Understanding the Dynamics of Leadership

Dynamics of Leadership
First of all, I would like to define leadership by quoting Chester I. Barnard: “Leadership is the quality of behavior of individuals whereby they guide people or their activities in organising efforts”. In my opinion this statement is absolutely true and explains the term in its best way. Therefore, it would be logical to state that leader is the person who is at the center of the power structure of the group, the one who keeps everyone in the group together, forms the goals and motivates people to achieve those goals. Leadership is a very influential chain of actions. Only leader is to shape and regulate, control and change various things inside the group like attitude, behavioral norms, and performance. Mostly, leaders

are the ones who do not lack knowledge, experience and information, and they are charismatic and skillful. Smart decision-making and skillful use of own powers are likely to bring success and power. The true leader in my opinion was our 34th President – Dwight David Eisenhower.
Eisenhower started his military career in the U.S. Military Academy. During his service in Panama he was introduced to General Fox Conner who eventually taught him basics of being a leader and motivated to read more history, military science, as well as philosophy. That is when the first leadership mastering efforts took place. By the 1929 he met General Douglas MacArthur in Philippines and was his assistant advisor. Together with MacArthur Eisenhower had to develop the viable Filipino Army. During this hard process of learning and using the skills which were mastered during the training in Military academy, together with personal knowledge made Eisenhower good advisor for the leader MacArthur. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor it was time for Dwight D. Eisenhower to be in charge of plans for the Pacific War. Excellent commanding, great brains and skillfulness helped Eisenhower to get promoted to the position of the Chief of the Was Plans Division. He received his second star of general at that moment. In 1942 Eisenhower’s reputation sent him to England where he was on a mission to cooperate with Allies as a Commanding General. It took a lot of courage and devotion to his country and self sacrifice to be separated from Eisenhower’s family up until the end of the War in European Region. For about 20 years millions of lives were in Eisenhower’s hands. During the World War II, Eisenhower – the Supreme Allied Commander, organized the largest air as well as sea armadas in the history and had around 160 thousand people in command during the Operation Overlord. The tremendous success made the popular leader rise even higher in people’s eyes and he gained even more respect from military commanders. He was envied and admired.
Eisenhower proved himself as successful leader in each position. Of course besides the triumphs he made mistakes. The outstanding feature of his character was that even despite mistakes he continued to lead his people to success. He was described as the one with curious mind, and iron clad sense of the self-confidence. Those features gave him strength to stand tall despite the weight of the world on shoulders. He boldly made critical decisions. When people were asked what was the first thing which came to their mind after hearing “Eisenhower” was trust. He was trusted to the make the right choice. Admirable qualities were dedication to principles and loyalty. Eisenhower said: “Morale is born of loyalty, patriotism, discipline, and efficiency, all of which breed confidence in self and in comrades…Morale is at one and the same time the strongest, and the most delicate of growths. It withstands shocks, even disasters of the battlefield, but can be destroyed utterly by favoritism, neglect, or injustice”.
Dwight D.

Eisenhower as a true leader made his men work hard every day; he taught them about not cutting corners and pushing themselves to always do their best. He was able to listen to every one of his men and inspire them. Eisenhower apart from being a great commander was a great person as well. He loved his life and he had love for people. Not for once Eisenhower thought of his men as numbers or pins which were moved constantly across the map of the World. What made him memorable leader is that he thought of every person as individual. The feeling was mutual: many men enjoyed the meeting with General and wished him all the best. The worst for Eisenhower was to see his men as faceless mass. All the decision making and wars caused pressure for Eisenhower. He was also in charge of political and logistical problems which took concentration and good knowledge during the war days. He was very hardworking and example for his men. The stress made him come to the conclusion that despite how hard the situation might be it is important to stay positive and open minded. Optimism showed two benefits for Eisenhower during his commanding years. The first benefit was to be hopeful around others and others would do the same, and the second one was about being less demoralized.
Dwight Eisenhower was a man who never esteemed or placed himself too highly above his men, on whom he deeply relied. He was modest and hated being praised. Good thing about Eisenhower leadership was always to put

“why” behind what he asked his men to do. By doing that he kept them motivated and that gave men strengths when they needed it. He knew how hard the conditions are during the war because of his frequent “trips” to the battle front.
To say that Dwight D. Eisenhower was popular during the period after World War II would be to say nothing. Eisenhower was the only one among presidents of the post-war period who had more positive rather negatives feedbacks up until the day he died. Dwight David Eisenhower was good in maintaining the support from his people but unfortunately after 15 years in White House he was judged and called the lackluster leader. He was called bland, with good nature and well intentions. He was passive and politically inept. Most people thought he had minimalist view on the subject of leadership and leader’s responsibilities. He succeeded in achieving the valuable political resource – inescapable public support, although this support was more of a legacy after the World War II leadership as supreme commander. Such a great contrast to the Eisenhower during the war times.
Eisenhower always carried out his leadership strategies.

He exercised political influence via intermediaries. He was artful and in command of language, he dealt better during the private communications. Eisenhower never criticized anyone and showed sympathies towards his opponents. The organizational leadership was marked as well. Eisenhower instituted more structured forum for discussion of foreign affairs which caused the expand of the National Security Council.
I think that supreme quality for leadership is integrity. It shows how deeply the person is committed to do right things for good purposes and reasons despite all the circumstances which come along. Dwight D. Eisenhower was exactly the person who I can call a great leader. Not only the sense of integrity was present in his vision, but there also were courage, creativity, fairness, trust, humility and understanding. He led the masses and gained the appreciation

respectively.
In the end I would like to say that it took a lot of devotion and nerve to be that great in military. The dedication is very valuable feature in people and as for me it is quite rare nowadays. My research showed that throughout whole Eisenhower’s life he was a man of honor and openness, he was a symbol of unity as president and as well as commander. Eisenhower’s life experience teaches us that even leader do mistakes and wrong choices. Eisenhower was a great military man but not so great as a president, even though he had the support he needed. I believe mistakes make us better and teach us life that is why it is essential for a true leader to go through all the harshness of this world and to experience different things. The great leaders are not the ones who were born that way, the great leaders are the ones who lived their lives and learned.