JFK's Leadership
As that of any successful leader, Kennedy's leadership style is a complex combination of different qualities and characteristics. This paper will analyze several of them, as well as the leadership profile overall, with the purpose of understanding what made Kennedy an effective leader and whether this was indeed the case.
Hald-Mortensen (2007) looks at three different areas where Kennedy excelled and that contributed to making Kennedy an effective leader: vision, decision making and delegation. He points out, first of all, that Kennedy had vision, something essential for an effective leader. In practical terms, vision meant that he knew where the U.S. should end up in the future and molded his policy accordingly.
One such example of a clear vision for Kennedy was the space program and the Moon Project. The space program involved not only the vision that competition for the outer space would be the next area of dispute with the Soviet Union, but also that the space program would eventually allow the American government to prove its superiority to the rest of the world, as an effective public diplomacy instrument.
Another example of visionary leadership was the idea of a peaceful coexistence with the Soviets, particularly since this occurred after an event such as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The resulting "Test Ban Treaty" speech at the American University underscored the most important elements of a policy that would be aimed not towards confrontation, but towards cooperation, and one where the U.S. could develop the economic, social and democracy tools that eventually brought down the Soviet Union.
The decision making style that Kennedy employed throughout his presidency is versatile. He starts with a loose coordination of the agencies, but, after the Bay of Pigs, he moves to a model where they are more closely coordinated and reigned in when necessary. He brings trusted advisers, including his brother, Robert Kennedy, then Attorney General. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he adopts a collegial model of decision making, where he looked to ideas from all members of the Executive Committee that was tasked with making decisions.
One essential leadership quality that shows itself during the Cuban Missile Crisis...
Kennedy and Brinkley President John Fitzgerald Kennedy is an important figure in American history and was instrumental in shaping the American identity in the second half of the twentieth century. His personality and optimism, as well as his heroism in the Second World War helped the country to formulate a hope that the 1960s could be a time of renewal and rebirth in the United States of America. In recent years,
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