Edward Walsh

Instructor Suzanne Thomas

UWRT 1102-064
April 29, 2015

Leadership: To Believe or Not to Believe

"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Dont lose faith. Im convinced that the
only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you
love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a
large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is
great work."
Steve Jobs Co-founder of Apple

What is leadership? To me, its someone who can inspire me to do something

more than I think I can do, that I can make a difference. But, to a lot of people, that might
not be the case. In its most basic form, Merriam-Webster defines leadership as a
position as a leader of a group, organization, etc. This definition in itself is what most
people might perceive as leadership, as someone who essentially holds the title of
leadership, whether its gained through their own actions and ambition, or something like
a promotion. But it doesnt end there. If you want to be a great leader, one who truly
impacts not only their own followers and supporters, but also the entire world, then you
need to go a step above that.

What is the ultimate goal of leadership? Is it to bask in your own glory, or is it to

inspire the next generation of leaders and thinkers? The greatest leaders would most
likely agree with the latter. Jon Gordon is a best selling author and keynote speaker about
leadership, whose principles have been used from major sports leagues such as the MLB,
NBA, and NFL, to several Fortune 500 companies (Gordon). He believes that great
leadership should be a transfer of belief, meaning a leader must share their passion and
vision with their supporters, and in turn will inspire them to think and act. This seems to
be true in most cases of great leadership. All of the leaders Ill be talking about
accomplished this transfer of belief, and will be a crucial factor in all of them.
The primary research for my inquiry was fairly easy, though I did find it hit or
miss some of the time. The reason for this was simply because a lot of the sources gave
repetitive information. Also, having prior knowledge of my topic made it difficult for me
to find brand new research to support it. The best research I ended up gathering came
from academic articles detailing why some of the greatest leaders of all time came to be
just that. These people would include leaders form the past such as Hitler, Lincoln,
Martin Luther King Jr., and more recent ones such as Steve Jobs and Nelson Mandela.
After viewing a lot of different sources, I gathered there might not be a clear set list of
qualities all good leaders have, but more of how every great leader had one or two
qualities that made them great.
Throughout my research, there seems to be at least one thing thats true when it
comes to all leadership. That one thing is that leadership solely depends on what situation
youre in. One type of leadership might not work for any type of situation other than the
one its great in (Henson). The way Martin Luther King Jr. peacefully lead the Civil

Rights Movement wouldnt work for Hitler when he led Nazi Germany. The way a
department store manager leads is drastically different from how a politician leads. Long
story short, no two leaders or leadership styles are the same.
Apple is one of the biggest tech companies to ever exist, and it got there through
the leadership of one man, Steve Jobs. Now its a known fact that Jobs was very arrogant
and sometimes difficult to deal with, but passion and vision for the consumer experience
and innovation outweighed all of that. So when Apple decided to fire him in 1985, that
passion went right along with him. And when Apple began to fall in the 1990s due to the
rise of Microsoft, it made sense that the only person who could save them was Steve
Jobs. When he returned in 1997, Jobs was able to quickly turn Apple around the same
way he got them to the top in the first place, with his passion and vision, and he even
said, "Apple is like a ship with a hole in the bottom, leaking water and my job is to get
the ship pointed in the right direction." So he used that to bring Apple back, working with
everyone to make Apple the most innovative company again. The most notable instances
being teaming up with Microsoft to release Windows for Mac, and working with Jony
Ive, Senior Vice President of Design, who helped design two products that helped bring
Apple back, the iMac and the iPod (Lee). Jobs transfer of belief in this situation was his
ability to get others to not only see his vision for the future, but to get others to think like
he did, he wanted them to make the next great thing and innovate.
Nelson Mandela had many qualities that made him a great leader, but I believe
there were two that truly stood out. Willie Pietersen is a South African lawyer and
professor at Columbia Business School, and he wrote about Mandelas leadership
qualities. He said that Mandelas personal leadership, or leadership of ones self, was a

huge contribution to him being able to lead South Africa out of apartheid. During his time
in prison, Mandela had to learn and figure out what he wanted for himself, and once he
was able to do that, then he was able to figure out what he wanted South Africa to be and
how he would help get them there. He often quoted these words by Gandhi, Be the
change that you seek which perfectly illustrated a crucial step in his vision for South
Africa (Pietersen). Also, Mandelas interpersonal leadership, or leadership of others also
contributed greatly to his leadership of South Africa. During his time in prison, Mandela
also used his time to learn the Afrikaan history and language. His reason for doing this
was because in order to truly lead South Africa, hed have to connect with everyone, even
those opposed to him (Pietersen). In his own words, If you talk to a man in a language
he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his
heart. These two qualities perfectly illustrate Mandelas transfer of belief. He wanted
to convey that in order to make South Africa a better place, everyone would have to
change, starting with himself. He showed people how to do it, and in turn, led a nation
into a better time.
Great leaders often surface during times of violence, especially war, whether
theyre fighting for the war, or for peace. There are two distinct ones who have surface
for peace, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., and they share many of the same ideas, and
philosophies. Gandhi came to prominence at a time where he felt India was being taken
advantage of, and he was sick of it. But he knew he couldnt start any sort of war, so he
did the next best thing, he started a non-violent resistance against the British. And he
didnt just organize it and let it go, he was in it all the way, and led by example. He was a
man of the people, he did everything they did while still leading them (Gupta). And much

