Leadership and Mikhail Gorbachev as a case study

Leadership (Using Mikhail Gorbachev as an example)

When trying to analyze a person, and even decide upon a role model, one has to focus and to identify certain qualities that that person should possess. When that role model is also a leader, then the traits that will be taken into consideration should be: "drive, leadership motivation, honesty, integrity, self-confidence, cognitive ability and having significant business, industrial or organizational knowledge." Moreover, Thomas Wren states that all these characteristics are to be found in persons who demonstrate their capability on effective leadership.

So, after considering all these characteristics I decided on Mikhail Gorbachev, as the leader I want to take into consideration, make my analysis upon, compare him with other two leaders and then give my opinion and state my reasons on who of them I would choose to follow.

Firstly Mikhail Gorbachev was a legendary figure of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. He was the leader of USSR from 1985-1991, being today considered the "last leader of that country," and the "key figure in the liberalization and subsequent disintegration of Soviet and Eastern European Communism.," although his initial political aims were to reinvigorate that system. Moreover, his contribution to the end of Cold War is considered crucial as throughout his "mandate" and his open-minded policies lead to a relaxation of the tension with Western Europe countries and the United States.

This open minded view was due, in a great part, to the fact that Mikhail Gorbachev was not part of the KGB or any other Communist institution for a fact. Moreover, unlike other leaders before him, Mikhail Gorbachev was not educated entirely in USSR but traveled abroad significantly, and this had a tremendous impact on his thinking, views, behavior and political actions.

Moreover, this difference greatly affected his leadership style, which can best be summarized as being more towards empowering the people, instead of ruling them. What he gained through this is the fact that he managed to create followers through imposing respect instead of throughout fear. What is even more surprising but at the same time hilarious, is the fact that Mikhail Gorbachev was considered to be the first Soviet leader who has presented themselves as a rational actor.

As an addition to all said above, Gorbachev is considered to be original in the idea that his leadership style and ability to convince the world that his nation is genuine in its efforts to ensure world peace are unprecedented. His affinity for motivational speeches reflected his belief in the power of using words.

Furthermore, during Gorbachev's leadership, the Soviet Union changed his world politics style from confrontational to improving the relations between the East and the West. He has demonstrated to be a great "communicator and visionary" in dealing with domestic or international issues. From the closeness and isolation that USSR has subjected itself to, Mikhail Gorbachev managed not only to be acquainted with the weakness in the Soviet system but also to overcome them. Not only did he openly discuss world problems with other international actors but he implemented liberalization changes that highly affected the Russians, that is they led to economical and political changes in the Soviet Union, and even managed to change world's perception of what USSR was.

In order to better illustrate the differences between Mikhail Gorbachev and other Soviet leaders I will use an extensive quote from the book "Soviet Decision Making for National Security" where the traditional Soviet leader is pictured as being "cold, calculating, and in active pursuit of a master plan... extending the influence and power of the Soviet regime and creating a world socialist system."

As an opposite image to the other Soviet leaders, Mikhail Gorbachev had some qualities that led to improvements but also to disaster: being an honest person brought him respect and this was obviously remarked in the diminishing of boundaries on the freedoms of speech and freedoms of the press. Moreover, his global-based understanding of situations and people permitted him to widen to a greater extent the economic and political restructuring policies of uskoreniye, perestroika and glasnost. On the other hand, although possessing all these qualities, Gorbachev's ultimate acts, which were meant to empower him with even more success and fame, had a crucial and mostly unattended ending the collapse of the Soviet Union and the regaining of independence of countries in the Soviet Block

All these mentioned above, together with his charismatic appeal and his intuition for political issues make of Mikhail Gorbachev a true political force and leader. His political style was considered to be "charm offensive" and is thought to have brought more gains than any army might have brought.

However, we cannot talk about a certain character, not to mention trying to analyze someone if we do not compare him with other important figures. I have decided to compare Mikhail Gorbachev with Senator Barack Obama, Ghandi or with General Jessica Wright, all of them being eminent leaders, previously presented in class by my colleagues.

In the Leader's Companion, J. Thomas Wren gives a definition of effective leader as being a person enriched with vision, communication and alignment, persistence, consistency, focus and empowerment. Having these in mind we must underline the fact that Senator Barack Obama has shown an amazing ability to take the right decisions for the good of community. Apart from this, he was elected more than once in key position, proving the confidence that people have in him.

Moreover, as well as Obama, General Jessica Wright has demonstrated her effectiveness as a leader by taking care of the entire Pennsylvania Army and Air National Guard, and developing it into the largest Army National Guard in the country.

There is a striking similarity between Obama and Gandhi in what concerns the diversity in leadership. Not only the Obama's father is African and that he is born in Hawaii, but he also had a conflict with a candidate for the administration of the U.S. Agency for International Development on a racist remark made by this candidate. There is no use in demonstrating Gandhi's diversity in leadership, as he preached humility, living at peace with the others or as he led the Indians to their Independence.

On the other hand, when dealing with differences, there is a major one between the leaders presented. This consists in the fact that Mohandas Ghandi is the only one that is not only a political leader, but also a religious and social one.