Leadership Interview
Chunta Willams
BUS 117
Instructor: Lori Langsfore
July 29, 2013
Over the last two years, I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing someone very important to me and our community and his name is Leon McNeil (my uncle). The interview started out by me asking him about our ancestors and led to his leadership in the community. I have been influenced by what he has had to say, which was a lot, and I did not want to miss anything he had to say. Mr. McNeil started his career as a cook back in the early 1960’s for Miss Mattie’s Soul Food Restaurant. His leadership abilities were quickly realized, and he was promoted to restaurant manager. From there he moved on to the Luby’s Restaurant Corporation where he remained for twenty-five years serving as a regional supervisor and finally working his way up to the Regional President. This consisted of the more than one hundred chains and Mr. Leon was in charge of over 5,000 employees in his division and led the company in profits as well as efficiency ratings. He is now the Director of Comprehensive Food Services for the state of Texas and directs the food services of hundreds of locations such as schools, state facilities and prisons in the state of Texas. My conversation with Mr. Leon took a direction that I did not expect. He attributes his success to the leadership traits that he has learned over the years and quoted many of the very ideas and theories from our text. This was an incredible experience to witness firsthand how these traits become behaviors and practices.
Seven tasks must be included in consideration of team dynamics and structure. The first of which is defining the goal, mission or function of a specific team. The team must know what it is being asked to accomplish. The second area of consideration is assessing what skills, abilities, knowledge or potential to acquire such would be needed amongst selected team members. This assessment must include an...