Distinguishing the Personality of Great Leaders - Essay Example

Full topic and Section # of Collin L Powell: A True Leader Collin L Powell canbe considered one of the most renowned leaders of today in the light of the strategies that he used and the influencing power he had over his subordinates. He has a charming personality and he pulled off the job of being the 65th Secretary of State of United States of America with utmost perfection. He took the right decisions at the right time in the light of the changing situations and America facing serious criticism about the war on terror. He handled his job really well and his success story can well be termed as one of the most inspirational stories of today. This could not be achieved without his leadership qualities. Leadership Leadership is one of the most important traits of human personality. Leadership is the ability in a certain person that influences people present in the environment for the attainments of goals. The concept of leadership however, continues to evolve as the needs of organizational changes take place. Leadership is dynamic and involves the use of different kinds of power. These powers are bifurcated into two main categories; position power and referent power. Many people might mix leadership with management thinking that every manager working at any post of any organization or state can be leader. This is not true at all. The ability to motivate people by your thoughts and personality is not a job everyone can do. Managers are just individuals who are bestowed upon the responsibility by the management to manage a certain task and possess a certain amount of position power; power that comes due to a person's position in the hierarchy. A manager can reward you, punish you or make you work just on the basis of his or her position. Leadership is more of an internal thing; it comes with the personality characteristics or a person's special knowledge. These qualities help the leader to command subordinates' identification with respect and admiration for the leader. These leadership qualities also helps in generating commitment from the subordinates which is different from the one generated by a manager. Commitment means that the people will share the leader's point of view and enthusiastically carry out instructions. Leaders usually possess certain personality traits that are considered instrumental in building up their overall personality. The idea was to understand what qualities make the leaders different from other people. These traits include alertness, originality, creativity, self-confidence, ethical conduct and personal identity to name a few. Apart from these traits, work related, social and physical traits possessed by leaders are also different from others. Further studies into this matter have led to the development of another important factor that helps to sustain or break leadership; that relationship is the one between the leader and his or her followers. All the characteristics make a leader different from the ordinary masses. However, one thing should be kept in mind that the leaders are just not born; leadership is a quality that can be introduced in certain people providing them with the right kind of environment. Usually it depends on the kind of environment people have been raised in. Collin L Powell Collin L Powell was born to Jamaican immigrants in 1937 who emphasized on the importance of education and personal achievement. During his early stages of youth, he was unsure of what he wanted with life or what he wanted to achieve. He entered the City College of New York to study geology and it was there he found out the path he wanted to pursue in his life. He joined the Reserves Officers Training Corps (ROTC). He graduated from there with the highest rank on can get at ROTC i.e. of cadet colonel. The army was also able to foresee his leadership skills and his maturity to handle such matters and he was promoted to the level of second lieutenant in the United States Army. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star in 1963 in the light of the injury he had suffered from a booby trap on the Vietnamese border. Powell then did his MBA at the George Washington University and was then promoted to major. He surpassed all the hardships with no difficulty and was promoted one level after the other in no time. One thing very prominent about Powell was that he never showed any of his political sympathies till 1995 when he registered himself to be a Republican. He always voted as an independent voter. The great popularity and immense qualities of this person led many people to recommend him to run for President. However, he did not wish to run the elected office. In 2001, Collin L Powell was the first afro-American to be appointed as the Secretary of State. From there, he took a leading role in representing the United States in the war on terror and presented the country's motives to the world in light of the ongoing situation. He took the front seat in representing and motivating the people of United States to work in the cause of the country and was a key figure in the enforcement of UN Resolutions relating to the disarmament of Iraq. He stepped down from his post in 2004. He has earned two civilian awards and numerous honorary posts in his lifetime. Awards have been given to him in the light of his great achievements that make us speechless at how a man can achieve so much while facing all the possible difficulties in the world. His leadership qualities helped him in achieving so much in his life and work his way across to the secretary of state position. The above mentioned biography of the man's life is a sure proof of his inexplicable control and leading qualities. Colin as a Leader Colin can be termed as one of the great leader this world has seen till now. He has shown his capabilities in times of need and worked them accordingly to achieve success and glory for himself. His life is an inspiration for every afro-American who strives to achieve as he is the one who has achieved the most among them in recent times with flying colors. He has been true to his post and to his people. When the controversy of whether the Central Intelligence Agency was right or was misled in providing