Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact
on you as a leader? Maybe some one who has been a mentor to you? Why and how
did this person impact your life?
The world has most of the
excellent super humans with leadership values. One might wonder how a
leadership values been determined. If an organization had been chosen to carry
out the task as world organization to determine leadership values, the next
question arises. Who gives them the rights to determine the values?
Most of us had one thing in
our mind; superheroes such as Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa or even Tun Dr
Mahathir have leadership values. But less that they knew that each and everyone
of us have leadership values in ourselves. We have the perception as some might
say leaders are born, which for me is such an illogical say. When the right
time and situation occur, the true leadership value will arise within us. In Malaysia
One might have negative or
positive values. Our perspective on the value differs within ourselves. A
killer might be seen as a negative person, but his motive of defending a child
rapist may determine him as a positive valued person. So does the leadership
value; there are positive and negative leadership values. The values differ
with the team lead by the leader. The motive of the team, will be determining
the value taken on leading the team. As human being, mainly in Malaysia
As for me, values from a
world’s most negative valued personalities have their skilled leadership valued
that been forgotten and not been recognized. Such characters such as Adolf
Hitler, Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have the leadership values in them.
If an individual could be insane enough to adapt the positive values in such
negative characteristic idols, one might be leading a successful organization.
As for me, my favorite mentor / idol would be Adolf Hitler. A guy who had
impressed me with his villain attitude, yet build such a powerful army with his
great leadership. Many might see him as the most terrible human being ever
lived, but less does realize how a great leader was born.
A simple guy, who had an
ambition to become an artist were meant to change the world upside down. World
War II was the stage for him to perform his mega leadership play. Never been
thought such an ordinary guy could make such impact on the world. A guy, who
had even been declared unfit for the army, had taken the world on his hand.
Before I conclude how Adolf
Hitler had become my mentor, a brief introduction about him will give a clear
picture of him. Hitler was born in an Inn in the Austrian-Hungary border as the fourth of six
children to Alois Hitler and Klara Pölzl.As for education, Hitler had joined a
Catholic school, even joined the church choir and thought of being a priest
when he grew up. He had always wanted to become an artiste. His father had
wishes for him to join a technical school, but Hitler was more interested in
the arts. This led to many arguments, bitterness and rebellion on Hitler’s part.
As a result, Hitler became pro-Germany as a statement of rebellion because his
father served the Austrian government.
At age 28, he was
rejected by the Vienna School of Fine Arts and then the architectural school,
making fulfilling his dreams of becoming an artist to be physically impossible.
As his ambition
were not about to be fulfilled, Hitler’s life path had been deployed. The next
stage of his life was the key factor which had ended up in World War II. Being
rejected of Vienna School of Fine Arts, Hitler had developed anti-Semitism in Vienna Germany Germany
As been mentioned
earlier, leadership value are not always can be seen by others. Sometimes the
real value lies deep within them. Adolf Hitler had a rising era when His rise
to power came when he participated in politics after World War I. He was
inserted as a spy into the German Worker’s Party (DAP), but he was impressed
with the ideology of the founder Anton Drexler. The founder, who was impressed
with Hitler’s oratory skills, hired him as a Party member
Before long, he
seized full control of the Party as the members of the Party realized that they
couldn’t do without him because of his effectiveness in speaking to large
crowds. He became the Führer of the National Socialist German Workers' Party in
1921.
He staged an
unsuccessful coup known as the Beer Hall Putsch where he tried to declare a new
government by demand support from the local military at gunpoint. The police
managed to stop his attempt and he almost committed suicide after running from
them. Hitler was then given unlimited time to defend himself in public. Because
he was such a good speaker, he managed to rouse more national sympathy for his
cause and he became more popular than ever. He ended up only serving a short
time in jail.
His breakthrough
came during the Great Depression, where he managed to rouse the national’s
bitterness for having the pay for the cost of the war in World War I. Through a
series of political plays, he was appointed Chancellor by the government in
January 1933.
As Chancellor, he
further secured additional power by closing down opposition parties and
securing unlimited rights for himself.
Having secured
supreme political power, Hitler went on to gain public support by convincing
most Germans he was their savior from the economic Depression, the Versailles
Eventually, his
greed and ambition led to the initial invasion of Poland
Each and every
one of us has a negative person in ourselves, yet we manage to control our
beast for the benefit of our world and society. Some individual have all the
capability of a great leader, but failed to establish themselves. On the other
hand, some individual has no capabilities yet manage to gain such knowledge by
reading and experience. Adolf Hitler had shown me that no matter how hard your
life could be, yet when time comes you will rise above the world.
