Effective Leadership: Analysis of Leadership Styles and Traits

This essay delves into the realm of effective leadership, examining various leadership styles, traits, and the contingency approach. The student identifies and analyzes two influential leaders: Florence Nightingale and Wayne Gretzky. The analysis explores Nightingale's charismatic leadership and her impact on healthcare reform, highlighting her innovative approach and data-driven methods. The essay also investigates Gretzky's leadership qualities, focusing on his determination and strategic implementation in hockey. The student discusses their leadership styles, traits, and how their approaches contributed to their success. The essay provides a comprehensive understanding of different leadership styles and their practical applications, offering insights into how effective leaders influence and inspire others. The student uses references to support the analysis and provide credibility to the arguments.

Running head: EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
Effective Leadership
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
Q. Make a list of the people that you know (or know of) who you consider to be effective
leaders. Choose two of these people and determine which leadership style to the ascribed to.
Did they have specific leadership traits, did they use the contingency approach to
leadership, and were they charismatic leaders?
The most effective leader that I have come across personally in my life is my mother. She
has been very inspiring and dynamic from all perspectives. She has brought me up from
childhood single handedly as my father passed away in my childhood. There are some other
leaders in the world that I can talk about leadership. They are Florence Nightingale, Adolf Hitler,
Nelson Mandela, John Kennedy and Oprah Winfrey.
Florence Nightingale
The first leader I have chosen to discuss about in this paper is Florence Nightingale. She
is revered as the modern day nursing and she completely changed the sanitation methods in
hospitals (Agnesscott.edu. 2020). She was in inspiration to all the people at a time when the
healthcare system was not run properly at all. Two greatest achievements that Florence
Nightingale had in her life were reforming the hospital settings and pioneering in the nursing
profession (Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015). Her leadership style was very effective for her followers.
She was mother like as she cared for all the ill people and showed apathy.
On the other hand, she was very professional in her approach also. She began the record
keeping practices by gathering the required data. The story of her life was truly amazing because
most women of her time in the Victorian period neither attended higher studies not went for
professional careers (Agnesscott.edu. 2020). There were many barriers in front of her as a
woman but she overcame the odds and pioneered te nursing profession. It was truly due to her

2EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
innovative psychology as she led many women after her to pursue nursing profession and take
care of the ill people. The data she collected was used to develop the overall conditions of city
hospitals as well as military hospital settings (Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015).
After the innovative sanitary reform, the mortality rate dropped down from 42.7%. This
shows how impressive she was as a leader (Agnesscott.edu. 2020). She was undoubtedly a
charismatic leader. Through the use of data and statistics, Nightingale showed how the hospital
reforms could be done and organized learning could result in the improvement in surgical and
medical practices in the world. As an outcome of her achievements, she became the honorary
member of American Statistical Association in the year 1874 (Agnesscott.edu. 2020).
Wayne Gretzky
The second leader that I will talk about in this paper is Wayne Gretzky. He is definitely
the greatest player ever in hockey to take part in the NHL. It has been suggested by many that he
was a born leader and his never die attitude helped him to spend 20 seasons in the NHL. He was
liked by most of his teammates because he used to motivate all upcoming stars and young
players in his team (Gretzky.com. 2020). He showed stern determination that a natural leader
must always possess. His ability to show his skills and perform at the highest level brought him
to limelight from the beginning of his career. Apart from that, his innovative ways of playing and
strategy implementations in different tournaments helped him to win them (Fiedler, 2015). Thus,
his contingency approach was most times successful to win the games for his team.

3EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
References
Agnesscott.edu. (2020). Florence Nightingale. Retrieved 14 February 2020, from
https://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/nitegale.htm
Fiedler, F. R. E. D. (2015). Contingency theory of leadership. Organizational Behavior 1:
Essential Theories of Motivation and Leadership, 232, 01-2015.
Gretzky.com. (2020). The Great One | Gretzky.com. Retrieved 14 February 2020, from
http://www.gretzky.com/
Hao, M. J., & Yazdanifard, R. (2015). How effective leadership can facilitate change in
organizations through improvement and innovation. Global journal of management and
business research.