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Critical Leadership Analysis of Moses and Allan Joyce

             Leadership is a topic frequently and widely discussed in the contemporary business environments. This is because people are interested in knowing who the leaders are, specific things they do to succeed, personal traits that what makes them succeed in various challenging situations. Resultantly, studies have been conducted on leadership, but there is still scarce information on the complexities of practicing leadership. Currently, leadership plays a critical role in the growth and sustainability of the organization. An effective leader is talented in inspiring others towards organizational commitment with shared objectives, views, and a common sketch for the workers to attain the desired result. In the modern Australian business market, effective leaders are required to guide the company within the competitive market and sustain the organization to ensure that such organizations achieve financial viability.  Therefore, this paper discusses and critically reviews the leadership traits of Moses and Allan Joyce. It specifically examines the leadership approaches that these individuals take within a work related environment.

Humility is a leadership trait that Moses depicted. Moses humbly and reluctantly accepted the Lord’s directive to salvage Israelites from atrocities they were facing in Egypt. He accepted this offer only after realizing that Aaron was offered as an intermediary to people, after which he instantly sought permission from his Midianite relative to return to Egypt. He humbled himself as he wondered how the Pharaoh could pay attention to a person like him who had uncircumcised lips. He displayed humility by considering his needs, whether personal or professional, as secondary to the needs of the Israelites. This, according to DuBrin (2016), is a critical difference from other leadership styles such as participative or democratic because he desired to serve his followers in a more appropriate that emanate either from an innate desire for power nor a belief that he is the most suitable to lead.

Moses also exhibited respect for the “workers” of his corporation through his tenacity, single mindedness, and perseverance, a passion for excellence in assisting others fulfil more for themselves. His greatest examples of endurance and tenacity are certainly his frequent appeals to the Pharaoh to release the Israelites when Egypt was hardly hit by the ten plagues. Moses exhibited a high level of self-confidence as plagues continued to claim lives, maturing from initially believing that Pharaoh would set the Israelites free following the evasion of frogs to his rejection of Pharaoh’s offer of allowing the Israelites to offer sacrifices to the Lord in the land of Egypt when the plague of flies was being experienced in the land to him telling the Pharaoh that he is sure that he will be adamant to release the Israelites even after the plague of hail. As a servant leader, Moses depicted perseverance while dealing with his fellow Israelite experts of the Exodus in the sporadic problems to his leadership, questioning of the main mission and frequent appeals and requests to return to Egypt. Essentially, this was true during the renowned crossing of the Red Sea before the Egyptian military when they were requesting for water to quench their thirty in the Book of Exodus, as well as in the Book of Numbers where they requested for meat at Taberah and protested for the boredom of consuming manna at Edom among others.

Integrity is another critical leadership trait that Moses exhibited. He not only sacrificed by abandoning a privileged life in Egypt and by turning down offers to become a new Abraham, but also managed to see the Israelite suffering notwithstanding the fact that he has never been bondage himself. Reportedly, Moses’ character and integrity are evidenced by his assistance extended to one of his fellow Hebrews who was being beaten by an Egyptian in Exodus 2:11 and immediately after assisting the Mediante women give water to their flocks without any disturbance from local shepherds (Platow et al., 2015). Essentially, the ironies evident in the mentioned acts of generosity are that in the stated cases, Moses is viewed publicly as an Egyptian assisting a member of a marginalized community and that maybe in the future he will become one of these mentioned shepherds.  For this reason, Moses offered a leadership example of being a perfect shepherd several years before God called him to lead the Israelites.

