Leadership

Question 1

With issues concerning global terrorism and a more diverse workforce and the greater need for sensitivity in interpersonal relationships (the days of a homogeneous workforce are over), the authors assert that, over the years, the ____________ has changed dramatically, but the _____________ has not changed much at all.

Answer 1

Context of leadership; content of leadership.

Question 2

The research into leadership by the authors now includes a lot more Millennials, which has provided them with an important insight. What did the authors learn?

Answer 2

Age makes NO difference in explaining why leaders are effective.

Question 3

Which of the 10 truths about leadership is the most fundamental truth of all?

Answer 3

You make a difference.

Question 4

Sergeant Carmondy wants to follow the third truth about leadership, Values Drive Commitment. What does she need to do in order to do this?

Answer 4

Find out what her officers value in order to forge alignments between personal values

Question 5

What is the social glue that holds groups together?

Answer 5

Trust.

Question 6

Everything you do as a leader is based on one assumption:

Answer 6

You matter.

Question 7

Which of the following statements about leadership is true?

Answer 7

Leadership comes from within.

Question 8

What plays a role in whether someone is going to become an exemplary leader?

Answer 8

Behavior.

Question 9

When the authors asked people about leader role models in their own lives, what was the top category from which those leaders came?

Answer 9

Family member.

Question 10

For people who took the leader role model survey who were aged 30 or older, the second-place choice was business leader. When asked for further information, they specified that, by business leader, they meant:

Answer 10

Direct supervisor.

Question 11

The top types of leaders on the survey list have what factor in common?

Answer 11

They’re the people you know well and who know you well.

Question 12

True or False?

People at the top of organizations — CEOs, generals, presidents, and the like — are the ones mainly responsible for everything that is great, and everything that is lousy, about organizations.

Answer 12

FALSE

Question 13

The leader who has the most impact on one’s day-to-day behavior is:

Answer 13

Immediate manager.

Question 14

The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership include:

Answer 14

A. Model the way.
B. Impose the company’s vision of success.
C. Go along with the process.
D. Keep a careful eye on those working for you.

A

Question 15

What is the fourth best practice of exemplary leadership?

Answer 15

Enable others to act.

Question 16

According to Marianne Williamson, what is our deepest fear?

Answer 16

We are powerful beyond measure.

Question 17

Leadership begins with you and your belief in yourself. Leadership continues only if:

Answer 17

Other people believe in you.

Question 18

According to the authors’ survey, people most value and admire leaders who are:

Answer 18

Honest.

Question 19

In the surveys by the authors on the characteristics of the most admired leaders, there are 4 characteristics that have consistently, over decades, received scores higher than 60%. List them in order:

Answer 19

* Honest 85% of votes.
* Forward-looking 70% of votes.
* Inspiring 69% of votes.
* Competent 64% of votes.

Question 20

Which characteristic, in these surveys by the authors, did voters pick least often?

Answer 20

Independent.

Question 21

True or False?

The qualities that people most want in a leader vary significantly depending on their demographic, organizational, and cultural affiliations.

Answer 21

FALSE

Question 22

Of all the characteristics of admired leaders, only four consistently received an average of over 60 percent of the votes in the authors’ survey. These four characteristics are:

Answer 22

Honest, forward-looking, inspiring, competent.

Question 23

Being ________________ means having a sense of direction and a concern for the future of the organization.

Answer 23

Forward-looking.

Question 24

True or False?

Leadership competence is the same as technical competence. Your leadership credibility is directly related to how much knowledge you have of the skill-sets demanded of the people you are leading.

Answer 24

FALSE

Question 25

Which of the top four qualities that people want most in a leader is not considered what communications experts refer to as “source credibility”?

Answer 25

Vision (forward-looking).

Question 26

_______________ is the foundation of leadership.

Answer 26

Credibility.

Question 27

What is the best advice that Lieutenant Branston can give to Sergeant Mandola about what expectations constituents have about leaders?

Answer 27

Let them know that you know where you are headed and that you have a vision for the future.

Question 28

What is the Kouzes-Posner First Law of Leadership?

Answer 28

If you don’t believe in the messenger, you won’t believe the message.

Question 29

When people feel that their manager exhibits low credibility,

Answer 29

They’re more likely to produce only if they are watched carefully.

Question 30

Credibility is the foundation of leadership. How do people around the world define credibility?

Answer 30

Someone who does what they say they will do.

Question 31

What is the Kouzes-Posner Second Law of Leadership?

Answer 31

Do what you say you will do.

Question 32

_____________ drive(s) commitment.

Answer 32

Values.

Question 33

Becoming a leader begins when:

Answer 33

You come to understand who you are and what you care about.

