Mary-Phillips

Historic Views of Leaders: Comparison and contrast between Platos and Aristotle
Platos
According to Plato’s, the concept of a leader has been in use decades Before Christ (BC). During Platos time, people were poor, have suffered significant brutality from wars and conflicts. The moment the people were able to select their government officials through a ballot system, the people felt a sense of freedom and equality. As people experience freedom and the feeling of equality from a democratic elected government official, they begin to see such official as a protector. But when a protector begins to turn into a tyrant, he becomes unpopular therefore his followers begin to question him. (Wren, 1995).
Aristotle
According to Aristotle, the political society requires rulers and subjects but how do you determine the ruler and the subject? According to Aristotle, it would have been a lot easier to differentiate a ruler from a subject if rulers had a physic or mind of their own but this is not the case. Aristotle therefore concluded that citizens have a fair share by taking turns to govern to promote equality and unity. If every citizen has a fair share of being a ruler (such as a teenage ruler), the government will fail to implement justice and such a government will end up collapsing. What then is Aristotle saying? Aristotle is therefore proposing that the ruler and its subjects are somewhat identical and somewhat different to. (Wren, 1995).
Looking through Platos and Aristotle’s views, I deduced that the word Leader has been in politics and has been used many years Before Christ (BC). The demand for a person that cares about what the people need, think or want is an example of a good ruler or leader (as we would call it in our generation). The origin of the word “Leader” was dated back to the 14th century in the Merriam-webster dictionary.
For example, the 2008 presidential election was a very controversial one because the country was already in a lot of tension. The people were desperate for a leader that will pay attention to their needs. In hard times, people do things that they would never do in normal circumstances. Such as, a strong Republican voting for a democratic presidential candidate they would never have thought of in a normal situation. People tend to seek help from places they would never dare in a more stable circumstances. A leader can therefore suffice to a group of people in a hard situation because the person (or leader) tends to understand or listen to the people’s yearnings and pain. The question now is, what should a person have in order to be a leader? To answer that question, we would need to discuss the characteristics of a leader.
What sets a leader apart from his counterparts?
Platos saw a ruler as a philosopher because a philosopher has the great characteristics that an official needs to succeed as a ruler. What then makes a philosopher a good ruler? A philosopher must be ascertained so that his followers have an understanding of him, acknowledge him and his cohorts provided he loves knowledge and he is ready to listen to his people. A philosopher must try to find a naturally well-proportioned and gracious mind that translates into the true being of everything. (Wren, 1995). Finally, a philosopher must have the courage, a good memory, and temperance. If a philosopher naturally possesses the above characteristics, won’t you entrust a state in such a persons hands? I bet you will rather prefer a perfect and blameless fellow to rule you rather than a tyrant. (Wren, 1995).
According to Platos, people have always seen certain people as champions that are placed over others. Whatever makes these people champions are those behavioral traits that differentiates them from others. (Wren, 1995).
Aristotle said, “For he who would learn to command well must, as men say, first of all learn to obey.” (Wren, 1995). From Aristotle’s words, you can deduce that a leader is supposed to be both a ruler and a subject. Therefore, a ruler will have to be a subject first then a ruler in order in order to be considered a good ruler.
Characteristics of a Leader
From the historic examples by Platos and Aristotle, the two major characteristic of a leader they both agreed on were: a leader is a follower and a leader understands his followers.
Platos and Aristotle agreed that a leader has to be both a follower and a ruler at the same time. A leader must be able to be willing to obey in order to rule. Therefore, a leader is justified by his/her willingness to obey and abide by rules. As Aristotle will say, a ruler must be able to follow his rules in order to inspire his followers to follow them.
Also, a leader has to be ready to listen in order to understand the people. The concept of being a subject in order to be a ruler requires understanding. With understanding, a leader can justify the intentions and decisions behind their commands since they represent their subject’s views and concerns. (Wren, 1995).
A leader must therefore surround himself with like-minded people that will shares his views and believes so he can stay motivated as the leader the people voted for. A leader is confident, enthusiastic, thinks analytically, has direction, lives an exemplary life, is dependable, and committed to excellence. (White, 2009). Dr. Gillette said, a leader must be responsible for the safety of its subordinates or all the people he/she is responsible for. (Gillette, 2009).
Who then is a Leader?
Merriam-Webster defined a leader as “a person who has commanding authority or influence or a first or principal performer of a group.” Deducing from Merriam-webster, a leader is someone who presides over and represents a certain group of people. Jared Linder defined a leader as a person who can easily adapt to change (PM Seminar, 2009).
Eric Anderman and Lynley Anderman said, “The term leadership refers to the core group of movers in the action research projects. In most cases the movers design a project that envelops larger numbers of people at different levels of engagement over time—from supporters to active co-researchers. However, sometimes those who generate the original design for the action research also experience it, as for example with collaborative inquiry aimed at professional improvement for all participants.”
According to Martha Lagace, Rakesh Khurana and Joel Podolny of Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, “Most scholars (not to mention boards of directors) gauge the effectiveness of leadership almost exclusively through a lens of economic performance, specifically return on investment, say professors Joel M. Podolny and Rakesh Khurana, and doctoral student Marya Hill-Popper. Yet the focus on economic results usually gives a one-sided picture of what leaders can accomplish. Future research on leadership effectiveness should also look at leaders' ability to forge new meaning and purpose for an organization and its employees.” A leader must therefore be articulate. (Gillette, 2009)
Gathering from the above scholar, a leader is someone that shares the views, values, and believes of certain groups of people and communicates them in a way that the people understand so that they depend on him to speak and act on their behalf.

Reference
Anderman, E. & Anderman, L. (2009). Psychology of Classroom Learning: An Encyclopedia. . Eds. Vol. 1. Detroit: Macmillan. P.17–19. 2 vols. NexisLexis Database. Retrieved February 5, 2009, from http://find.galegroup.com/gvrl/infomark.do?action=interpret&Z3950=1&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&productId=GVRL&docId=CX3027800016&source=library&version=1.0&userGroupName=munc80314&finalAuth=true

White, B. (2005, August 12). Seven Personal Characteristics Of A Good Leader. Retrieved February 5, 2009, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Seven-Personal-Characteristics-Of-A-Good-Leader&id=59305

Gillette, J. (2009, January)

Lagace, M. (2005, January 10). How to Put Meaning Back into Leading. Harvard Business School Working Knowledge Q&A with Rakesh Khurana and Joel Podolny. Retrieved February 5, 2009 from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4563.html

Linder, J. (2009, January).

Merriam-webster. (2009). Retrieved February 5, 2009, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leader

Wren, J. (1995). The Leadership Companion: Insight on Leadership Through the Ages. The Republic. P. 60-64. The Free Press: A Division of Simon & Schuster Inc. New York, NY

Wren, J. (1995). The Leadership Companion: Insight on Leadership Through the Ages. The Republic. P. 65-66. The Free Press: A Division of Simon & Schuster Inc. New York, NY