What Makes a Good Leader?

Good Leader
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July 17, 2020
Every organization requires a good leader to succeed. In turn, a good leader is one that would help balance the organizational goals and the welfare of its members. Despite this, however, defining what is a good leader could vary in different cases. Some would think that one should prioritize the collective goals of the organization, while others would place the members’ individual welfares first. In this article, the author would discuss the different conceptions of a good leader based on the ideas of Aristotle, Kant, and Lao Tzu. Although these thinkers have varying cultural backgrounds, the author believes that all of them are similar in believing that a good leader is also a good follower.
Good Leadership
Being a good leader requires the capacity to empower one’s members and improve their individual welfare. In Aristotle’s works, it could be seen that he proposes that a good leader must be able to know the feelings and desires of his own followers. To do this, he must first become a good follower that would empathize with those that he commands. Thus, some of the traits that Aristotle wants to promote for leaders include; “experience, sound decision making, humility, friendship, happiness, and being calm” CITATION Jownd \l 1033 (Jowett, n.d.). Even in real life, it could be seen that leaders who know how to empathize with their followers and treat them with respect are among the most successful ones.
Nonetheless, it must be noted that although good traits and virtues are crucial for leadership, reality would show that a leader must primarily develop his skills to lead others. Going back to Aristotelian ethics, it could be seen that Aristotle places prime importance on the person’s ‘experience’ since this is one thing that determines the leader’s decision-making skills. In his work entitled the Nicomachean Ethics, he noted that “one who has experience is qualified to judge” CITATION Cri00 \l 1033 (Crisp, 2000). In other words, this simply means that Aristotle envisions a leader similar to a follower yet possessing more experience and good traits compared to others.
Similar to Aristotle’s idea of a good leader, Kantian ethics aims to build leaders from followers. This supports Aristotle’s idea that a good leader initially comes from a good follower. Kant also furthered that a leader must be able to prioritize ‘dignity’ in promoting the members’ autonomy. A closer look would reveal that this is similar to the Aristotelian conception of good leadership. Aristotle placed prime importance on traits such as humility, friendliness, and calmness, among others. It could easily be argued that these Aristotelian traits are crucial for the leader to reconcile ‘member autonomy’ with dignity. Without these, the leader would lead with fear rather than a good relationship. In turn, this could cause a vicious cycle among new generations of leaders to follow. In other wo...