Another leadership trait that can be ascribed to Moses is his creativity in adopting innovations among the Israelites whether directed by God or suggested by other people. One of the most outstanding among these innovations from the business standpoint is the delegation of authority bestowed at Moses’ command towards developing and fostering the next group of leaders in the organization. Moses was brought up in a royal Egyptian court that was ruled by an absolute monarch who was only assisted by magicians where he could have ascended to power many years later (Rawung, Wuryaningrat & Elvinita, 2015). However, he established a completely different sphere of influence for his brother Aaron as well as, his sons by developing the priesthood, with all the sacrifices and rituals that went along with it. Following the release of Israelites from Egyptian bondage, Moses established the first alter sacrifices and documented the mostly civil law given by God after the Ten Commandments. However, based on God’s directive, Moses also delegated the priesthood to the family of Aaron and conveyed the God’s instructions for constructing a Holy Ark and a tent of conferences as illustrated in Exodus 25, 28 and 35.  Interestingly, Moses also enacted the institution of the Sabbath prior to the commandment to commemorate the fact that it was handed over at Mount Sinai, as well as, the first yearly remembrance of the Passover holiday as a key innovation within the religious life of his group. On the same note, he strictly adhered to the advice given to him by his father in law Jethro in delegating levels of judgeships for making decisions on smaller cases that only influenced tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands in a bid to save energy and time. More importantly, Moses played a critical role in establishing and enacting more equitable laws of inheritance by informing the Lord about the case of daughters of Zelophehad in the book of Numbers 27.1

Moses also depicted the leadership trait of physical and mental competence that propelled him to perform his duties perfectly for long. Initially, he had the physical strength to thrash the Egyptian who arresting a Hebrew, transverse the desert to Midian and drive away the shepherds molesting the daughters of Jethro. While at Mount Horeb or Sinai, Moses climbed the mountain for forty days for the initial set of tablets and for another 40 days without any water and food while having the strength, as well as, physical endurance to disintegrate the initial pair of tablets and later smash the golden calf to powder. It is also interesting to note that Moses personally built the tabernacle where he could meet the Lord once the dedicated Israelites has fashioned the materials. 

On the other hand, Allan Joyce, the CEO of Qantas Airlines, incorporated numerous general leadership traits that made him a great leader. First, he was self-confident. Self confidence in a leader encompasses being self-assured without necessarily being arrogant, pretentious or being a leader capable of fostering and instilling self confidence in the members of the team (Financial Review, 2017). As a leader, Allan Joyce projected his self confidence in his team and inspired them to address challenges head on and believed that in case the team works as a unit, they can realize better results.

Courage is another leadership trait that Alan Joyce exhibited. Financial Review (2017) reported that Alan was extremely courageous on the manner in which he took over the unions and airline. Joyce never contemplated resigning even during the hardest times of 2014 when Qantas Airlines recorded a huge loss of $2.8 billion, retrenched over 5000 employees and its share fell below $1 (Financial Review, 2017). Allan’s courage also enabled him to leverage his profile within the business community to champion for marriage equality and raise awareness regarding prostate cancer.

Alan is considered a gentleman with outstanding enthusiasm and passion for his work.  Reports indicate that he is famous for having a passion for mathematics and he posited that this has assisted him in making decisions because such decisions are often based on information and facts. For instance, his decision to transform the whole workforce of Qantas was a strategic decision that came forth as an effective result for the airline business because he managed to meditate between Qantas and the unions, a situation that compelled the organization to make some compromises. Alan acted authoritatively to rebuild the brand image of Qantas Airline and instilling trust and confidence among workers, customers and stakeholders. He depicted an outstanding leadership trait with a clear vision with humble and modest attitude towards his employees and subordinates and also had very decisive actions towards his job responsibilities.

Ethical/Moral Dilemma

            An ethical dilemma refers to a moral situation where choice must be made between two equally undesirable options and they have emanated because of various reasons including behavior, attitude and failure of personal character among others. One day, as Moses was walking, he witnessed an Egyptian beating up a Jew. He responded by striking down the Egyptian, killing him on the spot and hid his body. Essentially, the actions that Moses took are both moral and ethical dilemma because they raise the concerns of society and law that are critical to the moral standings or beliefs of every human being. On one hand, Moses exhibited great bravery by stopping oppression that was being perpetuated by the Egyptian to his fellow Jew. In fact, his decision to stop such a terrible injustice is admirable and certainly many people would have the courage to attempt averting any act of physical violence when accorded the opportunity. On the flip side, his actions raised many ethical questions. Was it necessary for Moses to kill the Egyptian? Why Moses did hide the body and pretended that nothing actually happened. Plus, why did flee the country once his actions were discovered instead of standing up and taking responsibility for this actions.

