Leadership: One Person Can Make A Difference.

By A,Abeku Haywood-Dadzie

What difference can one person make? Is it really possible for one person to make a difference? It’s easy to feel that one person can’t make a difference. But you may be wrong, "one person can make a difference," and as John F. Kennedy put it, "everyone should try." The world has seen many ordinary people who believed in their ability to do extraordinary things, to help other ordinary people believe that extraordinary things are possible. Some of these regular people have influenced the world at large, not just in their own countries.

People throughout history have believed that by acting in a certain way, they could inspire others to dream more, study more, do more, and grow bigger. These extraordinary people believe that by serving others well, they create a chain of impact that outlasts them and helps all of humanity. As a result, they never underestimate the impact they have on the lives of those they come into contact with. They believe that one person can make a difference.

Leadership is the product of several factors. Key among them is influence. Leaders recognise that one of the most important aspects of their job is to influence their followers by igniting their passion and inspiring them to strive for nothing less than perfection in their goals.?Rosalynn Carter the former first lady of the United States, captured it like this "A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be. "

The extent of influence a leader has is determined by the leader’s individualism [idv] score. The strength of a leader's ties with his or her followers is measured by the individualism score . Leaders with high individualism scores are very individualistic and have a "me first" perspective, whereas those with low individualism scores have a "team or community first" mindset, have higher team or group cohesion, and have a high degree of influence. The final result of group adherence to particular decisions and behaviours is The end result of influence, especially from leaders with low individualism scores, is conformity among the group to particular decisions and behavior.

Leadership is influence, and having a positive influence on others begins with a single thought and the willingness to dream beyond your days. This dream then turns into adrenaline, fueling your vision and propelling you towards your objective. According to Simon Sinek, "There are leaders, and there are those that lead." Anyone can become a "leader" by virtue of their position, but a few go above and beyond simply being a "leader" to become an "effective leader."

It is always easy to come up with a list of powerful leaders who have had great influence on people. However, this list is often subjective as it’s endless. My top twenty includes: Fidel Castro and Che Guevara of Cuba, Charles de Gaulle and Napoleon Bonaparte of France; Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher of the UK. Franklin D Roosevelt, George Washington and Adolf Hitler, Abraham Lincoln, John F Kennedy of the US, Mahatma Gandhi of Indian Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Golder Mayer of Israel, Muammar Gadhafi of Libya, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Osama bin Laden … ...............The list is endless, but below are my favourites in terms of their ability to influence their followers.

As the leader of the first black African country to break free from colonial oppression, Nkrumah triumphantly led Ghana to independence in 1957, becoming an international emblem of freedom. As the Gold Coast became Ghana at midnight on March 5, 1957, Nkrumah proclaimed,?: 'We are going to see that we create our own African personality and identity." We again rededicate ourselves to the struggle to emancipate other countries in Africa; for our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent. " K Kwame Nkrumah was been named "Man of the Millennium" by BBC Africa listeners.

Mandela demonstrated to the world that vengeance is not the solution to decades of injustice. Even though he had the state apparatus at his disposal, he came out of prison after 27 years and turned away from settling personal??scores. President Mandela inherited a divided country. Apartheid had created a chasm that could only be compared to the difference between night and day. He was able to break into the system and repair some of the flaws that apartheid had caused. Mandela was successful in bringing the divided nation together to win the world championship by utilising forgiveness as a weapon to balance black hopes and expectations with white fear and fright.

Barack Obama, the American President of Kenyan ancestry, stood on Martin Luther King's shoulders and believed that one person can make a difference.This helped him to win the toughest battle for leadership in the world, the American Presidency. "He convinced people to come out in their droves of millions to pledge support for his ideals, and he captured the hearts and minds of millions of Americans and people around the world who believed in him." Many believed that America would never see an African American President, but his charisma and likability led people to identify with him and support his belief that ‘yes we can’. People believed in his vision and, more importantly, in his capacity to deliver on it, and this facilitated his rise to become the most powerful man in the world. Barack Obama displays many of the qualities needed to be a leader; charisma, a belief in his own abilities, a great use of language, and an awareness of human emotions."

From 1934 through 1945, Adolf Hitler was the head of Nazi Germany. He instituted fascist policies that resulted in World War II and the murder of millions of?people. "People like Adolf Hitler are most typically remembered for their atrocities and for instigating World War II, which resulted in the killing of six million Jews." However, not everyone knew that he was one of the best communicators of the twentieth century. Hitler was able to unite all of Germany to go on the road to war by using his charisma and effective communication. " Great communicators can take you somewhere you wouldn't be able to go on your own.

Martin Luther King was born Michael Luther King on January 15, 1929, and later changed his name to Martin Luther King. King is best known for leading the American Civil Rights Movement and fighting discrimination against African Americans in the United States. He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which ended on December 20, 1956, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. The Birmingham Campaign was initiated by Martin Luther King Jr. in early 1963 as a response to this. started the Birmingham Campaign, which resulted in Connor losing his job and the city's discriminatory laws being changed by the municipal government. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech to a crowd of approximately 250,000 people on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Question: Have you ever seen or heard anything like this? Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech was delivered in 1963. "The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless" speech, 1957, by Kwame Nkrumah. Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" speech in 2008, Mahatma Gandhi's "Kashmir Issue speech" in 1948, and Winston Churchill's "Blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech in 1940.These are timeless lectures that appeal to people of all generations.

Regardless of one’s religious affiliation, Jesus Christ is the greatest inspirational leader I have ever read about. You don't have to be a Christian to learn leadership lessons from His inspirational leadership style. Despite being executed as a criminal with two criminals, the famous Carpenter from Nazareth managed to start a faith that now has more than 2 billion followers on the surface of this earth and has lasted over 2,000 years. He purposefully invested in and inspired his followers, who included tax collectors and fishermen, as well as unlearned, ignorant, and ordinary men, to take over the ministry and do greater things.Acts 4v13 is key when it comes to Jesus Christ's inspirational leadership style. When the council saw the boldness of Peter and John and could see that they were obviously uneducated non-professionals, they were amazed and realised what being with Jesus had done for them." [TLB]

Here's the conclusion of the whole write-up: "One person can make a difference." In fact, it's not only possible for one person to make a difference, it's essential that one person make a difference. And believe it or not, that person is you. Bob Riley