Question 34

The better you know who you are, the better you are at making sense of the often-conflicting demands you receive daily. If you are ever to become a leader whom others are willing to follow, you must:

Answer 34

Be known as someone who stands by your principles.

Question 35

People feel most committed to their organization when they have a high sense of clarity on both their organization’s and their own values. The second-highest level of commitment to their organization is among people whose:

Answer 35

Clarity of organizational values is low and personal clarity of values is high.

Question 36

Essentially, clarity about ___________________ has the most significant impact on employees’ feelings about their work.

Answer 36

Their own personal values.

Question 37

When starting on his leadership development journey, Sergeant Jones has to:

Answer 37

Find his own true voice while being a member of the State Police.

Question 38

True or False?

Finding your voice is a bit like finding your keys. You go looking for it by rummaging
through the drawers in your house and hope that it’ll turn up.

Answer 38

FALSE

Question 39

Which of the following statements about leadership is true?

Answer 39

A. Leading others is mostly about getting others to conform to your point of view.
B. Leading others consists of gaining enlightenment and proclaiming the truth to your followers.
C. Leadership is more often about listening than telling.
D. Leadership is about forcing, or at least relentlessly directing, compliance and unity.

C

Question 40

Sergeant Erskine is newly promoted and reassigned. From a leadership perspective, what is the first question that his subordinates will want answers to?

Answer 40

Who is Erskine personally?

Question 41

It is the second most common question that subordinates want a leader to answer. Indeed, it is a question reserved for leaders.

Answer 41

What is your vision?

Question 42

One of the truths about leadership is that focusing on _____ sets leaders apart.

Answer 42

The future.

Question 43

The quality of being __________________ is second only to _____________ as being the most admired leader quality.

Answer 43

Forward-thinking; honesty.

Question 44

True or False?

Based on an author’s survey, the importance of a supervisor’s being forward-thinking increases with age, work experience, and level/rank in the State Police hierarchy.

Answer 44

TRUE

Question 45

Good leaders must spend time envisioning the future. In reality, most top executives spend about _____ % of their time thinking about, and getting others on board with, the critical issues that will shape their business ten or more years down the road.

Answer 45

3

Question 46

In aiming for the future, you need to:

Answer 46

Look back into your past.

Question 47

Being an optimist means all of the following, except:

Answer 47

A. Responding to adversity with a fierce determination to overcome.
B. Reacting to roadblocks with a sense of futility.
C. Defining reality, but denying that you and your colleagues are doomed.
D. Having a sixth sense for possibilities.

B

Question 48

There are many definitions of leadership, but the simplest way to tell if someone is a leader is:

Answer 48

To look to see whether that person has any followers.

Question 49

The Center for Creative Leadership found that the critical success factor for the top 3 jobs in organizations is:

Answer 49

Relationships with your subordinates.

Question 50

The best predictor of leadership success is:

Answer 50

Personal and social skills.

Question 51

According to Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee, the primordial task of leadership is:

Answer 51

Driving the collective emotions in a positive direction and clearing the “emotional smog.”

Question 52

Sergeant Maxwell knows that, to be a better leader, he must:

Answer 52

A. Remember that leadership is almost always a one-way street.
B. Listen to his direct reports’ opinions and follow those that align most with his.
C. Coordinate and put into action the wants and desires of his unit.
D. Find a way to align his reports’ wants and desires to that of the profession of law enforcement.

C

Question 53

Truly inspirational leadership is not about:

Answer 53

A. Selling your own idiosyncratic view of the world.
B. Showing people how the company’s vision can directly benefit them.
C. Showing people how their specific needs can be met.
D. Letting people know how their hopes will be realized.

A

Question 54

What is an example of leadership that makes people feel strong and capable?

Answer 54

A. Sergeant Smith partners Officer Jones and Officer Hanks, both new recruits, with each other to promote bonding as they “learn the ropes” together.
B. Sergeant Randall makes sure that all his direct reports know that when his door is closed, he is working on important police business and should not be disturbed.
C. The officers who work for Sergeant York know that he believes in them because he gives them support and encouragement.
D. Both A and C are true.

C

Question 55

Being a good leader means:

Answer 55

A. Having all the right answers.
B. Being able to ask great questions.
C. Realizing that high-quality relationships happen pretty much spontaneously.
D. Dominating the decision-making process.

B

Question 56

Sergeant Newman has been placed in charge of a shift suffering from morale problems. She realizes that the prior shift supervisor was a micromanager, and she wants to communicate immediately that she believes in her subordinates’ abilities. What would not be a good method for accomplishing this goal?

Answer 56

A. Making quick decisions.
B. Asking questions.
C. Fostering accountability.
D. Giving them choices.

A

Question 57

In a 2009 international study, the majority of people said they even trust __________ more than they trust their boss.

