Essay Sample on Effective Leadership Practices

Introduction

Leadership refers to the ability to lead an organization or a group of people. It involves coming up with a vision, sharing it with others so that they can join and follow the leader, giving knowledge, information and the methods to achieve the vision and finding a balance of conflicting interests and coordinating all the stakeholders and members. A leader inspires his subordinates to realize the vision. This paper will focus on the leadership of Barrack Obama who is the former president of the United States of America.

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The former president is widely known his slogan "Yes We Can." This was a slogan unifying the community in resilience, determination and hard work. Barrack Obama, during his presidency, advocated for positive change in the United States where everyone would have the required skills and education required to get employment, he advocated for industrial and technological development, peace, economic stability, security and improvement of the health conditions and insurance schemes.

The office of the presidency in the United States of America is multifaceted employment that requires the perfect combination of different leadership styles given the kind of tasks it deals with. Barrack played his roles efficiently by putting on various hats during the two terms he served. He is described by many to be a charismatic and transformational leader. Obama could draw the masses on his side of both the Americans and the foreigners alike and move lead them towards the achievement of a cause bigger than them all. His leadership has been transformational in the sense that it invoked permanent change in the people of America who had embraced him as their leader during the elections. He full filled his visions, for instance, the introduction of Obama Care which made affordable public health care.

Under Obama's presidency reign, he formulated policies that strengthened ties with other countries such as China and the Middle East. His administration was conciliatory with keen attention to the cultures of other nations. This led to him being awarded the Nobel Prize for his efforts to strengthen global diplomacy and cooperation between people of different cultural backgrounds.

Obama is described to have been a very contingent leader using various approaches to address various situations. His humility and ability to listen to others before he could speak is one to be emulated. He did not shy away from making necessary changes to address whatever challenges he faced. He stood tall and strong sticking to not only his principles but also values. Despite the economic heat, he worked hard to bring his visions to the citizens of the United States.

Barrack Obama took advantage of his strong oratory skills, excellent communication, and charisma to engage the people and team, build trust, and inspire shared success. His speeches sparked passion among his listeners, creating a desire to bring positive change and accomplishment of the visions he had set. His messages of personal empowerment and possibility moved masses, and this can be seen through his success to be president during the elections. He gave the people tools and information that are key ingredients to directing individual inspirations which he then put to action in alignment to his goals and visions. He made this a collaborative effort by being open to hearing his teams and people's opinions and ideas and not only his advisors and officials. His preference for compromise and mediation when resolving conflicts created a more united team. Obama's articulation and strong nature inspired a shared vision.

Obama, throughout his leadership, has demonstrated a people-oriented approach in determining gaps within the society. His genuine interest in people, as seen through his listening and cultural sensitivity, enabled him to identify opportunities he could include in his visions. For instance, improvement of health delivery through the Affordable Care. Besides, his vision to promote shared and robust economic growth led to the creation of new employment opportunities especially in the industrial manufacturing sector and the health sector. According to 2009 statistics, the United States economy, under the administration of Obama had created 11.25million nonfarm employment opportunities. Similarly, since the outstanding leader took office, the unemployment rate was recorded to have fallen from 7.8% in 2009 to 4.7% in 2016 (Green, 2015). Obama therefore, under his leadership, bounced back the economy from the recession it was previously in. Obama uses strategic thinking to mobilize resources thus creating new opportunities.

Throughout his presidency term, Obama fought tirelessly for policies that supported women and girls and that created new and expand profitable opportunities for all Americans. His major legislation was: legislation of the Affordable Act and the reenactment of Violence against Women Act. He expanded the protection for paid leaves and fair pay. Globally, he advocated for respect for women in workplaces and schools and change of the approach used in combating sexual assault. He has economically empowered the people through the creation of employment cutting down the unemployment rate. Moreover, he had increased innovation and entrepreneurship in the country through the provision of training, counseling and increasing credit access and spearheaded the movement for inclusive entrepreneurship. During his reign, he expanded access to quality education and affordable, quality healthcare.

Barrack Obama, during his reign, significantly recognizes performance contributions especially to the national interests of the United States. He honors comedian Ellen Degeneres at Whitehouse for his contribution to the culture of the United States. He created the Presidential Medal of Freedom which rewards meritorious contributions to the countrywide interests of the United States. Besides, in his speeches, he recognizes the people appreciating them in a personal manner. Moreover, Obama rewards excellence of sportsters and recognizes various talents including the art of music and philanthropists. This has cultivated the spirit of determination, hard work and focus on exceeding targets in pursuit of exemplary excellence.

During his reign, President Barrack Obama fostered the spirit of community by giving monetary assistance to lessen the burden of those in need. For instance, after the Haiti earthquake that left everyone devastated 2010, he pledged a hundred million US dollars to help in the recovery. Besides, he set aside a financial budget for school grants for schools that were underperforming. He intended to improve the schools through acceptance of new reforms which are beneficial to the community.

Obama has fostered the spirit of community through giving emotional support to the people. Throughout his leadership, whenever tragedies strike, he has always taken to not only social media to express his deepest concerns over the situation. He has always shown up in the areas hit to comfort the people and give them emotional support.

He has invigorated the spirit of community by enacting and formulation of policies that are inclusive to everyone (Greenstein, 2009). He has engaged the community on the importance of respect despite the personal differences. Obama is known for legislation of the Obama Affordable Health Care which provides affordable and inclusive health care. He has also fought for women empowerment throughout his reign as president of the United States. Besides, he has formulated and enacted a policy framework that aims at providing information and tools necessary to steer the visions of all American citizens to prosperity.

He increased employment opportunities for all Americans to reduce the poverty levels and enable all Americans to make a living. His encouragement of entrepreneurship and innovation encouraged the people to follow through with their aspirations eventually building a strong community spirit. Obama's human, conciliatory, determination, and ability to resolve conflicts should, therefore, be emulated by all.

References

Green, G. P., & Haines, A. (2015). Asset Building & Community Development. Sage Publications.

Greenstein, F. I. (2009, April). The Leadership Style of Barack Obama: An Early Assessment. In The Forum (Vol. 7, No. 1). De Gruyter.