Focus Area: Leadership

Competency Statement

To understand the characteristics of leadership and their impact upon my leadership by comparing and contrasting the traits of a recognized leader with their own, concentrating on one of the Leadership Practices addressed in The Leadership Challenge.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an expert at inspiring a shared vision amongst his supporters and utilizing this unified sense of purpose to help achieve nearly unimaginable levels of change throughout society. While King’s highly admirable and courageous purpose was the pursuit of racial equality, his brilliance at fostering a shared and communal vision of what needs to be achieved and how to go about it can be applied to leadership in any circumstance. Being a leader requires, first and foremost, the ability to convey your ideas about important issues and how to resolve them to those you hope to lead, while getting them to believe in and accept your point of view and plan of action. If those you hope to lead do not have confidence in your view of what needs to be done and how to go about it you will never be successful as a manager and there will be fragmentation and tension amongst those who you need to unify behind you. No leader in the history of America, or possibly even the world, exemplifies this better than Martin Luther King.

Above all, Martin Luther King had an uncanny ability to convey his vision of what the issues were and how to go about solving them, which created a sense of unity and clarity amongst his followers that allowed him to lead with unparalleled strength and tenacity. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than his famous “I Have a Dream” speech where he proclaims that “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’... I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down at the table of brotherhood” (King 5). King’s use of the dream metaphor allows him to paint a vivid picture for the audience of his vision for the future and invites them to share in this view of the prosperity to come. He then succinctly and powerfully ties his vision of nonviolent resistance and acceptance of those guilty of racist actions into his beautifully portrayed vision of a racially harmonious American society. He therefore uses his skills as a leader to inspire a shared vision of American prosperity and convince the audience that his tactics are the best method available to achieve this ideal. This is even more remarkable when it is taken into account that there were serious dissenting forces in the Civil Rights Movement against his ideals of nonviolent resistance and that the crowd he was speaking to was far from unified on their acceptance of this course of action.

While we now look back on the Civil Rights Movement as being one of the most successful examples of the power of civil disobedience in history, this is largely due to King’s influence. At the time there was a much more militant edge to the movement that King largely successfully worked to quell. As Dr. Peter L. Ling states, “Movement activists, particularly militant black separatists, never saw King as their one great leader...non-violence was not an outlook everyone shared…” The fact that King was able to use his ability to convey a shared vision to the populace in such a masterful fashion that we now largely forget the more militant aspects of the Civil Rights Movement and how easily violence and anger could have led the way rather than peace and understanding is an amazing testament to the man’s leadership abilities. King so successfully inspired a shared vision and ideology amongst those active in the Civil Rights Movement that we often take this viewpoint for granted.

King’s successful inspiration of a shared vision has a variety of implications for my own personal future as a leader. As James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner state “...visions seen only by leaders are insufficient to create an organized movement or a significant change in a company. A person with no constituents is not a leader, and people will not follow until they accept a vision as their own. Leaders cannot command commitment, only inspire it” (17). Clearly one of the most important aspects of leadership is the ability to articulate your ideas and plan of action to those who you hope to lead and make sure that everyone is equally inspired by your program. To fail on this count dooms a leader to disastrous consequences. King’s example illuminates a number of ways in which it is possible to make sure that your ideas as a leader are properly conveyed.

One of the most successful tactics a leader can use to generate enthusiasm for their ideas is to extremely clearly articulate these thoughts and unequivocally illustrate the differences between reality and their vision. If the difference between what the leader hopes to achieve and how things are currently being run is not made abundantly clear there is a serious risk of the audience failing to understand the leader’s vision, therefore dooming the entire enterprise. As King states, “I have a dream that one day in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” (5). King’s contrasts between the racism and strife of the current racial and economic situation and the idyllic, egalitarian future he envisions help to underscore the differences between his vision and the reality of the situation and inspire a devotion and belief in his audience. As a leader I therefore plan to always ensure that the difference between my vision of how things should be done and how they are done in reality is extremely clear, so that those for whom I am responsible can share my perception of the situation and do everything in their power to help make my vision a reality.