Answer 57

A stranger.

Question 58

Studies involving soldiers in combat in Iraq found that the more the soldiers __________, the more willing they were to accept their leader’s influence concerning their motivation to become better group members, strive for excellence, and improve as a person.

Answer 58

A. Respected their brigade commanders.
B. Accepted their fellow unit members.
C. Trusted their platoon leaders.
D. Believed they would survive.

Question 59

People won’t take risks unless they feel:

Answer 59

Safe.

Question 60

Building the structure of trust begins, according to the authors, with:

Answer 60

The leader taking a risk.

the leader is always the person who bears the burden of moving the organization forward!

Question 61

Who is demonstrating behavior that contributes to people perceiving him or her as trustworthy?

Answer 61

A. Sergeant Smith tells staff that new equipment will be arriving “soon” even though she has not gotten a firm date from upper management.
B. Sergeant Hollis always tries to act in a consistent and predictable manner.
C. Sergeant Blevins often talks about improvements he wants to make in the department that his staff believe are vague promises.
D. Sergeant Dormier sometimes hides the whole truth of some situations in order to save her staff unnecessary stress. She never explains why she is doing so.

B

Question 62

Research has shown that a few key behaviors contribute to whether or not someone perceives you as trustworthy. What is not one of the recommended behaviors?

Answer 62

A. Honesty based on full disclosure.
B. Don’t frequently make statements that you don’t intend as commitments, but that others might interpret as commitments.
C. Do not behave in a confusing, indecisive, or inconsistent manner.
D. Make sure to clearly distinguish between wishes and aspirations and actual promises that you intend to take seriously.

A, Being honest and candid does not require full disclosure as long as you explain why full
disclosure is not appropriate.

Question 63

This is the best antidote to cynicism, and the only way to overcome frustration and disillusionment.

Answer 63

Generating greater trust.

Question 64

A ____________________________________________ (three words) approach stimulates
employees at all levels of the organization to communicate information critical for problem solving, change, and innovation. The opposite is a _____________________________________ (three words) approach that tightly controls information.

Answer 64

**Need to share ;

need to know**

Question 65

True or False?

It is always better to wait to disseminate information until the information and the dynamics surrounding it are complete and more certain.

Answer 65

False

Waiting contributes to more distrust because when there is an information vacuum, people make up their own answers.

Question 66

When the authors asked people about personal best leadership experiences, the percentage of people who achieved their personal best by keeping things the same in their organization was:

Answer 66

** 0 %.**

Question 67

According to Randy Pausch, who delivered his “last lecture” at Carnegie Mellon University, “brick walls” are there to:

Answer 67

Give people a chance to show how badly they want something.

Question 68

Resilience is:

Answer 68

Behavior that can be learned and developed.

Question 69

You can’t become overly discouraged when things don’t go according to plan. It takes _________________ (one word) which is that firmness of spirit , that unyielding courage that is essential in dealing with challenge.

Answer 69

Grit

Question 70

Which of the following are examples of grit?

Answer 70

A. Larry works hard on whatever new project strikes his fancy.
B. Anna stays focused on her long-term goals, despite plateaus in progress.
C. Stewart spends a lot of time going over what went wrong and believes that a negative attitude is sometimes necessary to “keep you hungry” for success.
D. All of the above.

B

Question 71

In a study of first-year cadets at West Point, what best predicted the completion of their rigorous summer training program known as “Beast Barracks”?

Answer 71

Grit.

Question 72

_______________ (one word) is one of the best teachers you can have.

Answer 72

Failure

Question 73

The truth is that you either lead ___________ or you don’t lead at all.

Answer 73

By example.

Question 74

What is credibility behaviorally?

Answer 74

A. Walk the talk.
B. Practice what you preach.
C. Put your money where your mouth is.

Question 75

DWYSYWD means ______________________________________________________________.

Answer 75

Do what you say you will do!

In other words, lead by example, Or, for another way to say this,
consider the old Chinese proverb: “The lower beam will not be level if the upper one is not.”

Question 76

True or False?

Organizations whose management demonstrated a high level of behavioral integrity were more profitable than those that did not.

Answer 76

True

Question 77

In order to set a positive example for your team, you, as a leader, must:

Answer 77

Show your team how you want them to behave by developing a more positive attitude yourself.

Question 78

Sergeant Haskill realized that some of the information he posted three days ago on the roll call room whiteboard is incorrect. What is his best course of action?

Answer 78

A. Make the necessary corrections to the information without saying anything about it.
B. Correct the information and put a notation on a whiteboard saying that he has done so.
C. Don’t bother to correct the information. No one reads a whiteboard anyway.
D. Correct the information and tell people at the next roll call that the information has been updated.

