Abstract
Martin Luther King Jr., is among the greatest civil rights leaders that the world has ever had. Throughout his life he was able to portray various characteristics of a good leader. In cases that an individual is able to study the way Dr. King carried out his activities and the various issues that he took into consideration before making a decision would really help to mold an individual into an ideal leader that the world would be proud to have. In addition, to this, the various challenges that he faced as he made his decisions and the various barriers that he met as he tried to bring his ideas into the society may help and individual understand some challenges that a leader in our contemporary world may face be it in the business world or any field whatsoever. These may include various challenges such as decisions requiring one to either follow their morals or going against them and at times the vice being backed up by law but infringes on the others’ rights.
Key Words: Martin Luther King Jr, Leadership, Challenges, Civil Rights
Introduction
Martin Luther King Jr. is a personality who each who is well known by individuals, both in the country and globally. This research paper will, however, focus on his form of leadership and particularly the lessons that one is able to get from studying his leadership strategy and his experiences.
Martin Luther King’s Background
In order to be able to understand this topic, it is important to have a brief knowledge of his background. Martin Luther King was born in 1929, in a society where there was no form of equity amongst the citizens, a society where segregation was the order of the day, the African Americans were considered to be subordinate to their White counterparts (Fairclough, 1995). Throughout his life, he experienced segregation first-hand and this was seen to be among the major reasons that might have led him to be that passionate in matters of civil rights and really fought for these issues of ending segregation amongst all the nationals. However, the major motivation for him to be such a strong civil rights leader was the fact that his father being a Reverend, he was always openly condemning the issues of segregation in his presence. By the fact that his father was seen to always stand for his rights, but in a peaceful manner, for example, him refusing to accept a ticket due to the fact that the police officer referred to him as ‘boy’.
Other than his father’s teachings or examples, it may be said that among the other factors that might have molded Dr. King into a profound civil rights activists, is the fact that he was able to be molded into the right direction by his teachers and in addition, to this, the fact that Dr. King from his young age, was able to be taught about respect for those in authority and a strong respect for the law. This was evident when he was told, together with his teacher to, stand up from their seats in order for the white passengers to have a seat which he was against but due to the teacher advising him that it would be breaking the law and respecting his teacher’s word, he decided to get up from the seat even though he felt that it was wrong.
So to King throughout his life and studies, it was clear that segregation had affected him in all the ways possible, be it friends, where his childhood friend was stopped from playing with him due to his skin color, to love where he had to end a relationship due to them being from different races and so forth. With this understanding, we are able to understand why he was of the opinion that segregation should stop.
Dr. King’s Leadership
Martin Luther King’s leadership was seen to have been molded from an early time in his life. He was an assistant manager in the Atlanta Journal,particularly in the newspaper delivery section. In addition, to this, he was a student leader in the Seminary school, hence showing he had leadership attributes. One skill that was eminent in his leadership was his public speaking ability. He was an eloquent and motivational speaker who was seen to know how to move the masses and this was seen to be among the major reasons that made him be able to be a prominent national figure.
His leadership skills played an important role when he led the Montgomery bus boycott of 1985, which involved the issue of a Black passenger refusing to stand from the seat for a white passenger. This led to the arrest of the lady causing uproar amongst the African-American community. One may be of the view that due to the fact that Dr. King had earlier experienced this form of segregation firsthand and he was able to describe it as the day he was the angriest ever in his life, tried to air out his word in order to change the law. This is since public transport was among the areas that it was clear that segregation was a part of. When one uses the ten tests of the ethical compass in order to determine whether Dr. King’s, decision to lead the Black community to the streets was unethical or not, it would for sure be seen to be an ethical decision. This is since he decided on the peaceful protest due to the fact that the law allowed for these forms of boycotts and hence they would not be contravening the law which means that the procedural justice test would have allowed for it to occur.
Even though the law allowed for thesehappenings to be part of the federal law, one should ask him or herself, was the act of the African-American’s always being told to leave their seats, morally right? The answer to this will always be ‘No’. This means that it was morally right for Dr. King to lead the boycott. This is since it was a boycott that was tailored to ensure equal treatment of each and every individual. Due to the fact that morality is always said to be derived from an individual’s belief and mainly that is the person’s religion, the fact that Dr. King Professed the Christianity, which advocates for equality amongst every individual, one can vividly say that Dr. King’s decision was morally right.
However, it is clear that Dr. King had a moral challenge in determining whether the boycott was right or not. This is due to the fact that the arrest of Rosa Parks was allowed and stipulated by the federal laws. In most instances, strikes and boycotts amongst the police service may always be organized during times that an officer acted unlawfully and action will always be taken in order address this issue, however, in this situation, the arrest was seen to be legal and the police officer was mandated to carry out the arrest. However, in this case, Dr. King can be said to decide that the law was repugnant to justice and morality hence decided to lead the boycott. It will be said that his leadership, decision was the right one due to the fact that it might be said to have played a role in the courts deciding that the federal law was unconstitutional and hence was not to be applied in the country.
His leadership decision can be said to be one which was not meant to ensure that he was the only one who gains from the change of the segregation laws but it was meant to help the whole Black Community and the society as a whole due to the fact that it would promote social cohesion amongst the citizens. This means that the dignity of the African Americans would be preserved together with the fact that they would all be treated equally as required. This is seen when the Federal court ruled that racial segregation on the buses was to end and hence was advantageous to the whole community rather than his risking his life in order to only save himself.
