Background and Leadership Style
America’s heritage, leadership, and culture have been shaped through history by various leaders with a vision for the country. One of the most prominent figures who took part in the making of today’s America is Martin Luther King Jr, an American activist who fought for equality in the 20th century. King was born in 1929 in a Christian black American family in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents were Christians, and his Christian upbringing and protection significantly influenced King’s life in society during the time of great segregation (Johnson, 2022).
Despite the prestigious role his father played in society as a pastor and their Christian background, King faced racial discrimination from an early age, which made him understand black people’s position in society and the injustice they faced due to white supremacy. He followed in his father’s footsteps, became a pastor, and began his first ministry as an assistant pastor at Boston’s Twelfth Baptist Church.
King is a leader worthy of study due to his mission, leadership style, skills, and achievements in American history. King started his activist mission in 1955 and established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) alongside other black church leaders. He adopted the transformational leadership style to create social change in his fight for equal rights (Byrne-Jiménez & Yoon, 2019; Johnson, 2022).
King’s leadership style was illustrated in his mission of creating change, which was exhibited in his speeches and universal message to fight for justice. For instance, he challenged Jim Crow’s unjust laws, which oppressed the Black community and favored Whites (Livingston, 2020). He led various matches, such as the 1963 March on Washington and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which led to the establishment of civil rights, including equal rights to vote. King was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 to commend his achievements. He was assassinated in 1968 and left a landmark in American society.
Moral Intelligence and Credibility
The activist illustrated the attributes of moral intelligence and credibility throughout his leadership. Having a Christian foundation enabled King to live by his word and stand for the truth, illustrating his credibility as a leader. King possessed creativity and moral intelligence, facilitating his activities and achievements in creating social change (Hanagan, 2021). He focused on using ethics to pursue his dream by taking the most amiable course of action and launching non-violent demonstrations that evoked sympathy instead of anger.
His moral intelligence guided his concern for the public in facilitating change, which ensured safety and character development in the process of creating change. King believed in the truth and urged other participants to hold on to their values and beliefs regarding injustice to ensure equality for all. For instance, he encouraged the movement’s followers to uphold non-violent tactics, state the truth, and exercise civil disobedience peacefully to overcome oppression, which is morally intelligent (Livingston, 2020).
King’s behavior aligned with his espoused values since he led the movement with determination, respect, honesty, and intelligence. Therefore, King was morally intelligent and credible, which was exhibited by his actions, making him a leader to emulate.
Organizational Values
Consequently, King’s values and behavior aligned with the values expressed in SCLC’s mission and culture. Like the organization, the leader believed in social change by eradicating discrimination against Black Americans and fighting for equality in human rights (Hanagan, 2021). Kings’ actions demonstrated the most prominent value of SCLC, which demanded using non-violent means to achieve their goals.
In addition, the leader followed the organization’s strategy of affiliating with the community to end social injustice. For instance, he coordinated local communities to facilitate the Montgomery Bus Boycott and encouraged people from all races to participate in the social change movement (Livingston, 2020). Thus, King’s nature and values followed SCLC’s culture and mission, which have been upheld to date to honor the leader’s legacy.
Lessons Learned
The leader offers various lessons that can be applied to ensure good leadership. I have learned that honesty, determination, and confidence are qualities of a good leader. Most leaders may be adamant about stating the truth for fear of going against the law or facing unemployment and opposition, regardless of whether the laws are oppressive. However, King stood by his principle of honesty and exercised civil disobedience by challenging the status quo, jeopardizing his life and career (Livingston, 2020). I would apply the values in my leadership to ensure justice, equality, and morality in my position.
King was determined to create change, which enabled him to achieve the dream of one America. Despite being attacked, threatened, and persecuted for the cause, he did not give up and urged his followers to do the same. I can apply determination in my leadership position to fulfill the organization’s mission and enhance the people’s faith to fulfill goals regardless of the situation.
Finally, I am motivated by King’s self-confidence, which propelled him to believe in an impossible future. Although segregation had taken deep roots in society, the leader believed in a time when all races would be equal (Byrne-Jiménez & Yoon, 2019). His confidence gave his followers faith in transformation, which led to social changes that are still witnessed to date. Thus, I will apply self-confidence as a leadership trait to make decisions and make others believe in my leadership.
References
Byrne-Jiménez, M. C., & Yoon, I. H. (2019). Leadership as an act of love: Leading in dangerous times. Frontiers in Education, 3. Web.
Hanagan, N. (2021). “Creative, good will for all men:” Martin Luther King Jr. the moralist. Perspectives on Political Science, 1–8. Web.
Johnson, D. J. (2022). Martin Luther King, Jr. and the search for peace. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Peace, 330–339. Web.
Livingston, A. (2020). Power for the powerless: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s late theory of civil disobedience. The Journal of Politics, 82(2), 700–713. Web.