What Is Your Definition of Leadership?

In my opinion, attracters is the ability to inspire and motivate pack enough for them to be willing to participate and startle involved towards the achievement of a general goal. I see lead as a process which smoke be change over time and experience, yet totally by someone who has some innate lead competences. In determining what attractership means to me, I decided to analyse two different leadinghip cases. I will firstly discuss and analyse Nelson Mandelas leaders ardor, which appeared to be mainly transformational.I will try to demonstrate how Nelson Mandela proved that lead was a two-way process amid the leader and his pursual, and how crucial it is for a leader to be value and admired by his followers in order for him to be effective. In addition, a leader needs to be trustworthy, passionate and devoted to achieving a traded objective. More importantly, a devout leader will abandon his subordinates at once he achieved a personalised goal. Throughout this essay, I will try to support my opinion creation that, effective leadership lies somewhere in between the trait and the personal creationner approaches whilst taking into account the situational approach.In my opinion, not everyone can be a leader, but if someone is meant to be one, leadership skills need to be learned and improved over time and adapted according to different situations. If not natural(p) a leader, one can only become one to a certain and limited extent, as we will see in Barack Obamas case. President Obama first started as an hold inspirational and passionate leader, who people admired, respected and wanted to join. However, a few years after his election, it counts interchange equal his glory days are behind him, and that he isnt the leader he utilize to be any more(prenominal).It might appear that once he was elected president, and his personal goal has been achieved, Obama didnt fight as awkward for his subordinates as he did for his personal satis fa ction. His lack of communication and inspirational speeches seem to have considerably damaged his reputation as a leader. It appears that Obama gave Americans similarly high hopes that he wasnt able to keep up with and fulfil, creating a wave of disappointment among his supporters. It seems to me that Barack Obama was a bulky leader passim his campaign, but that once elected, he was lacking some crucial leadership skills necessitate as a President.In fact, one could argue that he wasnt born a leader. In contrast to Nelson Mandela, he was only able to be a leader to a certain extent, his apogee being during his presidential campaign. By armed combat vigorously against apartheid, Nelson Mandela rapidly became an iconic figure of tube in South Africa, and was thereafter acknowledged as the most probative black leader South Africa had ever known. He devoted his manner to fighting against racism and apartheid in South Africa and for peace.However his life objectives were not pers onal satisfactions, but satisfactions of his supporters. He fought for their liberty and sanitary-being before fighting for his own. In fact, he never compromised his political position stock-still to regain his freedom. He could have backed down after being released from the Robben Island prison in 1990 (after 27 years of cruel imprisonment), after being awarded the Nobel Peace loot in 1993 or even after becoming president in 1994. Yet he didnt, and continued to fight for his peoples freedom and rights.Nelson Mandela has always demonstrate some legendary get a lineing skills which are natural to being an efficient classless leader. Indeed, he learned at a very young age from his guardian how listening to new(prenominal)s was a resilient skill in effective leadership. In fact, his guardian used to listen to everyones opinions first while remaining silent, before guiding the convocation to reach a consensus (Stengel, 1994). Therefore, one could argue that Mandelas effectiv e democratic or participative leadership bolt was greatly inspired by his childhood experience.Throughout his life as a leader, Nelson Mandela always encouraged people to share their ideas and opinions, to which he carefully listened before making the final decision. This way, he managed to get people to be more engaged and devoted to a special(prenominal) cause, leading to higher(prenominal) productivity towards their goals achievement (Lewin, K. , Liippit, R. and White, R. K. 1939). Moreover, by entering the knock over and being the last one to speak, he also gains a sizable advantage, as he is the one to close the argument.He also cultivated other leadership skills through his personal experience of being a kine herder When you want to get a herd to move in a certain direction, you stand at the back with a stick. therefore a few of the more energetic cattle move to the earlier and the rest of the cattle follow. You are really guiding them from behind. That is how a leade r should do his move (Stengel, 1994, Nelson Mandela The making of a leader, Time Magazine, May 9th 1994). Thus, even before being in any position of leadership, Nelson Mandela revealed himself as a born leader.We can consequently assume that the Traits approach is relevant to efficient leadership. Indeed, Mandela seems to have been born with some essential traits that characterize a leader. cognize as the main-man in South Africa, he was charismatic, influential, sociable, intelligent, alert, persistent, responsible, self-confident, and ready to assume the consequences of his decisions, as he did by going to jail. Thus Mandela innate leadership tendency intelligibly corresponds to Stogdills characteristics of the Traits approach (Stogdill, 1948).Moreover, Nelson Mandela was also widely accepted as a transformational leader, as he was able to inspire and motivate his supporters to work towards a common goal through the power and persuasiveness of his pot and personality. He str ongly engaged with his followers, and made them aware of what achieving a particular goal meant (Barbuto, 2005 Barnett, McCormick & Conners, 2001 Gellis, 2001). As James MacGregor Burns (1978) firstly introduced it, transformational leadership is when leaders and followers bookr each other to advance to a higher level of moral and motivation. In addition, according to Bernard M.Basss Transformational Leadership conjecture (1985), transformational leaders are trusted, respected and admired by their followers. Thus, as Nelson Mandela clear gathered trust, respect and admiration among his supporters, we can say that his leadership ardour also corresponded to the transformational one. In fact, Nelson Mandela didnt sharpen his leadership skills from anywhere, he was a natural leader and his skills came intuitively. He was born a leader and sylphlike his skills with the personal experiences he gained over the years, which enabled him to effectively adapt to various situations.He str ongly