How to Gain Ground in Leadership - Essay Example

Leadership Introduction Leadership has been defined in many ways but the conventional definition we are going to consider in this case is; it is a social influence process in which one person or a group of people spearheads or champion for the common interest of the people. In this respect, it is can be argued that leadership is the art of organizing a collection of people with the sole aim of achieving their interest (Mayer, 101). The position of leadership may or may not be formal but the underlying fact here is that it does not matter the formality but the ability to deserve that attention of the group to be led. The interest to consider leadership under study has developed theories about it in reference to the qualities that should be possessed by those leading others and some of the considered views include; a leader should be charismatic, intelligent, organized, and analytical among others (Mayer, 110). Nature of leadership Leadership demonstrates a wide consideration that is not limited in any way. For instance, leadership may exist in the lowest category possible like leading workers in a company, leading a union or demonstrating leadership in the civil right movement. There is also the national leadership, which is a subject to election and leads the people by enacting laws through legislation processes. It should be noted though that the principle of leadership does not change and is irrelevant of the cadres through which one is offering leadership to the people. How to Gain Ground in Leadership Given the role and the definition of a leader as stipulated in the above explanation, it is clear that in leadership we need one who takes the interest and the well-being of the people a head of any other interest. One must consult with the people engage them, and do exactly as they have agreed with them. Most of the popular leaders that the world has had were people-oriented; they organized, advised, and took the will of the people selfishly so that they could achieve their desires. Again, at the apex of leadership, one has to posses some qualities that will help understand the masses (Adair, 75). It should be appreciated that in leadership, one is bound to deal with many categories of people all who deserves to be attended to without discrimination; otherwise, you will end up not being a good leader. When at the leadership level, one understand that the rest are vulnerable to your decision, they easily fall a prey to leaders’ advises, this then dictates that one has to guide what making utterances that might be inflammatory. The people always bestow some degree of respect and trust to their leaders to the extent that anything prescribed by the leader is taken as the absolute truth of the matter. A typical example in this case is the public unrest, these are things that happen just because the people follows what the leader has said or wants be done. It is therefore important to restrain oneself when in the position of leadership not to allow the people bear consequences that could be avoided. A case in point here will be the role of Martin Luther junior; he led the black American at the height of discrimination. The blacks in the US suffered severe discriminatory tendency and as a source of a good leadership martin Luther helped them through championing for equality, fairness, and respect of human life nondiscriminatory. In his quest, Luther used what was good for his people and never engaged or advised them to wreck havoc in any way when agitation for their rights. Luther, as the head of the civil movement in the US then used the policy of non-violent that he borrowed from his teacher cum role model, Mahatma Gandhi from India (Frady, 43). In this sense, we see Luther being mindful of his people and always prescribing form them what not just good but also legal and orderly form them. This is what is expected from leaders, reckless leaders will not have time to make assessment and reach a sound decision. In this case, we see Luther able to balance successfully between being rational and fighting for the rights of his people (Frady, 63). When the civil right movements were issued with court injunction not to march and stage demonstrations, Luther defied the order and made the masses marched to Birmingham for protests. In this protest, Luther was mindful of protesting in a peaceful way. Luther decided to go to jail on Good Friday to join some of the demonstrators who had been earlier arrested. In the jail, Luther was isolated and got incarcerated for the next 8 days (Frady, 79). During this time, he got the privilege to write his famous letter from Birmingham jail in efforts to answer a letter written to him by one of the priests. It is said that he used the toilet paper and the back of the newspaper as his space to articulate the issues. It is the qualities that made Luther to be a reliable, respected, and cherished leader. He stood for the people and was ready to endure with them in the quest for what is good for all. He never ever reneged when conditions developed unbearable; he was with them at all the required time and kept n championing for their rights no matter the hurdles they faced. Finally, we see Luther being assassinated probably for his unrelenting quest for justice to the blacks in the US, a course Luther never lost focus in (Frady, 92) The invictus Movie equally gives an account of Former South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela’s life. Mandela remains one of the leaders who also vehemently resented the discriminatory laws fondly referred to as apartheid laws that. The law was discriminatory on Africans in all manners of life; social, economic and politically (Clint, 2010). Africans were regarded as second-class citizens, and it is through the spirited fight that was staged by Mandela and other likeminded people that the discriminatory tendency was abolished and the people of the country got liberated. In conclusion, it is important to be noted that leadership is about the people. It is such to the extent that one has to sacrifice his time, resources, and even life at times for the necessary change to be achieved. No reasonable achievement can be counted on if the leadership wing is weakening and is easily compromised. In the helm of leadership, one needs to get it right for the people in the most decorum and human way possible. In this manner, the people will have to believe in you, love you, and do as you prescribe. Works Cited Adair, John Eric. Develop your leadership skills, revised edition. Rev. ed. London: Kogan Page Limited, 2010. Print. Frady, Marshall. Martin Luther King, Jr.: a life. New York: Penguin Group, 2006. Print. Invictus. Dir. Clint Eastwood. Perf. Mandela. Warner Bros. Pictures :, 2010. Laser Disc. Meyer, Tobias. Leadership qualities - Is there a perfect leader?. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2008. Print. Read More