Although there are many individuals I would consider as the embodiment of good leadership, I would attempt to focus my attention on President Barack Obama (PBO) as the embodiment of good leadership. Mills D. Q (2005), explains leadership as a process by which one person influences the behavior, thoughts and attitudes of others (p.11). This means that leadership sets direction for the rest to follow and also energizes people towards a goal. I would limit this paper to his past leadership roles, the criteria used in determining his leadership capabilities and provide illustrations of how he demonstrated these leadership capabilities in his roles. Past Leadership Roles of PBO
Prominent among the many leadership roles held by PBO include but not limited to him being the 44th and current President of the United States, and the first African American to hold the office. During his first two years in office, he signed into law economic stimulus legislation in response to the Great Recession in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. (Barack Obama. [Internet]. 2015).
Other major domestic initiatives in his first term included the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often referred to as "Obamacare. In foreign policy, Obama ended U.S. military involvement in the Iraq War, increased U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered U.S. military involvement in Libya, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden ( Barack Obama. [Internet]. 2015).
PBO was re-elected president in November 2012, defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney, and was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013 (Barack Obama. [Internet]. 2015).
Criteria for Determining PBO Leadership Capabilities
Among the criteria I used in choosing PBO as an embodiment of good leadership include confidence, citizenship, respect and fairness. I believe he is confident in his abilities as well as in the abilities of the people of America. By this I mean, he believes in Yes we can and inspires his people by drawing out the best efforts in them to work towards a common purpose.
He also shows a great deal of citizenship by seeing himself as a part of the citizens working together to serve the best interest of all. He is therefore passionate and dedicated in his work and goes the extra mile in an effort to achieve the best interest of his beloved country.
He also inspires respect in others by serving as a great example that people can admire. He shows respect whether the person deserves it or not since he believes that respect is a key component to the success of any society.
My final criterion for choosing PBO as an embodiment of good leadership is fairness. He treats everybody the same by being consistent with rewards and carrying out disciplinary action.
Illustration of these Qualities in his Roles
The first and foremost is confidence. With the 2009 inauguration, PBO inherited two wars, one of the worst economic disasters in American history, and a multi-trillion dollar debt. He displayed that he knows how to inspire confidence in people when he created new plans to counter the U.S. debt, put his troop withdrawal and distribution plans into action and how he attacked the economic recession daily (Barack Obama. [Internet]. 2015).
Secondly, PBO demonstrated great citizenship when he worked as a director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP) in Chicago in June 1985, a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988. During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from one to thirteen and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000. He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization. Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for a community organizing institute (Barack Obama. [Internet]. 2015).
Also PBO, exhibited respect in the form of his support for diplomacy. In particular, he supported the re-initiation of diplomatic action with Iran. He opposed the bill that would regard the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group, thereby allowing the president to position troops in Iran, which could be interpreted as military action against the Iranians. This showed how he respects all organizations, regardless of their history or relationships and that his first thought when approaching foreign organizations, is diplomacy (Barack Obama. [Internet]. 2015).
Perhaps, one way of explaining his fairness is by referring to the introductory paragraph to the Obama Administration's tax plan which states that “Barack Obama’s tax plan delivers broad-based tax relief to middle class families and cuts taxes for small businesses and companies that create jobs in America, while restoring fairness to our tax code and returning to fiscal responsibility.” This therefore treats everyone with equality, regardless of race, gender or social status (The Obama tax plan).
I believe that PBO is an embodiment of good leadership because of the many great leadership qualities he possesses and the manner with which he accomplishes or performs his duties as the President to the benefit of all the people in the country.
References
Barack Obama. [Internet]. 2015. The Biography.com website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/barack-obama-12782369 Mills, D.Q. (2005). Leadership: How to lead, how to live. Mind Edge Press. The Obama tax plan was made available from: http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/taxes/Factsheet_Tax_Plan_FINAL.pdf