The Path of A Leader: Maya Angelou And Nicolae Ceausescu

This presentation explores the leadership qualities and styles of Maya Angelou and Nicolae Ceausescu, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.

The Path of A Leader” The Case
Study Of: Maya Angelou And
Nicolae Ceausescu

INTRODUCTION
 Leadership is quality or a skill which denotes individual ability to frame and
execute decision for group of people.
 Valuable leadership comprise inspiration, communication and ability to delegate.
 The presentation will outline background, professional and political life of two
incredible leaders that is Nicolae Ceausescu and Maya Angelou
 Assessment will present skills and styles of both the leaders to reflect on their
strengths and weakness.

BACKGROUND OF MAYA ANGELOU
 She was an American singer, poet, civil rights activist and memoirist.
 Maya Angelou was born on 4th April, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri.
 She was named by her brother after the end of their parents’ marriage.
 During her learning years she appeared in many fields like contributed
in articles, was an associate editor of The Arab Observer, etc.
(Source: Maya Angelou Biography. 2018. [Online]. Available through: https://
www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388).

BACKGROUND OF NICOLAE
CEAUSESCU
 He was a Roman Communist Politician and was general secretary from 1965 to 1989 in
Romanian Communist Party.
 Nicolae Ceausescu was born on 26 January, 1918, he used to rule Romania according to
principles of orthodox community.
 He used to force export of agricultural products of country which led to food shortages in
Romania.
(Source: Nicolae Ceausescu Biography. 2017. [Online]. Available through: https://www.biography.com/people/nicolae-ceausescu-38355).

PROFESSIOANAL LIFE OF MAYA
ANGELOU
 The African American lady was notified by her best seller “I Know Why the Caged
Bird Sings”. The book was story of her life which remarked her success.
 The lady received honours like NAACP image and literary work award entire her
life.
 Maya Angelou issued 5 books of poetry. Her collection comprises, Oh Pray My
Wings Are Going to Fit Me Well, And Still I Rise, I Shall Not Be Moved, A Cool
Drink of Water 'Fore I Diiie, etc.

PROFESSIOANAL LIFE OF NICOLAE
CEAUSESCU
 In mid 1930s Nicolae Ceausescu was mounting leader of Union of Communist
youth.
 He joined underground Communist party for which he was sentenced to 30
months in imprisonment.
 In 1945, he became Brigadier general in army of Romania. By 1955 he was
recognised as full time member of Politburo where Ceausescu was responsible
for managing cadres and structure of organisation.

POLITICAL LIFE OF MAYA ANGELOU
 The African American lady involved in political awareness after writing poetry on Bill
Clinton’s which was titled as “On the Pulse of Morning”
 She advocated in Baton Rouge where she told that according to her Racism is still ugly in
America but situations have changed after publish of her poem “Why the Caged Bird
Sings”.
 Maya Angelou admired president Obama for doing good for African American.
(Source: Fuller, J., 2014. What Maya Angelou wrote and said about race and politics. [Online]. Available through: https
://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/05/28/what-maya-angelou-wrote-and-said-about-race-and-politics/?noredirect=on
&utm_term=.

POLITICAL LIFE OF NICOLAE
CEAUSESCU
 Nicolae Ceausescu was known for thirst for power due to which he used to force workers
to work day and night and demolished historical parts of Bucharest.
 He joined communist party where he involved with illegal revolutionary activities.
 During his imprisonment Nicolae met Gheorghiu-Dej, who was a persuasive activist
leader. This prison mate introduced him to elder people who instructed him Marxist-
Lenin theories.
(Source: Lambru, S., 2014. Strategies used by Nicolae Ceausescu to legitimise his power. [Online]. Available
through: http://www.rri.ro/en_gb/strategies_used_by_nicolae_ceausescu_to_legitimise_his_power-15945).

