What Is Your Definition of Leadership?

In my view, lead is the ability to inspire and inspire parkwealth large for them to be willing to participate and get involved towards the achievement of a common goal. I see lead as a make which flock be im turn pop over time and experience, but sole(prenominal) by some nonp aril who has some innate attractionship competences. In ascertain what leadership means to me, I decided to analyse two distinguish open leadership cases. I will foremost discuss and analyse Nelson Mandelas leadership dah, which appeared to be in general transformational.I will try to demonstrate how Nelson Mandela proved that leadership was a two-way process between the leader and his followers, and how polar it is for a leader to be respected and admired by his followers in order for him to be hard-hitting. In addition, a leader call for to be trustworthy, ardent and utilize to achieving a shared objective. More importantly, a good leader will abandon his subordinates erst he achieve d a personal goal. Throughout this es assert, I will try to support my opinion be that, efficient leadership lies somewhere in between the trait and the style approaches whilst taking into account the situational approach.In my opinion, non everyone can be a leader, but if someone is meant to be one, leadership skills need to be acquire and change over time and altered according to different situations. If not born a leader, one can only become one to a certain and limited extent, as we will see in Barack Obamas case. President Obama first started as an grantd inspirational and passionate leader, who people admired, respected and wanted to join. However, a few years afterwards his election, it seems equivalent his glory days are behind him, and that he isnt the leader he employ to be anymore.It might appear that once he was elected chairman, and his personal goal has been achieved, Obama didnt fight as hard for his subordinates as he did for his personal satisfaction. His lack of conference and inspirational speeches seem to acquire considerably damaged his reputation as a leader. It appears that Obama gave Americans too high hopes that he wasnt able to keep up with and fulfil, creating a wave of disappointment among his supporters. It seems to me that Barack Obama was a great leader end-to-end his c group Aaign, but that once elected, he was lacking some crucial leadership skills required as a President.In fact, one could argue that he wasnt born a leader. In contrast to Nelson Mandela, he was only able to be a leader to a certain extent, his apogee being during his presidential campaign. By chip vigorously against apartheid, Nelson Mandela rapidly became an iconic enrol of resistance in South Africa, and was thereafter acknowledged as the roughly significant black leader South Africa had ever known. He devoted his life to fighting against racism and apartheid in South Africa and for peace.However his life objectives were not personal satisfa ctions, but satisfactions of his supporters. He fought for their freedom and well-being before fighting for his own. In fact, he never compromised his political position even to call up his freedom. He could have backed down after being released from the Robben Island prison house in 1990 (after 27 years of cruel imprisonment), after being awarded the Nobel quiet Prize in 1993 or even after becoming president in 1994. Yet he didnt, and continued to fight for his peoples freedom and rights.Nelson Mandela has always demonstrated some legendary listening skills which are essential to being an efficient democratic leader. Indeed, he learned at a very young age from his guardian how listening to others was a vital skill in effective leadership. In fact, his guardian used to listen to everyones opinions first while remaining silent, before control the group to reach a consensus (Stengel, 1994). Therefore, one could argue that Mandelas effective democratic or participative leadership st yle was greatly inspired by his childhood experience.Throughout his life as a leader, Nelson Mandela always encouraged people to share their ideas and opinions, to which he carefully listened before making the final decision. This way, he managed to get people to be more engaged and devoted to a particular cause, leading to higher productivity towards their goals achievement (Lewin, K. , Liippit, R. and White, R. K. 1939). Moreover, by unveiling the debate and being the last one to speak, he also gains a considerable advantage, as he is the one to close the argument.He also courteous other leadership skills through with(predicate) his personal experience of being a cattle herder When you want to get a herd to go along in a certain direction, you stand at the back with a stick. Then a few of the more energetic cattle persist to the front and the rest of the cattle follow. You are really guiding them from behind. That is how a leader should do his work (Stengel, 1994, Nelson Mand ela The making of a leader, snip Magazine, may 9th 1994). Thus, even before being in any position of leadership, Nelson Mandela revealed himself as a born leader.We can consequently shine that the Traits approach is germane(predicate) to efficient leadership. Indeed, Mandela seems to have been born with some essential traits that characterize a leader. Known as the main-man in South Africa, he was charismatic, influential, sociable, intelligent, alert, persistent, responsible, self-confident, and ready to assume the consequences of his decisions, as he did by going to jail. Thus Mandela innate leadership style clearly corresponds to Stogdills characteristics of the Traits approach (Stogdill, 1948).Moreover, Nelson Mandela was also widely pass judgment as a transformational leader, as he was able to inspire and instigate his supporters to work towards a common goal through the power and forcefulness of his vision and personality. He strongly engaged with his followers, and mad e them aware of what achieving a particular goal meant (Barbuto, 2005 Barnett, McCormick & Conners, 2001 Gellis, 2001). As James MacGregor Burns (1978) firstly introduced it, transformational leadership is when leaders and followers maker each other to affirm to a higher level of moral and motivation. In addition, according to Bernard M.Basss Transformational Leadership Theory (1985), transformational leaders are trusted, respected and admired by their followers. Thus, as Nelson Mandela clearly gathered trust, respect and admiration among his supporters, we can translate that his leadership style also corresponded to the transformational one. In fact, Nelson Mandela didnt sharpen his leadership skills from anywhere, he was a natural leader and his skills came intuitively. He was born a leader and refined his skills with the personal experiences he gained over the years, which enabled him to effectively adapt to various situations.He strongly believed