Leadership

PSYCH 485 blog

Transformative Leadership Characteristics of Michelle Obama

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Transformational leadership is defined in the lesson commentaries as a form of leadership that “serves to change the status quo by appealing to followers’ values and their sense of higher purpose…[they] engage with followers and create a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower (Hamel, 2021).” One iconic member of society that is famously known for their transformational leadership style is former First Lady Michelle Obama. She held the qualities of a transformational leader by having vision, rhetorical skills, image and trust building, and personalized leadership.

In her latest documentary she was shown having a meaningful discussion with young women, empowering them to become leaders in their own ways and stressing how important education was for herself, and for them. Through this, she was able to depict the vision characteristic, or known amongst leaders as those able to “recognize the problems of a present system and offer a vision to overcome these problems (Hamel, 2021).” She discussed the issue of the lack of female leaders, and ways to fix this issue by stressing the importance of education for women around the world. Additionally, this demonstrated her rhetorical skills as a transformational leader, as she was able to share her vision across her followers and across the country of women empowerment and working hard to achieve one’s goals. From this, her followers were able to embrace her vision and share it with others.

Michelle also represented qualities such as image and trust building. This characteristic states that transformational leaders “build trust in their followers through an image of self-confidence, moral conviction, and personal example and self-sacrifice (Hamel, 2021).” She fulfills this characteristic through her story of coming from a low-income neighborhood in Chicago, where neither of her parents had the opportunity to achieve a higher education. Her story of self-sacrifice, hard work and dedication to receive the prestigious education she had has been shared everywhere and has inspired millions. Her image is known globally as a woman who leads by example and who radiates self-confidence in herself and in her work. 

Additionally, Michelle continues her work as a leader through personalized leadership, the final characteristic described in the lesson commentary as transformational leaders that “share strong, personal bonds with followers,” and “are sensitive to the emotional states of followers and are adept at picking up social cues (Hamel, 2021).” In many of her speeches, she spoke on race and the discrimination she faced an African-American. She was able to empathize with the Black community and other marginalized groups about their experiences and created a strong, personal bond with them because of this.

With all these characteristics satisfied, it is clear that Michelle was a prominent transformational leader that paved the way with her foundations, books, and historical achievement as the first African-American First Lady for eight years. Her advocacy for poverty awareness, education, nutrition, and other important issues led to her being a role model for all and a leader for her followers to admire and follow her vision.

References

Hamel, R. (2021). Lesson 11: Servant Leadership, 2021

Northouse, P.G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

The Authentic Leadership of RBG

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Northouse describes Authentic Leadership as leadership that “is about the authenticity of leaders and their leadership (Northouse, 2019).” He went on to discuss how this type of leadership can be defined using three separate perspectives: the intrapersonal perspective, interpersonal process, and developmental perspective. The intrapersonal perspective involves the leader’s self-knowledge, self-regulation, and self-concept. With this approach, leaders were suggested to be original and demonstrate genuine leadership (Northouse, 2019). The interpersonal perspective described authentic leadership as a relationship between both the leader and the follower, where authentic leadership stems from not only the leader, but the response of the followers. Finally, the developmental perspective viewed this type of leadership as “something that can be nurtured in a leader, rather than as a fixed trait (Northouse, 2019).”

A leader who epitomizes these perspectives along with the very definition of an authentic leader is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or more famously known as RBG. She was the second woman to be sworn in as a Supreme Court justice, where she advocated for women’s rights and other marginalized groups. She demonstrated the intrapersonal perspective by being a dedicated, long-standing Supreme Court Justice that led with intrinsic motivation along with the greater good of society. For example, she is best known for arguing for cases on gender equality and fought tirelessly to defend the constitution and argued for historical cases that ended instances of gender discrimination throughout the country. 

Northouse includes Bill George’s Authentic Leadership approach, where he describes that “authentic leaders have a genuine desire to serve others, they know themselves, and they feel free to lead from their core values (Northouse, 2019).” RBG spent her entire life serving others and never strayed from her core values, even when challenging a system rooted in traditional values that refused to see women as equal to men. She stayed true to her beliefs and fought for the rights of others, even when it did not directly benefit her in her position of determining the law.

Additionally, RBG demonstrated using the interpersonal process throughout her time as a Supreme Court justice. The interpersonal process stresses that “authenticity emerges from the interactions between leaders and followers (Northouse, 2019).” She accomplished this by convincing the male-dominated Supreme Court that equality for women is a fundamental right and used the Constitution to defend this. With the influence of her fellow Justices, she was able to use these “followers” to alter the way the law viewed women’s rights through her authenticity as a leader.

Conclusively, Northouse conceptualized authentic leadership as a “pattern of leader behavior that develops from, and is grounded in, the leader’s positive psychological qualities and strong ethics.” RBG’s ethics and core values were what allowed her to advocate for others and change the dynamic of society. She possessed all the qualities of an authentic leader, and her legacy inspired generations of women throughout her service, and will continue to do so beyond her passing. 

Reference

Northouse, P.G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Mothers: The Most Altruistic Servant Leaders

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As mentioned in Northouse’s Leadership textbook, servant leadership originated in the writings of Greenleaf, who states that the main goal of servant leadership is “to create healthy organizations that nurture individual growth, strengthen organizational performance, and, in the end, produce a positive impact on society (Northouse, 2019).” A group of people who emulate this description are mothers.

Mothers epitomize this kind of leadership, as early as pregnancy. They offer their bodies to nurture and fulfill all of the needs of the child, from ailment to shelter. For example, some mothers follow strict diets during their pregnancy, create birth plans or attend birthing classes to learn more about this process, and even prepare their child’s nurseries before they are born. Following birth, they provide the most exemplary care necessary to shape a future member of society. For example, mothers provide the best education they can for their children, encourage their children’s hobbies and extracurriculars, and provide them with life skills that they use beyond childhood and into their adult lives.