believed in consensus and knew how to empower his subordinates and motivate them to achieving a common objective. His legendary conquest as a leader was also mainly due to the fact that he was seen as approachable compassionate and honest. Yet, he was undeniably respected and admired for his courage, his wisdom and his determination. On the other hand, Barack Obama, whose presidential campaign ruttish unrecorded earnestness, hope and inspiration, seems to have unexpectedly disappointed his followers once elected President of the United States of America.Indeed, during his campaign, Barack Obama astonished everyone with his unpredicted inspirational, passionate and warm speeches. Who doesnt remember his Yes we can speech given in raw Hampshire in 2008? At the time, it seemed like Obama had all it took to be a great leader, he had a strong charisma, was motivated, inspired and seeking to achieve a common goal, thus showing many aspects of a Transformational as well as Chari smatic leader. However, soon after his election, his supporters found themselves disillusioned by their Presidents leadership skills.They felt like his motivation and enthusiasm had faded away, and that he wasnt the inspirational leader he used to be. Obama was effective as a leader during his campaign, at one present and time, but became unsuccessful as soon as the situation and the factors around him changed, due to his rigidity and inability to adapt to contextual changes. Thus, Obama can clearly be related to Fiedlers Contingency theory, as he became futile as soon as the factors around him changed.Unlike Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama seems to be more of an educated leader, who cultivated most of his leadership skills from Columbia and Harvard universities, therefore embracing the style approach which suggests that his behaviour of leader is distinct from his personality. In fact, Obama never appeared as a born leader, with innate leadership skills, and had no particular lea dership experience, when he became President. Critics of Barack Obama emphasize the fact that his lack of leadership has already been present in various scenarios.Most of his supporters criticize his lack of communication and his invisibility. They intent somehow deserted and let down by the man who not long ago, aroused their highest hopes. Even the Democrats now acknowledge his lack of battlefront Dems say privately Obama is invisible, not a leader. (Joe Scarborough, 2011). One would have eyeshot that Barack Obamas leadership skills would have had improved as he gained in experience as a President, yet it looks like his apogee as a leader what during his campaign and that since then the leadership part of him is go away.In fact, Barack Obama brought only a few, if any, leadership skills into his presidency, and has deceivingly developed none after virtually 3 years of experience (Kelly OConnell, 2011). As a President, Obama has espoused a relegation and passive leadership style, which wasnt the best style to adopt in a period of deep crisis, when perseverance and prompt decision-making skills were required, thus clearly lacking some situational leadership skills (David Brooks, 2011). Barack Obama consequently appeared as the wrong man for the situation, and not the erson America needed, due to his lack of toughness, imagination and determination. The Presidential medical prognosis who was known for his grand enthusiasm and his passion seems to have vanished to make style to a President who got overwhelmed by his job and ran out of ideas shortly after taking office (David Frum, 2011 David Brooks, 2011). It became vague in Obamas supporters melodic themes whether he was the policy change leader America needed or not (Michael Watkins, Thursday January 22, 2009, notify Obama lead the bulky American Turnaround? Harvard business review). According to Michael Watkins, Obama demonstrated more Steward Attributes than Hero Attributes, which were vital co nsidering the depth of the crisis. Undoubtedly, President Obama was more conservative, diplomatic and supportive than visionary, directive and charismatic. To conclude, we can say that the difference between Nelson Mandelas and Barack Obamas leadership style is striking.Nelson Mandela, can be acknowledged as a born leader who improved his leadership skills throughout his experience as a countrys leader, whereas Barack Obama tends to be more of an educated leader, who couldnt keep up with his status expectations. One was able to adapt to situational changes and prove himself as a true leader fighting for his people when the other disappointed his followers by suddenly disappearing through a lack of communication and perseverance to achieve the flock common goals, thus generating a common feeling of abandonment.In my opinion, these two cases reenforce my proposition of a leaders definition, as we clearly aphorisming machine that leadership skills should be innate and improved thro ugh time to make an effective leader. Moreover, by observing Mandelas and Obamas leadership cases, we saw how an efficient leader must constantly motivate and inspire his followers to achieving a common objective that should be kept in mind and should remain the main focus of the leader as well as the followers.Clearly, without the support of his followers, a leader cannot achieve anything. Thus, as I suggested it, leadership is a two-way process in which the nurture of relationships between the two parties is essential, as recognized by Peter Northouse (2010). References Barbuto, 2005 Barnett, McCormick & Conners, 2001 Gellis, 2001 Bass,B. M,(1985). Leadership and Performance. N. Y, Free machinate Brooks, David (June 28, 2011), Convener in Chief, The New York Times, N. Y edition pA23. Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. N. Y Harper and Raw.Fiedler, F. E. (1967) A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness, New York McGraw-Hill Frum, David (June 28th 2011), Obama is his own worst Enemy, http/ /www. frumforum. com/obama-is-his-own-worst-enemy, accessed the 07/01/12 Lewin, K. , Liippit, R. and White, R. K. (1939). Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created social climates. Journal of neighborly Psychology, 10, 271-301 Northouse, P. G. (2010), Leadership theory and practice (5th edition) Thousand Oaks, Sage. OConnell, Kelly, Sunday, July 31, 2011 , www. canadafreepress. om obamas leadership style is classic liberalism no vision+ utter incompetence = total adversity accessed the 05/01/12 Stengel, 1994, Nelson Mandela The making of a leader, Time Magazine, May 9th 1994 Stogdill, R. M. , 1948. Personal factors associated with leadership A survey of the literature. Journal of Psychology. 25 35-71. Watkins, Michael (Thursday January 22nd, 2009), Can Obama lead the Great American Turnaround? Harvard business review, http//blogs. hbr. org/watkins/2009/01/the_great_american_turnaround. html, accessed the 07/02/12