Online Custom «Women as Leaders » Essay Sample

The contemporary political systems of the world have a less number of women than men. It is due to a fact that women still struggle to succeed in the political sphere and contribute to the welfare of the whole nation. Madeline Albright is an example of a woman, who managed to win respect and loyalty of men in the Senate. The woman achieved within her political career, which flourished in the Senate. The following discussion is a reflection on the peculiarities of Madeline Albright’s leadership style, the differences between female and male leadership on the example of the former Secretary of the Senate, and the main lessons from her story.

First, it is necessary to mention that Madeline Albright worked hard to reach the desired development of her career. One of the earliest achievements of an outstanding woman was a scholarship to Wesley College. Owing to that fact, Albright gained not only knowledge but also respect from her professors. She established important connections with other respected individuals. It is one of the main peculiarities of a female leadership style, which focuses on having an appropriate background for further development (Eagly & Carli, 2007). As a result, Albright knew how to achieve success long before she started her career in the Senate. She became involving in the political life when her former professor had offered her a job at the National Security Council. Further, Albright concentrated on developing her political attributes and became an ambassador to the United Nations. Later, in 1997, Albright became the Secretary of the Senate (UCLA Luskin, 2014). It is obvious that the mentioned above achievements were based on the personal strategic view of the career development of Madeline Albright. An outstanding career building techniques and a wise approach towards knowledge development helped her to gain respect (Krinzman, 2015). Nevertheless, it is essential to examine Albright’s leadership style and skills which represent a significant part of the career development.

Various interviews with Madeline Albright prove that she followed a democratic leadership style in her career. She valued opinions of every individual who spoke to her and she never made anyone feel uncomfortable. Albright also respected the rights of every individual and freedom of speech which were particularly significant in building her career (UCLA Luskin, 2014). In addition, her personal skills helped Albright to become a respected leader in the political sphere. Madeline is charismatic, genuine, personable, communicative, and confident. It proves that she has an open-minded approach in every aspect of her life (Wall Street Journal, 2008). In fact, it is the core of her leadership strategy as it lets a leader keep a positive vision on the surrounding. Madeline used an open-minded leadership strategy which allowed her to relate directly to the difficulties of the society. As a leader, Madeline highly valued different points of view on the same problem. She wanted to understand the essence of the issue from the perspective of various viewpoints. Consequently, Madeline also avoided conflicts and offered peaceful ways of regulating the issues.

The leadership style of Madeline was respectful for both genders. In her interview, Madeline mentioned that she had not had any female role models, male leaders inspired her (Wall Street Journal, 2008). In her political career, Albright had been continuously fighting not only for women’s rights but also for human rights in general. She believed that she was the one to show other women an example of strong will, elegance, and diplomatic success. She was deeply influenced by her father, who became an inspiration and a mentor in her leadership. Because of this, Albright continues to fight for the equality and inspire women to help each other and work side by side with men.

As a leader, Albright had to overcome various challenges that had a negative influence on her career. Albright mentioned in one of her interviews that she had never seen a secretary in a skirt (Wall Street Journal, 2008). It means that Albright had to survive in the men’s world with a desire to build her political career and be accepted equally with the male politicians. However, her exceptional ability made challenges the beneficial points in the improvement of the career and her political position. It is one of her leadership strategies that inspired her to turn challenges into positive solutions. It is a key to the successful career and balanced performance. In addition, it is essential to point at the outlining peculiarity of Albright, which might refer to the female leadership in general. Albright pursued a caring approach towards every opponent and respected every individual with the same equality. As a woman, Albright strived to bring peace and comfort in every questionable situation (Wood, 1994). Albright also struggled to survive in the men’s world. It means that she faced many difficulties while pursuing a personal point of view. Nevertheless, Madeline Albright managed to gain respect from Bill and Hillary Clinton. They supported her leadership ideology (UCLA Luskin, 2014). In addition, the female characteristic in Madeline’s leadership style is her focus on the tasks (Krinzman, 2015). A task-focused approach is a primary difference of a female leadership style. It is also a specific characteristic feature of Albright’s performance. She understood the importance of every political task in terms of international peace and comfort in the communication (Riggio, 2010). Moreover, Madeline felt the responsibility for connecting the social needs to the political performance in order to reach the consensus in the development of the social welfare.

In conclusion, it is necessary to mention that Madeline Albright is a respected female leader who knew from the start how to build her career in the world of male dominance. As a result, the discussion proved that Madeline had the outstanding leadership skills and natural attributions, which formed the core of the political career. Madeline also managed to transform the challenges of her life into benefits. In addition, it became obvious that Madeline pursued a democratic leadership style where respect to both genders prevailed.