Prompt: What are the qualities of an effective leader and how have the leaders you have looked at so far this semester fallen short of your ideal?
Leadership is the ability to contribute effectively and influence obviously on members of an organization. Being a leader is not attainable. Actually, some people think that leadership is an acquired character while others claim that it is inherited. During the ages, there are many great leaders in all fields of life such as, Gandhi, Mandela and Martin Luther King, who fought against injustice and supported people's rights. In fact, some people have a misconception that only those people who are physically strong can become good leaders but this is not the fact. A good leader has some remarkable traits which let others follow. These characteristics vary from one to one, but they all have some common traits such as, having an optimist perspective and willing to cooperate. However, during this semester, I read about some leaders who break some of the basic traits of leadership and turn from good leaders into dictators because they suppress and loss communication with people.
In today's competitive world, leadership traits are crucial because many people follow any leader and they are influenced by these traits so it is very important for those leaders to have ideal characteristics. One of these traits is to have an optimist perspective. It is known that optimism is related to the quality of work because it affects people psychologically. If a person is optimistic enough, he will perform his work perfectly and he may achieve more than expected. Actually, any leader has a massive influence on others. Therefore, if a leader is hopeful in what he does, in spite of the hurdles during his way to success, his followers will be motivated enough and they will reach the stage of high-performance. A good example from the novel of Animal farm illustrates this point which is when Frederick and his followers had already come to the Animal farm and they destroyed the windmill totally, the animals were discouraged and surrendered, firstly, but Napoleon was hopeful about the animal ability to built the windmill again, he could galvanize the animals' mettle and they then could rebuild it and in a short period of time. This example explains the vital role of a leader in motivating his followers to do something even if it exceeds their ability. The second trait of a great leader is the willingness to cooperate with his followers because the power is the result of cooperation among all the members. In fact, the leader is not the one who issues the orders. However, he is the one who takes the rough responsibilities and supports his followers in their work. Also, he most likely does more than he requires of his followers because this can be such a motivation for his followers to exert their utmost efforts. For example, from Animal farm, when Jones attacked the Farm, Snowball fought against jones and his men bravely, although, he was able to order the animals to fight while he could take a shelter to protect himself. This example shows that the real leader, actually, leads his followers in doing his work because he believes in the teamwork as a means to attain high-performance.
No one of the leaders is perfect, but the relative perfection differs from one to one depending on the leader's characteristics. Some leaders can preserve their good traits, but the others can easily change into dictators by manipulating people and losing the direct communication with their followers. In fact, during this semester, I read about good examples of leaders who turn into dictators. These types changed my mind totally about the ideal leaders. Firstly, suppressing people is the most obvious trait of a dictator. This repression can be done directly by using the ruler forces such as, police or army. Also, it can be done indirectly by unlawful censorship on people's opinions especially on media, which manipulates people and their ideas, as the ruler wants. To illustrate this point, there are two examples. The first one is from the novel Animal farm when Napoleon uses Squealer to change the animals' minds in many cases especially when it is concerned with Snowball and his betrayal as Squealer claimed every time. The second example is from the novel Fahrenheit 451 when the government censored the books and burned them claiming that different opinions of the books ignite conflicts. These two examples show how dictators may oppress people's thoughts and opinions without any rational reason. In addition to suppressing people, losing communication with people is a sign of dictatorship. Communication is the means to make a relation between a leader and his followers and it allows sharing opinions and making wise decisions. However, losing communication may create a gap between a leader and his followers, which can lead to spread confusion and grumble among people. For example, from Animal farm, at the end of the novel, Napoleon doesn't show up as usual on Sunday. Consequently, the animals feel frustrated and they start to be grouchy because of the lack of communication.
To sum up, although the definition of leadership is different among people, it is known that a leader has some traits that make him distinctive among others such as, being hopeful and believing in teamwork. Following these traits costs nothing but creates much in others. However, some leaders tend to be dictators as a sign of greed and arrogance so they oppress people and cut the direct relation with people. As a result, people start to feel defeated which can lead to rebellion against the injustice and inequality. After all, it is easy to turn into a dictator but it is difficult to preserve as a good leader but the question why some leaders turn into dictators, although, they can preserve as a good leaders and gain people's love and respect!!
