Question

Choose five leaders (political, social, celebrity, religious, economic, etc.) and justify their authority, credibility and social attractiveness (or, perhaps, their lack thereof). This should be five distinct analyses that address all of the following questions/issues (each should be at least 200 words):

1.List the person you are analyzing and give a brief description of who they are. Justify why they should be considered a leader.

2.Analyze the level of authority as applied to this person’s primary audience.

3.Discuss this person’s credibility. Can you assess expertise? Is this person trustworthy? Is there evidence of goodwill?

4.What makes this person have (or, rather, precludes) social attractiveness?

Answer 1

Political Leader: Indira Gandhi

Popularly known as the Iron Lady of India, Indira Gandhi earned a formidable reputation across the globe as a ‘statesman’. Her sheer sense of politics and exceptional skills catapulted her position in the Indian politics, so much so that she went on to become the first woman elected to head a democratic country. Till date, she is the only woman to hold the office. Born in a politically influential dynasty and growing in an intense political atmosphere, Indira Gandhi had learned the trick of the trade quite early in life. She possessed an authoritarian streak and became the central figure of the Indian National Congress party, post her father’s death. She was known for her political ruthlessness and extraordinary centralization of power. It was during her premiership that India became the regional power in South Asia with considerable political, economic, and military clout. She also presided over a state of emergency and made considerable changes to the Indian Constitution. She used the army to resolve numerous internal disputes and encouraged a culture of sycophancy and nepotism, due to which she rubbed many Indians on the wrong side. Gandhi initialized the Operation Blue Star, which gave her a critical reputation and eventually scripted her assassination.

Political Pursuits

WAfter the death of her father in 1964, Indira Gandhi was appointed as a member of the Rajya Sabha. She also became one of the members of Lal Bahadur Shastri's cabinet, serving as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting.

The untimely death of Lal Bahadur Shastri saw numerous contenders for the position of the Prime Minister. However, unable to come to a single conclusion, Indira Gandhi was chosen as the compromised candidate as they thought her to be easily manageable. She became the Prime Minister of India in January 1966.

Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India and continued to serve the same until 1977. As the Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi showed exceptional political skills and resolve and drove out many senior Congressmen out of the party and power. This led to internal dissent in the party, leading to a split in the Indian National Congress in 1969.

Legacy

Indira Nehru and Feroze Gandhi knew each other since childhood - this acquaintance slowly matured into a relationship when both of them were in the UK for their studies. They got married in March 1942 and were later blessed with two sons - Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi.

Operation Blue Star changed her life as two of her Sikh bodyguards, deeply hurt by the insult heaped upon the Sikh nation, shot her to death, in order to avenge the insult.

Though Gandhi was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and was operated upon, she failed to survive and was declared dead. She was cremated near Raj Ghat - the spot is now known as Shakti Sthala. Her funeral was televised live on numerous domestic and international channels.

In an attempt to honor and pay tribute to the great political leader, the central government launched the low-cost housing programme for the rural poor under her name, Indira Awaas Yojana.

The international airport at New Delhi is named Indira Gandhi International Airport in her honour. She also has one of the largest universities in the world, Indira Gandhi National Open University, named after her.

An annual award for National Integration, Indira Gandhi Award was conceptualized and established by the Indian National Congress in 1985.

She was voted as the greatest Indian Prime Minister in a poll organised by India Today. She was also named ‘Woman of the Millennium’ in a poll organised by the BBC in 1999.

The University of Oxford conferred Gandhi with an honorary degree. It also selected her as one of the ten Oxasians, illustrious Asian graduates from the University of Oxford.

The Government of Bangladesh bestowed upon Gandhi its highest state award for her ‘outstanding contribution’ to the country's independence.

Trivia

She imposed a State of Emergency in India in June 1975, which lasted for 21 months until March 1975. She ruled by decree during Emergency and brought the entire country under the rule of the Central government.

She initiated the Operation Blue Star to strip clean the Golden Temple from the terrorists supporting Bindranwale. It eventually led to her assassination.

Social Leader- Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was an Albanian Roman Catholic, and was a famous humanitarian who started the Missionary of Charities. For most of her life, she spent it ministering to the poor, sick and needy people all over the world.

At the time of her death in 1998, the Missionary of Charities was in operation in over 100 countries which included hospices, homes, orphanages and schools.

Short Biography

Mother Teresa was born in 26 August 1910 in Uskub, Ottoman Empire. Her father was involved in Albanian politics but he died of illness when Teresa was only 8 years old.

In her youth, she was very enthralled by stories of missionaries and ministers and she aspired to become like them when she grew up. At the age of 18, she left home to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary.

She first went to Ireland to learn English before return to India to teach in a convent school. However, she was disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in Calcutta.

She felt the call to minister to the poor, and she left the comfort of her nunnery in 1948 and into the slums. She first started a school, and then started tending to the needs of the poor. She sacrificed even the promise of the basic necessities in the nunnery and lived her life very much like the poor and destitute people in the streets.

Her work was noticed by many Indian officials, and they appreciated her efforts.

In 1950, she would start the Missionaries of Charity, with a mission to care for those people that no one else cared for. After her initial opening of the Missionaries of Charity, she would go on to start even more schools and as well as a Missionaries of Charity Brothers.

By 2007 the Missionaries of Charity numbered approximately 450 brothers and 5,000 nuns worldwide, operating 600 missions, schools and shelters in 120 countries.

She would suffer her first heart attack in 1983, and she would go on to have another health issues, all the way till March 1997 when she finally stepped down from her leadership position and she passed away in September 5, 1997.

