Assignment 4: Ethical & Effectiveness

            Whilst pondering over the possibility of finding a “good” leader that is both simultaneously “effective and ethical”, I’ve come to form a model of four leadership styles when one solely looks at these two attributes. Machiavelli ultimately placed emphasis on the graceful performance a Prince must enact in order to obtain his state’s loyalty through some necessary evils. Essentially, this Machiavellian perspective favors one’s effectiveness over the standard “ethical behavior” when measuring the quality of a leader. However, this is only one of the four leadership styles I’ve come to realize. This Machiavellian leadership style states that an effective leader with an ethically deceptive nature creates the better leader. The other three parings describe the following:  an ineffective leader with a deceptive nature creates the “Cruelty to Spoil” leader, an ineffective leader with an “ethically good” nature creates a genuine person but a mediocre leader, and finally an effective leader with an “ethically good” nature creates a moral and competent leader (the Idealistic Leader).

            Out of these four styles, I find the Machiavellian and the Idealistic leadership styles to offer the best options for a leader to manifest their actions. When circumstances, or fortuna, allow, I believe that it is indeed possible to be an effective and ethically good leader. Yet, there are unexpected ethical dilemmas that leaders in the real world must face. During such occurrences, one must act accordingly and be flexible with the standard ethical values, meaning that at times one must embrace the Machiavellian leadership approach to some extent.

            Martin Luther King Jr. exemplifies an effective leader who consciously made actions that the government saw as unlawful, and thus unethical. By defying the government dictated law, he influenced others to join in his “unethical behavior”, catalyzing the civil rights movement. Nevertheless, his intention and purpose was based on the actualization of obtaining human rights for the great magnitude of people that were held down in chains by a higher authority. Without directly challenging the norm of his time, Luther wouldn’t have been able to attain the rapid success he sought.