Leadership Term Paper

Presented by : Amira Hassanien Taki

Martin Luther King

Presented to: Dr. Abeer Morsi
ESLSCA

1/18/2014

Martin Luther King The Great Leader

Photo: Martin Luther King waves to the crowds at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 28 August 1963. (Getty Images)

About Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King was born on 15 January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia (US). Originally named Michael, he was later renamed Martin, like his father, a Baptist minister. His mother, Alberta Williams King, was a schoolteacher. He entered Morehouse College in 1944 and forged a lifelong friendship with his teacher, Benjamin Mays. Together with his father's influence, it was partly his respect for Mays which led him to the Church. He was ordained in his last semester. He graduated from Morehouse in 1948 and undertook postgraduate study first at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and then, in 1951, at Boston University's School of Theology. Once there he completed his dissertation which, it was later revealed, had been partially plagiarised, and won his doctorate in 1955. It was in Boston that he met his wife Coretta Scott, who he married in 1953. In 1954, he became pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where Rosa Parks was famously arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus. National awareness After Parks' arrest, King came to national prominence in the US. He was a leading figure in organising the boycott by African Americans of buses in Montgomery. "It was thrust upon him in many respects," says John A. Kirk, Chair of History at the University of Arkansas. "In 1955-56 he came to prominence. He didn't seek out leadership. They needed a leader...King was a neutral choice. He was young and new to town and wasn't a threat." Tutelage from Bayard Rustin, a prominent civil rights campaigner, helped King to commit to a principle of non-violent action heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's success in opposing the British in India. In 1957, King established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) with fellow activists C.K. Steele, Fred Shuttleworth and T.J. Jemison. As SCLC president, King was tasked with the coordination of civil rights activity across the region. However, he was not immediately successful. People were wondering if he was qualified to be the national leader in the late 1950s," says Prof Kirk. "There was disillusionment with King to turn his words into a tangible programme." Birmingham campaign That changed in 1963.

King reasserted his pre-eminence within the African American freedom struggle through his leadership of the Birmingham campaign, says Clayborne Carson, Professor of History at Stanford University and Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute. "The Birmingham demonstrations were the most massive civil rights protests that had yet occurred. In Birmingham, Alabama, desegregation was being violently resisted by the white population. The city was dubbed Bombingham, due to the frequency of attacks on black homes and activists. Imprisoned and held in solitary confinement after defying an injunction against the protests, Martin Luther King wrote his Letter from Birmingham Jail. In response to criticism from local white clergymen, he set out his reasons for action in Birmingham and elsewhere. For years now, he wrote, I have heard the word Wait! This Wait has almost always meant Never. After his release, in May, the Childrens Crusade was launched. Thousands of school children and students staged marches in Birmingham. Television images of police using batons, dogs and highpressure fire hoses against the young protesters sparked global outrage and won public support for Kings cause. 'I have a dream' Success in Birmingham provided further impetus to the movement. This culminated in the massive March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on 28 August 1963. More than 200,000 people were in attendance at the Lincoln Memorial when King delivered his famous I have a dream speech, predicting a day when the promise of freedom and equality for all would become a reality in America. However, less than a month after King delivered his speech a blast killed four young girls in a Birmingham church. There was much work to be done if his dream was to be realised. In 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. That same year, a significant step forward was made with the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act followed in 1965, removing many of the barriers which had ensured African Americans could be disenfranchised in some states. Move to Chicago He turned his attention to the plight of the urban poor in the north. With his family, he moved to an apartment in Chicagos black ghetto in 1966. Though not legally endorsed, segregation was an economic reality and the Chicago Campaign sought to combat this. However, King found that tactics which had worked in the South were less effective in the North.

There was also growing support from within the movement for more militant methods of opposition. King found his message of non-violent action increasingly marginalised and his popularity waning. His opposition to Americas involvement in the Vietnam War further inhibited his influence on national policy. Death The Poor Peoples Campaign was established in December 1967. SCLC lobbied the government to improve their efforts in combating poverty. On 3 April 1968, he arrived in Memphis, Tennessee to prepare for a march in support of striking sanitation workers. The following day, he was shot dead on his hotel balcony. The President, Lyndon B. Johnson, called for a national day of mourning. At his funeral, King's old friend Benjamin Mays delivered the eulogy: "Martin Luther King Jr. believed in a united America. He believed that the walls of separation brought on by legal and de facto segregation, and discrimination based on race and colour, could be eradicated. As he said in his Washington Monument address: I have a dream.

