Leadership Traits of Martin Luther King Jr.

This article discusses the leadership traits of Martin Luther King Jr. and his role in the civil rights movement. It highlights his charismatic personality, commitment to non-violence, persistence, and ability to reiterate the end goal. It also covers his collaboration with various groups and his advocacy for social welfare. The article cites various sources to support its claims.

Hotel & Hospitality
Management

1
In various parts of the world, there are many leaders who have emerged in some or the other
events. Martin Luther king Jr. was one such leader in America who led the civil rights
movement back in the year 1954. He proposed the way of civil disobedience and non-
violence to fight for the right of the citizens of the country. His basic characteristics can be
seen in terms of the fact that he was very charismatic, a wonderful speaker and a high quality
motivator (Wren, 2013). He was a supporter of non-violence. He had an extensive ability to
bring all the people together so as to create a bigger political force. He was intelligent and
had a capability to influence the behaviour of African American. Martin had a confidence in
himself hence his followers also had a great belief on him. This has helped him in the civil
right movement against all the negative situations present in the nation. Every leader must
have a desire and a determination that he or she could achieve it. He had a dream that one day
all the citizen of America irrespective of their race will be treated equally. His effectiveness
as a leader made him different from the others.
Any leader becomes more effective when he chooses a perfect leadership style for leading a
cause. His leadership style was somehow inclined towards being democratic. It was reflected
in his dream speech. He chooses to make every work together and work as a greater
workforce that is capable of fighting for their rights. His traits of leadership included taking
use of the non-violence in their struggle for equal rights (Ling, 2015). He had an excellent
determination towards any work. In the country where the society was white dominated, he
fought against them. It was possible only because of his determination as well as skill to
transfer this determination in others.
His other traits include being extremely persistent. There are many examples where he was
extremely persistent over the efforts he has made for himself. His persistent efforts to inspire,
lead and change helped them in getting their rights. He had a commitment to do more for his
people which made him the hero of the civil rights movement in America (Rao, 2012).
Another essential leadership trait that he has is to reiterating the end goal. This can be seen
when he was put into the jail for his Montgomery buss boycott, he came back and never ever
retracted on his message. He was one of those who had an extreme belief on his visions. Ever
after the attacks, violence and threats from all sides, he did not back down from his efforts. I
think he was not only restricted to putting his view rather he kept executing it which
conveyed a very positive message among the masses.

2
As there were many incidents where he was threatened to kill and still he did not left the idea
which he had for the people of America. He was highly influenced by the philosophies of
Mahatma Gandhi which made him so much successful. King led the march for black
desegregation, right to vote, basic civil rights and labour rights. He was highly criticised
regarding his movement and he had been told that he was destructing the peace in the society
(Weber, 2010). The Albany movement of 1961 played a much greater role in mobilising
people towards Martin. When he was given option of choosing forty-five days in jail or to
submit a sum of $178 as a fine, he chose jail as it helped him in catching the attentions of the
larger set of public.
He was known for making collaboration with various groups in the country in parts of
America against the social indiscrimination in the society. He made students, children as
well as the women a part of their movement. The March on Washington in the year 1963 was
a perfect example of it as he included all the leaders of the movement and organised on the
biggest march of that time. He delivered his most famous speech I had a dream with a
wonderful inspirational voice tone that affected the minds of many. It was his creativity that
he converted even a small incident in a movement and related it to the civil rights movement
going on in the country (Pennstate, 2016). The Albany movement and Birmingham
campaigns are the two such movements which gave this idea. He was one of the greatest
orators which had been reflected through his speeches at different platforms.
From the childhood he faced many kinds of situations. He had seen the struggle of his father
and mother which made him such a strong personality fighting for the rights of everyone. He
had to go to jail for 29 times in his career. He also struggled for his doctoral dissertation as
many of his content in his dissertation were found to be plagiarised. He was side lined when
he took the stand regarding publicly opposing the war against the Vietnam. He strongly
opposed the U.S. role in the war. He advocated the fact that the money which was spent by
the U.S. government on the military invasion in Vietnam could have been used for the social
welfare at home (Chris, 2015). He accused American government for the mass killing of the
children. This showed his courage towards fighting for human rights. He never compromised
with the ethical consideration and his approach towards any movement was based on the
ethical grounds. Like Mahatma Gandhi he was also considered as one of the greatest
supporter of non-violence.

3
REFERENCES
Chris, J. (2015) Retrieved from: http://www.josephchris.com/5-martin-luther-king-jr-
leadership-style-axioms
Ling, P. J. (2015). Martin Luther King, Jr. Routledge.
Pennstate, (2016). Retrieved from: http://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2016/10/23/the-traits-of-a-
leader-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/
Rao, M. S. (2012). Soft leadership: Make others feel more important. Leader to
Leader, 2012(64), 27-32.
Weber, E. T. (2010). Democratic political leadership. Political and Civic Leadership, 1, 105-
110.
Wren, J. T. (2013). The leader's companion: Insights on leadership through the ages. Simon
and Schuster.