QUALITY LEADERSHIP 9
Running head: QUALITY LEADERSHIP 1
Quality Leadership
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Reflecting on Leadership Styles
Leadership is the ability of an individual in a leadership position who can influence other people to pursue willingly towards a particular goal. Leadership styles define the way an individual uses the powers of the office to manage people in an organization setting such as government. Indeed different leaders tend to adopt different leadership styles depending on the environment, the situations or organization. Leadership styles determine if people will be influenced by the individual or not. Indeed, leadership is not an easy task, and hence the leadership style of a leader is crucial as it determines how successful or not an organization is as well as the ability of the leader to motivate, promote effectiveness, cultivate a working culture and ensure maximum productivity from the workforce at his disposal. In this article, I will highlight the different leadership styles between two global leaders, President Barack Obama, and President Donald Trump.
A summary of the reasons why you chose each leader for this paper
The office of the American Presidency is a dynamic and multifaceted office that requires leadership and guidance from an individual who is the leader of the free world. The reason I chose President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump is because the two global leaders have exhibited different leadership styles. The two leaders’ leadership styles were different in the following ways.
President Barack Obama’s leadership style was transformational, charismatic and cross-cultural. During his tenure, his leadership style played a crucial role in the way policies were formulated and implemented domestically, and his style can also be seen in his handling of foreign affairs. President Obama assumed office after the inspiration of Americans during his first term where he promised Americans of change. President Obama was humble, and his relationship with other world leaders was more professional and went beyond boundaries. Indeed he was a conciliatory leader when you consider his foreign policy approaches.
On the other hand, President Donald Trump has exhibited a leadership style that is more autocratic and based on his instincts as he has indicated in his book, “The Art of the Deal.” Indeed, President Trump leadership is based on authenticity and use of active management skills and strategies to achieve his objectives (Goleman, 2017). His leadership skills especially in motivating the people around him depict that he is a leader who makes decisions centrally and hence an autocrat who expects nothing less than perfection from his employees. His leadership style can be seen from the resignation of his cabinet members as most claim that he is either too controlling, demanding and his decisions come out as final.
Alignment with leadership styles
President Barack Obama
Charismatic/Transformational Leadership
Charismatic leaders use communication as well as persuasion to influence their followers to align their goals with the leader’s objectives. President Obama was able to woo voters to his side via his speeches and hence his ability to depict that change in the economic, social and political sphere was necessary, people voted for him. Obama saw opportunity where other leaders saw difficulty and hence he was able to approach issues in leadership with a transformational mind. For example, when other leaders in America did not see the need to partner with Muslims in the fight against terror, President Obama saw partnering with Islam against terror as the real antidote to the extremist ideology.
During his term, he was a charismatic leader who pursued policies that advocated for reconciliation between cultures as well as having a soft approach towards countries like Russia, China, and Iran. Obama appealed to who wanted to see change for America and hence was largely voted for in 2008 elections after the disastrous Bush administration. Obama had a unique ability to draw people to his agenda and the slogan “Yes We Can” was popular before he won the presidential race with a majority of the popular vote as well as the Electoral College votes to become America’s first black president in US history (Goleman, 2017). A charismatic leader can easily convince his followers that indeed he can make the changes that they desire.
Contingency Leadership
Contingency leadership uses different types of leadership styles depending on the environment as well as the situation. Indeed, Obama used different leadership models for various conditions. President Obama suited every even correctly and addressed the attendees objectively. He was a friendlier president when abroad and even showed humility despite the power of the office he held. Back at home, when Congress failed to cooperate on matters policy, Obama used the executive order to get things done in his terms. At one time he forced the automobile companies to adapt to new MPG policies (Mughal and Kamal, 2018). He was also tough on terror as he relied more on precision attacks against American enemies and international cooperation so as not to get American boots on the ground as much as possible. For example, he supervised the execution of Osama Bin Laden.
President Donald Trump
President Donald Trump is the 45th President of the US. The leadership under president Trump can be considered as authoritative and coercive.
Coercive Leadership
The coercive leader uses the autocratic approach to leadership. In this type of leadership a leader exercises, tight control, uses orders to get things done and uses threats of punishment to achieve goals. President Trump has depicted the use of coercion for the time he has been in office. For example, he has accused the US intelligence community of getting it wrong on the pullout of US troops from Syria (Mughal and Kamal, 2018). According to Trump, the US has destroyed ISIS, but according to the US intelligence community ISIS has not been completely neutralized, and hence troops should not be pulled out of Syria yet. Trump’s firing of former attorney general Jeff sessions for failing to stop the Mueller Indictments against him is another sign of the use of coercion.