Why I select Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King was an American clergyman and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. One of the leading figures in the civil rights movement, he has had a defining influence on the recent history of the United States. His assassination in 1968 was met with shock around the world. The visionary leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. influenced a nation, and ultimately affected a dramatic change in the area of Civil Rights. The achievements he accomplished in the arena of Human rights still serve as a platform for social change today, even decades after his death. Martin is hailed as a classic Charismatic and Transformational Leader, whose masterful rhetorical skills and personalized leadership empowered many Americans to stand up and claim their rights as American citizens. He is a great leader, this part include some samples of kings speech that emphasise his greatest 1. Great leaders do not sugar-coat reality. This speech came at a critical point in the civil rights movement. Dr. King did not pull any punches. He faced the most brutal facts of his current reality. Referring to Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, he acknowledged, But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so weve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. 2. Great leaders engage the heart. While logic may compel the mind, stories and metaphors move the heart. This is the difference between offering information and inspiration. To cite but one example in the speech, Dr. King states : In a sense we have come to our nations capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

3. Great leaders refuse to accept the status quo. In fact, I would say that this is the defining characteristic of real leaders. They are not passive; they are active. They are unwilling to acquiesce to their circumstances. Dr. King continues:

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. 4. Great leaders create a sense of urgency. They are impatientin a good way. They refuse to just sit by and let things take their natural course. They have a sense of urgency and communicate it. Dr. King says, We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of Gods children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. 5. Great leaders call people to act in accord with their highest values. It would be easy for the civil rights movement to change tactics and resort to violence. Some did. However, like Nelson Mandela did when he became president of South Africa, Dr. King called his people to a higher standard:

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. 6. Great leaders refuse to settle. It would have been easy for Dr. King to negotiate a compromise, to settle for less than his vision demanded. But he was stubbornin a good sense. He persisted, and his called his followers to persevere:

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, When will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain

lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. 7. Great leaders acknowledge the sacrifice of their followers. They notice the effort their people have expended. They verbalize and affirm it:

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecutions and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. 8. Great leaders paint a vivid picture of a better tomorrow. Leaders can never grow weary of articulating their vision. They must be clear and concrete. They have to help their followers see what they see:

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

The Leadership style of Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther King Jr. his leadership and persistence in the area of Civil Rights ultimately affected broad social change; and through his vision, determination, and leadership he was able to be a beacon of change. Through his use of leader power sources and the application of influence tactics such as of rational persuasion and inspirational appeals as influence tactics. It has been said that charisma is the one characteristic that all great leaders share. Charismatic leaders are passionate, driven individuals who are able to paint a compelling vision of the future. Through this vision, they are able to generate high levels of excitement among followers and build particularly strong emotional attachments with them. Mr. King relies on his personality and charm. He learned in effective ways in which to lead a group using motivation and high morals. He was very good at engaging others and making them feel that they are an effective and valuable team member. King was enthusiastic and he wants that to rub off on their audience and group members. They rely on their positive attitude, optimism and energy to entice group members into being an effective and important part of the team dynamics. He used his optimism and positive outlook to help gain better equal rights for African Americans in the 1960's. He had a vision (refer to his speech "I Have a Dream") in which people of his colour had the same rights and equality as Caucasians in America. Mr. King motivated his followers to do more than what was expected. He had great set of values and effectively motivated followers to act appropriately and in a way that supported the greater good. Mr. King was charismatic, intellectual, inspirational and considerate. These are all the traits that are said to be the characteristics of a transformational leader. We also need to remember that what made Martin Luther King Jr. a great leader were all the followers that believed in him and the situation he was trying to change. What motivated Mr. King and his followers to do what they did were the similarity of the vision to end injustice. Creating a vision involves followers input. There is a tendency to see transformational leaders as people that have special qualities that transforms others. Transformational leaders have a strong set of internal values and ideals and are effective at motivating followers. Mr. King was viewed by his followers as a leader with high moral standards and a vision to disclose the injustice in the bureaucracy of the Country especially as stated in the "Letter From Birmingham Jail", the white clergyman bureaucracy. His charismatic qualities transformed the world. Martin decided that he would become a minister after all, but he would be a rational minister. Through his study of civil law, he was able to use rational persuasion based on law and theory to move those who may have doubted the basis of his values and reasoning. He also used much acclaimed inspirational appeals to touch emotions and, ultimately, melt the hardened heart of a nation.

Followers
Leadership does not occur without followers. Charismatic or Transformational Leadership is often associated with extraordinarily high levels of follower motivation transformational leadership uses emotion as the fuel to drive followers heightened motivational levels . Martin did not disappoint his followers. His ability to identify with and inspire his followers to action is a characteristic of a strong leader-follower dynamic. This point here serves to reinforce the idea that Martin was both a charismatic and a transformational leader: Transformational Leaders build a vision based on followers values, whereas a Charismatic Leaders vision is based solely on his own values. Even though Martin initially had reservations about participating, he ultimately opted for the greater good by incorporating the vision of his followers into his own. Additionally, Martin was able to build trust by showing commitment to followers needs over self-interest.

Conclusion
Martin Luther King Jr. is definitely one of the most charismatic and transformational leaders of all time. His journey, struggles and triumphs, many of which were recorded, reflect an almost definition of what charismatic leadership looks like.