The Importance of Leadership in the Country or Organization

Regardless of time or place, throughout the whole history of mankind, any society tended to chose a leader to make him/her in charge of the whole country. However, nowadays, there exists a wide-held view that it is not important who is in power. What’s more important is that people chose a person not to rule their country but to blame any mistakes on them or to praise them for success regardless of whether it was their achievements or somebody else’s. Consequently, the leader may not be the most crucial element that forms the country or organization and may be easily substituted without any noticeable changes. So, does the leadership make a difference?

From my perspective, leadership is very important. I am firmly convinced that leadership is closely connected with abilities of leader as a certain personality. According to Richard Daft, leadership embraces six core elements that make a leader. Here belong: influence, intention, followers, personal responsibility and integrity, shared purpose and charge (Daft, 2007).

Thus, being a leader de-jure is not the same as being a leader de-facto. A real leader is a person who is able to influence people, to inspire trust in people subjected to them. In other words, the cooperation between leader and followers should be effectively maintained. Only a highly ethical responsible leader may deal with the problems of people subjected to him/her, to change previous mistakes of a former leader, to maintain balance between power and charge.

One of the main purposes of leadership is to keep stability and be able to cope with difficulties. Moreover, the leader should “accept the inevitability of change and crises and recognize them as potential sources of energy” (Daft, 2007). In a leader, people tend to see a person that can organize their life or work and take all the responsibility. That is why the role of leadership is especially noticeable and vital in stressful situations and crises, when not only followers or subjects wait for an immediate solution on the part of their leader but the leader himself/herself should display their strength and skills in a short amount of time, to suppress panic and to remain calm and balanced.

In addition, it is leadership that influences the development of the whole structure, i.e. a country or organization. If a leader is enthusiastic and strives to make changes, if he/she is confident and unselfish, people are likely to follow them and stay loyal. However, leadership includes not only positive personal traits but significant knowledge in their profession, as well as in management, psychology, or eloquence. Leaders are made by hard work and commitment to personal development, not born (Daft, 2007).

Taking these factors into account, it may be assumed that good, professional leadership may greatly advance and improve the state of affairs in the country or organization. Conversely, a leader driven only by personal greed or personal profit, displaying unprofessional behavior will never get the credibility of people. One more important trait of a leader is the ability to find intelligent supporters or assistants, to create a powerful team of people holding the same views.

Moreover, a leader unites a community, drives them to better performance: serving as an example a leader should encourage his/her followers to follow this example. Leadership should also be future-oriented. In other words, leadership not only performs current tasks but defines the further course of actions that depends on the current priorities of a leader. All things considered, leadership is an inevitable part of the life of every person that may either improve the development of a community or destroy the fragile balance.

Reference List

Daft, R. L. (2007). The leadership experience. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.