Assignment 4

Public Leadership

Dr. Angela Parham

Darrin Clanton

PAD 515: Leadership and Conflict Resolution

May 10, 2019

Define what is a public leader

A public leader is an individual who holds a public office whose main role is to serve the community. Brookes defines a public leader in a more detailed way; a person who in collective collaboration with the public guides the achievement of shared goals and objectives in a manner that sits well with the community that receives the services. The role of a public leader ensures that service to the community is done in a way that seeks to promote, influence and deliver the requisite needs of the people and this is evidenced by ensuring continued improvement of the social and economic well-being of the community (Lane, 2009).

Public leadership is complex because it does not revolve around the leader but the collective responsibility of the community with their chosen leader whose role is guidance and to offer directions while the goals and objectives remain a collective agenda. It is the achievement of the common goals that drive public leadership because non-performance on the part of the leader can be corrected by choosing another leader (Lane, 2009).

Overview of public leadership: Barack Obama

Barack Obama has always been a leader even before becoming the president of the United States. He served as a Senator in his home state; Illinois as well as in Chicago (Hammad, 2018). His involvement in community work and service to the people propelled him to public leadership. Holding the position of the president of the US is not an easy achievement considering the responsibility that comes with it. Being responsible for a country which is a world’s superpower comes with having certain leadership traits acceptable by the majority not only in the US by in other parts of the world.

Barack Obama boasts of qualities and traits of effective leaders that has not only made him a statesman but also a leader with high reputation across the globe. One of his traits is conviction and perseverance. In his first campaign as the president, his slogan, “Change we can believe in” shows a leader who is convinced that the time for change is now only if we believe in achieving it and this comes with the perseverance to keep going amidst opposition. He took a firm stand on many issues and one of them was on the UN resolution on Israel-Palestinian conflict in which everyone agreed with him. His argument was logical and well-thought out (Hammad, 2018).

Obama embraced transformational leadership which is usually appeals to most people because public leadership is about being felt and providing service to the community. He just did not talk about it, he brought real change in his 8-year tenure which one of them being the Obama Care and the assassination of Osama Bin Laden (Hammad, 2018). While his critics may have come out to say he did not deliver on all his promises, everyone agrees that he delivered on most of them especially the critical ones. The “we” attitude rather than “I” placed him at higher pedestal as a leader who believes in combined effort and collaboration with the citizens to achieve their mutual goals.

Overview of public leadership: Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton believed in collaboration as means to effective leadership. Speaking at Women’s conference in Silicon Valley, she saw the need to bring together the Republicans and the Democrats with the aim of ensuring a collaborative approach towards the problems facing the citizens of the United States. This was the basis of her campaign against Trump. Hillary Clinton gained attraction from the people who perceived her leadership to be effective not only in delivering services to the citizens but also in conflict resolution. Hillary Clinton’s leadership style sought to leverage group wisdom with the aim of coming up with meaningful ideas.

Her leadership style and theory were transformational and situational respectively. Transformational in the sense that she saw the need to end the never-ending antagony between the democrats and the republicans after every general election by forming an inclusive government whose focus will be to spearhead the achievement of the American dream. Her leadership theory was situational because the country needed a collaborative effort between the two factions which would help her government fast track the changes she needed to make to improve the status quo of the American citizens. Her style and theory of leadership embodies my ideal perspective of public leadership.

Nelson Mandela and de Klerk

In February 1990, de Klerk announced the lifting of the 30-year ban on the operations of the ANC among other anti-apartheid organizations. The death sentence was also suspended and political prisoners were released from prison marking a new dawn for South Africa. De Klerk began the change towards a free South Africa from the retrogressive apartheid rule that had led to loss of lives, torture and sustained suffering of the black South Africans (SAHO, 2011).

After the release of Nelson Mandela, ANC organized talks with de Klerk’s government which resulted in a mutual agreement to restore peace in South Africa. The government agreed to commit to the Groote Schuur Minute; a resolution to stop violence in South Africa. The ANC also backed down from armed struggle. This resulted in a peaceful political settlement. The two political leaders embraced the transformational leadership style by recognizing the need for change which involved bringing to an end the armed struggle and the suspension of political policies that were retrogressive to the quest for political development (SAHO, 2011). Nelson Mandela affirmed that the fight toward liberation was not aimed at making the whites pay for suffering they had meted upon the people of South Africa. All he wanted was a country that would be free from racial discrimination and where democracy was extoled.

Gender diversity in the workplace

Whereas women are still underrepresented in the workplace in leadership positions, there has been a tremendous improvement in the number of women in the workplace including those who are in leadership positions (Alexis, 2018). The need for gender diverse workforce is a necessity that all organizations must fulfill going forward and this can be supported by the performance of women in organizations including those who hold positions of leadership. Research indicates that women are high performers both at the employee level as well as at the leadership level hence no need for discrimination (Alexis, 2018).

My department’s manager is a woman and her department has been rated the best performing in three consecutive assessment which affirms her ability to lead. The advantage of having her at that position is that she is welcoming to decentralized decision making. However, she occasionally gets undermined by men at a similar position within the organization which sometimes demoralizes her and affects her productivity.

one (1) key strength or weakness that could influence your ability to be a public leader.

I believe in team work. Public leadership is about team work which makes me better placed to be a public leader. However, I sometimes tend to be overly ambitious which could be a deterrence in achieving most of the goals I would set to achieve for the people. This does not mean I wouldn’t work towards achieving most of them.

References

South African History Online, (2011), Nelson Mandela Timeline 1990-1999. Retrieved from: https://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/nelson-mandela-timeline-1990-1999 on 4/15/19

Hammad H., (2017). Inspiring Leadership Traits of Barack Obama, Retrieved from: https://blog.taskque.com/leadership-traits-barack-obama/ on 4/15/2019

Alexis K. (2018), Women in the Workplace 2018, Retrieved from: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/gender-equality/women-in-the-workplace-2018 on 4.15.2019

Lane, J. E., & Wallis, J. (2009). Strategic management and public leadership. Public Management Review, 11(1), 101-120.