What is leadership? What is power? I define the two as the cornerstone of any successful team, organization, or even any successful country. If we were to analyze the U.S. we could see this very clearly. The U.S. has been for some time now one of the most dominating countries in the world, hence being rightfully titled a "world power-. It is my estimation that leadership compliments power and power compliments leadership. When these two qualities are used in a responsible manner success soon follows. If we refer to the history books, we could come to the conclusion that wars are won by good leadership and a responsible use of power. This paper is a reaction to my reading of "Leadership and Social Influence Processes- out of the text A Systems Approach To Small Group Interaction written by Stewart L. Tubbs (2001).
Through common knowledge we can see that it is the abuse of power and a lack of true leadership ability that was ultimately the downfall of Hitler and the Japanese during World War II. But on the other side, the U.S. was victorious largely due to the tremendous leadership ability of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt alongside with the great leadership of British prime minister Winston Churchill. We can learn a lot about the effectiveness of true leadership and responsible power from World War II. If we can translate this type of responsibility to the corporate world then success will surely follow. Can you imagine a world without leadership? There would be chaos and uncertainty throughout all facets of business, education, and worst of all, politics. .
When I reflect back upon my experience in the Army Reserve it was and is good leadership that has taught me so much about the necessity of being a good leader. The Army places a lot of importance on becoming a good leader. There is an acronym that the Army uses to define leadership; it is as follows:.
L- Loyalty .
D- Duty.
R- Respect.
S- Selfless-service.