My Explanation on Theory

While doing my midterm I realized just how many different leadership theories there are.  After watching Mona Lisa Smile, I understood in a better way these theories and how in a way there can be a leader in each person, depending on the situation. In my midterm I tried to use all the different characters from the movie because they all amazed me, when I saw a different leader theory in each one of them. Not only did I see different leadership theories in each situation through the movie and each character developing leadership skills as the movie continued but also received a better understanding of how each theory impacts a person.  During the class when Professor Sipe  tried to explain theories like transformational leadership or leader/ member exchange theory on the bored I would be a little confused and had to go over the material a few times to understand it. With this midterm on the other hand, through movies, something I believe is the easiest way for our generation to understand things, was a perfect way to have a midterm. Without characters like Joan or Connie,  I would have never understood the theories as well as I did if not for the movie showing me visual examples that can occur in real life. My thinking of leadership theory has evolved a great deal since the beginning of the class. When I first found out that this class was going to be on leadership theories, I thought “how can they make a semester about something like leadership theories when it can be summed up in one class session.” Now I feel like I didn’t know a thing about leadership theories or how deeply they impact the way a person can grow as a leader, and by understanding these theories more profoundly, I see a person can understand themselves in a whole new way, not just as a leader.After learning more about leadership theories, I have learned just how many different theories there are.  For example just for the midterm we used seven different theories; Trait based theories, skills and competencies theories, situational leadership, transformational leadership, behavior based theory, leader /member exchange theory, path/goal theory and there are hundreds of more we haven’t even touched on.