Eleanor Roosevelt Leadership Style Paper

Biography

Eleanor Roosevelt was born in October 11, 1884. She started off her life being extremely shy, but she was able to move beyond that (Mahady, 1). She married Franklin Roosevelt in 1905. Eleanor helped him while he was in the senate and started becoming active in politics. He became president and she became a first lady in 1933. Eleanor was a unique first lady because she used her own voice. She was involved in the civil rights movement and women's rights. She even helped her husband by being his eyes and ears when he had polio. According to an article I read on Eleanor, author Doris Goodwin says "Eleanor gave a voice to people who did not have power. She was the first women to speak at a national convention, to write a syndicated column, to earn money as a lecturer and hold press conferences", (Goodwin, 1). As you can see, this woman was not afraid to pursue anything! After her husband's death, she became a spokesperson for the United Nations.

I chose to do my leadership paper about Eleanor because she is a good role model. She used her talents of public speaking and organization to lead change in the United States. She inspires me because she became the first "first lady" to break out of the traditional role and become a powerful leader. She also inspires me because she knew what she believed in and she never compromised those values. She was a leader in her own way and used her own talents. She is the type of person I would like to model myself after.

Leadership Theory

When I looked at the way Eleanor led, I can say she was a transformational leader (Hamilton, 273). She inspired others to follow her in the women's movements, as well as inspire her husband to follow her advice. She was able lay out a vision for many of her ideas. She formulated and executed plans to create child care centers for working women (Goodwin, 2). She often would provide her husband, the president with memos and reports of her ideas over dinner. She was definitely able to provide the follow through on her ideas. I would say she also had charisma. She was likeable and carried herself in a certain way that people wanted to hear what she had to say.