As a Senior Human Resources Officer and Leader in the US Army, I found this course not only very informative, but also very useful for future practice and application. Through the myriad of different theories and approaches to leadership, I have developed a greater understanding of the historical, political, social, cultural, psychological, and organizational contexts in which leadership occurs. I know of several ways to identify staff who could become better leaders using the trait approach, the skills approach, and the style approach. I am also able to better associate leaders with their subordinates using the situational approach, contingency theory and path-goal theory. Finally, and probably most importantly, I learned different leadership techniques that I can personally apply as a leader to better understand and influence my subordinates. The ability to identify leadership candidates will be a very useful skill set that I can apply when recruiting and promoting. personnel in management positions. Through the instructions in this course, I learned several approaches to identifying potential leaders. Through the trait approach, which focuses on the personality characteristics of a leader, the skills approach, which focuses on the abilities of the leader, and the style approach, which emphasizes the he focus on leader behavior, I can select the right people to succeed in leadership roles (Northouse, 2013). . All three approaches can be used affectively to identify people who have the potential to become strong leaders. I would potentially use the questionnaires for all three approaches during the hiring process to help determine if they have the characteristics, skills and behavior of the type of leader the organization would like to hire......middle of paper... ...st adapt my leadership style depending on the subordinate to obtain optimal results. With the model, I now know how to better evaluate my subordinates and what leadership style to adopt based on their skill level/commitment, whether leading, supporting, coaching or delegating. I also learned valuable insights from leader-member exchange theory about how to create higher-quality exchanges with my subordinates. Learning about transformational leadership and authentic leadership has also given me a better understanding of how I can inspire my subordinates through my words and actions. This course definitely provided me with beneficial knowledge that will make me a much more effective leader throughout my career as a human resources professional. Works Cited Northhouse, PG (2013). Direction. (6th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.