Good and Bad Leadership - Comparison of Adolf Hitler and Rosa Parks - Essay Example

Good and Bad Leadership: A Comparison of Adolf Hitler and Rosa Parks Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Good and Bad Leadership: A Comparison of Adolf Hitler and Rosa Parks Introduction Leadership is important for the development of the nation and the world at large. Bonnici and Cooper (2011) define leadership as the ability of an individual in authority to exert positive influence. Historically, the world has had both good and bad leaders. Among the bad leaders that the world has ever produced in history, Adolf Hitler ranks top. Hitler is considered a bad leader because he not only ordered the killing of more than 6 million Jews, but was initiated the World War II in Europe that resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of people. Hitler was such a dictator who led by command and not as a servant of the people. By contrast, Rosa Parks is regarded as one of the greatest leaders that have ever walked on earth. She is regarded a great leader because she courageously lead millions of African Americans in boycotting buses that resulted in the abolition of segregation laws. How Hitler Became a Bad Leader Adolf Hitler is no doubt one of the most dangerous leaders that the world has ever had. Hitler was a leader of the Nazi Germans from 1934 to 1945. He was born on April 20, 1889 in a small village known as Braunau am Inn, Austria (Roberts, 2001). Hitler was a kind of political leader who was not only a dictator, but was bent on destruction. His bad leadership became apparent in many occasions. Firstly, Hitler was such a bad leader because he did not embrace diversity and ordered not only that the Jews be driven out of Germany, but also their killing. In 1933, it is estimated that there were approximately 9 million Jews living in 21 nations in Europe. However, because Hitler hated the Jews with passion, he ordered that all the Jews be driven out of Germany and other European countries that supported his ideologies during the Holocaust. This resulted in more than 6 million Jews being mercilessly killed in cold blood (Haugen, 2006). However, it was not only the Jews that were killed by Hitler; rather the leader also ordered the killing of homosexuals, the disabled persons, the gypsies and any other living thing that was opposed to his leadership during the holocaust. In fact, Hitler’s hate for the Jews started immediately he became the German chancellor in 1933 in which he began subjecting them to bad treatments; otherwise called anti-Semitism (Roberts, 2001). This resulted in Jews losing their jobs and their shops being destroyed by Hitler operatives. As this was not enough for Hitler, he ordered the Nazi to pass a law that stated that Jews were no longer German citizens and as such could not marry other German citizens. The law resulted in Jews losing all their rights and was required to put on yellow Star of David for ease of identification which eventually made it easy for the Nazi Germans to recognize and murder more than 6 million of them. This one of the worst killings the world has ever recorded. Hitler is also considered such a bad leader because he was the one who orchestrated the World War II. Because of his greed, Hitler was interested in expanding the German territory and in 1939 invaded Poland, a sovereign country with the intention of putting it under its rule (Haugen, 2006). This ended up triggering Second World War in Europe that resulted in the death of thousands of soldiers from the Nazi Germans and Allied forces, as well as civilians. Moreover, Hitler was responsible for the defeat of Germany by supporting its invasion through the Ardennes. Source: Haugen (2006) Hitler’s Leadership Styles Different leaders adopt different leadership styles in exerting influence on the followers. Some of the leadership styles adopted by leaders include autocratic, democratic, Laissez-faire, transactional and transformational leadership styles. The first leadership style adopted by Hitler was authoritarian leadership style. Authoritarian leadership is that kind of leadership where the leader makes decisions unilaterally and force followers to implement them (Bonnici, and Cooper, 2011). This leadership style was demonstrated by Hitler as he demanded total control of Germany. He is also said to have been dictating to followers what to do without involving them in decision making. In fact, it is because of his unilateral and authoritarian leadership that he made errors that resulted in the defeat of the Nazi Germans during WWII (Roberts, 2001). Hitler was also a transformational leader. Transformational leader is that person who leads by inspiring followers to follow the vision that the leader has for them (Bonnici, and Cooper, 2011). Transformational leaders are generally passionate, energetic and enthusiastic and are usually involved in the process, besides helping followers to succeed as well. Hitler was a transformational leader as he had the vision of making Germany becomes the most powerful nation on earth. To make this a reality, he did everything he could to become a great leader by rallying the Nazi Germans to make his vision a reality (Haugen, 2006). Hitler did this by preaching the values and ethics of the people of German. Nonetheless, instead of fulfilling the needs of his followers, he was bent on satisfying his own needs, which is a demonstration of poor leadership. Regarding authentic leadership style, Hitler was never one. Authentic leaders are those leaders that keep to their word and lead by example. Hitler was, therefore, not an authentic leader because despite promising to revive Germany, he failed to keep to his words (Roberts, 2001). Authentic leadership also requires self-awareness. That is, to be able to understand personal strengths and weaknesses. However, Hitler lacked these qualities. Besides, his