Leadership : Executive Lessons Of Courage, Character, And Vision Essay

The concept of effective leadership is a topic that has been widely debated by individuals and professional leaders in many societies. In Kevin Cashman’s book, Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming a Leader for life, the author reveals that leadership is defined through a person’s understanding of their internal nature, rather than the values, beliefs, and morals a society claims that a leader should possess. Even though Cashman does acknowledge the importance of the societal view of leadership, he argues that true leadership is defined by an individual’s understanding of their internal essence. In each chapter Cashman strongly debates that leaders lead by virtue of who they are. He defines this outlook on leadership as the Inside-Out Leadership Method. This is a method that allows an authoritative figure to develop a strong understanding of their physical, mental, and spiritual essence to lead others towards a mutual goal.

The focus of this investigation will be, “To what extent was Robert E. Lee an effective leader of the Confederate Army?” The investigation will analyze Lee’s strengths and weaknesses that contributed to his effectiveness and the overall loss of the Confederacy in the Civil War. The overall character of Lee throughout his lifetime is too broad, therefore, this investigation will focus solely on the testimony of his military background, and the personality traits that led to Lee’s decisions during the Civil War. As a result, Lee the American by Gamaliel Bradford Jr. and Robert E. Lee: The Soldier by Sir F. Maurice are important sources to this investigation, due to the background they give on Lee’s military training, personality, and victories in the battles leading up to Gettysburg.

The foundation of Robert E. Lee’s leadership was built on self-discipline. Robert E. Lee believed that “If one intends to lead by example and inspire respect, one has to fulfill the ideal of someone whose vision and performance are coherent, organized, and effective” (Crocker, 1999, p. 17). Robert E. Lee stated, “I cannot consent to place in the control of others one

By analyzing the leadership styles and character traits of Horatio Gates, a suitable general in the Continental Army, and George Washington, a virtuous man, an understanding of the necessary victory for America is perceived as the leaders are contrasted.

Andersen, JA & Hansson, PH 2011,"At the end of the road? On differences between women and men in leadership behaviour", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 32 no. 5 pp. 428 – 441

Even during the war, he refused to use tactics he considered repugnant such as using spies out of the sheer nature of his honorability. After the war, Lee became president of Washington College, now known as Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia.8 Accepting the results of the war, he devoted himself to education and to helping rebuild the South. Lee died on Oct. 12, 1870, however his legacy lived on even in modern day.5 What many consider “weaknesses” Lee were actually some of his biggest strengths; He was considerate of others, and his politeness affected his total obedience to his orders. He entrusted much of his discretion to subordinates who most would consider not capable of handling it, but but he saw the true nature of their genius. Despite these “weaknesses”, many historians maintain that Lee was the most capable commander of the Civil War. A great general and a great man, Robert E. Lee was a fitting symbol of the South as well as an American hero. Both general and soldiers acknowledged and embraced their reliance upon each other long before their deeds passed into memory, history, and legend.2 Even though Robert E. Lee graduated second in his class from West Point, Lee was one of six students in his graduating class to never receive a demerit which also reflects how he fought.7 His classmates

Lee Considered: General Robert E. Lee & Civil War History is author Alan T. Nolan’s attempt at taking an honest look at what Nolan considers one of the most deified figures in American history, Robert E. Lee. Nolan approaches his biography much in the format popularized by respected biographer Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) in that he is attempting to take an irreverent approach, an approach Nolan claims is sorely lacking in most scholarship pertaining to Lee. The uniqueness of Nolan’s approach is highlighted in the work’s title, Lee Considered, as Nolan claims “Lee has not in fact been considered. This book is not, therefore, a re-consideration” (p. 8). Throughout this book Nolan scrutinizes the certain falsely mythologized aspects of Lee’s, what Nolan refers to as the “Lee tradition” (p. ix), convincingly exposing what should be the obvious truth that Lee was “a great man, but, indeed, a man” (p. xi).

Abraham Lincoln is known to almost everyone. It is recognized that he led the country through one of the hardest times in its history. What many of us do not know or understand are the methods he employed in order to lead us through the Civil War. Phillips became interested in Lincoln’s leadership methods and abilities because he found that these same ideas were still being taught today. He wrote this book because he was unable to find other books detailing Lincoln’s leadership. Because Lincoln’s methods are still applicable in today’s leadership environment, Phillips realized that much could be learned by examining Lincoln’s actions while

Michael Fellman’s The Making of Robert E. Lee takes a different slant at investigating the man who commanded the Confederacy’s Army of Northern Virginia. The book is an examination of Lee’s state of mind and his supposed internal war rather than being a thorough biography. Fellman highlights vital events in the general’s life and gives a psychoanalytical study of Lee which goes beyond unbiased examination of the general and dives into speculation.

General Robert E. Lee’s impact on his leadership style have provide his men hope and loyalty, even on the day he surrendered at the Battle of Appomattox Court House in 1865, which is one also one of the last battles of the American Civil War. His men would be willing to fight, under his command, even to the very end. One of his men stated that they will go in and fight some more, if he order them to do so. General Lee’s leadership impacted even the most exhausted, dirty and hungry men, who were willing to fight and to give their ultimate sacrifice, simply because they believe in him. (Gipson, 2003)

In chapter two of the textbook, Introduction to Leadership, I was introduced to leadership traits, and asked to identify my specific traits and determine my leadership strengths and leadership weaknesses. There is an extensive list of traits which contribute to the leadership process and effectiveness of the leaders, however, six are considered to be key traits: intelligence, confidence, charisma, determination, sociability, and integrity. (Northouse, 2015) Of these six traits, I consider intelligence, charisma, determination, sociability, and integrity to be my strongest, and while I am very confident, I tend to question myself occasionally. Therefore, I would consider confidence to be my weakest trait on the list.

I have never experienced more friendship, love, disgust, and sadness at one time than at my time at a Rotary Youth Leadership Award camp (RYLA) this past summer. Everyone said it was not going to be as bad as I thought and that I was over reacting. However, they were only half right. I thoroughly enjoyed every second at RYLA, but I also wished I was at home.

In terms of leading a team, I regard myself as an enthusiastic and considerate leader. My colleagues on my team can always feel my passion about achieving goals as well as my consideration about others. I intend to make conversations productive by understand other’s perspectives first. I also have a high standard of integrity and apply the same criteria on both myself and my coworkers. When I was working for Deloitte, I was always the first choice for all supervisors in my group if they need to find a project leader for a very diverse team. I have been nominated as the “Team Star” for two consecutive years.

Leadership: a strong leader is one who prompts motivation in staff by providing opportunities for them to grow by using their developed skills, allows for creativity and provides recognition for achievements made, which are most often an incredible amount of work that goes unrecognized by management. Most people believe leadership is synonymous with manager but in fact it is not, leadership can come from a co-worker who takes the time to inspire us in what we do and recognizes the sacrifices made to continue providing services day in and day out and reminds us that the practice of self-care is key. Leadership is proactive and punitive

How do ethical values shape behavior in organizations? According to Saleem (2014), ethical values and behaviors of an organization are made up of organizations institutionalized philosophies along with the moral ideologies of its members. In addition, the codes of ethics help to enhance the moral reasoning of employees while shaping their behaviors towards morally questioning unethical situations. Organizational leaders are encouraged to build cultures of trust with leadership who establish concerning goals employees pursue y setting examples for others to follow (Crosbie, 2008). The leaders whom are able to build training and development throughout their organization helps design and build relationships characterized by collaborative behaviors those results in mutually beneficial outcomes (Crosbie, 2008).