Modern researchers vary in their opinions on the most effective leadership styles and approaches to becoming role models for other people. By studying the activity of prominent activists of the past and the key prerequisites to their success, it is possible to learn more about the art of leading others. This essay is devoted to the diverse leadership experiences of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the underlying beliefs guiding this person’s behaviors.
Summary
The leader analyzed in this paper is Martin Luther King, Jr., a famous American activist who contributed to African Americans’ struggle for civil rights and desegregation. His leadership traits can be analyzed concerning two organizations because he stood at the origins of the Montgomery Improvement Association and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (Garrow, 2015; SCLC, n.d.). The most important points learned so far include this person’s ability to express political needs using religious terms and his readiness to take risks to reach the goal.
Alignment to Universal Principles of Leadership
Bearing responsibility for other people’s actions has never been an easy task, and some principles are expected to be strictly observed by effective leaders. As one of the most prominent religious and civil rights leaders of the twentieth century, King, Jr. paid close attention to such values as responsibility, integrity, compassion, and forgiveness. As for responsibility, according to the man’s confessions, his extent of accountability increased together with the growth of his popularity among the Black Christian population (Garrow, 2015). In his practice, he demonstrated both responsibility and compassion by encouraging his followers to fight for the cause of justice without the use of physical aggression (Garrow, 2015). It was because he understood that violence would cause more violence instead of positive results for the oppressed social groups.
Regarding integrity, King, Jr. was committed to his principles and wanted his followers to do the same. For instance, as a deeply religious person, he supported the ideas of non-violent resistance consistently and never departed from his words (Garrow, 2015). Modern researchers list fidelity to principles among the basic things making King, Jr. an effective representative of the soft leadership style (Rao, 2017). Finally, speaking about forgiveness, he demonstrated this quality many times, including the case when Mr. Fields, one of his former colleagues, accused MIA led by Martin of misappropriating the received funds (Garrow, 2015). When Fields offered an excuse in public, King, Jr. accepted his apology and, despite the crowd’s resentment, asked everyone to forgive the man (Garrow, 2015). Therefore, judging from this person’s leadership decisions and approaches to communication with followers, Martin Luther King, Jr. adhered to the principles of effective leading.
Bases of Power
The idea of the basis of power helps to better understand the sources of a person’s influence on others. Based on the discussed leader’s biography and research devoted to his outreach activities, Martin Luther King used referent, expert, and information power to contribute to social change. The use of reward and coercive power by the chosen leader remains questionable since his most known beliefs included the inappropriateness of violence, which could apply to negative reinforcement in leadership as well (Garrow, 2015). As for referent power, it is associated with the presence of well-developed communicative abilities, and King, Jr. used them to become more attractive as a leader. For instance, his oratory skills together with the willingness to take risks transformed King, Jr. into a role model for many of his peers from dissimilar social groups (Garrow, 2015). Thus, the proper application of his rhetorical talents and personal strengths enabled him to find favor in the eyes of the African-American population.
In his political activity, King, Jr. also used expert and information power to form different people into one body capable of initiating change. Being a qualified professional in theology, he managed to align religious philosophical concepts with the ideas of political struggle, thus making use of his expert power (Burrow, Jr., 2012). Speaking about informational power, he made use of it when collaborating with his followers and supporters to organize protest events, including the famous March on Washington in 1963 (Garrow, 2015). Thus, the leader’s activity was successful since he had power coming from dissimilar sources.
Beliefs Peculiar to Leadership
As a specialist in the field of theology, Martin Luther King, Jr. was committed to his beliefs about society, life, and principles helping to guide other people’s activities. He was one of the leaders of MIA formed in the mid-1950s to concert the efforts of multiple small groups tasked with expediting the end of the racial segregation era in the United States (Garrow, 2015). Concerning his beliefs about people in the organizations, King thought that taking risks was justified if it could be helpful to other members of MIA and then SCLC (Garrow, 2015). He expressed that viewpoint after being offered the position of the association’s president (Garrow, 2015). Also, about people outside MIA and SCLC, it seems that the leader’s beliefs did not depart from the basic Christian moral values (Garrow, 2015). It means that he respected other people’s dignity and was ready to forgive offenses.
