Watership Down
1. Discuss the qualities of a good leader. Give real-life examples. What are some qualities of "bad" leaders? Examples?
2. If you could create your own form of government, how would you do it? What laws would you make? Customs? Holidays? Be creative!
I believe it takes a special formation of qualities to be a good leader. No one quality makes a person more apt to lead than another. On that note I think some of the main qualities are the ability to listen and emphasize with others, a sense of direction and ambition,a creative mind, compromising skills and a firm believe in self. If a person does not even belief in what they are saying, why should anyone else? A good leader can cause a person to not only believe in them and what they stand for, but also in themselves.
ReplyDeleteA poor leader would be a person who is inflexible and able to change with changing issues as well as the times. A bad leader would also show a lack of respect for the people they represent and not have a positive and energetic attitude toward their duties. The worst leader is selfish, narrow minded a person who can not hear out who they represent.
One quality of good leadership most people don't think about is the ability to follow directions. A good example of this bad example might be . . . Dea. Her inability to follow directions is evident in the fact that she gave no examples, good or bad, in her blog. Consequently, she's my example. Thank you Dea.
ReplyDeleteTanner, thank you for pointing out my mistake but also thank you with providing me with another quality and example. A bad quality in a leader is a person who tries to find the flaws in the people of its party and not bring out their great contributing attributes to the party. A good example of this bad example would be Tanner's last blog. And I want to point out leaders usually give directions not follow!! Follwers are by the dozen, dance to the beat of your own drum!!!!
ReplyDeleteIf I were to create my own government I would make it resemble an Oligarchy. I would go about creating a new society of sorts and myself and another would be in authority. That way there were two voices in decisions not just one powerful one. I would also place others in command to help get the voices of the people heard, as like Dea I believe that a good leader should be able to listen and be open to ideas. I would use some laws from the U.S but I would also put more emphasis on some. Beginning with treating everyone in the same manner, we would also try to make more job opportunities. Also if I was in charge of a new government I would put more emphasis on celebrations that shaped our country. Martin Luther King Jr day example would have more emphasis. Holidays would also resemble that of the U.S. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Fourth of July would all be celebrated however my leader and I would make a holiday dedicated to the formation of our new government. We would also make a holiday committed to the working people, not just Labor Day, but something more celebrated to the extent of the celebration of Christmas. Like in “Watership Down” I expect there to be some hardships and disputes however with the right government and leaders I believe it could work.
ReplyDeleteI only find flaws so that they may be corrected in the name of efficiency and learning from our mistakes. Also I am aware that as leaders, we should tend to lead rather than follow; however, followers are just as important as leaders. Additionally, it is sometimes a leader's job to follow for the sake of progress. For example, although I'm a leader, as vice president of the student body, I often follow your direction as it is often necessary. Ergo, following can and is an important leadership quality, I mean, what would Shelby High do without me?(shudder).
ReplyDeleteI agree with you both, Dea and Tanner. I also believe a good leader needs to have a strong moral compass. There is no point in having a leader if he or she cannot determine right from wrong. I also think that to have a successful leader they need to be organized and on top of things. A bad leader, I view as not having any organization or plan of action.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to make my own government it would be a type of democracy. I like that too much now to get rid of it when I rule my country. However, there would be no elections for president because it would obviously be me. Until I'm old, rich, and famous then we would start having elections for president. However, during that period would be elections for other officers. However, I would not get to pick my own "Cabinet" like the leaders here in the great U.S. of A. get to. The people would pick who I have to work with, this way their voices would be heard.
ReplyDeleteAll the traditional holidays would be celebrated such as Christmas, New Years, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, you know, the works. Except, there would not be a Valentine's Day. Sometimes, that holiday is just way too depressing for too many people. To replace Valentine's Day I would have a federal holiday where everyone does whatever they want the whole day. Every business and school would be closed that day. It would be the same day as the current Valentine's Day so people could still be romantic and what not that day. However, they would just have to deal with the fact that there was not a "Valentine's Day Special" at Target.
I agree with both Dea and Tanner on the leader question. However, I also believe that a good leader would know when to step down and allow their group to take over. Of course, the leader would still be present to observe and intervene when needed. A group of "followers" will produce more leaders in time if the current leader works in this fashion. This way the leader could, when needed hand the group off to the next leader in line when the time has come and the next would be prepared for that responsibility.
ReplyDeleteA bad leader would push the responsibility of the group onto another person without them being fully prepared. That may result in the group falling apart and the entire project collapsing.
To me it is almost easier to be bad leader than to be a good leader. Yes, that sounds bad but a corrupt leader just pawns all their responsibility off to another, like Emily said. A good leader has to strive to do the right thing and not give in to peer pressure. Like Hazel did, some of the rabbits wanted to stop and just stay where they were, Hazel continued to push the group. If Hazel was a bad leader he would have just settled and stayed where they were despite Fiver’s urge to go on. He trusted his instinct and moral compass to look for a more suitable environment. Bigwig also shows good following skills when he backs up Hazel in his decision.
ReplyDeleteThere are countless qualities that define good leaders. The two most important qualities are:
ReplyDelete1. Confidence and
2. A loud voice
If you are a boisterous, confident person, you could lead an entire Hutterite colony to the promised land. (?)
My made-up form of government would be called "Holden-garchy." There would be two rules:
ReplyDelete1. No one gets graded on their work or judged for their actions, and
2. Everyone loves everyone
That's it. Those are the only two rules. The only holiday would be March 16, my birthday. And Christmas, I guess.
A few things-
ReplyDeleteHolden: I want to live in the "Holden-garchy"!!
Tanner:The question and your previous response were about LEADERS not followers; didn't say they were less important just FOLLOWED ME SOME DIRECTIONS! Showing that I learned from my mistake and I believe that is a more important quality than following directions. Some rules were made to break. In conclusion, Shelby High would be just fine.
My government would be a Utopian society in which everyone walked on their toes and were al 5 foot. Then no peoples could be discriminated against. Holdiays would remain the same as they are now.
Holden: although I acknowledge confidence as a definite leadership quality, I'm not so sure about being boisterous. A certain Mr. Roosevelt said "speak socket and carry a big stick". Also,I'm curious as to what effect you were going for with the whole hutterite colony claim. Please let me know what that was about.
ReplyDelete"speak softly and carry a big stick" not speak socket. Auto-correct.
ReplyDelete