David Suzuki Essay

David Takayoshi Suzuki CC OBC

Biography

David Takayoshi Suzuki was born on March 24, 1936 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He had a difficult childhood because he was born during a racist time and lived during World War II. His father — Kaoru Carr Suzuki — is one of David Suzuki’s role models because he helped him get through his childhood and showed him how to love nature. He told David, “To do well in Canada as a Japanese-Canadian," he said, "you have to work 10 times harder, you must be able to get up and speak extemporaneously, and you must be able to dance." Another one of David Suzuki’s role models is Rachel Carson — the author of the book Silent Spring which changed David Suzuki’s perspective on what he does.

Organizational responsibilities:

David Suzuki Foundation:

David Suzuki is the founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Their Mission is to protect nature and our quality of living for today and for the future. Their vision is to show Canadians that they are all interconnected with nature.

Responsibilities:

David’s role in the organization is to help them focus on current environmental issues and think of ways to prevent it. He also Delivers speeches to raise

awareness of the environmental issue they are raising money for.

Characteristics:

Leadership style and effectiveness:
David Suzuki is a very Laissez-faire kind of leader when you consider him as everyone does — as the world leader of sustainable ecology.

Contrary to the belief that the Laissez-faire style of leading isn’t an efficient method of leading, it is extremely effective in David Suzuki’s case. He, in a sense, is ‘leading’ the world and is trying to convince everyone to live eco-friendly. He has an exceptional ability to speak in public and inform everyone on the topic of environmental issues which he had learned from his father. After informing the public on environmental issues, he trusts them to do the right and become eco-friendlier. This proves that he is a Laissez-faire leader because he has confidence in his followers and lets them decide what to do instead of declaring what they should

do.

Role in community outside of organization:
David Suzuki plays a big role outside of his organization as a broadcaster, an author, and environmentalist. He is the author of 52 books about science and the environment and has broadcasted 5 different shows — also related to science and the environment. He is now an Emeritus professor at University of British Columbia. He has won many awards for what he has done including his Official Post-nominals CC and OBC which stand for the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia respectively — both being highly prestigious awards.

Personal evaluation of Leadership:

Feedback:
David Suzuki has received a great deal of feedback, both positive and negative.

Positive:
Some of the positive feedback he has received is that he is a great leader. In fact, he is known worldwide as the world leader of sustainable ecology. Many people have praised David Suzuki for helping spread awareness and making several improvements on the environment.

Negative:
On the other hand, some people think David Suzuki is trying to pull a scam. These are people who don’t think global warming is a real issue. They believe that David Suzuki is lying when he says that we need to live eco-friendlier and that he is crazy when he says that we can live off of renewable resources.

Why I selected David Suzuki:
I selected David Suzuki because he is my role model and I personally think of him as a phenomenal world leader. David Suzuki truly cares for the world and wants to create a sustainable way of living for everyone. This makes me to believe that David Suzuki has reached ‘Self-Actualization’ on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which makes him a strong leader.