Leadership Lessons From Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed on the third Monday of January each year, it is a federal holiday in the United States, and it marks the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was actually born on January 15, 1929. The day commemorates the life and work of Dr. King, who was a Baptist minister and exceptional leader in the American civil rights movement. King received his Ph.D. in theology from Boston University in 1955 and also audited philosophy courses at Harvard University. This day is used to reflect on the principles of racial equality and nonviolent social change that Dr. King always advocated.
Dr. King had exceptional leadership traits that everyone should learn and apply in his daily life that include:
Dr. King was a transformational leader who did not accept the status quo in any way. He was the kind of visionary that had the courage to take risks to step into unchartered territories constantly holding new greater responsibilities. His highly effective communication skills allowed him to not just be inspired to grow but also to inspire everyone around him to follow through.
As part of being a great communicator, he could gather around him millions of followers due to his rhetorical skills. These skills are based on theories found in Aristotle’s work Rhetoric, which he brought from Sophists and which defined the art of persuasion and dates back to the fourth century before Christ. Dr. King perfectly mastered and used Aristotle’s three connecting ideas of logos, pathos, and ethos to construct his persuasive speeches.
Besides being a transformational leader and a good communicator, Dr. King was a great collaborator who succeeded in forming partnerships and coalitions wherever he went. His international travels made him learn from other cultures, engage with them, and adopt nonviolent forms of protest. He spoke and inspired people under all sorts of inequality not just racial.
Dr. King was totally committed to his cause and was able to put all his effort and give everything to reach his goal. In fact, he was assassinated fighting for his ideals outside his motel room in Memphis at the age of 39.