The leader’s opinion on power and other concepts also sheds light on his approaches to leading others. King believed that true power could not exist without love for others and the willingness to respect justice (Garrow, 2015; Kahane, 2010). However, as for political processes, he thought that people could contribute to change by stating their position on critical questions explicitly and organizing mass protests without resorting to physical violence (Garrow, 2015). Speaking about policies, King proposed several initiatives expressing his supporters’ position on justice, equal rights, and opportunities for racial minorities (Garrow, 2015). As for his basic beliefs, he protested against aggressive expansion, participation in wars, demonstration of military power, and injustice in any form (Burrow, Jr., 2012; Garrow, 2015). At the same time, using the existing research, it can be quite difficult to generalize on King’s beliefs concerning profits since he did not participate in business activities.
Impact on Organizational Culture
Apart from his role in MIA, Martin Luther King, Jr. is known as the most famous member of SCLC. The regional rights organization was founded in 1957 to unite the members of MIA and other groups, and King, Jr. became its president (Garrow, 2015). His attitudes to different social problems and resulting actions shaped his followers’ interests and activities. For instance, when he avoided discussing the Vietnam issue in public due to the threat of losing focus, his followers supported his caution (Fairclough, 2001). Martin’s willingness to concentrate on domestic issues impacting the African-American population and express the organization’s vision by giving public speeches were among the behaviors that impacted followers and attracted new supporters (Fairclough, 2001). Serving as the president of SCLC, he could set the tone in political struggle.
Leaders’ credibility is among the predictors of success and assets that are built over time and can be lost easily. Martin Luther King, Jr. earned it even before the start of his political career when he was widely supported by common people as a pastor (Burrow, Jr., 2012). Numerous posts that he was offered also speak in favor of his credibility. As an example, in the 1950s, he was nominated as a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Executive Committee (Jackson, 2008). With that in mind, his personal qualities and loyalty to principles turned him into a very trusted person.
King, Jr. was an ethical leader since he respected such things as human dignity and fairness. The evidence supporting the point can be found in his texts and his contemporaries’ memories. For instance, in the leader’s famous Nobel Peace Prize speech, he expressed commitment to telling the “unarmed truth” and respecting “unconditional love” to humanity (Bridges, 2019, para. 3). As for his general impact on ethics, it is possible to say that his hieratic experience and fidelity to values from Biblical teachings informed the selection of principles to guide the activity of SCLC (n.d.). After sixty years of work, the organization still exists and pursues new goals related to social development, but Christian values supported by King, Jr. remain the key reference point for its members.
Conclusion
To sum it up, Martin Luther King, Jr. demonstrated alignment to the universal principles of leadership and utilized multiple bases of power to initiate positive social change. His assumptions concerning leading others referred to the values of Christianity. This person did not believe in real power without love and promoted the ideas of non-violent resistance. Commitment to Christian morals and some values outside religion, for instance, justice and honesty, made him an ethical and credible leader respected by many generations.
References
Bridges, F. (2019). Five leadership lessons from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Forbes. Web.
Burrow, Jr., R. (2012). God and human dignity: The personalism, theology, and ethics of Martin Luther King, Jr. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Fairclough, A. (2001). To redeem the soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King, Jr. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
Garrow, D. J. (2015). Bearing the cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. New York, NY: Open Road Media.
Jackson, T. (2008). Becoming King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the making of a national leader. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky.
Kahane, A. (2010). Power and love: A theory and practice of social change. San-Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Rao, M. S. (2017). Soft leadership: An innovative leadership perspective. The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 10(1), 1-12.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference. (n.d.).SCLC history.Web.