Leadership Essay, Research Paper

Leadership

Andy Novick

When Ronald Reagan said, “What I’d really like to do is go down in

history as the President who made Americans believe in themselves again”, he

probably was not thinking too much about the definition of leadership. However,

without realizing, he pretty much defined it. I believe the definition of

leadership is having a impression on others, and not only inspiring them, but

making a physical difference in their lives (hopefully in a good way).

Without that aspect, there is not only no effective leadership, but there is no

leadership at all.

To have this ability to make impressions and differences, you need

communication skills. One who can not communicate well will never be a leader.

A leader must know how to speak so his ideas are understood in the correct way.

Ronald Reagan very own nickname was “The Great Communicator.” The examples

that prove his nickname true are his great acting skills, the fact that his

talks with the Soviet Union push to the Russian move toward capitalism.

The next aspect of effective leadership is the ability to make decisions

to change, and not always stick to the status quo. What good is a leader who is

afraid of change? Despite economic setbacks, President Reagan reduced

government spending tremendously, and cut back on business regulations to

strengthen the business sector of the economy. By making this change, the

inflation rate fell 13% to 2%, and created thousands of jobs for Americans.

When Reagan entered office, the unemployment rate was 10.8%, when he left it was

5.3%. This economic growth would have never come if Reagan did not have the

will to change.

Even though Reagan’s term sounds successful, there were many problems.

Failure is an aspect of leadership whether we want to believe it or not. The

drug menace, loss of international competitiveness, falling standards in

education, and the rising national debt were all of Reagan’s flaws. However,

to be an effective leader, one must realize that there will be flaws such as

Reagan experienced in his term, and it is the effective leader’s duty to try to

clean up his mess.

I believe to become a leader in any situation, I must apply all of these

aspects to the best of my ability. I also need to try to learn from past

leaders such as President Reagan so I may be able to repeat the accomplishments

and avoid the shortcomings. All this, and keeping in mind that the impressions

I make upon my followers, matter more than anything.