Aung San Suu Kyi Leadership Style
“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.” This opening line of Aung San Suu Kyi’s 1990 “Freedom from Fear” speech has really stricken me with its remarkably clever, straightforward and brave message. Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of Burma’s National League for Democracy and the first ever woman to have received a Nobel Peace Prize. Watching her biopic, The Lady, really moved and inspired me. The movie chronicles how she became Burma’s beloved transformational leader. Despite of all the hardships that she went through and sacrifices that she made, Suu Kyi never wavered in making the dream of a free and democratic Burma into a reality. As a leader, Aung San Suu Kyi exhibited certain leadership traits such as being honest, inspiring, intelligent, determined, courageous, caring, and self-controlled.
What’s truly amazing about her is that regardless of her fragile and vulnerable appearance, she is able to show great bravery and strength. She stayed calm and collected amidst dangerous situations. She truly has the ability to set emotions aside, and rationally and calmly discuss an issue with a conflicting party. Aung San Suu Kyi’s leadership style might be classified as transformational. . Transformational leaders have integrity. They inspire people with a shared vision of the future, set clear goals, motivate people towards these goals, manage delivery, and communicate well. Suu Kyi exhibited the role of a transformational leader very well alongside the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
Aung San Suu Kyi is beyond doubt an inspiration to the whole world. She is an epitome of a leader who fights for his/her convictions in a peaceful, calm, empathic, and nonviolent manner. As what she has said, “I don’t think violence really pays, I think violence begets violence.” She made many sacrifices, the most precious of which is her family, but she was very dedicated in her role as a catalyst of political reform in her homeland. Suu Kyi is a leader to behold and her story is a great inspiration for those who strive for freedom, common good, and justice for all.