the evidence if Saddam Hussein was developing unconventional weapons was raised, The CIA was looked upon with high suspicion along with the US government. Colin L Powell was the first one to admit that the CIA was probably misled by some exile group present in the Iraqi Government who wanted to throw Saddam out of the regime. He did this even after facing extreme pressure from the government. This depicts that a leader is always true to his supporters and Colin gained worldwide respect and recognition as a true human being and leader for doing so. Colin Powell always focused on the concept of a family. He considers the government as one big family that works to serve the American people and provides them with security and all the facilities that can be catered to them. He helps the head of the family i.e. the President of US by helping him execute a sound foreign policy to the world. When the 9/11 was shoved upon the Americans, it was due a great foreign policy put up by the secretary of state that they were able to respond to it so well and secure their boundaries and also brings the hold world together in unison again against terrorism. The US Government in his regime as the Secretary of State made marvelous contributions to expand the transatlantic community through expanding NATO, through the expansion of European Union and also by expanding relationship with the Russian Federation. In his tenure, the ties with the Russian Federation were further strengthened by the US government policies. A number of treaties were signed that put the relationship between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on a new strategic footing. Relationship with China also improved three-folds. The relations were turmoiling in April 2001 when the planes collided however with patience, diplomacy and sound policy of both the governments, they were able to build their relationship and bring it to the next level. The policies put forward by the Secretary of State were instrumental in strengthening the ties of the US government with the world. Colin Powell emerges as a true leader considering the years he spent in the office looking after the foreign policy. His leadership qualities are evident in all the decisions that he took in office. From his example, one learns that there is always place for continuous improvement till you reach the end of the hierarchy. Constant hard work and continuous strive for the achievement are the ones required to achieve the level he was able to achieve. One important lesson that he taught every individual following him is that to admit a mistake when you think you have made. It is never wrong to admit you took the wrong decision; it helps you to reach self-actualization and helps you to understand your potential better. It also helps you not to make that mistake again the next time. He possesses great personality traits of self-confidence and loyalty towards his country's values and intelligence. He possesses social characteristics of leaders, which is evident considering his relationship with his colleagues in the department. This sound working relationship was made evident in the farewell speech that he gave as the Secretary of State. In his speech, he made sure he mentioned everybody's name in the speech who had helped him sometime in his work at the office. His great interpersonal skills led him to develop international relations with other foreign policy departments of the other countries. Relations with Pakistan and India were also improved due to the diplomatic nature of the secretary which inturn is evident in the foreign policy. He held responsibility of the wrong findings of the CIA in case of Iraq conflict which shows that he is full of work-related characteristics of leadership. Other than that, he is high on energy and activity and is never seen sitting idle and not working. Colin Powell is more of an democratic leader. He has empowered his sub-ordinates and delegates authority to them and relies more on referent and expert power. His charismatic personality is enough to produce a drive in his sub-ordinates to work as a unit for the betterment of the American people. He works along the lines of middle-of-the-road management where the concern for the people and the work are both high. Over the years, he has adjusted his style of leadership as the diversity of his work changed. He acted according to the situation bestowed on him. After 9/11, the socio-economic and political scenario of the world changed and any other secretary of state would have faltered considering the situation; Colin Powell emerged victorious due to his leadership style. His leadership style has been inspirational to all his followers and admirers. He serves as an idol to the afro-American people and his story of struggle is like an open book for other people to learn and achieve with its help. His charming personality and smile dazzles the audience and his magnetic charm asks you to want him to follow. He has not let anybody down as he has taken sound decisions that have helped the United States of America to achieve a level of respect and develop a sound relationship with all the countries in the world with which the United States of America has ties with. He has served as a transformational leader and brought about change in the way people think about the world. He has been a great leader and inspirational to many. Therefore, this man can clearly be termed as a true leader who has led his nation out of the 9/11 catastrophe. The leader, who helped develop better relationships with many countries and who was a great person in himself. References 1. Afsaneh Nahavandi (2005) Art and Science of Leadership. Pearson. 2. Chris Neck, Charles Menz (2006) Mastering Self-Leadership. Pearson. 3. Richard L. Daft (2006) Management. McGill 4. Colin Luther Powell Biography. Retrieved December 25, 2007, from the web title web site: http://www.biography.com/search/article.doid=9445708 5. Robert Longley. Retrieved December 25, 2007, from the web title Colin Powell's parting remarks, from the website: http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2005/01/20/colin-powells-parting-remarks.htmiam=momma_100_SKD&terms=colin+L+powell+last+speech+as+secretary+of+state Read More