Daniel Goleman's What Makes A Good Leader?

Standing before the podium is a leader with their back straight, their feet planted firmly on the ground, and their voice reaching out to the people around them. Men, women, and children all stand together listening to their leader with their minds and hearts. Throughout history, there have been numerous leaders, such as the famous Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., and Gandhi. These individuals all shared the same qualities to make them successful leaders, and these qualities helped them to accomplish their goals. In Daniel Goleman’s article “What Makes a Leader?,” Goleman mentions five important qualities of a good leader: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. These qualities can be seen in some of

Hurst shows the Brother leading Doodle to walk in the lines: “It seemed so hopeless from the beginning that it 's a miracle I didn 't give up. But all of us must have something or someone to be proud of, and Doodle had become mine,” (2). While the Brother harbored negative emotions for Doodle in the beginning of the story, the Brother begins to warm up to Doodle. The Brother takes on a role as a leader as shown when he says “I didn’t give up.” Even though Doodle’s circumstances make him seem “hopeless,” the Brother still had faith that Doodle could overcome his obstacles. Using his position and power as an older sibling, the Brother pushes Doodle to try to walk. Through the Brother’s motivation, Doodle successfully learns to walk. These actions show that the Brother is both motivated and self-aware of the circumstances that he and Doodle are

The Brother has many flaws such as not being self-regulated as shown from his inconsistent behavior. For example, the Brother is not always empathetic and is sometimes selfish. This is shown when he leaves Doodle at the end, which then results in Doodle’s death. Despite his flaws and the long term results, the Brother is still a good leader because he helps Doodle in the short term when no one else would. The Brother is put in a position where he is the only leader available for Doodle, even though he is extremely young. The parents, who would be leaders under normal circumstances, do not involve themselves or lead Doodle: “If I so much as picked up my cap, he 'd start crying to go with me and Mama would call from where she was, ‘Take Doodle with you,’” (Hurst, 2). They do not motivate Doodle, and they do not yield results that benefit Doodle. This forces the Brother to lead Doodle since he would “take Doodle” with him everywhere; the Brother should not have been forced to lead at such a young age. Although the Brother was too young to lead, he did help Doodle reach many accomplishments in the short term that could overcome the long term failures. If the Brother had been older and more self-regulated, there is a chance that the Brother would have been mature enough to be consistently