like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. was also a leader who surfaced to fight for peace.
One of the greatest things about him was his commitment, not only to his dream, but also
to how he was able to make it happen. Sure he was able to communicate his vision to
millions, but how he executed it was amazing. He came to influence during the Civil
Rights Movement, a time where there was nothing but violence towards blacks, and there
was no hope for a society where blacks and whites could live together. He knew that in
order to win the fight for equality, he couldnt fight back physically. And again much like
Gandhi, he encouraged so many people to stop fighting and start practicing civil
disobedience, and he certainly led by example (Torren). No matter how many times he
was beaten, or even jailed, he never fought back. And that was a crucial part of the Civil
Rights Movement, as he was able to inspire people to put all their feelings and prejudices
aside in order to accomplish something greater than themselves. You could say that both
Gandhi and Kings transfer of beliefs were the fact that they showed there were other
ways to fight for what you believed in, and how anyone could do it.
In contrast to Gandhi and King, Hitler rose to fight for the war. Hitler came to
power during a time where Germany was embarrassed, in economic trouble, and very
vulnerable after World War I (Hitler Comes). The people of Germany were looking for a
leader, and Hitler took the opportunity to become just that. Hitlers greatest quality to
help him rise to power was probably his ability to convey his ideas to the people of
Germany. Despite his ideas about the Jews, Hitler was a sight to see during his rallies. He
drew many people to come see him speak, because at that point, he was the one with an
answer for Germany, and they didnt care what it was, they just wanted it. In the case of
Hitler, his transfer of belief is sort of weird. Its weird because of all the leaders Ive

talked about so far, hes pretty much the only one whose leadership was for personal gain.
He got the people of Germany to believe in him so he could get the support he needed to
do whatever he wanted to do. I dont think he really inspired anyone positively, but
instead spawned the next generation of thinkers like him, primarily groups like the NeoNazis. I cant doubt that Hitler was a great leader, but his motives were indeed far from
good.
Abraham Lincoln is one of, if not, the greatest president in United States history.
He came from humble beginnings to rise to the absolute top, and that was one of the
greatest things that contributed to his leadership. Johnny Welch is the Founder and CEO
of the independent organization Revolutionary Leaders, and is dedicated to developing
leadership for the advancing future. In his video, he says that Lincoln is the very
embodiment of the American dream. (Welch). Lincoln was able to lead this nation
because he was truly of the people and for the people. Americans could see that he never
tried anything in office for his own personal gain, but did everything for the sake of
America. He had many other qualities to contribute to his leadership, such as his great
public speaking, but this might have been one of the most important factors of his
leadership. In this case, Lincolns transfer of belief would be that anyone could truly do
anything if they put their mind to it. He showed that you could go from failure to success,
all you have to do work hard and believe.
Personally, I admire great leaders, as well as leadership as a whole. Loving
history, it amazes me to look back to see how these leaders were able to accomplish their
goals, whether for personals reasons or not. Its something thats important to all of us.
Leaders can shape our actions, they can make us decide to try and aspire to do something

greater than ourselves. They connect with us, they level with us, and in turn we support
them. They make our goals their goals, and then they tell us to make new ones. While
theyre may not be a clear set of qualities all great leaders have, the great ones capitalize
on the ones they do have.

Works Cited
Gordon, Jon. "Developing Positive Leaders, Organizations and Teams." Great
Leadership. Jongordon.com, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.jongordon.com/blog/great-leadership-2/>.

Gupta, Ashim. "Gandhi, an Exemplary Leader." Gandhi An Exemplary Leader. Practicalmanagement.com, 09 Dec. 2008. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.practicalmanagement.com/leadership-development/gandhi-an-exemplary-leader.html>.

Henson, Ramon. "Faculty Insight: The Leadership of Steve Jobs."

http://www.business.rutgers.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.business.rutgers.edu/news/faculty-insight-leadership-steve-jobs>.

"Hitler Comes to Power." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States
Holocaust Memorial Council, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007671>.

Lee, Timothy B. "How Did Steve Jobs Turn Apple Around?" Vox. Vox.com, 31 May
2014. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.vox.com/cards/apple/how-did-steve-jobs-rescueapple>.

Pietersen, W. (2015), What Nelson Mandela Taught The World About Leadership. Leader
to Leader, 2015: 6066. doi: 10.1002/ltl.20180

Torren, Adam. "Leadership Lessons From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." Entrepreneur.
Entrepreneur.com, 20 Jan. 2014. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230958>.

Welch, Johnny. 7 Leadership Lessons from Abraham Lincoln Online Video Clip.
YouTube. YouTube, 13 Feb. 2012. Web. 17 Mar. 2015