Contents

• 1.0 Introduction
• 1.1 Martin Luther King Jr.
• 2.0 Main Capabilities Required in a Leader
• 3.0 Theoretical Explanation: Transformational Theory
• 3.1 Characteristics of a Transformational Leader
• 4.0 Critique of the Theory
• 5.0 Critique of Martin Luther King Leadership Skills
• 6.0 Conclusions
• References

Description

An activist, Baptist Minister, humanitarian, and African-American Civil Rights Movement leader; Martin Luther King Jr. was famous for the roles that he played to advance civil rights (Chemer & Ayman 2008, p.23). He ensured the success of this motive by ensuring that violence was not used to for civil disobedience. Most of his actions rather, were based on the beliefs brought about by Christian beliefs. He assumed his role as an activist for civil rights early where he led Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955.
Moreover, in 1957 he was the president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference where he led it to the fight against segregation but it did not bear fruit (Albany Movement). He also assisted in the nonviolent protests that took place in 1963 in Alabama which had attracted the attention of the whole nation. It was covered widely by the media whereby the brutal force of the police in response to this raised concern. He was also an active participant in the March on Washington, where he assisted to organize the event. It was on this march that he gave his popular speech, ‘I Have a Dream’. After the speech, King came to be known as the greatest orator (Bass & Riggio 2006, p.32).
The manner which King tackled activism without using violence automatically rated him as a leader that was inspirational. This because he was heading a movement aimed at equality but it was at a period whereby it was not acceptable (English 2006, p.35). As a matter of fact, King faced threats and he was despised for acting on his beliefs by a lot of people, instead of giving up King stayed committed and still pushed for his vision to be implemented. This shows that King was a leader that was committed to his cause and he tried everything to ensure that he accomplished his vision.
The traits and characteristics that were displayed by Martin Luther King show that his leadership skills were in born. This can be seen by the way he had the ability to solve problems, his courage and the way he managed to stay calm despite the situations that he faced. However, the trait that defined King’s leadership most was the visionary trait. It is important for a leader that wants to be effective to have this trait, for King, it helped in providing new light to the people of America such that they could see that there were issues in the general civil rights.
According to Goethals for a leader to be termed as successful he/she must motivate and inspire people with an aim of reaching a certain goal (2004, p.102). The style of leadership that can describe King’s leadership is the charismatic style. This style is based on qualities that are personal like persuasiveness, charm, strong convictions, self-confidence, personal power and extraordinary ideas (Martin 2006, p.123).