What is a Leader?

To start, we will define what a leader actually is. What characteristics that make a good leader, and also what characteristics make bad leaders. In order to strive for leadership excellence, you need to know what you are striving for.

According to Google, a leader is: 

 lead·er   /ˈlēdər/

Noun:

The person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country. A person followed by others.

Technically, to be a leader all you need is a group of followers. However, your strength as a leader depends on how you lead that group of followers. Let’s look at two very different leaders in history to find what made them good or bad leaders.

 

Muammar Gadhafi

Although his leadership style was controversial, I personally believe that he was a bad leader and the Libyan rebels agree with me. In February 2011, someone came forward with proof that Gadhafi ordered the Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people in 1988. He took over Libya in 1969 with a military coup. He has also been accused of torture and unfair death sentencing. Whether these things are true or not is irrelevant because his followers were not happy. The Libyan rebels fought a revolution over hating this head of the regime, and he was slaughtered to death on October20, 2011. So what qualities made him a bad leader?

Obviously the main characteristic that Gadhafi was missing was justice and fairness. Whether the rumors of his tortuous behavior or accused bombing were true or not, the Libyan people believed them and were disapproving of his leadership. Back to the definition, a leader is a person followed by others. If you don’t have followers, you cannot be a leader. Being a leader is a large responsibility, and a misuse of power, like Gadhafi, can lead to a bad situation.

Martin Luther King Jr.

We can learn a lot from one of the most famous leaders in history, Martin Luther King Jr. He led the civil rights movement for racial equality in America. There are innumerable lessons to learn from this hero, but I see two major ones, honesty and justice. Unlike Gadhafi, King’s position was defined as bringing justice. He also worked for his followers. He spoke the words of his followers and what hundreds and thousands of people wanted. He made sacrifices for his followers in order to bring justice to America. King also was honest about the situation. In his ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech, he stated the current situation that America was in. He stated the problem in order to be able to address it. This might seem like a minor characteristic that will make you a better leader, but good problem solvers make great leaders.

We can learn from leaders like Gadhafi and Martin Luther King Jr. about how to be a leader. These are the leaders that shaped world history, and in order for our generation to lead the world in the future, we need to look at the people who have done it before us. So what is a leader? It is someone who leads a group of followers. There are good and bad ways to do it. I challenge you to look at other leaders and find what they do well or don’t do well.