Although I was not old enough to vote in the 1976 presidential election that put Jimmy Carter in the White House, I was old enough to remember his time in office.   Carter’s single-term as president was fraught with trouble. Among other problems, he failed to control inflation and unemployment and his lack of understanding of the bond market caused interest rates to skyrocket (OnTheIssues.org, n.d.).  His lowest approval rating while in office was a mere 28% (Roper Center, n.d.). So why in a course on leadership would I choose to write about such a dismal president as an example of a leader?

It is not how Carter failed as president that makes this man a great transformational leader; it is what he has done since he left office and began to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.  To many people, Jimmy Carter has provided Americans with an ideal model of post-presidential life. In fact, some, including me, consider him to be the nation’s greatest former president (Today, 2009).

The mission of Habitat for Humanity (Habitat) is to rid the nation of substandard housing by building simple houses alongside the people who will call them home.  Carter’s vision is to share the wealth in which he has been blessed with those who are in need (Today, 2009).  As a former president, his followers find a man who once led the greatest nation on earth, swinging a hammer beside people in need of decent housing.  Carter is a person of faith who understands the basic lessons about truth, justice, love, and sharing.  These lessons cross all religions, and Carter believes it’s the best way for him to live out the highest moral values of his faith (Today, 2009).  Carter’s morals and expectations of the affluent sharing their wealth and his willingness to work alongside the less fortunate provide charisma and inspiration to potential donors, volunteers, and Habitat program participants.

Working with the partner families helps Carter get to know the families for whom he serves, thus providing individualized consideration. Carter mentions that the one thing he has seen over and over is that that when people become homeowners, their dignity and self-respect increase dramatically and they become filled with a new pride that inspires them to reach for other things that they previously considered out of their grasp, such as an education (Today, 2009), which in turn leads to intellectual stimulation.

In spite of the fact that Carter was an inept political leader in our nation’s highest office, his post-presidency humanitarian work has made him a respected leader and one whose ideals are worth following.

Jimmy Carter: How volunteering gave me joy. (2009, October 15). Retrieved June 19, 2015, from http://www.today.com/id/33312483/ns/today-today_books/t/jimmy-carter-how-volunteering-gave-me-joy/#.VYNrwPlViko

OnTheIssues.org. (n.d.). Retrieved June 19, 2015, from http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Jimmy_Carter_Budget_ _Economy.htm

Presidential Approval – Roper Center. (n.d.). Retrieved June 19, 2015, from http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/polls/presidential-approval/

Anne Yorks didn’t start out to be the leader she became when she opened Flour Box Bakery in 2007; her intention was to make enough money to stay at home with her young children. But success had a way of finding her and in the process she has become a leader extraordinaire.

I’ve had the opportunity to interact with Anne, listening to her keynote speech at a professional meeting and through participation in her Cookie School.  It certainly appears that Anne is high on the Lowest Preferred Coworker Scale (LPC), works with unstructured tasks, and has high position power, making her work environment a moderately favorable situation in the Contingency leadership theory (Northouse, 2013).

During her keynote speech, Anne talked about some of the tasks she accomplishes running her one-woman bakery, including the baking and decorating over 15,000 cookies last year.  She’s responsible for developing designs, mixing dough, rolling out each and every cookie, baking the cookies and then adding her incredible designs to each cookie, one at a time for orders that can be as high as 900 cookies (Yorks, 2015).  Determining the number of cookies and designs are certainly structured tasks, but those things beyond her control, such as equipment failures, omitting ingredients, mistakes in measuring or decorating add the unstructured elements.

Her high LPC ranking can be assumed through her relationship building. Anne has developed a cookie school consisting of classes for all skill levels. I was lucky enough to take a beginner decorating class where Anne shared all of her recipes, and taught the class how to decorate cookies in the same manner she does, although a lot of practice is required!  She’s only an email away and always willing to help with encouragement or a tip when a problem arises.  Anne’s relationship building happens through other avenues as well.  She has works with Penn State students in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center in the College of Agricultural Sciences, has a web page with an online store in which to order her cookies and supplies to make your own, social media, including a blog complete with video tutorials, and a Facebook presence with about 1.5 million likes.

As a one-woman bakery, Anne doesn’t have employees in which to reward, but she does have customers and her social media followers.  She can use the power of her position to negotiate prices, and what she will share giving her high-position power.

Anne’s relationship motivation has given her great success in all the moderately favorable situations she encounters running her baker and her cookies have ended up in some pretty prestigious places as a result: Ralph Lauren, Neiman Marcus, and even in the hands of Jim Parsons from the Big Bang Theory – all that’s missing is a glass of milk!

Works cited:

Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: theory and practice. Los Angeles. Sage Publications.

Yorks, A. (Director) (2015, May 7). A Two-Car Bakery. Penn State Educational Office Professionals Annual Banquet. Lecture conducted for Penn State Educational Office Professionals, University Park, PA.