Leadership Practices
I found Mintzberg's article insightful and quite practical. His thoughts certainly relate closely to the four leadership practices mentioned in the assignment.

1. Making Intelligent Decisions
     Mintzberg talks about the Manager being the focal point of information and the fact that a Manager has more information than subordinates. Information is the basic input to decision making. I found this quote interesting and very true:

There are two interesting features about these development projects at the CEO level. First, these projects do not involve single decisions or even unified clusters of decisions. Rather, they emerge as a series of small decisions and actions sequenced over time. Apparently, chief executives prolong each project both to fit it into a busy, disjointed schedule, and so that they can comprehend complex issues gradually.

It paints a picture of decision making as small steps and not one grandious sweeping decision. I find that  often to be true and it is why Inspiring and Holding the Vision is so important in managers so that decisions follow the the path that the leader wishes to follow.

2. Inspiring and Holding the Vision

Mintzberg defines two roles of the Manager that are related to this practice. He says that Managers have the Figurehead role in the Interpersonal roles he defines and in Informational roles the role of Spokesperson. He feels that communication (both formal and informal) is a key role of the Manager and as such this practices is central.


3. Enbracing strategic and purposeful change
     This relates to the roles that Mintzberg calls Decision roles, both the Entreprenuer and the Resource Allocator. Looking for and ensuring implementation of good ideas. Because the Manager makes the final decision about resource allocation he can ensure that projects that are promoted. 

4. Lifelong learners who see mistakes as learning experiences
    Mintzberg makes it clear near the end of the article that it is essential to be introspective in order to learn and he provides a list of 14 Self Study questions for Managers. All the questions require the Manager to review what has happened in the past and ensure that an optimal result has occured and if not to change the future approach to similar situations. Mintzberg assumes that Managers are Lifelong learners because he sees it as an essential practice.

My favourite idea in the article is :

 

The manager is challenged to gain control of his or her own time by turning obligations into advantages and by turning those things he or she

wishes to do into obligations.

I love the idea of turning obligations into advantages as he so clearly lays out in the first part of the paper. I am going to try to focus on that as my major take away from this reading.