{"id":475,"date":"2019-09-03T23:43:41","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T03:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/?p=475"},"modified":"2019-09-03T23:43:41","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T03:43:41","slug":"mlk-and-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/2019\/09\/03\/mlk-and-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"MLK and Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Based on the readings, Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) stands out to me from other charismatic leaders that I have been picturing during our in class discussions. A charismatic leader can be defined as one who embodies six main characteristics: emotional expressiveness, drive, eloquence, vision, self-confidence, and responsiveness. While MLK undoubtedly possessed these traits, there was something about him that I found seemingly more \u201cordinary.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">First, MLK didn\u2019t want to be a leader. In the article,\u00a0 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Leadership Lessons from Martin Luther King, Jr<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Professor Bill George states that King was \u201cchosen at a town meeting&#8230;to lead the protests against racial discrimination,\u201d (George 1). In other words, MLK was faced with an obstacle that anyone could be faced with: he had to step up to a challenge. This idea of situational leadership instills a hope that anyone can become a leader, just like the \u201cmyths\u201d we talked about in class. In the article,<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Martin Luther King, Jr: Charismatic Leadership in a Mass Struggle, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the author Clayborne Carson explains how the story of Martin Luther King Jr. is also a myth, calling MLK\u00a0 the \u201cblack counterpart to the static, heroic myths that have embalmed George Washington as the Father of His Country and Abraham Lincoln as the Great Emancipator,\u201d\u00a0 (Carson 28).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Additionally, there are multiple aspects of King\u2019s personality that differentiate him from other charismatic leaders and make him appear more \u201cordinary\u201d. To begin with, MLK didn\u2019t enjoy the devotion and loyalty of his followers like most other leaders do. He didn\u2019t even always try to appease his audience. On many occasions, Carson states that King \u201crisked popularity among blacks\u201d to achieve peace (Carson 29).\u00a0 Finally, MLK let his fear of certain situations shine through, denying the argument that charismatic leaders are self-confident.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Based on the readings, Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) stands out to me from other charismatic leaders that I have been picturing during our in&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/2019\/09\/03\/mlk-and-leadership\/\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">MLK and Leadership<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4547,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4547"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/ldst1010304f2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}