Twaseen Mazumder
Professor Charlton
FIQWS 10008
11/16/20
Critical Analysis
Martin Luther King Jr was a remarkable leader who led the Civil Rights Movement and helped gain equal civil rights for colored people. During the mid 1900s, there was a prominent aspect of segregation among society, and whites would always act superior to blacks while treating them unfairly by reserving all the beneficial things for themselves and leaving the bare minimum for black people. Also, during this time, black people did not have any rights whatsoever, so it meant that whatever situation they found themselves in they would always end up getting the wrong treatment. Prior to segregation, slavery in America was quite common for centuries, as white plantation owners would have black slaves and have them work around. When slavery was banned, this eventually resulted in segregation, or the separation of races regarding services and facilities. As such, even with slavery gone, black people still did not have any rights and could not do anything about it. Then, sometime during the 1950s, the Civil Rights Movement started, and with the help of leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr, the movement achieved its goals of equal civil rights for blacks. Martin Luther King Jr’s leadership traits (innate and learned) combined with his authenticity, as well as his ability to remain committed on his path, his ability to think in the long-term future and be prepared, and his ability to overcome any challenge standing in his way were all crucial characteristics of King that allowed him to play an important leadership role in achieving equal rights for black people living in the United States.
For the Trait Approach, King was shown to be confident, intelligent, and determined throughout his entire journey of fighting for civil rights. The Trait Approach tells us that leaders can possess traits that have a positive impact upon their leadership, such as intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability. For example, it says in the “Leadership: Theory and Practice” book that “Many leaders also exhibit determination. Determination is the desire to get the job done and includes characteristics such as initiative, persistence, dominance, and drive. People with determination are willing to assert themselves, are proactive, and have the capacity to persevere in the face of obstacles. Being determined includes showing dominance at times and in situations where followers need to be directed.” [Northouse, Page 24-25] King exhibits such determination throughout his pursuit of equal rights repeatedly. In the autobiography it shows this with “ I had spoken hastily and resentfully. Yet I knew that this was no way to solve a problem. “You must not harbor anger,” I admonished myself. “You must be willing to suffer the anger of the opponent, and yet not return anger. You must not become bitter. No matter how emotional your opponents are, you must be calm.” [Autobiography, Page 61] In this situation, King acknowledged his mistake of speaking hastily, and realized that this was not the way to go about in achieving equal rights. To truly achieve his goal of equal rights, he knew that it was important to not harbor anger towards the opposition no matter what happened, even if their anger was taken out upon him and his followers. By convincing himself and his followers that they shouldn’t return violence with violence but instead peace, King decided to utilize nonviolent protesting as the driving factor in his pursuit of equal rights.
As for the Authentic Leadership style, King consistently showed that he had a goal in mind and gave it his all to endlessly pursue that goal. Authentic Leadership is when a leader has an end goal in mind or a purpose they want to endlessly fight for, and they strive to do so with passionate determination. According to the “Leadership: Theory and Practice” book, it says “In his interviews, George found that authentic leaders have a real sense of purpose. They know what they are about and where they are going. In addition to knowing their purpose, authentic leaders are inspired and intrinsically motivated about their goals. They are passionate individuals who have a deep-seated interest in what they are doing and truly care about their work.” [Northouse, Page 197] King showcases his purpose of continuously fighting for rights throughout his biography multiple times. It states in the autobiography “I’ve felt sin breakers dashing trying to conquer my soul. But I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight on. He promised never to leave me alone. At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never experienced Him before. Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything.” [Autobiography, Page 67] In this scenario, King was feeling discouraged for a while due to the frequent death threats and bombings that he and his family had received. This was all because of King’s message and push for the passage of equal rights concerning black people. Yet, even with all these incoming threats, something within King reignited his courage and passion. This caused him to lose his uncertainty in himself, and gain the bravery to face anything in his path.