D

Question 79

True or False?

On the Leadership Practices Inventory, the statement on which leaders consistently score the highest is “asks for feedback on how my actions affect other people’s performance.”

Answer 79

**False. **

Leaders score the lowest on this!

Question 80

The best leaders are:

Answer 80

The best learners.

Question 81

What is the best way to learn leadership?

Answer 81

Whatever style works best for the individual learner.

Question 82

According to researchers Eichinger, Lombardo, and Ulrich, what is the single best predictor of Sergeant Gaffney’s future success in a new and very different assignment than the ones he has done previously?

Answer 82

Learning agility.

Question 83

Individuals who have a(n) _____________ believe people can learn to be better leaders.

Answer 83

Growth mindset.

Question 84

True or False?

Talent is the key that unlocks leadership excellence.

Answer 84

False

Question 85

Sergeant William Bligh has a goal to improve his leadership skills. Which of the following statements is an element of deliberate practice to this outcome?

Answer 85

A. If you live in an environment long enough, knowledge will rub off on you, improving your performance incrementally.
B. If you want to become an expert, you have to have an improvement target, a way to measure success, and a specific process for accomplishing the goal.
C. After a couple of weekend sessions of practice, the methodology should become automatic.
D. To avoid burn-out, practicing should not be too mentally demanding.

B

Question 86

___________ is the soul of leadership.

Answer 86

Love.

Question 87

Showing people that you care is an important aspect of leadership. Which of the following is the primary way to show that you care for someone?

Answer 87

A. Paying attention to them.
B. Formal and informal recognitions.
C. Storytelling.
D. Spending time walking the halls and attending social events.

A

Question 88

What would have the most impact on trooper morale in the unit, according to the authors of The Truth About Leadership? Sergeant Lennon:

Answer 88

A. Arranges a unit citation through the Office of the Colonel.
B. Purchases fairly expensive sweatshirts with the unit logo on them for the troopers.
C. Holds a barbecue at his house when the unit meets its enforcement goal.
D. Arranges a weekly conference call to go over unit statistics.

C, The more personal recognitions have more impact.

Question 89

Organizational members who were able to do this exhibited far more evidence of organizational commitment and resilience from hardship than those who could not:

Answer 89

Tell stories.

Question 90

To become the best leader you can be, you have to fall in love with the work you are doing and with the reason you are doing it. “Falling in love with leading” means:

Answer 90

Having passion for something and wanting to be the best.

Question 91

Positivity is a trait that all good leaders should have. What statement about positivity is true?

Answer 91

A. People who have a more positive attitude are more likely to see the commonalities between themselves and others.
B. When feeling positive, managers are more accurate and more careful in making decisions.
C. People who enjoy more positivity are better able to cope with adversity and are more resilient during times of stress.
D. All of the above.

D

Question 92

Which of the following units are more likely to be successful?

Answer 92

A. Sergeant Simmons keeps his officers’ attitudes positive by hiding bad news from them as much as he can.
B. Sergeant Anderson encourages people to let off steam by venting their frustrations during staff meetings.
C. Sergeant Montefiore’s officers are six times more likely to make positive and supportive statements than negative ones.
D. Sergeant Gupta’s officers make it a point to mention something positive for every negative comment made.

C

Question 93

___________ is especially important in volatile times.

Answer 93

Positivity.

Question 94

According to the authors, everything you do as a leader begins with one word:

Answer 94

Yes.

Question 95

True or False?

There are no shortages of problems to be solved. Leadership is about telling others why and how they ought to solve these problems.

Answer 95

False

In fact, leadership is about accepting personal responsibility for doing something about a problem.

Question 96

10 Leadership Truths

1. You make a _________.
2. ___________ is the foundation of leadership.
3. ___________ drive commitment.
4. Focus on the __________ sets leaders apart.
5. You can’t do it __________.
6. _________________ rules.
7. _______________ is the crucible for greatness.
8. Lead by ___________ or don’t lead at all.
9. The best leaders are the best __________.
10. Leadership is an affair of the ____________.

Answer 96

1. difference
2. Credibility
3. Values
4. future
5. alone
6. Trust
7. Challenge
8. example
9. learners
10. heart

Question 97

5 Practices of exemplary leadership

1. __________ the way
2. _________ a shared _________.
3. _____________ the process.
4. _________ others to ___________.
5. _______________ the _______________.

Answer 97

1. Model Model the way.
2. Inspire, vision Inspire a shared vision.
3. Challenge Challenge the process.
4. Enable, act Enable others to act.
5. Encourage, heart Encourage the heart.

Question 98

Top 4 Characteristics of admired leaders:

Answer 98

HONEST
FORWARD-LOOKING
INSPIRING
COMPETENT