ABSTRACT:
The leadership values that Mr. Pacetta puts in writing are principles that most leaders gain knowledge of at some point in their profession A good leader is not born every day. He is as rare as the blue moon. The word leader itself implies very extraordinary style and power displayed and achieved. Leadership qualities are an essential prerequisite for a team leader. It is this quality which gives him a reputation by which he is recognized.
He is one who places his team first and foremost. Since he bears the welfare of his country and organization at heart, he also criticizes the wrong policies that prevail. He shows constructive criticism without any self interest or motive. In this age of globalization with severe competition there is need for perfection in every field. A leader of the present day needs to be a perfectionist in rendering his service. It therefore calls for sincerity, devotion and strict discipline towards his organization.
INTRODUCTION: This paper assesses Frank Pacetta’s book “Don’t Fire Them, Fire Them Up,” highlighting the leadership and management principles that are offered in the book. The review portrays how Pacetta would “fire up” his employees and generate a blooming and vigorous organization.
Age cannot wither Pacetta’s novels nor custom stale their infinite variety. His best novels seem inexhaustible. They are a permanent source of inspiration for humanity. This review assesses Frank Pacetta’s book “Don’t fire them, fire them up”, highlighting the leadership and management principles that are offered in the book. The most important issue that lies before an organization is to preserve and maintain its sovereignity.The goals set by the organization can only be achieved through collective co-operation. Good leadership coupled with proper orientation on the part of the team leader could carry the team towards a collective goal. It is his vision that could provide phenomenal boost to the entire team. In order to accomplish his and his team members’ target he should possess acclaimed leadership and management skills. His interpersonal relations with the team members and implicit faith in them should enable him to mould them into his vision. It is his strategies, approach and vision that would make the organization a strong contender in the field of business. The paper evaluates Pacetta’s work optimistically, unfolding it to be both helpful and stirring. Today, there is hardly any room for mediocrity in a business environment. To survive in the present economic market, it is turning inevitable for the business industry to explore and incorporate more creative and flexible human resource plans in order to increment profitability and achieve stability. Situational leadership management is being seen as a vital step in this book. The review portrays how Pacetta would “fire up” his employees and generate a blooming and vigorous organization.
DESCRIPTION:
Pacetta predicts that sometimes the employee has a different mindset and perception with which he negatively evaluates his team members. He may have been promoted as the team leader by sheer knowledge of his experience. However, he lacks positive mentoring and general social etiquettes. His incompatibility with his team members proves him to be a leader with poor management skills. His leadership brings in unwanted criticism and demoralization of the team members. His poor decisions and feedbacks tend to demoralize his team members. His poor motivation fails to effectively channelize the spirits of the members. Pacetta views such employees as poor role model for the team members with pessimistic approach, disloyalty and disrespect for the team members. Hence such a poor leader achieves a reputation that is scandalized with controversies .The negative attributes that persist in the team leader are that he is unprincipled, unscrupulous, lacking in moral virtues, inconsistent, envious of the better qualified team members, demoralizing and infuriating his members.“Mentors are absolutely essential. Find one. Find a dozen. Use them as role models and sounding boards.”(Pacetta 42)
An ideal leader should be a gentleman to the core, with an impeccable character and acclaimed leadership styles. He should have the attributes of sacrifice, character, patriotism and industrious nature. He should be a great visionary in making his team a strong contender in the world of business.
These principles embrace building trust, creating loyalty, and generating enthusiasm, excitement, and teamwork (Pacetta 14).
The leadership values that Mr. Pacetta puts in writing are principles that most leaders gain knowledge of at some point in their profession. The team leader fails to tap the potential of the members. He fails to tactfully structure and coordinate his team the result of which is lack of cohesion and diminishing morale among the teammates. It is depressing and unfortunate that he takes advantage of his position and plays with the feelings of his team members. The team members tend to get demoralized and lose their work ethics. The team leader gradually generates pessimism and diverts them far away from their collective goal. The psychological well being of the members of the customer service team tends to get affected and they are grabbed by tentacles of depression. They fail to reinforce their own strategies and principles. This leads to the mutilation of their, competence, trustworthiness and broad perspective.
Pacetta guides that; both good as well as bad leaders should enjoy the tests of leading. A sensible leader on the other hand would inculcate an all round psychological development in the minds of his colleagues may happen to be a genius but suffers from inherent inferiority complex from his more qualified team members.
