Leadership Essay, Research Paper

Leadership connotes a willingness to stand as an example, as well as to guide and influence others in attaining a goal. Effective leadership begins with the same strengths that can be found in a healthy personality structure. Developing leadership skills is, from this perspective, the same process as attaining a strong sense of personal identity and worth. Style of leadership is often the defining characteristic of behavior observed as specific to leaders. The competencies of successful leaders are understood to be adaptive coping responses regulated across many different spheres of individual functioning, cognitive beliefs and expectations, emotional reactions, and intentions that may impede goal attainment whether it is for themselves or for others.

In this day and age the only way to be classified as a leader is to do something charitable, or stand up for political beliefs. Society has changed since earlier times. The leaders of today are Mother Theresa, Princess Diana, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr., and others like them. Grant that they are all dead, they still all went out of their way to help others, or believed in something so strongly that they are forced to be remembered by their graceful outcomes. Not many people today would leave their possessions to help poor people or travel through mine fields to oversee the damage. Not many today would see that their fellow men be fed and clothed in order for them to survive. Few can commit this selfless act. This is when our leaders and heroes come into play; this is when our leaders overcome their triumphant battle in life and see that the people of this and every nation be cared for and properly treated.

Most leaders today are everyday people who fight to keep down two jobs to feed their family. Leaders of today find themselves struggling to keep up with the Jones. Now what matters is how many people you save or how much money you donate. Everyone knew of Ted Turner’s vast wealth but he wasn’t considered such a great guy until he donated a billion dollars to the United Nations. Martin Luther King Jr. saved a lot of people but he did it by defeating ethics and other various armies. Today it depends on how devoted a leader is and how much he or she can help people with their problems. Today we consider hospitality and generosity as leadership traits because people like to hear about good things happening around the world, so the media takes these good deeds and makes them sound heroic and honorable. Sometimes leadership can be a selfless act of courage but in today’s world it is shortened to just a selfless act. The more of these selfless acts that are done, the more people will lighten up. That is why famous people try to do something nice at least once a year, instead of doing these things all the time because they know it’s the right thing to do for that special leadership and high stance trait.

I think that society has changed drastically in the views on many topics, and leadership is just one of them. The only reason these views change is because society thinks they are doing the right thing by making big deals out of little things. Long ago one had to earn the title of leader, now they slap it on anyone who does something nice just to better themselves. I am not saying that all people are these false leaders , because the people I mentioned earlier were not false. They really did earn the title of leader. Not only did they perpetuate the life like characteristics of a leader or hero; they did it with great pride and dignity. They reveled to our society and others that they were the great leaders, that they were what they believed in, and stood up for the life long dream of unity, order and belief. Without strong leadership, our world today would be so lost, and without those great leaders, who knows where we would be today? We all should take our task to leading each other to a positive future.