in consensus and knew how to empower his subordinates and motivate them to achieving a common objective. His legendary success as a leader was also mainly due to the fact that he was seen as approachable compassionate and honest. Yet, he was undeniably respected and admired for his courage, his wisdom and his determination. On the other hand, Barack Obama, whose presidential campaign aroused unrecorded enthusiasm, hope and inspiration, seems to have unexpectedly foil his followers once elected President of the United States of America.Indeed, during his campaign, Barack Obama astonished everyone with his unexpected inspirational, passionate and enthusiastic speeches. Who doesnt remember his Yes we can speech abandoned in New Hampshire in 2008? At the time, it seemed manage Obama had all it took to be a great leader, he had a strong charisma, was motivated, inspired and seeking to achieve a common goal, thus showing many aspects of a Transformational as well as Charismatic leader. However, soon after his election, his supporters put together themselves disillusioned by their Presidents leadership skills.They felt like his motivation and enthusiasm had faded away, and that he wasnt the inspirational leader he used to be. Obama was effective as a leader during his campaign, at one place and time, but became unsuccessful as soon as the situation and the factors around him changed, due to his rigidity and inability to adapt to contextual changes. Thus, Obama can clearly be related to Fiedlers Contingency theory, as he became ineffective as soon as the factors around him changed.Unlike Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama seems to be more of an educated leader, who cultivated most of his leadership skills from Columbia and Harvard universities, therefrom embracing the style approach which suggests that his behaviour of leader is distinct from his personality. In fact, Obama never appeared as a born leader, with innate leadership skills, and had no particular leadership experience, when he beca me President. Critics of Barack Obama emphasize the fact that his lack of leadership has already been demonstrated in various scenarios.Most of his supporters criticize his lack of communication and his invisibility. They feel somehow deserted and let down by the man who not long ago, aroused their highest hopes. Even the Democrats now acknowledge his lack of presence Dems say privately Obama is invisible, not a leader. (Joe Scarborough, 2011). i would have thought that Barack Obamas leadership skills would have had improved as he gained in experience as a President, yet it looks like his apogee as a leader what during his campaign and that since then the leadership part of him is disappearing.In fact, Barack Obama brought only a few, if any, leadership skills into his presidency, and has deceivingly developed no(prenominal) after almost 3 years of experience (Kelly OConnell, 2011). As a President, Obama has espoused a delegating and passive leadership style, which wasnt the best style to adopt in a period of deep crisis, when intentness and stir up decision-making skills were required, thus clearly lacking some situational leadership skills (David Brooks, 2011). Barack Obama consequently appeared as the wrong man for the situation, and not the erson America needed, due to his lack of toughness, whim and determination. The Presidential candidate who was known for his grand enthusiasm and his passion seems to have vanished to make room to a President who got overwhelmed by his job and ran out of ideas shortly after taking office (David Frum, 2011 David Brooks, 2011). It became vague in Obamas supporters minds whether he was the turnaround leader America needed or not (Michael Watkins, Thursday January 22, 2009, Can Obama lead the Great American Turnaround? Harvard patronage review). According to Michael Watkins, Obama demonstrated more Steward Attributes than Hero Attributes, which were vital considering the wisdom of the crisis. Undoubtedly, President Obama was more conservative, diplomatic and supportive than visionary, directive and charismatic. To conclude, we can say that the difference between Nelson Mandelas and Barack Obamas leadership style is striking.Nelson Mandela, can be acknowledged as a born leader who improved his leadership skills throughout his experience as a countrys leader, whereas Barack Obama tends to be more of an educated leader, who couldnt keep up with his billet expectations. One was able to adapt to situational changes and prove himself as a trustworthy leader fighting for his people when the other disappointed his followers by suddenly disappearing through a lack of communication and perseverance to achieve the set common goals, thus generating a common judgement of abandonment.In my opinion, these two cases reinforce my proposition of a leaders definition, as we clearly saw that leadership skills should be innate and improved through time to make an effective leader. Moreover, by observing Mandela s and Obamas leadership cases, we saw how an efficient leader must constantly motivate and inspire his followers to achieving a common objective that should be kept in mind and should remain the main focus of the leader as well as the followers.Clearly, without the support of his followers, a leader cannot achieve anything. Thus, as I suggested it, leadership is a two-way process in which the farm of relationships between the two parties is essential, as recognized by Peter Northouse (2010). References Barbuto, 2005 Barnett, McCormick & Conners, 2001 Gellis, 2001 Bass,B. M,(1985). Leadership and Performance. N. Y, Free Press Brooks, David (June 28, 2011), Convener in Chief, The New York Times, N. Y variant pA23. Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. N. Y Harper and Raw.Fiedler, F. E. (1967) A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness, New York McGraw-Hill Frum, David (June twenty-eighth 2011), Obama is his own worst Enemy, http//www. frumforum. com/obama-is-his-own-worst-enemy, accessed t he 07/01/12 Lewin, K. , Liippit, R. and White, R. K. (1939). Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created social climates. Journal of Social Psychology, 10, 271-301 Northouse, P. G. (2010), Leadership theory and practice (5th edition) yard Oaks, Sage. OConnell, Kelly, Sunday, July 31, 2011 , www. canadafreepress. om obamas leadership style is classic liberalism no vision+ peach incompetence = total failure accessed the 05/01/12 Stengel, 1994, Nelson Mandela The making of a leader, Time Magazine, May 9th 1994 Stogdill, R. M. , 1948. Personal factors associated with leadership A survey of the literature. Journal of Psychology. 25 35-71. Watkins, Michael (Thursday January 22nd, 2009), Can Obama lead the Great American Turnaround? Harvard business review, http//blogs. hbr. org/watkins/2009/01/the_great_american_turnaround. html, accessed the 07/02/12