21st Century Leadership

From the vantage point of the present, it is easy to look back at the tenure of any great leader and draw conclusions about just what it was that made him/her great. We can examine the circumstances under which their leadership flourished; piece together what we know of their character and personality traits; delve into the factors that may have driven them; and dissect their leadership style all in an effort to pinpoint the source of their success. The ‘Great Man’ theory, popular in the 19th century and now thoroughly debunked, held that leaders are born, not made; suggesting that men like George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., and Winston Churchill were born with the innate capacity to change the world (Landis,

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

Throughout recent history, the definition of leadership has been the subject of a vast number books, articles, and essays. Countless authors have attempted define the ability to lead in a tangible way. They have scrutinized on how one becomes a leader and how one successfully leads. Because the ability to lead is so ambiguous and no one can follow a definable set of steps to become a leader, many authors have use examples of leaders to illustrate their views on the subject. And even in the limited scope of time that is the history of the United States, dozens of men and women have lead Americans through their words, beliefs, and actions. Whether they are appointed leaders such as President George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, or leaders of worthwhile cause such as Susan B. Anthony or Martin Luther King Jr., these leaders provide a blueprint that if examined carefully, can provide useful advice for those aspiring to become great leaders. And for Donald T. Phillips, the American leader whose life “still inspires and moves people from all walks of life” and provides an example of leadership that is without equal is Abraham Lincoln (Phillips). In his book Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times Phillips provides 15 overarching leadership qualities that Lincoln followed all throughout his life. By describing how Lincoln exhibited each of these qualities thoroughly, Phillips then relates how potential leaders today can duplicate those same qualities in their

FDR's leadership, as well as the other leaders discussed in our text, are individuals whom are a learning tool for the future. As demonstrated throughout history, leaders and society continually learn from our progress, development, and our continue to evolve effectively. History has taught us that it is wise to learn from our past. In this specific case, learning and teaching ourselves of the traits and leadership that FDR possessed is an important lesson in understanding how leadership evolved to where it stands today. FDR also teaches us about the effectiveness of visionary charismatic leadership, and the impressive obstacles that can be conquered using this specific set of character strengths.

This election cycle has greater ramifications than ever before, as the two major parties have reached the two extremes: extreme left-wing liberalism and major right-wing conservatism. These two polar opposites have led to the increasingly divided United States population (Gentzkow, 2016). Without the proper guidance under a strong leader, our stretch as the greatest superpower on the planet Earth may come crumbling down to the ground. This poses the important questions of what traits across the American political spectrum influences leadership, and

In the Leadership Challenge, 4th edition, it is Kouzes & Posner (2007) intention to present a road map for individuals to follow on their leadership journey. The authors stress that “leadership is not a gene and it’s not an inheritance.” Leadership they assert is “an identifiable set of skills and abilities that are available to all of us” (p. 23). They make clear that the “great person” theory of leadership is “plain wrong.” Leaders are our everyday heroes who do extraordinary things on a regular basis (p. 23).

As a growing debate, the question at hand is whether great leaders are born with specific leadership traits, or if one can be taught certain traits over time. According to (Wikipedia.com) the approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. I believe that leadership traits such as honest, competent, initiative, inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, and the ability to lead the masses, are some of the leadership traits one should possess. Within this paper, I will examine the overall concept of leadership traits, while observing the traits that were, or can be associated with successful leaders.

There is no consensus that has been reached regarding this controversy, but many theories are centered on it. Chronologically, popular leadership theories include the great man theory, trait theory, behavioral theories, role theory, participative leadership, situational leadership, contingency theories, transactional leadership, and transformational leadership. Each of these theories presents a unique perspective of what comprises leadership. The main focus of this research paper is, however, the trait theory (Bass & Stogdill, 1990).

In my reflections as I prepared to write this paper, I came to the realization that leadership is much more complex especially since the paper requires that I focus on a few traits. In an effort to make it simple, I wrote down the traits that came to mind and in process had over 10 important traits but an even bigger challenge was on how to narrow them down to 3 or 4 and this is the place that required a good deal of reflection. Eventually, however, I had to prioritize them since in any case; it is not possible to get a leader that has all the traits. As I thought of the various leaders who have inspired me, I noticed that while they strived to provide the best leadership by focusing on their strong points, they still had their weaknesses. To me this provided a justification for at least identifying key desirable traits and thereafter working to improve them. I did manage to settle on four traits, which for me are indispensible if a leader or a leadership is to become effective.

From Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela’s charisma, to Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King’s intelligence and Steve Jobs’ analytical nature, there can be as numerous ways to lead as there are leaders (Crossman, 2010). Leadership is a hot debate both in the business world and other areas of the society. Throughout the world's, there have been as many leadership models as there have been their commentators (Burns & Peltason, 1966). Fortunately, psychologists and businesspersons have established useful frameworks that refer to the main ways of leadership.

Leadership is a very broad topic; I never knew just how many different traits and skills that it takes to become an effective leader. Some of which I was familiar with, and others that I was not aware of, but now from taking this course, they all seem to be necessary for the role of leadership. The attached paper, will explain of some of the important theories and concepts that I thought were most important to be able to become and effective leader.

Since the late 1700’s the United States of America has experience a multitude of leaders under a federal republic government. The system of

When we analyze the success of large corporations like Ford, General Electric and International Business Machines, it is evident that they had series of leaders who were visionary and believed in empowerment of people. When we analyze tough phases of a company or companies that had a fall and ultimate demise, we clearly see a linkage between failure of company and absence of effective leadership (Canwell, Dongrie, Neveras, & Stockton, 2014). The successful organization had leaders who made right decisions at right time and implemented them strategically. The implementation part needs excellent human resources and the ability to lead to them to get the task done. While different situations may need different style of leadership, the sophisticated manpower fueled by technological advancements and globalization have made some leadership styles less effective and some leadership styles to be highly effective (Feser, Mayol, & Srinivasan, 2014). This paper will discuss a tough situation faced in one of my former organization. The organization needed a different leadership style to tide over the falling sales and attrition. Three different leadership styles, their pros and cons, and the likely success in solving the problem will be discussed in this paper.

This theory is based on the premise that there are certain personality characteristics that are essential for a person to possess in order to be a leader. The main emphasis is on what the person is in terms of a constellation of personality traits. This theory searches for that set of universal leadership traits that will assure success. Numerous traits have been suggested: courage, integrity, loyalty, charisma, ambition, intelligence, honesty, clairvoyance, persistence, arrogance, health, political skill, confidence and vision.

Developing a leadership style to fit twenty-first century challenges involve a great deal of knowledge, and patience. There are different leadership styles among managers, and cultures. Two leadership styles are transformational, and transactional. There are many ways leadership has developed, and evolved over time. Leaders in the twenty-first century have faced many challenges such as technological changes, multiple generations in the workforce, and more cultural differences. Fortunately there are solutions for these challenges for twenty-first leadership styles such as offering training to employees, informing employees about the different generations they are working with, and the different cultures in the company.