Hitler's Powerful Leadership

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Hitler's Powerful Leadership

The setting was perfect as the people of Germany were primed and ready for any leader that would tickle their ears with what they were wanting to hear. World War I was over (#4) and the people of Germany were in an economic depression that crippled the country. The German mark had lost so much value that it took a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread. A good portion of the youth in Germany were raised in fatherless homes. In an article written by Dr. Alice Hamilton, she says this about Hitler's youth: "They were children during the years of the war when the food blockade kept them half starved, when fathers were away at the front and mothers distracted with the effort to keep their families fed. They came to manhood in a country which seemed to have no use for them. Even compulsory military training was no more and there was nothing to take its place" (Perry et. al 358). Hitler, being the sleazy opportunist that he was, capitalized on this state of affairs. In ways that were not politically correct, he was able to influence this segment of the population and hold them in allegiance to his agenda. "Hitler made each insignificant, poverty stricken, jobless youth of the slums feel himself as of the great of the earth, since the youth was a German, a Nordic, far superior to the successful Jew who was driven out of office and counting house to make place for the youth and his like" (Perry et. al 359). The following is an example of how Hitler coerced and manipulated people and how we as managers and leaders can learn from his mistakes. This essay will also address how we can effectively influence people and earn their loyalty. In order to effectively influence peopl...

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...mples are extreme. But, leaders must really watch their management styles, and not let the slightest inkling of coercion or manipulation enter into their leadership techniques. Bad news travels fast and the effects are very difficult to restore; the hardest thing for a manager to hear are whispers from a cubicle, "Here comes little Hitler."

WORKS CITED

Adler, Ronald B., and Jeanne Marquardt Elmhorst. Communicating at Work. New York: McGraw Hill, 1996.

Chambers, Mortimer., et al. The Western Experience. Volume C. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1995.

Ellul, Jacques. Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes. New York: Vintage Books, 1973.

Griffin, Em. The Mind Changers. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1982.

Perry, Marvin., et al. Sources of the Western Tradition. Volume II. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company., 1995.

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