I Would Appreciate Feedback on my AWA issue task Essay!

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Prompt: Although sound moral judgment is an important characteristic of an effective leader, it is not as important as a leader’s ability to maintain the respect of his or her peers.

 

Directions:Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

 

Essay:

A successful leader needs to express a multitude of important characteristics. Two of these characteristics are good moral judgment and the ability to hold the respect of peers. It is more important that a leader maintains respect from his peers over possessing strong moral judgment because having respect increases the effectiveness of the leader and their actions while in power.

 

Maintaining the respect of peers allows a leader to inact productive measures. When a leader is highly regarded in the eyes of the public, people are more likely to trust and throw public support behind their decisions. For example, if the leader of a high school math club inacted the decision to expand the club to include gifted 8th graders, his decision would be supported and trusted more by his peers if he already has a foundation of respect. This decision has little to do with moral judgment and a lot to do with the respected decision making process of the leader. If respect were to be absent, his peers may counter this idea and prevent the inclusion. Therefore, respect from peers is essential for productive actions and change from a leader.

 

Additionally, maintaining respect as a leader is important to keeping the position as leader and preventing civil unrest. Leadership should be built on a solid foundation that is trusted by the constituents. If the constituents do not respect who is in charge, then there is the chance for rebellion against the leadership and the leader would loss their position. For example, if the leader of the math club posted on his social media about how much he hated math, then his return to school on the Monday would likely be met by extreme scrutiny from his peers. This loss of respect would likely lead to his downfall as the leader of the team and the decision to include gifted 8th graders would never go forward. Therefore, respect remains a critical aspect of keeping ones leadership position and preventing rebellion.

 

However, there are situations in which sound moral judgment can be more important than maintaining respect. For example, as a powerful leader, such as the President of the United States, it is important to resist temptations of corruption and instead follow sound moral judgment to make smart, empathetic decisions for the public. Making decisions based on a solid foundation of moral judgment is crucial for social change even though it may cause the loss of respect in certain populations. For example, when President Obama ruled gay marriage legal in the United States, he was making this decision partly based on his moral judgment as a leader. Although this decision lead to the loss of respect in the more conservative populations, the moral soundness that he expressed through this judgment was extremely beneficial for society. Therefore, it was more important in this circumstance that the leader expressed moral soundness over caring about the respect of his peers.

 

In conclusion, maintaining respect as a leader is often more important than having sound moral judgment because the actions and decisions of the leader can be more productive and successful with the respect of peers. What the leader lacks in moral judgment can often be made up by the willingness of his peers to help form and support the leader's decisions.