A Profile of the Leadership Style of Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a prominent leader in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. As a key leader in the movement, King inspired activists across the country to utilize methods of nonviolence in order to fight against unjust segregation laws. By providing both direct and indirect leadership, King demonstrated the five practices of exemplary leadership, which includes modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart.

The first practice of exemplary leadership, modeling the way, involves developing a model for action that others can follow. King developed a model for his leadership as a civil rights activist while he was studying theology in a doctoral program at Boston University. When King entered the doctoral program in 1951, he was influenced by Dean Walter Muelder and Professor Allan Knight Chalmers who believed in using pacifism to fight for social justice (Bruns 23). Further, King becomes exposed to a philosophy called Personalism, which held that humans were active coworkers with God in shaping the world they lived in (24). Writing reflectively on his university education, King asserted that the main tenet of the philosophy he developed was that nonviolent resistance was the most important tool for the oppressed and that organization was necessary in order to utilize the tools of nonviolent resistance in an effective way (24). Through developing and outlining his philosophy for activism, King developed a model for action that would characterize his work during the Civil Rights Movement.

Next, exemplary leadership includes inspiring a shared vision. King was able to inspire a shared vision through his gifts at oratory. As a biographer notes, King’s professors at Boston University were impressed by his oratorical gifts (24). Further, when King received his first ministry assignment at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, he soon became a leading figure because of his ability to deliver soaring addresses to the congregation (24). During King’s tenure, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church gained a reputation for being vocal in its opposition to racism and taking a strong stance against segregation (28). By transforming his church into an institution that symbolized the fight against racism, King provided inspiration for the African American community in the South.

The third characteristic of exemplary leadership involves challenging the process. Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged both the external forces that oppressed African Americans and the internal forces within the Civil Rights Movement that delayed the progress of African Americans. Though the Supreme Court had technically struck down segregation in its Brown v the Board of Education decision, the practice of segregation was still openly and widely practiced in Southern states (Foner 1023). Because In one of King’s most successful actions, he led the Montgomery bus boycott, calling for opponents of segregation to boycott the public transportation system in Alabama (1023). Further, King encouraged participants in the boycott to consider how other areas of their lives were limited by racist segregation laws while encouraging individuals to use nonviolent demonstrations to address other areas of injustice in their lives (1023). As a result of the boycott, the Montgomery transit system was forced to reverse its policies of segregation (1023). Additionally, King was willing to break unjust laws and risk a prison sentence in order to set an example for other individuals who wished to protest through civil disobedience. In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, King criticized moderates who claimed that his tactics of breaking unjust laws were too extreme and asserted that those who were slow to act within the movement were simply permitting injustice to continue (King). Through his willingness to openly challenge segregation through protest and civil disobedience while challenging others within the movement, King was successful in challenging the systems that hindered the struggle for racial equality.

Finally, King embodied the final components of exemplary leadership through his ability to enable others to act while also encouraging them on a spiritual and emotional level. In King’s oratory, such as his renowned “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963, King pronounced a vision of widespread racial equality (Foner 1023). Through his inspiring rhetoric, King spoke to the desire that many shared for a future where all human beings were regarded equally. Further, King formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which enabled other religious leaders to develop widespread networks that expanded the civil rights protests across the South (1023). By creating the infrastructure for widespread protest, King developed a movement that could act autonomously without his direct leadership. By leading through his words, King was able to link together a diverse network of civil rights organizations and empower them to work towards a common goal.

As one of the most influential figures of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired millions of Americans to combat racial injustice through civil disobedience and pacifism. By developing a well-defined philosophy in his doctoral program, King was able to create an effective and disciplined movement that openly challenged institutional racism. As King’s success demonstrates, a multifaceted approach to leadership is necessary in order to create a self-sustaining movement for change.

Works Cited

Bruns, Roger. Martin Luther King, Jr: A Biography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006. Print.

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Print.

King, Martin L. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.].” African Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania. n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.