Role of a Leader

Role of a Leader

Introduction

Throughout, American history there has been many influential leaders who have brought justice, freedom, and change to its nation. From George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and now finally the 44th president of the USA “Barack Hussein Obama”, there have been many great people who have made history. As the first African American to become president and instil the ideology “Yes We Can” a motto now embedded in American tradition. Obama has succeeded in bringing free health care as well as bringing the solider home. It takes a great man to run a nation but it takes a great leader to have the confidence of the people and stay true to fulfilling each promise. A leader comes in many forms and Barack Obama exemplifies more than one leadership style but a combination, showing his versatility and his compassion for the American people. As a man of change who has become great in the United States of America he represents the leadership style which will be looked through trait theory as well as behavioural and motivation theory thus showing his achievements and his urge to change “…American people that [they] are one nation under God, and [they] may call that God different names but [they] remain one nation” (Barack Obama Quote).

Discussion

What is a leadership? It is defined as “the influential process of leaders and followers to achieve organizational objective through change”. To take on a leadership role is not the easiest task for every individual. However, for one African American man he took on this role. His name is Barack Hussein Obama. Born August 4th 1961, he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. His mother, Ann Dunham is a white American from Kansas while his father Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was born of Kenyan decent in Africa. Growing up as a young man he had talents that the average Joe did not have or wished that they had. One of the talents which he acquired during his early twenties was becoming a community organizer and later on a human rights activist. Human rights activists tend to focus on key issues to produce a better outcome for the society and its community. Many activists like Cesar Chavez, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr. and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi have fought endlessly to provide freedom and change to their nation as a whole.

Human right activist do not only get the nations' attention but install change for today, tomorrow and the future to come. Also, previous “President Jimmy Carter and founder of the not-for-profit Carter Center, praised Obama and suggested that he had the potential to be a human rights leader” (Yukl 2006, pp. 24-46).. Barack Obama was praised by all whose heart he had touched. His intelligence, self-confidence and integrity allowed him to quickly gain the trust American before becoming president. Continuing his various foundational works especially in Chicago; in the heart of where he used to reside in, there happened to be an outpour of ...