The philosophy of Leadership - Term Paper Example

Module Module ID: Leadership Leadership simply stands for both innate and ascribed qualities in the individuals on the foundation of which they fill the vacuum of management and control by leading the members of their society in political, social, cultural, religious, economic or other fields of life. Bennis (2011) declares leadership as a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. However, the concept of leadership is not confined to the regulating the affairs specific to one or more organization only; rather, leadership is a vast theme that equally applies to divergent and multiple fields and professions including politics and sports, science and technology, administration and teaching, learning and coaching, community services and health, motivation and preaching, and much more. Hence, every profession and collective activity appears to be in need of leadership in one way or the other for the achievement of the common goals, preservation of common rights and for the protection or mutual interests as well. The scholars look for some extraordinary characteristics and traits essential for the making of leadership. Although the magnitude of these qualities may vary from person to person, as well as from one situation to the other, yet these are essential for turning the individuals the leader of their group, community, society or nation. These qualities include commitment to the mutual cause, loyalty and sincerity to the group, honesty, integrity, courage and benevolence. The scholars are of the opinion that it is essential for a successful leadership that it must be visionary, bold, resolute and determined, which could combat with opposition on the one hand, and can resist the challenges and problems the followers undergo on the other. Consequently, a leader is man of crisis that can successfully steer the ship of the community towards the safe harbors. Consequently, a true leader not only possesses the ability of foreseeing and predicting the situation, but also is in a position to solve the same by dint of his courage, astuteness and prudence. One of the most imperative differences between leader and followers includes that a follower can display selfishness by placing his personal needs and requirements on priority, but the same could not be observed in the thinking and behavior of a true and dedicated leader, who always strive to take steps for the wellbeing of the entire community or organization. If a leader tries to keep his personal vested interests at priority and neglects the collective interest of his group, team or nation, the followers reject to remain under his command, and appear to be dedicated to replace him with some other person for the growth and development of the entire community. The same can be witnessed in the national and state elections, where the person displaying utmost sincerity and dedication to every stratum of society is elected by the people as president, member parliament or other administrative position. The philosophy of true leaderships takes the leader as person, who is free from ethnic, racial, religious, regional, gender and other prejudices. Hence, a dedicated leader is equally sympathetic, sacrificing and compassionate towards his followers without taking their appearance, color, complexion, gender, socioeconomic position, qualification and sexual orientation etc into account altogether. History and Holy Scriptures are replete with the noble ways adopted by the holy men, who suffered painful trials in order to convey and communicate the sacred message of God to the humanity at large. Actually their steadfastness, iron-will, firmness and care for all people make them as the mentors, preachers and spiritual leaders of their people. The holy prophets and saints loved and interacted with the downtrodden people of society, and never looked down upon the poor, needy, disabled and paupers even. Their love for equality and justice made them popular among all members of their societies without discrimination in respect of race, communities or religion. It is because of the very fact that they take all people as equivalent to their family, and share all their joys and sorrows. The same qualities are expected from the leaders in sports, games, politics and community development. History is replete with thousands of wonderful examples of growth of nations under mighty and visionary leadership. For instance, France made tremendous economic and strategic triumphs under Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who had brought a large part of Europe under the French sway. Moreover, Austrian Prince Metternich’s formidable leadership united the entire Europe against Bonaparte and defeated him in 1815 at Waterloo. Furthermore, there was a time when the Prussian states had been at daggers drawn against one another for several decades; as a result, the neighboring countries looked down upon them by taking them as financially and strategically weak nation. Somehow, the strong and intelligent iron-Chancellor i.e. Otto von Bismarck united them under the banner of strife for unity. Consequently, Prussia won three successive wars against Austria-Hungary, Denmark and France, and paved the way towards the German unification in 1871. Similarly, the then English Prime Minister Winston Churchill stood as firm as rock against the German might during WWII, and kept the morale of his nation very high. He entered into strategic contracts with the USA and USSR, in order to protect the British nation from the possible defeat at the hands of Adolf Hitler. The Americans had also been divided into black and white communities during last three centuries; consequently, conflict between both of them was challenging for the progress and prosperity of the country in general. Somehow, the sincere and devoted leadership united them in one strong bond, and now a black has become the president of the USA, which was mere a dream only few decades ago. The leadership is not confined to politics only; on the contrary, every field of life requires a committed leadership for its success and triumphs over the opponents and rivals; the same is particularly true in business and economic sectors, which have direct association as well as connection with the public at large. “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.” (Ivancevich et al., 2007) Since firms, companies and organizations experience challenges from the rival brands, they particularly pay heed to recruiting the personnel against managerial positions in operations, marketing and other departments, so that they could invent innovative products for the wide range of customers and consumers at the state of perfect competition. The dynamic and creative entrepreneurship has given birth to new and novel ideas, in the light of which millions of the consumers are enjoying themselves with the innovative articles and items of multiple types, designs, sizes and colors. It is the visionary leadership of Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group that the airlines industry has taking applying the coconut oil as fuel for the planes. The Microsoft Corporation has gifted the people with latest communication and navigation devices and equipments, which have brought the individuals belonging to pole-apart regions of the globe closer to one another through the internet, mobile-phones and other wonderful technological inventions. Hence, the magnificent creative abilities of the corporate leadership have wide opened the new avenues of accomplishment to their organizations. The same dedicated leadership is also required in sports and games. It has frequently been observed that sports teams consist of the players of divergent backgrounds; it is their love for their motherland that forces them to enter into joint venture in order to win name, fame and reputation for their country. However, infusing of such powerful emotions and feelings is vehemently dependent of a passionate and dedicated leadership. Taking the example of the West Indies cricket team, it becomes evident that a powerful leadership made them the world champion twice; however, the change of leadership divided them into factions, where the players started making struggle for their island instead of making struggle under one banner. Consequently, the team had to lose its position in the sports by undergoing fall down to a great extent. To conclude, it becomes evident that creative and dynamic leadership not only articulates result-oriented policies and strategies, but also keeps the followers united and progressive for the future days to come. A leader should always keep in mind that at first he is worker, and then a leader; it is therefore he must feel no hesitation in doing the tasks and supervising the same, which are apparently ordinary, trivial and inferior ones in nature. Furthermore, a leader should also look after the workers and followers and should discuss their individual and domestic problems, too, so that they can consider the leader as one among them, and can also apply best of their energies for the growth and progress of their work place or organization. If a leader does not demonstrate any involvement in a task or assignment, the chances of its success turn out to bleak. References Bennis, Warren. (2011) Concepts of Leadership Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadcon.html Ivancevich, J., Konopaske, R., Matteson, M. (2007). Organizational Behavior and Management. New York: McGraw-Hill Read More