TRAIT APPROACH
 Trait approach is the concept which emphasize on individual’s personality and way of leading.
 Big five personality approach is a five factor model and denotes five distinct abilities of one person
like Maya Angelou who is an influential personality known for its various abilities like poetry,
drama, activist etc.
 She is inspiration for society and African American who suffered discrimination on the basis of race.
(Source: Maya Angelou Biography. 2018. [Online]. Available through: https://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388).

TRAIT APPROACH
 Great Man theory represents influential personality which can be due to various
trait that is political, wisdom, intelligence, etc.
 Nicolae Ceausescu holds characteristics of great man theory as he was known
Romanian political leader and was focused on personalisation of power and
ruling.
 He controlled crises like agriculture, foreign trade, industrial revolution and
drive a shift from extensive to intensive growth.

LEADERSHIP SKILLS
 Leadership skills are the core personality trails which reflects influence and
power of certain person.
 In accordance with skill based model, it can be said that Maya Angelou was
focused on improving her skills in order to become inspiration for all.
 Her leadership performance reflects her different individual skills like,
competency, career experiences, environmental influences, own attributes and
outcome of leading.

LEADERSHIP SKILLS
 Katz's three-skill theory represents 3 specific skills of leaders that is human, conceptual and
technical.
 The theory directly links to leading performance of Nicolae Ceausescu, he was the man of
concepts and technicality of certain situation.
 Romania was known for its political power and foreign policy which were governed by
leadership techniques and priorities of Nicolae.

THE LEADERSHIP STYLE
 Transformational leadership was proposed by Bernard M. Bass, where approach of leadership
is based on managing change in social system and individual personality.
 Transformational changes aim at developing followers into leaders by drive positive and
valuable influence of people like Maya Angelou.
 She was known as born leader due to her determination and extra ordinary drive to freedom of
action and thought.
(Source: Zeanah, C.H. and et.al., 2017. Alternatives for abandoned children: insights from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project. Current
opinion in psychology. 15. pp.182-188).

THE LEADERSHIP STYLE
 Autocratic leadership style is proposed by Lewin, which demonstrate dictating
and power to control.
 The style offers full control over team, policies and practices like Nicolae
Ceausescu
 He has a thirst for power because of which he forced workers to work day and
night
 He became leader of communist party after which he controlled entire political
system and procedures.

WEAKNESS AND STRENGTHS
 The major strength of Maya Angelou was her stand for human spirit but she used
simple language to inspire society due to which she was unable to influence
mentality of many people.
 The major strength of Nicolae Ceausescu was his political skills and thirst for
power whereas biggest weakness was excessive control over changes due to
which he lost his grip over power and was unable to improve living standard of
people in Romania.

COMPARISON OF BOTH LEADERS
AND LEADERHSIP STYLES
 Maya Angelou and Nicolae Ceausescu followed distinct leadership style and path but
were focused on promoting status of society.
 Nicolae was focused on dictating and ruling according own principles, policies and
practices which denotes his autocratic leadership style.
 Maya was dedicated on transforming society by enabling equal opportunities to all and
eliminating discrimination which indicates transformational leadership style.
(Source: Battersby, C., 2013. The phenomenal woman: Feminist metaphysics and the patterns of identity. Routledge) .

THE REFLECTION CONCLUSION
 In accordance with study, it can be summarized that both leaders had distinct
quality of leading where one believed in power and other one was focused on
transforming.
 In my opinion, it is important for the leader to follow own trait approach for
understanding own ability like big factor personality model helps Maya Angelou
in exploring distinct aspect of society.
 On the other hand, Nicolae was able to control changes by exercising power over
group of people.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
 Trepagnier, B., 2017. Silent racism: How well-meaning white people perpetuate the racial divide.
Routledge.
 Zeanah, C.H. and et.al., 2017. Alternatives for abandoned children: insights from the Bucharest Early
Intervention Project. Current opinion in psychology. 15. pp.182-188.
Online
 Nicolae Ceausescu Biography. 2017. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.biography.com/people/nicolae-ceausescu-38355>.
 Maya Angelou Biography. 2018. [Online]. Available through: <