A leader should no doubt have authority that would help making strategies and principles but he should remain amicable enough. Appreciation and respect for the team members will bring about the reinforcement within his team. This shows the lack of moral fiber in him. He proves unscrupulous with poor logic and judgment when he shows personal biases in the formal appraisals.
Frank Pacetta, in his book “Don’t fire them, fire them up”The leadership values that Mr. Pacetta puts in writing are principles that most leaders gain knowledge of at some point in their profession. He even draws attention to a number of these general principles in the beginning of his book. These principles embrace building trust, creating loyalty, and generating enthusiasm, excitement, and teamwork (Pacetta 14). gives a perception that leadership really is has changed through the years. What has changed is how it is now being perceived and applied. Becoming a leader with leadership qualities is not an event but a process of gradual self development. Pacetta even draws attention to a number of these general principles in the beginning of the book. A few essential elements relate to the context of good leadership.
(1) Communication skills
(2) Broad perspective.
(3) Trust worthiness.
Pacetta argues that it is the virtue hidden in these elements that demarcates a leader from the rest. Today a leader needs to have proper command or diction over his communication with his team members. The very style and presentation should drive them towards excellence.
Ethical behavior enhances generosity and compassion and it reinforces emotions and motives of the team members. On the contrary, unethical behavior earns enmity and hatred.
The military associate views war as a fluid phenomenon whose conduct requires flexibility of thoughts and believes that success depends largely on the ability to adapt—to proactively shape changing events to its advantage as well as to react quickly to constantly changing conditions. He sees chance as an important perspective and believes that chance must be viewed not only as a threat but also as an opportunity which he must be ever ready to exploit.
According to the book, the military organization defines focus as the convergence of effects in time and space on some objective and believes that devoting means to unnecessary efforts or excessive means to necessary secondary efforts violates the principle of focus that is counterproductive to the original goal. Not only does focus apply to the conduct of war but to its preparation too. Focus can be achieved through cooperation towards the accomplishment of goal that applies to all elements of the force, involving every member of the organization. This diverse organization also regards boldness to be a prime quality, based on strong situation awareness, to first weigh the situation, and then act.
Unity of efforts and efforts through training, education, doctrine, organization, personnel management and equipment acquisition are regarded highly during the conduct and preparation of a defense scientist or official. Organization of the operating forces to provide forward deployed or rapidly deployable forces capable of conducting expeditionary operations in any environment is equally important. The military doctrine demands professional competence among its working members.
Along with these, he also has a crowd of other ideas that all combine to create a vibrant leader who takes pleasure in leading. That is possibly one of Pacetta’s truest lessons he teaches in this book. Leaders should enjoy the tests of leading, both the good and the bad. The author is not afraid to talk about his disappointments in Cleveland along with his accomplishments, because he considers risk taking an integral part of good management. He also is an admirer of mentors, aware that few people can climb the corporate ladder without help along the way. He writes, “Mentors are absolutely essential. Find one. Find a dozen. Use them as role models and sounding boards. No matter how talented you are, it is essential to have backup, support, and a second opinion” (Pacetta 42). Pacetta can ask for help and advice, and so should any great leader.”
Pacetta says that, to propel the organization successfully, its working environment has to have
Ø credibility
Ø commitment
Ø Complexity
Ø work ethics
Ø elegant dealings with the clients
Ø democratic behavior of the team leader
Ø Implicit faith of the leader in his team members.
CONCLUSION:
Leadership skills were once considered as inbuilt qualities. It was thought that leaders were born and not made. It was borne in mind that inheritance made a person a leader. That is only a person with leadership instincts in his blood and breed could lead. This notion was later on rejected and then it was thought that leaders were ordinary people transformed into a leading figure because of a great event. Today a leader is a manager himself, managing himself and leading the rest. Team effort and team spirit are an essential pre requisite for the growth and prosperity of the organization. Hence the team leader needs to be a beacon of light in upholding the team spirit. A good professional leader adopts a holistic approach towards his team members. He not only enhances the hidden skills of the members but also inculcates in them an all round psychological development. Sensible leadership with proper orientation on the part of the leader could create phenomenal strength in the minds and hearts of the members. I had a firsthand experience of the truth of this statement while my journey through the book. I am mesmerized by the hidden leadership instincts that the author brings to light.