Another tactic I plan to utilize as a leader that I have learned from my research of Martin Luther King is the importance of skilled use of oratory and rhetoric in creating a shared vision. A leader who is not only adequately able to convey their vision, but able to do so in a manner that creates a powerful emotional response in the audience will have much greater levels of success than a leader who conveys their ideas in a less stimulating and captivating manner. As King states “I have a dream today . . . I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight” (5). The use of inspirational speaking tactics like metaphorical language, repetition, and forceful terminology help to not only create a shared vision in the audience but inspire them that your vision is worth their effort and passion. Even if you have made your shared vision abundantly clear, if you did not do so in a manner that demonstrates its inherent value, you are doomed as a successful leader. The lesson to be learned from King is therefore not only that the clear articulation of a shared vision is necessary, but that this vision must be explained to the audience in a manner that creates a strong emotional and ideological connection with them and their desires. While I have learned a great detail about how to effectively lead a group of people through my research, I have also learned that there are a number of ways in which I must change my behavior in order to become a more effective leader.

Oftentimes my tendency as a leader is to assume that people know what needs to be done, and that my role is merely to help facilitate these actions. While this is certainly an element of leadership, the example of Martin Luther King proves that the most important element of leadership is not mere procedural details but ensuring that there is an overarching vision that all constituents share and view as valid. As Kouzes and Posner state, “Leaders must enlist others in a common vision. To enlist people in a common vision, leaders must know their constituents and speak their language. People must believe that leaders understand their needs and have their interests at heart” (17). Successful conveyance of ideas therefore means that I must state concepts that I may think should go without saying, and work to recognize what aspects of my vision may not be clear to individual team members based on their own personal outlooks and backgrounds. I must always strive to ensure that my ideas and visions for what needs to be done and how to go about doing it are as clear as possible to everyone around me so that there is never any confusion or dissent amongst those I am responsible for leading. This is easier said than done, and requires constant attention to how I am presenting my ideas and the reception that they seem to be getting from those who I am leading, combined with a willingness to restate my ideas and convey them in a different manner if I feel that my vision is not shared with all members of my team at all times.

Another extremely important aspect of leadership that I have learned from this research that needs to be incorporated into my leadership methodology is the passionate style of oratory shared by all great leaders. It is not enough to merely convey a shared vision to one’s constituents; this vision must resonate on an emotional and philosophical level with the audience. As Kouzes and Posner state, “Leaders breathe life into the hopes and dreams of others and allow them to see the exciting possibilities the future holds. Leaders forge a unity of purpose by showing constituents how the dream is for the greater good. Leaders stir the fire of passion in others by expressing enthusiasm for the compelling vision of their group. Leaders communicate their passion through vivid language and an expressive style” (18). As a leader I often have a tendency to adopt a quieter, subdued style that may leave my constituents feeling as though they do not share in my vision or enthusiasm for the project. It is therefore imperative that I constantly remind myself of the importance of passionate, literary and exuberant expression of my vision and the role of my constituents in the achievement of these goals. A leader who fails to energize and rally his constituents and constantly make them feel as though they are valued members of the effort towards a greater and more important goal than anyone could achieve as an individual is predestined for failure.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a legendary leader who remains unparalleled in his ability to convey a shared vision to his audience. King did so by advocating equality through nonviolent means during a time where neither aspect of that vision was always viewed as feasible or popular, and he did so to such a successful degree that we as a society often forget just how impossibly far-fetched King’s vision of racial harmony seemed to members of all ethnic groups in his own time. King’s leadership drives home to me the importance of a clearly, boldly, and passionately articulated vision to the success of a leader and the changes that I need to make to both the style and substance of my leadership methodology to ensure the support of my constituents. The leadership abilities and methods of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led to some of the most inspiring and impressive achievements in the history of human leadership across the political and economic spectrum and have myriad vital implications for my future as a successful leader.

Works Cited

King Jr., Martin Luther. "I Have a Dream." National Archives. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2013. http://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf.

Kouzes, James M., and Barry Z. Posner. The leadership challenge. 4th ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2007. Print.

Ling, Peter J. "Martin Luther King's Style of Leadership." BBC News. BBC, 1 Apr. 2003. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/martin_luther_king_01.shtml