Leadership

First of all, we need to understand what leadership is. The Army defines leadership as, “influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation, while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization.” Field Manual 6-22 defines an Army Leader as, “anyone who by virtue of assumed role or assigned responsibility inspires and influences people to accomplish organizational goals. Army leaders motivate people both inside and outside the chain of command to pursue actions, focus thinking, and shape decisions for the greater good of the organization.” Leadership can be different to everyone but as a general definition leadership is to be able to lead a group. Some people have bad leaders that are terrible. There are also fantastic leaders.  There are leaders everywhere. At one point in everyone's life they are a leader. Let’s look closer to how you or anyone else can be leaders and different types.

 

Let’s start with small and non-famous leaders.  These people are people you see every day. How are you a leader you ask? Well you control your life and there is a group of people that are in your life.  You may have ideas about a trip or even at work and if you propose those and they are used you were just a leader. Everybody does this, even if it isn’t all the time. If you at one point ever gave a suggestion to get something done, then you showed leadership.  

 

There are also leaders like the principal of a school.  He makes sure the kids get their education and graduate.  He helps make rules the kids must follow to help them get the education they need in a structured manner. He proposes ideas to get the job done. Even more important leaders are the governments.

 

One type of governments is state governments. They govern or lead our states. They enforce rules such as speed limits and other minor things like that.  They do have ideas, such as the speed limits, that keep us safe.  They watch your business if you start one.  They help if they can. Speaking of governments, and the leaders that run them, one of our most important leaders is the President of the United States. 

 

The president is the foremost leader and leads a whole country.  He doesn’t do it by himself though. The president has his cabinet as well as the House and Senate to help him.  Together they are in the legislative branch and that’s a group that needs a leader.  That leader is not just one person however. It’s obviously multiple people.  They help make laws that are enforced into the United States.  There are 27 laws that everyone follows.

 

These laws as a collective are known as the U.S. constitution.  It has the Bill of Rights in it, as well as 27 amendments.  The president helps propose laws and sometimes not always go through, but he is a leader.  The congress helps him/her determine laws to make a great country and keep people safe. There are laws like you can’t just walk around and shoot whoever you see.  That law is there to keep people safe.  That’s another part of a leader's job.  Keep the people in the group comfortable to their interests. 

 

A leader is chosen on beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills. Why would these things be important to determine a leader?  Say you are part of a group at school like drama club.  Some of the traits above wouldn’t matter. Values would matter because you have to know if they are willing to make sure to get the play done and performed correctly.  Ethics is important because you want to know if this person even cares about drama.  If they don’t care about it, does that make them a good leader? No, one has to care about those they lead, and what they are leading them to achieve.

 

Character is also important because you would need to know if they are lazy, hardworking, if they can give parts without an attitude.  Knowledge would be great because you have to find out if that person even knows what to do, if they have any idea how to direct and lead the group to make a great play.  Last but not least is skill.  They should be able to act themselves so they know what needs to be perfected during practice.  Beliefs would mostly apply to the president, but can help determine a priest for a church, or even the pope. 

 

If we listed all of the great leaders the United States has had it would create a very long list, so I will only tell you a few.  Our greatest leader I think was George Washington.  He was our very first president and by far the best.  He had great ideas that helped put our country to the top.  There is also Abraham Lincoln, he was our 16^th president and he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. He displayed great leadership skills.

 

Leaders are sometimes great people or you have terrible leaders.  Either good or bad they are similar in characteristics of a leader.  Leaders are strong individuals that can lead a group to get things done that need to be done.  They lead a group to their comfort, beliefs, and interests.  Leaders must have beliefs, values, ethics, knowledge, character, and skills to fit they group they are leading.  Beliefs aren’t taken in consideration for every group but are still important. Values are important in no matter what you do. All those are important. Now you know what a leader is, examples of a leader, and who some great leaders were.

 

 

 

Works Cited

FM 6-22. Washington D.C.: Department of the Army, 12 Oct 2006.

"Special Section: Who Were History's Great Leaders? - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879377,00.html>.

 

 

Outline

 

                  I.            Leadership

1.      Introduction

1.      What is leadership?

2.      What is a leader?

2.      Leadership

1.      Examples of leaders

1.      Principal

2.      President

2.      What makes a leader?

1.      Traits & Skills

2.      Characteristics

3.      Beliefs & Morals

3.      Conclusion