The Leadership of Saladin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Leadership of Saladin - Essay Example Saladin is known to have founded the Ayyubid dynasty of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Mecca Hejaz, and Diyar Bakr (Saladin 1). He has also won battles against crusaders which highlights his exemplary chivalric and merciful nature. This paper will take a closer look at the leadership style which Saladin has employed in order to gain the wide recognition both in his times and in the current era. The first section will give an overview of the general leadership style, followed by an account of how this style is reflected in Saladin's actions and words. In order to fully understand the personality of the leader, this paper will also give an account of Saladin's strength and weaknesses and compare his style with the five challenges of leadership. Lastly, the author will compare his leadership style with Saladin. Taking account of how Saladin's life, the battles he fought, and what he stood for, it becomes apparent that he can be classified as a charismatic leader. Before going further, this paper wants to clarify how a charismatic leader is described and characterized. A charismatic leader set the group's direction by establishing goals and motivating its followers in attaining the established objectives. The charisma of the leader will significantly help in instilling a dose of motivation to other employees. Five distinct behavioural attributes of a charismatic leader includes vision and articulation, sensitivity to the environment, sensitivity to members' needs, personal risk taking, and performing unconventional behaviour. Thus, a charismatic leader always stands out and is able to win people through his charisma. This type of leadership strategy often capitalizes in winning the trust of his subordinates in order to succeed. In order to describe his way of influencing people, Hillenbrand notes that Saladin made "himself known to the rank and file soldiers in the army, creating bonds of loyalty and solidarity, and enhancing corporate morale." It can be seen that instead of keeping emphasizing his position as a general by keeping his distance with his subordinates, Saladin has exerted effort in winning the trust of his members by making joining them in their conversation and establishing friendly relationship with them. Through the use of his charisma, Saladin is able to win the support of his subordinates and enable him to convince them into going to war with them and win the battle. It should also be noted that through this dealings with his subordinates, Saladin is able to instil inspiration and psyche his soldiers for victory. The charisma of Saladin becomes a significant influence and driver in the performance of his members. Hillenbrand (515) characterizes Saladin as a leader whose "presence could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat." This is exemplified his army's conquest of Acre where Saladin "stood firm with a handful of men until he was able to withdraw all his men to the hill and then lead them down into the battle again, shaming them into turning and fighting." This illustration indicates how the charisma of Saladin has worked in order to motivate his soldiers. Currently, there are five practices which indicate exemplary leadership: model the way; inspire a shared vision; challenge the process by taking risk, accepting, and seeking challenges; enable others to