Servant Leadership and the Individual

Question 1.

According to Lea Williams, a servant-leader is guided by an overarching, prophetic and transforming vision that is conceived carefully and articulated with vigor. Fannie Lou fits this definition exemplarily. She rose to be an example of civil rights leaders who adopted direct action response to injustices, inequalities and oppression in Mississippi and the wider USA. She inspired the people around her to register and vote as a way of gaining political representation and equality. Fannie recognized a connection between the lack of access to the political representation and the severe poverty among African American and started massive campaigns to urge African American to register and vote and advocated anti-poverty programs. In order to gain the support of her followers, Fannie took numerous steps of bravery including persevering hardship, losing her job, harassment, physical assault and other forms of intimidation. However, she remained steadfast. For example, when the news of voter registration reached her employer, Marlow demanded that she withdraw her voter application. However, Fannie chose to lose her job and pursue her goal of liberating her people. She had a strong resolve and will pursue equality and economic empowerment of the poor. She led through action and example and she always remained at the front line of the liberty fights. The irony of her leadership was that her personal down-home style made her work with grassroots people. She would mobilize students and plantation workers to agitate their liberties. Although she is recognized as one of the fiercest black female leaders, she never got a lot of limelight compared to her male counterparts such as Martin Luther King. Her ideas of fighting for values beyond her personal goals and mobilize people to support her course make her a classical example of a servant-leader. She rose up as a situational leader when the oppressed need someone to voice their grievances and lead their struggle. Without any form of education, she emerged as a good orator, a fierce advocate, and a strong leader.

Question 2

The ability of a leader to perceive, define and express reality is critical to leadership. When a leader perceives, understand and express reality, he or she is able to set visionary but realistic targets. The leader is able to understand the dynamics of every situation and as such is able to plan for all confounding factors in mind. An effective leader understands that it takes the support and commitment of followers to achieve goals. As a result, he or she understands the immense responsibility of selecting and nurturing motivated and committed followers. For example, the implementation of a project in an organization cannot succeed without employee buy-in. As a manager, one needs to ensure employees understand the importance of the project and express their commitment to the project. The leader needs to communicate effectively and motivate the employees and make them understand their contribution is vital to the success of the project. An effective leader needs to build a lot of competence in discovering, unleashing and managing diversity. Due to globalization, cultural competence has become an integral prerequisite of every leader.

As a leader, I exhibit some of the competencies described by Max. First, I am a transformative leader who is able to mobilize support toward a common goal. I understand the importance of teamwork in achieving common goals. As such, I am a strong advocate of cultural competence. In the future, I work to improve my competence in selecting and nurturing leadership and expressing reality to followers. I tend to be an optimist and often may overlook risks.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in pre written college essays. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from pay someone to write my research paper services.