Leadership is the ability to contribute effectively and influence obviously on members of an organization. Being a leader is not attainable. Actually, some people think that leadership is an acquired character while others claim that it is inherited. During the ages, there are many great leaders in all fields of life such as, Gandhi, Mandela and Martin Luther King, who fought against injustice and supported people's rights. In fact, some people have a misconception that only those people who are physically strong can become good leaders but this is not the fact. A good leader has some remarkable traits which let others follow. These characteristics vary from one to one, but they all have some common traits such as, having an optimist perspective and willing to cooperate. However, during this semester, I read about some leaders who break some of the basic traits of leadership and turn from good leaders into dictators because they suppress and loss communication with people.
In today's competitive world, leadership traits are crucial because many people follow any leader and they are influenced by these traits so it is very important for those leaders to have ideal characteristics. One of these traits is to have an optimist perspective. It is known that optimism is related to the quality of work because it affects people psychologically. If a person is optimistic enough, he will perform his work perfectly and he may achieve more than expected. Actually, any leader has a massive influence on others. Therefore, if a leader is hopeful in what he does, in spite of the hurdles during his way to success, his followers will be motivated enough and they will reach the stage of high-performance. A good example from the novel of Animal farm illustrates this point which is when Frederick and his followers had already come to the Animal farm and they destroyed the windmill totally, the animals were discouraged and surrendered, firstly, but Napoleon was hopeful about the animal ability to built the windmill again, he could galvanize the animals' mettle and they then could rebuild it and in a short period of time. This example explains the vital role of a leader in motivating his followers to do something even if it exceeds their ability. The second trait of a great leader is the willingness to cooperate with his followers because the power is the result of cooperation among all the members. In fact, the leader is not the one who issues the orders. However, he is the one who takes the rough responsibilities and supports his followers in their work. Also, he most likely does more than he requires of his followers because this can be such a motivation for his followers to exert their utmost efforts. For example, from Animal farm, when Jones attacked the Farm, Snowball fought against jones and his men bravely, although, he was able to order the animals to fight while he could take a shelter to protect himself. This example shows that the real leader, actually, leads his followers in doing his work because he believes in the teamwork as a means to attain high-performance.
No one of the leaders is perfect, but the relative perfection differs from one to one depending on the leader's characteristics. Some leaders can preserve their good traits, but the others can easily change into dictators by manipulating people and losing the direct communication with their followers. In fact, during this semester, I read about good examples of leaders who turn into dictators. These types changed my mind totally about the ideal leaders. Firstly, suppressing people is the most obvious trait of a dictator. This repression can be done directly by using the ruler forces such as, police or army. Also, it can be done indirectly by unlawful censorship on people's opinions especially on media, which manipulates people and their ideas, as the ruler wants. To illustrate this point, there are two examples. The first one is from the novel Animal farm when Napoleon uses Squealer to change the animals' minds in many cases especially when it is concerned with Snowball and his betrayal as Squealer claimed every time. The second example is from the novel Fahrenheit 451 when the government censored the books and burned them claiming that different opinions of the books ignite conflicts. These two examples show how dictators may oppress people's thoughts and opinions without any rational reason. In addition to suppressing people, losing communication with people is a sign of dictatorship. Communication is the means to make a relation between a leader and his followers and it allows sharing opinions and making wise decisions. However, losing communication may create a gap between a leader and his followers, which can lead to spread confusion and grumble among people. For example, from Animal farm, at the end of the novel, Napoleon doesn't show up as usual on Sunday. Consequently, the animals feel frustrated and they start to be grouchy because of the lack of communication.
To sum up, although the definition of leadership is different among people, it is known that a leader has some traits that make him distinctive among others such as, being hopeful and believing in teamwork. Following these traits costs nothing but creates much in others. However, some leaders tend to be dictators as a sign of greed and arrogance so they oppress people and cut the direct relation with people. As a result, people start to feel defeated which can lead to rebellion against the injustice and inequality. After all, it is easy to turn into a dictator but it is difficult to preserve as a good leader but the question why some leaders turn into dictators, although, they can preserve as a good leaders and gain people's love and respect!!