‘Art of a great
leadership is saying No, not by saying Yes’ famous saying of Tony Blair, former
Britain Prime Minister. Rather that admitting on a negative of ourselves we
must say no on it and try changing the negative value into positive. Being a
great leader, a lot of criteria must be fulfilled.
Adolf Hitler did
much evil during his regime in Nazi Germany. Although I do not share his
values, but he did do certain things right as a leader to rally a whole nation.
Most of us had never recognized him for the positive value in Hitler. As
further studies and research been done on Hitler’s biography, had been noticed
that Adolf Hitler have such a number of leadership values that most leaders
world wide have.
I had made Adolf
Hitler as my idol for his leadership value. As the writing goes by, I will
explain few of the value we could trace out on Hitler. The main values we can
notice on Hitler are:
1) Public Speaking Talent
As I were about
to enter Form 1, I were afraid on public speaking. Standing in front of the
crowd makes me nervous. When ever my teacher has a case study to be presented
to the class, I will be the last person to be standing at the class. Most of
the time I will be sick by the time my turn comes. When my library session
arrives, I had a chance to talk about a hero to the class. I came across a book
on Adolf Hitler, which were not considered as a hero. That’s the moment I start
learning about Adolf Hitler and all his leadership skills. Public speaking is
one of the must for a leader to be considered recognized by the team.
Hitler was a
captivating public speaker. He would enrapture crowds with his vision and sense
of purpose of the nation.
Public speaking
is one of the essential skills of a leader. Whether you are able to have
followers will really depend on your ability to rally them through inspiration
and a hope for a future vision.
You should take
time to invest in your ability to speak publicly. Like it or not, public
speaking is one of the most common traits of the top leaders in the world and
if you can do it well, it will serve you and your team really well.
2) Understanding Human Nature
As a leader,
understanding others around us is a must. Never ever as a leader look down on
other. Each and everyone have their own perception on a situation. As a leader
we must learn on understanding others need and desire. A leader is not a person
who shows his ability to others too often. A great leader only be noticeable
when situation need him to be.
Adolf Hitler
understood human nature very well. He knew how to use human nature to his
personal gain and with that knowledge; he rallied the whole nation behind him.
You have to
understand the thoughts, inclinations of human nature well if you are to be an
effective leader as well. This often means a high level of EQ. Much of human
nature can be easily be seen in yourself; especially in your weakness to
temptation or any base inclination.
A good leader
understands what he is dealing with in other people because he sees it in
himself.
From that
perspective and understanding, you’re able to lead your followers so much
better
3) Constant Influence
Being influence
is such a behavior that made me adore Adolf Hitler. He made a whole country
stand behind him. As a leader, influencing others is a must criteria. Such
value brings the team together to achieve a mission or objective. Adolf Hitler
successfully used propaganda to bring the whole nation under his will. Through
the constant use of media and communications, he managed to cause a whole
nation to think alike to serve his cause.
There’s a lesson
for us leaders to be learnt here. People become what they are constantly being
exposed to. If you constantly read, watch and listen to positive messages,
you’ll naturally become positive. And it works vice versa as well.
We’d like to
think that we are thinking independently of our environment, but the truth is
that most of us think, act and believe in a certain way because of our
environment.
A leader with
such leadership value for sure would be able to achieve the objective of any
organization. These are few reasons which make me adore Adolf Hitler. As to
become a leader out of me, learning and adapting values from a negative
character may be though, but it’s something interesting. Some of the most
famous quotes of Adolf Hitler had also made a remarkable impact on me.
Few of the quotes
of Adolf Hitler are:
1) If you tell a
big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.
2) He alone, who
owns the youth, gains the future.
3) Germany
4) Strength lies
not in defense but in attack.
5) The art of
leadership... consists in consolidating the attention of the people against a
single adversary and taking care that nothing will split up that attention.
As for every
human being out there, having a idol of a negative or positive person is not
important, but getting the right value from a person that makes us different
from others. Who we are can’t be changed, yet improving ourselves to become a
better person must be our main objective.
References
1) Hitler, Adolf (1942). Baynes, Norman H.. ed. The Speeches of
Adolf Hitler, April 1922 – August 1939. London :
Oxford University
2) Hanfstaengl, Ernst
(1994) [1957]. Hitler: The
Missing Years. New York
3) Overy, Richard (2005). The Dictators: Hitler's Germany , Stalin's Russia
4) Evans,
Richard J. (1989). In Hitler's Shadow : West
German Historians and the ttempt to Escape from the Nazi Past. New York
5) William Ury, (2007), The
Power Of A Positive No : Bantam Dell
6) www.wikipedia.com
7) www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERhitler.htm
8) www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/hitler.html
9) www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/
10) www.biography.com/people/adolf-hitler-9340144
Shanmugam A/L Gopalan
Sidang A
DPA 1/2012
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