Leadership: Equality, Justice, Truth, and Freedom| Busi 472- Organizational Ethics || Katherine Carpenter| 10/3/2011| Abstract | In this paper the reader will read about leadership. The basis for this paper is from a quote by Clarence Walton, “Leadership, an ill-defined word, comes from understanding and respecting four crucial ideas: equality, justice, truth, and freedom,” (Hosmer, 2011). This paper will illustrate the importance of the four ideas to leadership. Introduction
Leadership is defined as “the position or function of a leader, a person who guides or directs a group,” (Dictionary. com, 2011). How does a person become a leader and what should that person’s values be to be a good leader? Clarence Walton said it best, he said “Leadership, an ill-defined word, comes from understanding and respecting four crucial ideas: equality, justice, truth, and freedom,” (Hosmer, 2011). The ideas stated by Clarence Walton are all important in building a talented leader. In this paper each of the four ideas will be expanded on.
There have been many leaders in the past and the present who have been great leaders because they understood and respected the crucial ideas of being a leader. Equality in Leadership Equality is defined as “the state or quality of being equal; correspondence in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability,” (Dictionary. com, 2011). Equality should be followed by a leader, because they will lose or never earn respect if they do not treat each person equally. Even when women were first allowed to work with the men they were not treated equally.
Some women were only given jobs that others felt that a woman could handle and the women that did have the same job title as a man were paid significantly less than the man. A great leader is one that will look at the work that the person has done rather than judge them on their sex or color. “Discrimination of any kind undermines the strength of our communities,” (Association of Flight Attendants, 2011). I think that this is a very true statement, because if one or several are not treated equally then the help and support of those is lost making the whole weaker.
Justice in Leadership Justice is defined as “the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness,” (Dictionary. com, 2011). Justice is an important quality for a leader to possess. If a leader was not just then his authority would be unfair, and people will not want to work for someone who is unfair. If a leader is not just then people will not hold the position long. Blaise Pascal who was a French philosopher said, “Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just,” (BookRags, 2001).
There are many interpretations of the Goddess of Justice but the main ideas of her are that she is blindfolded balancing a scale and wielding a sword, (Dean, 1999). This shows that being just in leadership takes a lot of hard work and dedication to overcome any obstacles. If being a leader was easy then everyone would do it. Truth in Leadership Truth is defined as “the true or actual state of a matter,” (Dictionary. com, 2011). Truth is a very cut and dry topic. If it did not happen or something is just a little bit off then it is not the truth.
A great leader will not lie or fabricate truth in order to gain respect or to try and get to a particular outcome. I have had leaders that have lied to me or only given me partial truth; I lost all respect for them and did not know when I could actually believe them. One of the biggest problem is when a leader tells one lie they will have to tell another to cover up the first lie. Telling just one lie is not possible and it makes people not trust a leader who have lied to them. A leader who wants to be a good leader or wants to gain the respect of others should always strive to tell the truth.
Freedom in Leadership Freedom is defined as “the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint,” (Dictionary. com, 2011). In this country we have many freedoms granted to us. All of our freedoms are written in the constitution. If we did not have those freedoms the only people that held jobs would be white males. There have been leaders in the past that have helped to give all people the freedom to be able to have jobs. Harriet Tubman was leader in her time helping to free slaves, she believed in the freedom of others.
After Harriet Tubman helped free slaves in the Underground Railroad she pursued women’s rights, (Women in History, 2011). Conclusion In this paper the effort was put into trying to show that great leaders will have certain qualities. There have been great leaders in the past that have helped to define what great leadership is. “Leadership, an ill-defined word, comes from understanding and respecting four crucial ideas: equality, justice, truth, and freedom,” (Hosmer, 2011) is the definition that we can use for leadership.
If we look upon the great leaders of the past and the four crucial ideas stated in this paper then incorporate that into ourselves we to can become great leaders. Being a great leader also takes a great deal of work so that others will respect and look up to the leader. References Association of Flight Attendants. (2011). Association of Flight Attendants. Retrieved October 3, 2011, from AFA: The Leader of Equality: http://unitedafa. org/news/details. aspx? id=6233 BookRags. (2001). Brainy Quote. Retrieved October 2, 2011, from Blaise Pascal Quotes: http://www. brainyquote. om/quotes/authors/b/blaise_pascal_3. html Dean, M. A. (1999). Images of the Goddess of Justice. Retrieved October 2, 2011, from http://mdean. tripod. com/justice. html Dictionary. com. (2011). Dictionary. Retrieved October 2, 2011, from dictionary. com: http://dictionary. reference. com/ Hosmer, L. (2011). The Ethics of Management, A multidisciplinary Approach (Vol. Seventh Edition). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill. Women in History. Harriet Tubman biography. Last Updated: 10/3/2011. Lakewood Public Library. Date accessed 10/3/2011. http://www. lkwdpl. org/wihohio/tubm-har. htm
