The Evolution of Leadership - Essay Example

The paper "The Evolution of Leadership" is a great example of an essay on management. Leadership has been thought of as a concept or phenomenon that is not static but to change on a constant basis. Most often than not, changes in leadership take place as a result of two main factors. First is the kind of leaders in position and second, the pressing and present needs of society at the time of leadership. It is for this reason that there have been great leaders with different leadership styles over the centuries like Napoleon, Margaret Thatcher, and Kofi Annan. When there is a change in the style of leadership, we say the evolution of leadership has taken place (Gardener, 2009). Specifically, it can be said that the era of Napoleon was an era that was characterized by fierce territorial battles as the only way to gain national supremacy. For this reason, the kind of leadership practiced in those days was that of combative military charisma. But coming down to the days of Thatcher, much of the talk of global supremacy had turned into economic power and market force (Diole, 2011). For this reason, it was just prudent that leadership would revolve around strong economic prudence and pragmatic fiscal charisma rather than physical charisma. For this reason, much of the leadership style of Thatcher was that, which was focused on making her people become a global dominant on the economic and political front. Then came in Annan who believed so much in peace dialogue as the best way of achieving world peace and so as the United Nations Secretary-General, adapted various strategies of peace talks (Gardener, 2009). To a large extent, therefore, leadership has undergone evolution over the years and will continue evolving, depending on the personality of leaders in place and the present situations that confront them.