As a manager or leader in any organization, there are going to be times when new policies need to be enacted to improve the overall productivity of the organization. As a result of this project, I gained a greater understanding of what it takes to be an effective leader. In addition, I have also learned how important the different aspects of leadership truly are. For example, the concept of contingency factors was enlightening for me because I never even thought about outside influences having an impact on the decision making process. Also, through this assignment, I have also learned more about myself as a potential leader or manager. In order to gauge how I would perform in a leadership role, I completed the self-assessment on 493 of the textbook. The purpose of this assessment was to determine whether I have initiating or consideration tendencies in a leadership role. My results are as follows: I scored a 30 in Initiating Structure and a 43 in the Consideration Structure. This means that I am more considered of people's feelings and thoughts in a leadership role(Colquitt et al, 2011). During this assignment, I had an opportunity to study different aspects of leadership such as influential styles, decision -making styles, the concepts of organizational power, and contingency factors. While studying each of these concepts, I analyzed what my supervisor did, and then tried to determine what I would do in a similar situation. For example, in contrast to Mrs. Miles, I would have used the Consultation Tactic to influence employees about the new policies. This would have given each employee has change to give their own input into the policies, thus making them feel more involved in the process. Overall, this assignment served as a good illustration of what it takes to be an exceptional leader and has given me a foundation to take into the next stage of my career.