rational thinking was overshadowed by the thirst he had of conquering Europe that eventually prompted the collapse of his empire. Rosa Parks as a Great Leader Rosa Parks is one of the greatest leaders that the planet has ever had. She is remembered for many achievements he made during his life. Parks was an African American barber and activist born on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama (Shores, 2005). She was such a great leader because she courageously led millions of African Americans in boycotting buses in protest against racism and segregation laws that undermined the rights and the dignity of the African American people. Because of the boycott, the Montgomery bus company incurred huge losses that eventually culminated in an end to the bus segregation laws with an end to the segregation laws coming later. Source: Greenfield (1995) Rosa Parks Leadership Styles Like any other leader, Rosa Parks used different leadership styles to exert positive influence on her followers. First is that Parks was a democratic leader. A democratic leader is that kind of a leader that involves followers in decision making even though the final decision still lies with the leader (Bonnici, and Cooper, 2011). Parks perfectly fits this leadership style as seen when Parks engages in activism. Parks demonstrated democratic leadership by working for different organizations that shared powers, including the NAACP Youth Council and Montgomery Voters League and other religious and civic organizations (Baker, n.d). All the organizations she worked for were pursuing a common goal, which was Civil Rights, despite each of these organizations having different tasks. Even when she was working at the secretary of NAACP, she shared powers with the entire organization by involving everyone in the organization in the decision making process (Greenfield, 1995). Park also adopted laissez-fair leadership style to influence its followers. Laissez-faire is a leadership style in which the leader delegate decision making powers to the subordinates and do not interfere (Bonnici, and Cooper, 2011). Parks demonstrated this leadership style as she used hands off approach by giving followers the authority to fulfill a purpose through minimal direction. The first instance, where Parks used this approach is where she refused to give up her seat in a bus to a white passenger on account that she was Black in 1955 (Baker, n.d). What become apparent was that the resolve not to give up her seat was spontaneous and was not planned. In fact, Parks did not have any intention of helping the Civil Rights Movement, but she did it perfectly as it sparked the movement, which eventually changed the position of the African American people in big way. Additionally, Rosa Parks was an authentic leader. Parks is regarded an authentic leader because she exhibited high sense of self-awareness and was clear about the values and the convictions she stood for. She being authentic leader was made apparent when she courageously refused to give up her seat to white passengers despite all the risks because she believed that African Americans are not second citizens and deserved equal rights as whites (Shores, 2005). Comparison Adolf Hitler and Rosa Parks were leaders that exhibited different characteristics and leadership styles. As described above, Hitler believed in the use of violence as a means of solving differences. For instance, he not only killed more than 6 million Jews, but also triggered the WWI in Europe that resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands. By contrast, Rosa Parks believed in the use of non-violent demonstrations as a means of expressing dissatisfaction with racism and segregation laws. In this respect, unlike Hitler that used war and killing, Parks organized peaceful boycott of the buses to force American government to recognize the rights of African American people. Secondly, the two leaders differ in the sense that, whereas Hitler was an authoritarian leader who was determined to gain total control of Germany, Rosa Park was a democratic leader who adopted a participative leadership approach to influence its followers. Thirdly, the two leaders differ in the sense that, whereas Hitler Rosa Parks was an authentic leader, Hitler was not. Additionally, whereas Hitler was a transformational leader, Parks adopted Laissez-fair leadership approach by giving followers space and authority to operate freely with minimal supervision. Conclusion Effective leadership is important for the social, economic, and political development of a country. Adolf Hitler and Rosa Parks are some of the most popular leaders in world history. Hitler, however, is known mainly for the wrong reasons that make him a bad leader. He not only ordered the killing of more than 6 million Jews, but also orchestrated WWII in Europe. Rosa Parks, on the other hand, is remembers as a great leader that impacted positively on the world by leading the Montgomery bus boycott that later resulted in the removal of the segregation laws in public places and sparking the Civil Rights Movement to continue with the fight for equality. As illustrated, Hitler was an authoritarian, transformational and non-authentic leader. By contrast, Rosa Parks was a democratic, authentic and a laissez-fair type of leader. References Baker, C. (n.d). Biography of: Rosa Parks. Retrieved from http://www1.appstate.edu/~clarkne/socm/bios/parks.htm Bonnici, C. A., & Cooper, B. S. (2011). Creating a successful leadership style: Principles of personal strategic planning. New York, NY: R&L Education. Greenfield, E. (1995). Rosa Parks. New York, NY: HarperCollins. Haugen, B. (2006). Adolf Hitler: Dictator of Nazi Germany. London: Capstone. Roberts, J. (2001). Adolf Hitler: A study in hate. Mason, OH: The Rosen Publishing Group. Shores, E. L. (2005). Rosa Parks: Civil rights pioneer. Los Angeles: Capstone. Read More