Effective Leadership Essay

Effective leadership is a leader with exceptional oratorical skills who can persuade people to follow him or her to reaching their goal by asserting encouragement or fear. Throughout history we have had a number of leaders, effective and ineffective. Of the effective leaders all had a goal he or she were striving to obtain. They also shared similar characteristics such as oratorical skills, and most importantly the effective leaders were aware that people are moved by pathos, emotional appeal. So therefore by asserting either encouragement or fear they were able to persuade others. All these characteristics must come together to be an effective leader. Strong speaking skills are one of the characteristics that an effective leader must have. Strong speaking skills are characterized by a controlled and firm voice. A breathy or wavering voice can be taken as a sign of weakness, and an effective leader is not one who is believed to be weak. Strong speaking skills also mean that the speaker uses purposeful and direct body movements. Distracting and unnecessary movements take away from the effectiveness because they distract the audience from giving their full attention whoever is speaking and receiving the message they are trying to relay. Most importantly for the effectiveness of a leader they must command attention with their oratorical skills. There are a numerous amount of effective leaders in history, and one thing in common was that they all had strong oratorical skills. Take Martin Luther King of example; he was a man of confidence and empowerment. He was active during the Civil Rights period when African American’s needed someone to lead them to justice and serve as a beacon of light. It was said that when he spoke to crowds nothing except the sound of his voice could be heard for miles. He commanded attention with his voice and his words of encouragement gave African Americans hope throughout the nation. His oratorical skills were one of the reasons why he became a martyr and an effective leader. Another example of an effective leader is Adolph Hitler. He spoke to thousands of people. And despite the immorality of his actions, when he spoke to people, he possessed a firm voice with even firmer body movements. In Hitler’s leadership style the strength he showed was intended to instill fear in the people; the strength he showed also made him an effective leader. `Not only does an effective leader possess strong speaking skills but they must also have the ability to be in touch with the emotional appeal of human beings. Martin Luther King instilled encouragement in the African American in their quest to overcome racial injustice. Adolf Hitler instilled fear into the German people, so therefore they felt as though there was no other option but than to obey him. Although Hitler’s ethics and actions may have been morally wrong, his means to going about having people obey him was an example of effective leadership. Both Martin Luther King and Hitler are effective leaders in the sense that they both had strong oratorical skills and that they moved people to follow them by asserting encouragement or fear.