bless you today and cause you to shine, stand out, and be fruitful in everything. Now, let’s go learn together about servant leadership! 

The impact of becoming a transformational leader will bring the most significant change in your life and into the lives of those around you. If your actions inspire people to dream more, do more, and become more, then you are a transformational leader. You influence people to think, speak, and act in ways that make a positive influence in their lives and in the lives of others. And that kind of leadership can change the world! In Week 3, you will explore leader-member exchange theory and transformational leadership, focusing on how leader-follower interactions shape leadership. You will research the impact of these relationships on organizational performance and assess how transformational leadership influences personal and professional change. Additionally, you will examine self-leadership strategies and the role of purpose in goal setting and integrate ethics into your discussions and leadership analysis. May the Lord greatly bless you today and cause you to shine, stand out, and be fruitful in everything. Now, let's go learn from you!

We are all preparing to become the best leaders we can be. As we move into Week 2, consider how you currently use situational or consistent leadership to develop the skills of others around you.  In Week 2, we will discuss situational leadership and path-goal theory. You will understand leadership and its usefulness in particular organizational settings and path-goal theory as a motivational approach to leadership. You will analyze self-regulation theory, social cognitive theory, self-management, intrinsic motivation theory, and positive psychology. You will integrate an ethical perspective into your dialog forum posts and leadership analysis paper. May the Lord greatly bless you today and cause you to shine, stand out, and be fruitful in everything. Now, you got this!

Each of you brings to your learning experience an individual perspective shaped by the events and choices of your past years.  As we move into Week 1, we will dig deep into leadership theory and business ethics. You will research and explore the differences between the traits, skills, and behavioral approaches to leadership. In addition, you will be introduced to self-leadership strategies for accomplishing academic and professional goals and learn how to integrate an ethical perspective. You will also analyze the power of self-motivation and its influence on personal attitudes and behavior. May the Lord greatly bless you today and cause you to shine, stand out, and be fruitful in everything. Now, let’s do this!