LEADERSHIP STRATEGY PROFILE: DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

His dream lives on

Prelude:   Each Monday LSI presents a VIP profile…focusing on contributions and the leadership strategy that led to success. Each post concludes using an equation that was initially presented in , The “I” of the Hurricane: How to generate and focus corporate energy. The following will help you understand the summary at the end of each profile.

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The Leadership Strategy Equation

(excerpt from The “I” of the Hurricane: How to generate and focus corporate energy)

L = (CV +V) SS X ALR

                 C

“This model of organizational transformation and the achievement of excellence is the most usable I have seen.”

Dr. Ronald Lippitt, professor emeritus University of Michigan

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Leadership (L) generates energy because people are aware of underlying (CV) cultural-values that the leader and a critical mass of potential followers believe in, plus their having a mental picture or (V) vision of a values-congruent new place to go or a different way of being. CV and V are multiplied by the use of (SS) signaling skills that send a consistent message through day-to-day behavior in a manner that reinforces the leader’s personal commitment to the organization’s vision and cultural values. Effective leaders accept that (C) challenge is a corporate asset and the legitimate responsibility of followers. When challenge is met with (ALR) appropriate leader response —appropriate meaning getting the job done in a way that further reinforces the organization’s vision and cultural values—resistance is lowered allowing blocked energy to be transferred to task. The process of signaling (SS) and altering the balance between challenge (C) and appropriate response (ALR) in support of cultural values (CV) and vision (V), is the essence of leadership.

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 The leadership strategy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

For more than a decade, Martin Luther King Jr. played a leading role in the struggle for the equality of black americans. He attracted a large following that cut across, economic, age, geographical , and racial lines. Through speeches and other highly visible interventions, he communicated the need to end segregation and the importance of non-violence.

He had an uncommon gift of converting foes into allies. While studying divinity at Crozer Seminary in Pennsylvania, a white student whose room had been vandalized, blamed King. The student, well known for his racist views, pulled a gun and threatened to kill King. King remained calm and denied having any involvement until eventually the student was disarmed. He refused to press charges and in time won the student’s friendship.

In the mid – 50’s, King abandoned a long held plan to become a university professor and returned to the south to paricipate in a growing protest movement against discrimination. He came to prominence in 1956 when he spearheaded a boycott in Montgomery Alabama after a black woman was arrested for refusing to sit in the back of a bus.

From that point on, Martin Luther King Jr. faced constant threats. He signaled the power of non violence to his followers by not keeping a gun in his home. King alternated between participating in protest marches and sit-ins in the south and making speeches in northern states . Although victories were many, there was little in the way of tangible evidence that american society was changing. The lack of evident advancement frustrated many members of the civil rights movement. He encoureaged them to keep the faith and remain non violent.  King countered the south’s increasing violence against blacks by stepping up his personal exposure. Militant followers  tried insuccessfully to draw him into confrontations that were not in keeping with his value of non-violence.

In 1963, King’s non violent leadership triggered; 930 demonstrations in 115 cities, 288 communities where bi-racial committees were seriously negotiating change, and over 20,000 people jailed for paricipating in non violent demonstrations. The crowning moment of Martin Luther King’s life was his march to Washington where he delivered the imortal speech, “I have a dream.”  Toward the end of his life, King broadened his outreach to include the poor and downtroden of all races.

Values:

• the brotherhood of mankind
• non-violent demands for change
• laws that conformed to morality
• the dignity of all people

Vision:

• equality and freedom for all.

Signals:

•  “I have a dream”
• “From every mountaintop, let freedom ring”
• giving up his gun despite repeated death threats
• protest marches, sit-ins, and non violent demonstrations.
•  calm, controlled behavior in the face of danger

Appropriate Leader Response to Challenge:

• refusing to be drawn into demonstrations that did not fit his values and vision of freedom and equality for all
• approving the use of troops in 1967 to control black rioters in Newark and Detroit. He suffered politically, but held to his ideals of non-violence.

This post sponsored by the, HOW TO SURVIVE AND POROSPER IN THE SHIFT- AGE WORKSHOP