Pace-Setting Leadership
In this style of leadership, the leader sets very high goals for his team and hence values performance and punishes failure. Indeed, most times the leader might jump in to make sure that goals are met within his stipulations personally. The US president has set the pace for the US military by approving the US military spending to $639 billion according to the 2018 budget. The ambitions of establishing a space force to deal with US challenges in outer space depicts that Trump sets high goals for the US military. The President has in various instances shut the government down to get funding for the US Mexico wall. The President has also involved North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in summits to resolve the denuclearization issues in North Korea.
Analysis of the effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, of each leader you selected
President Obama
In terms of efficiency of the two leaders, President Obama was a more effective leader than President Trump because of his ability to manage people effectively especially during his first term than during his second term. During his first term, Obama was able to ensure that the Obama care legislation was law. The Affordable Care Act has since reduced the number of uninsured Americans by 20 million Americans as more people in the US have better access to healthcare than before. Obama was also able to rally Congress in passing the Dodd-Frank Act that will enable the US government to hold Wall Street accountable in case of a financial meltdown, hence protecting businesses and individuals who invest in the financial sector (Goleman, Boyatzis, and MacKee, 2003). On foreign policy Obama was able to reduce world tensions by restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba, signing a nuclear deal with Iran and also having warm relations with the Middle East. President Obama second term was however not as effective as during the first term due to failed foreign policies that increased the threats against the United States from abroad.
President Trump
President Trump, on the other hand, has been less ineffective due to his leadership style that has been narcissistic and self-centered. The President has been handling crisis using too much control and hence caused a high number of resignations because his leadership style is more unstructured and chaotic at times. The resignation of most of his close aides such as John Kelly, Steve Bannon depicts that his leadership style is not well structured and it is based on his instincts. Trump has also fired his defense secretary Jim Mattis, his attorney general Jeff Sessions as well as the FBI director James Comey (Bruni and Douthat, 2018). The Trump policies are based on his instincts and policies that are meant to depict success in achieving campaign promises at all costs. Even though his tax cuts have benefitted the US businesses and the economy has dramatically improved, his attempts to repeal the ACA have hit a snag, Congress has failed to approve funds for the construction of the wall, and he is increasingly becoming a lone wolf in Washington. The Trump administration has been hit by a leadership crisis and only resulted in government shutdowns. The isolation of the US has been due to Trump’s attacks on NATO, American allies such as Britain, Canada, and France as well as the trade wars with China.
An analysis of the reasons for following these leaders
President Obama has a huge following due to his humility as well as an inspiring story that encourages humble beginnings to successful endings. The preaching of hope has fueled followers to adore Obama. His leadership strategy that acknowledges and identifies with the needs of ordinary people, his policies that advocated for measures against climate change, made him human and hence endeared him to people’s hearts (Bruni and Douthat, 2018). President Obama won a Nobel peace prize because he showed that we could choose to see the good in every one of us as we solve everyday challenges instead of seeing the differences amongst us that would cause animosity instead. It is risky choosing by following a leader as his leadership strengths and weaknesses may become a part of your leadership style.
President Trump also has followers who value his style of leadership due to his strongman virtues as well as his business sense of the US economy that has improved the US economy. Most of his followers admire his toughness and control that assures them that the US is safer than ever before. His leadership style, however, can cause low morale for his employees for example with government shutdowns, sudden criticism as well as unfair treatment of the US government agencies such as the intelligence gathering community who have been at logger’s heads recently with Trump because of his decision to pull US troops out of Syria. The risk of following these leaders is that their style of leadership impacts us unconsciously and hence affects our decision making and personal leadership styles.
References
Bruni, F., & Douthat, R. (2018, September 7). Opinion | Obama vs. Trump? Trump vs. Trump? Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/opinion/trump-obama-midterms-kavanaugh-supreme-court.html
Goleman, D. (2017). Leadership That Gets Results (Harvard Business Review Classics). Brighton, MA: Harvard Business Press.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & MacKee, A. (2003). The New Leaders: Transforming the Art of Leadership Into the Science of Results. New York, NY: Warner Books.
Mughal, Y., & Kamal, S. (2018). Servant Leadership Styles and Strategic Decision Making. IGI Global.