Truth 3, which discusses commitment, is commonly present in King as he constantly shows how dedicated he is for his pursuit of civil rights. What Truth 3 says is that commitment is reliant on one’s self-values and only through values can a person truly commit to a cause that’s important to them. In the “Truth about Leadership” book it mentions “You cannot fully commit to something that isn’t important to you—no one can. You can’t fully commit to something that doesn’t fit with who you are and how you see yourself. In order to devote the time, to expend the energy, and to make the sacrifices necessary, you have to know exactly what makes it worth doing in the first place.” [Kouzes, Page 2] King was extremely committed to his purpose and knew that achieving equal rights was something that must happen, no matter what. He was so committed that during the protests he himself organized along with others, he would always participate in them and risk getting jailed. It states in the autobiography “I too was jailed on charges of parading without a permit, disturbing the peace, and obstructing the sidewalk. I refused to pay the fine and had expected to spend Christmas in jail. I hoped thousands would join me.” [Autobiography, Page 144] In this scenario, King was jailed by the police department for taking part in a nonviolent protest organized by him and others for the sake of equal civil rights. The fact that he was a leader of the movement himself but still participated in his own protest is something amazing in itself. It goes to show his unique drive to achieve equal rights such that he would risk going into a nonviolent protest even though there was a fairly high chance of him being jailed. In addition, the biography source mentions that “On October 19, 1960, King and 75 students entered a local department store and requested lunch-counter service but were denied. When they refused to leave the counter area, King and 36 others were arrested.” [Biography.com, Paragraph 39] This showcases another example in which King took part in an incident in which he was with others and stood by them instead of doing any behind the scenes work. By participating in his own protests that he organized and playing such a vocal role in getting supporters to attend protests, King displays a significant part of his great commitment as a leader.
Truth 4, which discusses leaders who have long-term visions and goals, is constantly shown to us in King’s life. What Truth 4 says is that leaders must have long-term visions and spend more time thinking about the future in order for them to potentially achieve their goals and be successful leaders. It mentions in the “Truth about Leadership” book that “The capacity to imagine and articulate exciting future possibilities is the defining competence of leaders. Leaders are custodians of the future. They are concerned about tomorrow’s world and those who will inherit it. They ask, “What’s new? What’s next? What’s going to happen after the current project is completed?” They think beyond what’s directly in front of them, peer into the distance, imagine what’s over the horizon, and move forward toward a new and compelling future.” [Kouzes, Page 1-2] King was always a leader who always thought of what he could potentially do later on and considered the long-term run. The autobiography says that “He said, “Now, there’s some other bills that I have here that I want to get through in my Great Society program, and I think in the long run they’ll help Negroes more, as much as a voting rights bill. And let’s get those through and then the other.” I said, “Well, you know, political reform is as necessary as anything if we’re going to solve all these other problems.” [Autobiography, Page 256] In this scenario, King had a conversation with President Johnson regarding the passage of the voting rights bill along with other possible bills. When King had this short talk with President Johnson, he knew that in order for other changes to happen, it would all have to start with the right to vote for blacks. Although Johnson believed that his other bills would help blacks as much as a voting rights bill would, he soon realized that King was right, and eventually he was able to convince Congress to pass the voting rights bill. Alongside this, the Britannica source mentions that “King quickly caught the attention of the news media, particularly of the producers of that budding medium of social change—television. He understood the power of television to nationalize and internationalize the struggle for civil rights, and his well-publicized tactics of active nonviolence (sit-ins, protest marches) aroused the devoted allegiance of many African Americans and liberal whites in all parts of the country, as well as support from the administrations of Presidents Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.” [Britannica, Paragraph 11] By looking at the potential of television and media, King knew that these would greatly help the Civil Rights Movement in spreading to others and gaining more support.
