Biography Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Biography Assignment - Essay Example d as a Prime Minister for two different periods including the 11 year period starting from 1966 and ending in 1977 and then she held the office of Prime Minister for a 4 year period ranging from 1980 to 1984. She was still holding the office when she was removed from the face of the earth through murder and she successfully became the only female Prime Minister in the history of India. This writing will focus on the leadership autobiography of Indira Gandhi and will reflect upon why she is one of the major examples of a successful leader. The way a leader leads is referred to his/her personal philosophy of leadership. Different leaders follow a different philosophy of leadership. Leaders follow the dictatorial, participative, delegative philosophies of leadership. Indira Gandhi and her actions reveal that she followed an autocratic form of leadership philosophy. A leader who follows this philosophy tends to communicate clear expectations that he/she may have from her followers. They do not only inform the followers about what needs to be done, they even tell them how operations are to be carried out. These leaders try to alienate themselves from the followers and create clear distinction between the two in the eyes of others. They themselves make the decisions and do not allow the followers to participate and expect the followers to follow those decisions obediently. One of the reasons due to which it is believed that Indira Gandhi was an autocratic leader is that she was held responsible for conducting acts of corru ption and even after she was found to be guilty, she did not give up her position and instead instated emergency after 19752. This shows that Indira Gandhi thought of herself as someone who is above all and has a higher status as compared to others. She did not only declare emergency. She even disallowed the press to report freely and she even went a step further by detaining members of opposition’s political parties. This shows that Indira Gandhi