Differences Between Good and Bad Leaders

This past year I was in a program at college for integrity in leadership. It was a very fun experience and helped me grow as a person. Coming out of the group, I wanted to point out some characteristics of leaders and demonstrate my knowledge of leadership. I will be talking about the qualities of these leaders below and how they challenged their followers for better or for worse. Let us begin with the good first.

Good Examples of Leadership

Lady Gaga is a leader that I find inspiration in. From my young teenage years, she always challenged her followers to accept themselves and to fight bullying in a constructive way.

An Atlanta native, King led the African American citizens of the United States to advocate for their rights as humans. His “I Have a Dream” speech is still widely know today and will inspire generations to come.

Lady Gaga: Lady Gaga was one of the first singers I knew of in my teenage years. From the very beginning of her career, she was a controversial character. What I loved about her was her unique sense of style and her call for free self-expression. She released an album in the early 2010s called, “Born This Way”. That was where it all started, after the success of the album she started her own campaign for anti-bullying. The campaign stood out to me as someone who was bullied and is going into suicide prevention, Gaga is truly brave to be starting something so powerful across the world. She definitely needs a Nobel Peace Prize for that piece of art.

Martin Luther King Jr.: Martin Luther King Jr is one of the most inspirational leaders of all time. There’s at least one street in every U.S. city named after this amazing man. King having lived during a time of segregation and direct racism, had a vision that all people regardless of color should have the same rights as human beings. So he and many other African Americans across the country peacefully protested the American society to change laws so that people of color could be seen as human beings not workers or servants to their white counterparts. During his lifetime, he challenged his followers to fight for a better future for all races and ethnicities. People still look up to him today, we even contribute a day of service to commemorate his legacy on his birthday each year.

Bad Examples of Leadership

Adolf Hitler: Going down in history as one of the most sinister people of all humankind, Adolf Hitler is responsible the deaths of 6 million Jews and other minorities in Europe during WWII. With Hitler’s leadership and power, he decided to use his power to convince thousands of Nazis to murder an entire race. If a person wants to murder an innocent people to eliminate a race, that automatically makes you a bad leader. But as a leader, Hitler used fear to control his followers; even telling soldiers if they did not follow orders he would have them executed for insubordination. A leader who instills fear in their followers is someone who is narcissistic and controlling, they won’t be remembered for anything but their cowardice.

Adolf Hitler: the most evil man in history was responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews and other European minorities during WWII. He lead a large group of German soldiers to carry out a mass genocide of an entire race.

Eric Harris (Columbine Shooter) was an example of a bad leader, he only had 1 follower. But his psychopathic influence on that follower led to death, destruction, and chaos in the years after the shootings.

Eric Harris: Last but certainly not least, we have a Hitler follower named Eric Harris. Eric Harris was one of the two shooters responsible for the Columbine Massacre of 1999. He was considered by many experts as a “psychopath”, a person who has no regard for life at all. Being the ruthless leader, he couldn’t carry out the murders alone; which is why he teamed up with suicidal and anger-prone Dylan Klebold. Prior to the shootings and during the planning of the attack, Harris encouraged Klebold to express his anger in a violent way and led himself and Dylan down a path of destruction and death. But even after the shooting occurred, Harris started a blueprint for other kids who wanted to harm classmates or coworkers. His legacy is the reason we have so many school shootings in America.

I’m so glad I got to be a part of the leadership program at my college. It has helped me in all facets of life. I can’t begin to imagine what kind of leadership will take place within my profession as a suicide prevention counselor. I know I definitely want to set my clients on a path of construction and positivity rather than help them achieve death and destruction to them and others in their lives. But leadership is in all professions, this world needs more leaders and less followers. I leave you dear reader with these two thoughts: What kind of leader do you want to be? What will your legacy be?