Truth 7, which talks about facing obstacles in a steadfast manner, describes King perfectly as he always faced obstacles that came up left and right. Despite these obstacles, he still managed to overcome them in the end to achieve equal civil rights. What Truth 7 says is that challenges and obstacles are the one crucial aspect that help strengthen the resolve of leaders and change them for the better. Without challenges, a leader has no room to grow or improve in pursuit of their goals. As mentioned in the “Truth about Leadership” book, “You can’t let the setbacks get you down or the roadblocks get in your way. You can’t become overly discouraged when things don’t go according to plan. You can’t give up when the resistance builds or when the competition gets stiff. Neither can you let other tempting new projects divert your attention. You can’t lose focus when there are lots of distractions all around. You can’t hop from one thing to the next without completing what you started. You have to stay focused on your dream. You have to stick with it. You have to overcome. You must never give up. That is what leaders do when they’re at their personal best. It’s what you must do to achieve yours. It’s called grit. Grit is that firmness of spirit, that unyielding courage that is essential in dealing with challenge.” [Kouzes, Page 9] King faced many such obstacles throughout his life and moved forward with tough grit no matter what. In the autobiography, it states, “He told me that the razor tip of the instrument had been touching my aorta and that my whole chest had to be opened to extract it. “If you had sneezed during all those hours of waiting,” Dr. Maynard said, “your aorta would have been punctured and you would have drowned in your own blood.” [Autobiography, Page 109] In this scenario, King was stabbed near the aorta by an insane woman in Harlem, and found himself in a close call with death. For any normal person, an incident like this would immediately shatter their courage and cause them to lose all hope in pursuing their goal further for they would fear any other potential incidents. However, once he fully recovered, King immediately returned to working with the civil rights movement again and never lost faith in himself. The fact that he recovered from a serious life or death incident and yet still had the courage to continue pursuing equal rights for blacks no matter what obstacles faced him testifies to the steadfastness of King.
As such, Martin Luther King Jr’s leadership traits (innate and learned) combined with his authenticity, as well as his ability to remain committed on his path, his ability to think in the long-term future and be prepared, and his ability to overcome any challenge standing in his way were all crucial characteristics of King that allowed him to play an important leadership role in achieving equal rights for black people living in the United States. King possessed valuable traits such as intelligence and self-confidence that shaped him into an effective leader, in addition to an unwavering will to stay determined and fight for equal rights. Moreover, his long-term commitment to his goals, time spent planning what to achieve in the future, and consistency of facing obstacles directly without fear positively affected his path as a leader who led such a huge movement and turned out successful in the end. Some lessons that can be learned from the leadership demonstrated by King include having a purpose in mind and going all out to fulfill that purpose with unbreakable determination. A second lesson that can be learned from King is to remain committed to your goals and not waver in the middle of your journey, while making sure you have your long-term goals all planned out such that it gives you an idea of what to do when certain opportunities arise. A third and final lesson that can be learned from King is to always stand up in the face of obstacles and never back down, for obstacles are the key to making us grow even further, and by overcoming them on our own, the path to achieving our goals becomes more clearer. All these lessons can be applied to leadership challenges nowadays in the world and broader society as a whole through essentially gaining leadership qualities over time and utilizing them well to effectively lead others on the way to achieve our goals. By having a purpose in mind, staying determined throughout it all, and overcoming obstacles to help us grow, it is possible for anyone to become an effective leader.
Works Cited
“The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.” The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. – PDF Drive, www.pdfdrive.com/the-autobiography-of-martin-luther-king-jr-d191505616.html.
Northouse, Peter G. “Leadership: Theory and Practice.” Google Books, SAGE Publications, 9 Feb. 2018, books.google.com/books?id=HJ08DwAAQBAJ.
Kouzes, James M. “The Truth about Leadership: The No-Fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You
Need to Know.” Google Books, John Wiley & Sons, 23 July 2010, books.google.com/books?
id=Ms3DZUp2OkYC.
“Martin Luther King Jr.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 29 Oct. 2020, www.biography.com/activist/martin-luther-king-jr. “Martin Luther King, Jr.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther-King-Jr.
