In Larry Spears’ article, Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders, he talks about a shift from the emphasis on an autocratic model of leadership towards an emphasis on servant leadership. Spears talks about businesses and not-for-profit organizations specifically, but I wonder if this concept can apply to a bigger scale. Although I am not sure when this article was published, I think it is really interesting to look at how this idea is playing out in American politics today. In comparing Barack Obama and Donald Trump’s presidencies, one might argue that Obama exemplifies servant leadership while Trump represents autocratic leadership. Why, then, did we shift away from servant leadership with the election of Trump? What was servant leadership lacking?
I also found it interesting how similar the “Six Pillars of Character” outlined by Spears are to the “Big Six Traits” of Big C Charisma. The six pillars of character are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Likewise, the big six of charisma are emotional expressiveness, enthusiasm and drive, eloquence, vision, confidence, and responsiveness. Another overlap between character and charisma is that fact that their respective traits can be taught and learned.
The overlapping of traits is one that I caught too. I think this complements the fact that leadership intertwines so much, so when one characteristic is absent it can send the whole process astray.
I think it is important to keep perspective in mind when talking about these topics. While some people may see Trump as an autocratic leader, others see him as a servant leader.
The comparison of Charisma and Character is definitely important to be aware of and look out for. I especially like the point about all of the traits being able to be taught and learned. I think this overlapping is going to be very evident in our discussion of character.