The leadership secret of Genghis Khan - Essay Example

? The leadership secret of Genghis Khan of the of the Number The leadership secret of Genghis Khan Introduction The secret concepts of leadership enumerated in this book are the underlying factors that made Genghis Khan famous all over the world. The socio, political and legal circumstances were completely different, when Genghis Khan had founded the Mongol Empire and made many other invasions. Thus, all the tactics and theories used by him are not viable or feasible in the current contemporary world. However, still there are some facets of leadership introduced by Genghis Khan that can still be utilized in different segments of the modern world. The essay will encompass the primary factors of Genghis Khans leadership. It will also consider the views of the other academicians about his leadership features. After elaborating the main principles of leadership followed by Genghis Khan, the essay will try to emphasize the underlying leadership lessons that can be formulated from the various policies followed by the great conqueror. At last the essay will provide critical views of the leadership style of Genghis Khan (Man 14). Overview John Anthony Garnet Man is the writer of the implicitly analyzed book in the essay. John Man, who was born in 1941, was a travel writer and a British historian. The writer always had an extraordinary interest about the economies of China and Mongolia. The book ‘The Leadership Secrets of Genghis Khan’ is a unique masterpiece of John Man that concentrates in the leadership principles of the supreme conqueror Genghis Khan. The entire context of the book encompasses the story of how in a span of just 20 years Genghis Khan had won over an immense territory that was way bigger than the conquests of Alexander and Romans. The book explains the different leadership lessons that evolved from Genghis Khan’s life (Adair 47). The learnt from the book would also serve implicit knowledge of his leadership views that is applicable even today. The book shows the modernity and strong visions of Genghis Khan (Man 27). Main Factors of Genghis Khan’s Leadership Trust was one key important factor of the world in the times of Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan comprised of extraordinary social skills of ruling. With the help of such skills he could easily justify treachery and win trust of the individuals living in the domains of his empire. The theories of Peter Principle were not applicable for Genghis Khan. Right from a simple tribal leader to an emperor, Genghis Khan never altered his principles and morality. He was not only a great leader, but also a loyal ruler for all his subjects. Leadership in terms of Genghis Khan not only comprised of loyal and moral virtues, but also gave immense importance to ambitiousness and augmentation. Emotion and politics were symbiotically present in Genghis Khan’s ruling methodologies. Genghis Khan believed that economic or political leadership was never possible without alterations in the socio cultural aspects of a region. Whenever, he succeeded a new territory, he first strategically altered the existing socio cultural traditions and then imposed his leadership authorities in that domain. Genghis Khan’s ruling did not encompass the traditional mass murder strategic weapon. His leadership methodologies are the once that can easily be utilized in the modern days (Lane 67). However, the weapons used by his troops were primitive bow and arrows. He was highly powerful and his subjects worshipped him as God. Genghis Khans leadership had both good and bad factors. In the primary 18 years of his rule he caused deaths of millions in wars. However, under his leadership, Genghis Khan provided security to his subjects and catered to their interests. However, emotions and generosity were the inimitable features of Genghis Khans statute. Genghis Khan was neither a democrat nor a dictator. He was humble and generous ruler in nature but still possessed high powers to rule over his large empire. Even after his death, his followers maintained his empire for 150 years (Man 35). Literature Review According to authors like George Lane and John Man, one can good leadership involves good values underneath and ruling principles of Genghis Khan. Genghis khan has large pool of followers, perhaps that was the reason for which he instructed his men to keep his coffin in a secret place. He was a great leader, who was humble and always shared his surpluses with the followers. Prolific skills and extraordinary organizing power only made it possible for Genghis Khan to win over such a big empire. Meredith L. Runion has claimed that Genghis Khan was indifferent towards religious differences, but he killed many Ismaili Muslims who denied acceptance of Mongolian rule. Jack Weatherford claimed that Genghis Khan was a violent monarch; at the beginning he had a banner made from white horses that indicated peace and a banner made from the black horses, which indicated a symbol of attack in wars (Runion 35). The white banner soon disappeared while the black one persisting revealed his soul. Individuals lacked economic and political independence during Genghis Khan’s rule (Weatherford 34). Leadership Lessons The learnt from books helps to enumerate some primary leadership lessons of Genghis Khans ruling. Building Perseverance: Genghis Khan, when young used to run up and down the mountain roads. He always has mouthful of water and spitted in after every round as he desired to train himself to run and breathe only through noses. This shows that a great leader must know how to self evaluate and augment perseverance. This would surely help to gain control, confidence, commitment and challenge in leadership in an organization. Building Mastery: this can be formulized from the great archery excellence of Genghis Khan. Building mastery in leadership involves in knowing an organizations workers and cultivating their strengths. A good leader must always visualize factors that are not visible to others. Be focused: like Genghis Khan a good leader must never diverge from the desired goals and objectives of an organization. Execute the desired goals: resembling Genghis Khan, good leader must always try to improve the productivity of the subordinates. A leader must always work equally and communicate with the followers. Sharing rewards and valuing loyalty: Genghis Khan was a generous leader for all his loyal supporters and rewarded them for their loyalty. Similarly in a modern organization, a good leader must try to motivate employees by providing them with special incentives. Mixing with strong rivals: like Genghis Khan, a good leader must try to accomplish the bigger targets by coordinating with other powerful leaders. Like successful mergers and acquisitions in the modern world. Liberal: as Genghis Khan a good leader must never be non liberal and should never discriminate individuals in grounds of caste, creed, religion or sex. Never cease learning: all contemporary business leaders must try to abide Genghis Khans virtues of always upgrading personal knowledge. A good leader must always try to improve his know how and spread the new learnt to the subordinates. Critique and Conclusion John Man in his book has taken an active initiative to combine past and present affairs of political and economic rule. The book is effective, useful, well written and interesting. It can be of great help for all the new aspiring leaders in the contemporary business world. The underlying leadership principles mentioned in the book are exclusive theories that actually help to analyze the importance of Genghis monarchy in determination of modern leadership principles. Instead of looking into modern theories and principles, this book shows how history can help in current economic growth through effective leadership norms. The theories mentioned in the book helps all the readers to explore and nurture their own modern leadership theories. Such learnt would surely help leaders to improve their corporate workplaces in this complex economic system. Work Cited Adair, John. Effective Leadership: How to Be a Successful Leader. Basingstoke: Pan Macmillan, 2011. Print. Lane, George. Genghis Khan and Mongol Rule. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2009. Print. Man, John. The Leadership Secrets of Genghis Khan. New York: Random House, 2010. Print. Runion, Meredith. L. The History of Afghanistan. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. Print. Weatherford, Jack. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. New York: Random House LLC, 2005. Print. Read More