Another distinctive attribute of Dr. King’s leadership was the fact that he never went against his principles. He forever stood his ground and always advocated for peaceful protests. This is since in all situations he was seen to always ensure that he preached the message of peace. It was seen that when he was able to ensure that all situations were points that he would then help spread his thoughts. For example, when he was stabbed when signing the books, he went ahead to write the book, ‘The Measure of a Man’ in order to ensure that the people ensured that they understood that not all the members of the society will always agree with the others’ thoughts or actions (Herbert, 2016). This is so unlike most individuals who would always go ahead to change their message to that of violence and urge their supporters to take up arms with the reason, “peaceful negotiations have been unsuccessful.” In addition, to this, when the FBI was able to tap his conversations and threatened to expose them unless he stopped spreading the message of equality and the end of segregation he made his stand and continued to spread the message to the members of the public(Garrow, 2015).
One leadership attributes that Dr. King possessed was the fact that he went ahead to involve everybody. He went ahead to have every citizen in the nation who was willing to back his campaign to join the band wagon. From the children, to youths, to adults and went ahead to involve civil groups, schools, media and even the various leaders. He did not go ahead and shun the non-Christians due to the fact that he was a Reverend and say that they are sinners and hence not needed in his campaign since he always used the teachings in the Bible in spreading his message. Dr. King even went ahead in the essay, “What is a man” to acknowledge that man is a sinner and hence should not feel any more superior to the others. This means that he allowed all the citizens from all the races and even went ahead to go ahead to involve individuals from the different districts. This may be said to be a leadership skill that should be emulated and adopted by the various individuals who are in the same position. This is since Dr. King saw it morally fit to go ahead and spread the doctrine of equality all over the nation, For example, in Chicago, Birmingham, Atlanta and the other Districts. This is seen to clearly show that he had in mind the best interest of all the citizens. This is so unlike the leaders we know at the moment, since a huge percentage would have said that he has been able to change the segregation laws in Atlanta so he had accomplished his mission and let the other Districts to bear their own cross.
Even though he had the best interest of the whole country in his heart, his actions were seen to be met with a lot of opposition from the various leaders who were of the opinion that Dr. King caused unrest in their Districts hence he was always not welcome into their areas. This was seen to cause some fear in Dr. King’s life, however, he continued to go to these cities and preached the message of racial equality. This is seen as a leadership attribute of him not letting fear to bar him to perform his duties and not being afraid of taking risks.
Dr. King is again seen to be one who compares the various options before deciding on the best direction to take in order to handle the matter in the best means possible. This is evident when he went ahead to stand his ground of not using legal forums to bring change as the individuals had urged him to do(Ling, 2014). This was since he was of the opinion that due to the entrenchment of the legal system and the various procedures, the legal path was not the best forum to be used in this situation since it was seen to end up delaying the issue of getting equality amongst all the individuals and hence not addressing the agent issue. He faced the moral challenge of differing with his counterparts and members of his team. This is among the major reasons that one may cause the breaking of the various camps. However, Dr. King is seen to use the chance to object their move but he is able to explain to them the main reason he is of the opinion of taking the other direction.
The fact that Dr. King decided to change his movement’s direction from the fighting racial segregation to the issue of ensuring that all Americans were treated fairly when it comes to issues of economic stability (Jackson, 2013). This is seen to be a leadership skill that needs to be emulated by all the leaders. This is a trait that ensures that one always has a challenge each and every time rather than always feeling accomplished once one challenge has been tackled.
Lastly, Dr. King has been seen to be a man who has in place policies that might be said to live for a longer time. From the fact that his policies and teachings have continued to be used and being taught in the schools long even when he was no more is a leadership attribute that may be said to be important. The decisions that one makes should be able to withstand the various changes that may come over years.This should be said to be among the various issues that need to be a trait of the various leaders.
Altruism
This concern for the welfare of the others can be said to be among the reseons that Dr. King became a good leader. It may be seen to be among the factors that made him to be a great leader. This is since he was able to put aside his fear and threats that were directed towards him in order to deter him from going to the other states to spread his message of equality. Even when he was arrested he continued to fight for the rights of the people rather than him going ahead to think about how he would free himself, he decided to right about the vices and menace in his society and various ways of eradicating it.
This Altuism was seen to promote the relationship between the members of the society. This is since care for the needs of others led to unity amongst the society, particulary the black-community and through this unity it was evident that the change that they had been fighting for from the slavery years was achieved. All this was possible with the guidance of Dr. King and his morals and teachings that promoted this type of ethics in the society. Through him showing that he put the interest of the society it led to him getting a larger social backing hence causing him to be heard more by the members of the society. This is mainly due to the fact that the society tends to prefer societal-focused leaders rather than the individual-focused leaders.
Lastly, Dr. King’s altruism was seen to be the ways that he was able to fight the vices in the society. He was able to go ahead and address the various evils that were in the society and hence he was able to promote morality in the society.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr’s leadership style should be emulated by all leaders from all the fields. His leadership techniques will be very important when it comes to a leader in a business environment.A leader in a business environment should be one who is creative and a risk-taker. In addition, to this, the leader needs to be one who is seen to listen to the others in his team or and have the ability to either agree with their issues or disagree with them while giving them reasons(Yeung et al, 2012). The leader should further be able to come with decisions that will be able to impact the largest number of individual’s possible.Further, a leader should be able to stand his ground in all situations and ensure that his principles are not changed due to a trying situation.Lastly, the decisions that the leader arrives at needs to be able to help the organization for the longest time possible. It should be able to withstand the changes that are brought about over time. So from one viewing Dr. Martin Luther King’s leadership then he or she can be molded in the right direction to get the best out of him.
References
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