            Just like Moses, Alan Joyce was faced with the issue of championing for equal marriage rights including that of gays and improving the company’s brand image and reputation. Alan took the opportunity to openly inform other corporations across Australia and the world to champion for same sex marriage because he believed that is what a good business does (The Guardian, 2019). To address this issue, Alan set aside some funds to champion for marriage equality and mobilized his employees to support his course.

Analysis

              Although little information is provided surrounding the situations under which Moses killed the Egyptian man, evidence indicate that Moses was aware of his Jewish heritage during that period. Moreover, it is also known the Jewish has endured great pain under Pharaoh. Thus, as a leader, Moses reacted on behalf of all the Jewish against their suffering and oppression, motivated by the injustice we experienced. He was also disturbed by the privileged life he was living in Pharaoh’s house yet his close relatives and parents were living in servitude. Therefore, Moses’ actions was morally right because it was meant to bring good to many people (Jews) who were suffering in the hands of Pharaoh. Similarly, Alan championed for marriage equality not simply because it was an ethical thing to do but because there was indeed a significant business for it. According to him, his workers wanted the organization to amicably address this issue and that Generation Y wanted to work for an organization with a social conscience (The Guardian, 2019). He depicted effective leadership by first considering various needs of his employees and closing his ears to what the public say. He believed that to get talent, a leader must first address social issues that employees experience as this will inspire other qualified applicants to work for an organization where their social needs are addressed adequately.

Alan Joyce and Moses are outstanding leaders. The two thoughtfully addressed their situations by depicting the leadership traits of courage, humility, accountability and integrity. Alan Joyce courageously took over Qantas Airline despite the financial challenges that the organization was facing. He never resigned, but instead restructured the organization and formulated innovative ideas and strategies to ensure that the organization succeeds. Similarly, Moses used his courage to creatively implement innovations among the Israelites that were either directed by God or suggested by other people. In particular, he delegated the power given to him to develop and foster the next group of leaders. Moreover, he formulated civil, as well as, equitable laws of inheritance to bring equity and sanity in the society.

Delegation, humility, and perseverance are the leadership traits I can use to the leadership development.  Humility ensures that leaders understand the fact they too have inadequacies. As such, they should encourage others to air out their views, respect differences of views and foster the best ideas regardless of whether such ideas emanate from the top management or lowly ranked employees (Shah, & Hamid, 2015). Essentially, humility enables leaders to get the best out of others. In particular, when situations turn out worse, humble leaders accept their mistakes and take responsibility while when things happen in the right way; they recognize the contributions of others. Similarly, delegation helps in getting things done but also inspires workers by providing them with greater autonomy. Certainly, no leader can perform everything at all times and therefore delegation is essential in improving team and organizational efficiency and performance. Lastly, a leader that exhibits perseverance hardly gives in when faced with challenges or unexpected problems threatening to discourage members of the team as they strive to succeed. Therefore, perseverance will enable the leader to endure when experiencing difficulties and when the morale of the team is extremely low.

In conclusion, courage, perseverance, humility, and integrity are key traits that made Moses an effective leader. He humbly and reluctantly accepted the Lord’s directive to salvage Israelites from atrocities they were facing in Egypt and creatively formulated approaches that made this mission a reality. Similarly, self-confidence and courage made Alan Joyce a transformational leader. He courageously tackled the financial challenges that the organization was facing and championed for the rights of its workers regardless of their social stand in the society.  More importantly, delegation, humility, and perseverance are the leadership traits I can use to foster leadership development.