Awards and Honours

Mother Teresa received the following awards:

Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1972

India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna in 1980

The Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985

The Nobel Peace Prize in 1979

And many more…

Leadership Lessons from Mother Teresa

1. Faithfulness is more important than the Big Dream

Most leadership literature talks about having the big vision or big dream you want to achieve, but Mother Teresa focuses on faithfulness in the smallest things. While we think about loving the whole world, she urges us to love our neighbor. While we aspire to do great things, she focuses on doing small things with love.

Instead of focusing on what big things that your organization can accomplish tomorrow, it may be better to focus on the simple daily tasks that you and your team is tasked to do.

Are you already doing the tasks given to you faithfully and with excellence? Ultimately, it is these small things that will determine if you will achieve anything big in your life.

2. Give of yourselves fully

Mother Teresa gave everything she had of herself and became a world changer and a history maker. At some point in her life, she decided that the needs of the poor people in India was far more important than her comfort level, and it launched her into her work of ministering to the poor, sick and destitute.

The more you are willing to sacrifice and give up of yourself, the greater fruits you will see in your life. This is the principle of sowing and reaping. The more you sow in terms of your effort, time and money, the more you will reap in your life. Mother Teresa gave herself fully to alleviate the poverty around her by touching one life at a time, and she accomplished so much by the end of her life.

Mother Teresa has given us much more life lessons than just these; if you read her quotes, watch her videos, perhaps you will receive something more from her about your perspective on life as well.

Economic Leader – Manmohan Singh

Manmohan Singh was sworn in as the Finance Minister to former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao’s Government, which assumed office at the Center in June, 1991. At this point, the Indian economy was still functioning according to the Nehruvian-socialist agenda, which, with the External debt pegged at 23 percent of Gross Domestic Product and Internal public debt amounting to 55 percent of the GDP, wasn’t faring too well for the country. Due to its functioning as a quasi-welfare state along with the existence of the license ‘raj’ – the elaborate system of licences, regulations and accompanying red tape that was required to establish and run businesses in India between 1947 and 1990 – Indian employment rates had gone down to a negative. There was minimal economic growth, and the manufacturing sector was in bad shape.

The fiscal deficit was eight percent of the GDP, the account deficit stood at 2.5, wholesale price inflation had risen up by a good 13 percent and retail inflation went even higher up the bend by a whopping 17 percent. The Foreign Exchange Reserves standing at a low Rs 2500 crores, which was nearly 75 percent lower than what it was prevailing a year before, in 1990. To put it short, the economy was crippled, and there was a desperate need for a new set of norms that would change this.

However, it took the vision and resilience of one man who knew his job to change the whole face of the Economy. Singh had an extensive background in Business, Economics and Globalisation, having obtained a doctorate in the same from Oxford, with a stint in the United Nations for three consecutive years and another stint as an advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Trade. He also held the post of Reserve Bank Governor (1982-1985) as well as Chief Economic Advisor (1972-1976) and Planning Commission Head (1985-1987).

But Manmohan Singh was more than the credentials on his resume. He was tasked with scheduling the first budget that the new Rao government would release, in less than a month from his ascent into the Central body. After evaluating the situation, Singh realised that what the Indian economy needed desperately – a shift to economic liberalisation and a strategic end to the ‘license raj’.

Devaluation

He started with a two-step devaluation programme in collaboration with the RBI, which was first devalued against major currencies by nine percent initially and then brought down to eleven percent two days later. This naturally gave a boost to trade and dealings with the international market.

Gold holdings

The next thing he did was get the RBI on board to mortgage India’s gold holdings with the Bank of England in four tranches, so that it could avail the necessary financial assistance it would provide. He did this in lieu of a similar action that the State Bank of India had undertaken earlier, selling 20 tonnes of gold to the Union Bank of Switzerland, for which they had received about $200 million. Keeping in mind the incessant demand and value for gold, this seemed to be a strategic route to gain resources.

Foreign Investment

Singh stated that it was prudent to welcome foreign investment into the Indian Capital. This would give a much-needed boost to industrialisation by encouraging the spirit of entrepreneurship in the country and would also provide direct access to the required capital, technology and target markets.

Reworked trade policy

Considering the fact that the country was seconds away from being banned essential imports, including oil and gas, for more than three weeks, it was pertinent to rework the existing patterns of trade policy. To this end, the new programme called for doing away with unnecessary controls, streamlining the licensing process and linking non-essential imports to exports to discourage such imports. It also called for the abolishment of the popular ‘export subsidies’ and the expansion of the licensing system.

Power distribution

Singh called for the transfer of full statutory powers to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to enable it to regulate the workings of the Stock Exchanges in the country. As a result, SEBI became the sole market regulator. He also proposed to extend the tax concession under section 80HHC of the Income Tax Act to export of software. As a result of this concession, the Indian Software companies became more cost-effective.

IMF

He also called for the economy to seek relief from the International Monetary Fund by applying for an emergency loan of $220 million, which later proved to be the essential keeper to preventing a debt default.

Highlighting the major parts of the economic reforms that help sustain the slow but steady economic growth that the Indian Economy was streamlining for, Singh’s radical measures were appreciated by many although he faced great opposition for going against the left-oriented scheme of central financing that had prevailed for decades. His right-wing measures gave the Capitalists the breathing space they needed to flourish their businesses in the existing economy. But he alleviated their suspicions by also increasing the corporate tax from 40 to 45 percent, proving that he had other plans for the economy, barring just saving it from the face of an economic cataclysm.