Vladimir Putin Ethical Leadership

“There is Putin and there is Russia, no Putin, no Russia.” Consider this statement, meant as a positive affirmation toward Vladimir V. Putin in 2014 by Russia’s then Deputy Chief of Staff, Vyacheslav Volodin. It was. What kind of leader is Vladimir Putin, considering this notion that Putin, or any leader, as the singular identity of an entire country? It is my claim that Vladimir Putin, through his own actions, decisions and behaviors, is a visionary and unethical leader. Through the course of this essay I will focus on key Barnes Center lesson principles of Diversity, Team Dynamics, Ethical leadership and Critical Thinking, providing definitions and examples relating to Putin’s visionary and unethical leadership traits. Finally, I will

Within Ethical leadership, I will define and describe how Putin falls into Ethical Traps/drive for success, and within Critical Thinking, I will define and describe how Putin disregards the concept of Open-Mindedness. According to Barnes Center, the Ethical leadership trap, drive for success, occurs when decisions are made based on a “win at all costs” attitude rather than on military rules, regulations, and codes of conduct. Critical thinking, open-mindedness can be defined as involves a willingness to investigate viewpoints that are different from your own. A 2010 Washington Post Editorial noted that Russia's past year was marked by "electoral abuses, declining religious freedom, greater state controls over the presentation of history, growing police corruption, and the repeated use of political terror against victims including human rights activists and journalists." This quotation suggests that Putin’s actions, behaviors, and decisions reveal a win-at-all-cost mentality, shutting out any opposition and consolidating power w/hand-picked loyalists. Putin is particularly close-minded to considering others views and opinions, especially when it comes to divergent views on politics, religion, and freedoms within Russia. How does the understanding of visionary and ethical leadership influence my decisions and give meaning for how I want to shape my

I covered how Putin’s visionary leadership traits ignored key aspects of diversimilarity and show how he was methodical in planning and executing is objectives. I also demonstrated how his drive for success and a lack of open-mindedness made him an unethical leader. Finally, I reflected on my own leadership as it pertains to these lesson principles, and my pursuit to continue growing as a self-aware leader. Perhaps there would be no Russia, as we currently know it, without Putin”, certainly he has shaped his country and has effected countless lives and treasure. Influential Russian author, Fyodor Dostoevsky might have foreshadowed such a leader as Putin in his book The Brothers Karamazov: “He understood very well that for the meek soul of a simple Russian, exhausted by grief and hardship and, above all, by constant injustice and sin, there was no stronger need than to find a holy shrine or a saint to prostrate himself before to worship”. Considering the needless suffering caused by Putin’s actions, decisions, and behaviors, I strive to be an ethical leader, considering the diversity of the airmen within my own sphere of