Main Leadership Traits Of Woodrow Wilson example essay topic

Leadership and management are often interrelated. Deming, who shaped the main concepts of leadership in its modern interpretation, distinguished nine features of leader. However, in spite of these postulates, ever individual has its own interpretation of leadership and leader's characteristics. In my opinion, Woodrow Wilson is a perfect example of a leader. Woodrow Wilson was the 29th President of the United States. He tried to reform national strategy of America and had a strong desire to focus attention on issues of internal policy (Brands 2003).

During his first years of presidency he tried to avoid involvement of the United States into a world conflict. His policy seemed to be so effective that he was re-elected in 1916 due to his stand for peace. From the very beginning of his career Woodrow Wilson had reputation of pacifist. However, the war started by Germany forced him to enter the conflict in 1917. Wilson proclaimed the war as the war to stop all wars.

It is interesting to notice that Wilson, who hardly had an experience in war actions, showed himself as a talented and competent leader of wartime (Brands 2003). He rarely argued with generals and admirals, but made all his efforts to get American economics headed toward the direction of war. When the war was over, Woodrow Wilson decided to transform world policy by means of democracy and new international institutions. So, what are the main leadership traits of Woodrow Wilson?

Wilson's phenomenon of leader consists of three main components: - Traditional authority; - Official or legal authority; - The authority of unique personality or charisma. Charisma is a component that is quite difficult to identify. It is, actually, an individual who is able to inspire people and to make them follow his example. Charismatic leader is characterized by high ethical and moral standards. We can also distinguish such features like competence (including knowledge, intellect, ability to appoint appropriate people) and trust.

Woodrow Wilson had talent to convince people of the truth of his words. When he pronounced speeches or spoke to his subordinates, he tried to generalize the main aspects of discussion. In such a way, his interlocutors didn't loose the thread of conversation. Wilson clearly expressed his opinion. He masterly convinced people in his rightfulness and forced them to agree with his point of view.

Wilson's internal political strategy entered the history as 'new democracy', or 'new freedom'. It consisted of three main paragraphs: individualism, individual freedom, and freedom of competition. The historians claim that Wilson determined aims, specified conditions and defined the characters of foreign and home policy of the United States in this century. Wilson as a strong charismatic leader underlined that the President should be active and strong politician. He considered that the President should always remember that he is the 'face' of one of the most influential world countries. He should always be at the head of all country affairs.

Being a progressive political leader, Woodrow Wilson supported radical changes in American political system. He saw the government as a social arbiter and considered a necessity to provide the citizens with justice and freedom. Wilson's policy was conductive to democracy because he was firmly convinced that without democracy there would be no effective and strong government. Let's compare Wilson's traits of leadership with those from the textbook. According to the authors of the book, leader should have three main skills: - Diagnosing.

The leader should be able to understand the situation he tries to influence (Hersey 2001); - Adapting. The leader should alter his behavior and the other resources he has available to meet the contingencies of the situation; - Finally, the communicating. Communicating implies "interacting with other in a way that people can easily understand and accept" (p. 11). As far as we can see, Wilson's traits of leadership completely coincide with the main general skills of traditional leadership. We explore the concept of leadership as alternative to generally acknowledged system of management. The very paradigm of relationship between the leader and his subordinates is different.

The leader can have exceptional personal qualities; however, it is not obligatory. The main condition is that the real leader has to be able to take leadership and responsibility, to be a strong-willed person who has constant desire for perfection.