This aligns with Greenleaf’s conceptualization of servant leadership, as he hypothesizes, “when followers receive caring and empowerment from ethical leaders, they, in turn, will likely begin treating others in this way. Servant leadership would produce a ripple effect in which servant leaders create more servant leaders.” When mothers serve their children and teach them attitudes such as kindness, compassion, and respect, they, in turn, are more likely to share these attitudes with others as they enter adulthood. We can see this by remembering lessons that our mothers or guardians have taught us, and how we find ourselves applying these lessons to our everyday encounters. If our mother taught us to be respectful while in another person’s home, for example, we would always use this life skill whenever we are in that situation.

While most other theories of leadership focus on influence as a method of the leadership process, servant leadership instead values sharing as means of being a leader. For example, Northouse argues that with servant leadership, “leaders should not dominate, direct, or control; rather, leaders should share control and influence. To give up control rather than seek control is the goal of servant leadership.” Some mothers use this method when parenting. They will often encourage and support their child, without directly expecting to control their child or dominate.

Through Northouse’s description of Greenleaf’s theory of servant leadership, we can see how mothers are exemplary candidates for leaders that live to serve others, their children or otherwise, without expecting anything in return and through their drive to lead and provide for their “followers,” or children in this case.

Reference

Northouse, P.G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Servant Leadership in Congress

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Among the most influential women in Congress is representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or better known as AOC. As the youngest woman to ever serve in Congress, she has already demonstrated leadership characteristics that have left an impact on girls and the Latinx community around the world. AOC’s leadership abilities most closely align with that of a servant leader. We read in the lesson commentary on servant leadership that, “the leader has a need/desire to serve others so that they can develop themselves and therefore perform to meet organizational needs (Hamel, 2021).” 

Servant leadership goals are meant to extend past the organization and become an idea that is integrated within society. They should also be able to allow the followers of the leader to help others within the system and satisfy the needs of the organization, or in this case, a a community. AOC serves New York’s 14th congressional district, but her actions thus far have impacted beyond her community and have inspired so many across the nation.

Within her first days in Congress, she participated in a protest outside of Nancy Pelosi’s office in response to climate change. This was a bold, but necessary action as our elected officials are meant to serve their constituents, rather than run for their own personal gain. Additionally, her campaign was completely funded by the people, not by large corporations or lobbyists, demonstrating her motive to serve those who “hired” her, the community.

Since being elected, AOC has continuously shown up in multiple protests, and after only a month in office, drafted the Green New Deal, a document that highlights the multiple consequences of high carbon emissions and her plan to help not just the district she is appointed to, but climate change as a whole. This demonstrates the exact qualities that a servant leader has, as she has heard the needs of her community, saw a problem that needed to be fixed, and developed a plan to target this issue that serves others rather than just herself. Her plan also included job creation and reducing economic inequality, opportunities that serve others and fulfill her role as a servant leader of the people.

The long-term goal that her ideas and solutions could have is having set the example for what a true leader should be in our government, so that more discussions, plans, and change is created for the greater good of society. There is always room for improvement, especially in our country, for more innovative thinkers, problem-solvers, and servant leaders like AOC.

References

Hamel, R. (n.d.). Lesson 11: Servant Leadership, 2021

Northouse, P.G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los

Angeles: Sage Publications.

Roberts, David. “The Green New Deal, Explained.” Vox. Vox, 2021

Dec. 2018.

Leadership in Interdependent Advocacy

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It is evident that we have learned thus far from the lesson commentary along with the Northouse’s definition of leadership that followers are just as important in the leader-follower relationship. As Hamel states in the lesson commentary, “…leadership is understood as something created through the social interactions and dynamics between leaders and followers (Hamel, 2021).”  I wanted to discuss this relationship in how it relates to people of power in government, from those that are representative of various districts, to those in power running our country as a whole. 

The candidates we elect have a relationship with us, their followers. For example, for a person representing their district in congress, those elected must work with the community to understand their needs. This is important for the leader, or the representative in this case, because without the communication with their communities, they cannot truly lead. They are not able to lead without first listening to pressing issues such as housing, healthcare, or community funds. 

Leaders should also be those whom we can hold accountable, not just to be elected and mindlessly praised. This ties in with the relational-based perspective of followership described in the commentary. It is defined as “a constructionist approach, where leadership is created as a result of the interactions between the follower and the leader (Hamel, 2021).” This concept emphasizes that leadership can only be attained with the cooperation of followers, and vice versa, which is demonstrated with the leaders a community elects into office and its constituents.

In this relationship between an elected official and members of their district, it is just as important for the follower to choose the best candidate that reflects their needs, concerns and ideas for improving their representative area. Most elected officials also host town halls, which are also an important factor in the leader-follower relationship. When events like these occur that are meant for productive discussion, it is again important to elect a leader with attributes that represent a charismatic leader, as the trait approach suggests. In a study included in the Northouse textbook, it states that it “found that charismatic leaders consistently possess traits of self-monitoring, engagement in impression management, motivation to attain social powers and motivation to attain self-actualization (Jung & Sosik, 2006).” This demonstrates all the qualities that any political member should have prior to serving the members of their communities.

Conclusively, we can hold our congress members, mayors, and especially our presidents, accountable and view how we can use these traits and approaches to choose people that best reflect our needs as a whole.

References 

Hamel, R. (2021). Lesson 3: Followership.

Northouse, P.G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

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