The Perfect Leader: Jackie Robinson's Leadership Model

Leaders are snowflakes. Each one is unique with the styles of how they lead. Leaders can range from political figures, athletes, and your parents. Anyone who practices the five exemplarily leadership guidelines has the ability to be a leader. According to Posner and Kouzes, “A leader is someone who is active, causing others to act towards achieving a common goal” (Maude 1). Jackie Robinson may not be the first name one would think of after hearing the term leadership; however, Jackie Robinson fits the criteria of Posner and Kouzes definition of a leader. Jackie changed the world and how society acts becoming the first African American figure to break the color barrier across American sports. Through Jackie Robinson’s courage, Robinson was

Jackie Robinson is a perfect leader to model after because of how he conducted himself as both an athlete and an individual. They are expected to model the way for their followers, and Jackie made sure to protest respectfully for concepts he did not believe in. Because of Jackie’s respectful attitude and ability to play, he was able to prove any doubter and critic wrong that an African American payer cannot play at the highest level of competition. Jackie leads the way by performing tremendously under the harshest conditions, leading teams to sign African Americans as well. He modeled how to play the game and how to deal with critics and other people noticed such as Martin Luther King jar and other baseball organizations became followers of

Similar to MLK, Jackie had a dream too. Jackie’s dream was to see more players to follow him towards the integration of baseball. Also, he wanted to see a minority manager with a professional team. For Jackie, he wanted to prove that a negro baseball player can play just as well as any white man in the MLB. Under all the scrutiny, Jackie compiled an impressive tenure in the majors recording the first ever rookie of the year award, winning a most valuable player award, and leading the dodger to six world series including one world championship in his ten years with the Dodgers (History.com 1). His on the field accomplishments lead him to be inducted into the baseball hall of fame as the first African American baseball player. Jackie set the bar very high and did prove that an African American ballplayer can have just as much success as anyone else, and resulted in a flow of African American players that many resulted in being some of the best players to ever play. As said in Sandlot, “Hero’s get remembered, but legends never die” (Sandlot Movie). Jackie Robinson is a legend because his legacy is forever lasting. Today we honor Jackie Robinson every April, where every player has the opportunity to wear his number, 42. MLB took the action one step further by retiring the number all throughout baseball, preventing anyone to where the sacred number. Jackie Robinson mobilized the movement of African Americans and minorities immigration