POSITION PAPER

Position Paper

Position Paper

Introduction

There are a number of accounts in the academic literature pertaining to leadership. One of the most significant reasons is that it is essential for organizations to have effective leadership to achieve success. In the same way, an army also needs to have exceptional leadership. The case of leadership with respect to an army is extremely significant. It is the leadership, which can take challenges and responsibilities to guide soldiers in challenging situations. The discussion on leadership spreads across a number of books, which seek to teach people how they can develop leadership qualities in themselves (Adair, 2006). In this aspect, the book Be, Know, Do: Leadership the Army Way by Hesselbein is one of the most prominent pieces of work in the literature work. There is something in common between the book “Be, Know, Do” and the movie “Twelve O'clock High”. The movie does a significant job in providing a visual aid to the book “Be, Know, Do”. Brigadier General Frank Savage, in the movie Twelve O'clock High, shows the real life adoption of a number of the fundamentals of leadership, explained in the book Be, Know, Do. Therefore, the paper seeks to present arguments on leaders and leadership development with reference to the movie Twelve O'clock High, and the book Be, Know, Do.

Discussion

At first, it is essential to define what is a leader. The book be, Know, Do presents a short, but comprehensive definition with reference to the research by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. According to the book, a leader is “someone you would willingly follow” (Hesselbein, 2004). It is obvious by this definition that it does not mention the qualities or the attributes of a leader.

However, one can easily comprehend the idea behind leadership. It is true that a leader is a person who leads, which is also obvious by the word itself. Nonetheless, a leader does not need to get appointed by his or her boss. A leader is a person who has the respect of the people, and who does not need appointments to make people follow him. On the other hand, a person needs to have some distinctive qualities to become a leader (Sindell & Hoang, 2001).

As a result, it leads to the discussion of the first thing, which the book mentions. “Be”, implies that a person needs to set an example, so that his followers can learn and get inspired by it. A person cannot demand his subordinates to follow something, which he does not follow himself. For instance, a person cannot ask his subordinates to be brave, if he himself does not have the courage to face challenges. In the movie Twelve O'clock High, Brigadier General Frank Savage shows this principle. General Frank Savage was an extremely demanding person, who was strict and tough, and demanded his subordinates to do as they told. However, Savage was a leader who did not go against what he preached. There was an implicit message in his ...