Leadership Style
Theodore Roosevelt the 26th US president who served for eight years; one term and a completion of President McKinley’s term. He is considered to be a reformer and one of the best presidents USA ever got. His leadership style is seen to be a blend of transformational and change leadership. According to Northhouse (2010) transformational leadership is that which results in changes in social systems and individuals. Transformational leadership is shown in Roosevelt’s actions when: he managed to rid the New York police department of corruption when he was a commissioner, he defeated the Spanish and drafted a letter called the ‘Round Robin’ that was intended to end occupation of US troops in Cuba, and facilitated introduction of policies that reduced the power of the wealthy since he hated plutocracy. As a change leader, he showed confidence and was risk tolerance when he wanted to send a volunteer army group to Europe to aid England and France fight Germany. He was also open, a trait of change leadership, when he clearly stated that his foreign policy would be the ‘Big Stick Diplomacy’ and domestic policy to be the ‘square deal’.
Personality of the Leader
Roosevelt had a complex personality early on in his life which led to his emergent as a great leader. He was a risk taker when he decided to take on a strenuous career in politics after graduation despite being advised by a physician not to as he had a bad heart (Donald, 2007). Furthermore, he was hard-working and consistent from an early age, which is shown when he positively changed the offices he worked for. The numerous tragedies he encountered such as losing his first wife, mother, and father in a short time frame made him stronger in hard times. He was humble and so wanted everyone to be treated equally. It was for this reason that he hated plutocracy, which he later set up legislations to counter.
Issues the Leader Dealt With
The issue that Roosevelt dealt with, which emotionally touched me was when he was shot while campaigning for the presidency in Milwaukee. The assassination attempt was carried out by John Schrank a saloonkeeper in 1912. Despite the wound, he managed to deliver a 90 minute speech. His opening statement touched me when he stated that it would take more than a bullet to kill a ‘Bull Moose’. The episode was indeed serious despite his intentions of downplaying it. He was forced to stay with the bullet in his chest for the rest of his life. Furthermore, while in hospital Roosevelt and his campaigners were forced to call of the campaign, a decision that might have caused his narrow loss. The other issue which touched me was the death of his first wife and mother in a span of 24 hours. It was too much of a tragedy that he had to retire to Dakota to start another life never speaking of the issue (Donald, 2007).
Issues I disagreed with about the leader
The issue I disagreed with Roosevelt the most is in the formation of the Bull Moose Party. The Bull Moose Party split the Republican Party when Roosevelt carried off with him his supporters. I feel that the party was formed as a backlash on William Taft, who had betrayed Roosevelt after endorsing him. Taft and Roosevelt were both from Republican Party and their fight resulted in the Democratic candidate winning the presidency. Another issue that I disagreed with is when he took a stance by supporting Britain and France in World War 1 despite the whole country being neutral (Donald, 2007). This had the potential of splitting the nation.
Motives of the Leader
I have never questioned the motives of the leader. As a transformation leader I believe that Roosevelt had a passion of changing the norm of both organizations and people to the better. Even though some actions he took had an effect of polarizing people or coming out wrong, his intentions were genuinely good and innocent. In every task he undertook, Roosevelt always made a radical impact. For instance, dealing with union workers who were on a strike by making sure that they got a pay increase, agreeing with Japan in a Gentleman’s way to end segregation of Japanese students in schools, and continuing McKinley’s policies until his term ended as a way of honoring his death (Nobel Peace Prize 2006). There are many actions Roosevelt made all of which had the right motive; however, the motive behind formation of the Bull Moose Party had the wrong motive which had no benefit to the American people.
Ignoring certain kinds of Information in a systematic way
I was able to ignore certain kinds of information in the book by Donald (2007) in a systematic way. There was information that looked like personal opinions of the author instead of the actual feelings of Roosevelt. For example, when it was asserted that Quentine was his favorite son. This might be a fallacy as there was no time he declared which of his children were his favorite. Information like these are many in biographies and so proper skills are required in ignoring them so that an analysis is done properly. Strategies of ignoring personal opinions are through noting words that have neutral comments such as probably, likely, possibly and ignoring them.
Criticism of the Leader’s actions
Reading about Roosevelt’s life, I have never been critical of most actions that he did. The actions and development programs he initiated were visionary and were all aimed at benefiting the normal citizen in the American society. The only criticism was that he never stayed long at a certain work station, which might be the reason for his undoing. I believed he should have stayed longer in certain offices to make sure that the changes he began are fully implemented. An example is that he should have run for a second term in the presidency instead of nominating William Taft. The decision caused so much turmoil in the Republican Party that it lost in the elections (Donald, 2007).
What I would have done differently
If I were in Roosevelt’s shoes, I would have acted differently in some issues instead of what he did. The actions that I would have done differently include: not taking up the nomination position of being the Vice President because it was done so in bad faith to silence him in his endeavors for reforms; running for a second term to make sure that policies he advocated for in his first term are implemented properly; never forming the Bull Moose Party because it caused the Republican Party (his party) to loose in the elections; and never plainly advocating for USA to take sides with the Allied Forces in World War 1 because America was multinational and so the decision would not be popular at the time; hence neutrality was the better option.
References
Donald, A. D., (2007). Lion in the white house: A life of Theodore Roosevelt. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Nobel Peace Prize 1906: Thodore Roosevelt: Available at:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1906/roosevelt-bio.html#
Northhouse, P. G. (2010). Leadership, Theory, and Practice. California: Sage Publishers. Pp. 104-122
