Synthesis Essay: Henry Ford: Visionary And Ethical Leadership

Synthesis Essay – Henry Ford When one loos back to the early 1900s, you heard of leaders that had visions to better the future for mankind. You may even recall hearing about racism, discrimination, war, and the Great Depression. During such difficult times there was a man, Henry Ford, who was a true visionary and ethical leader. I will go over why Henry Ford is a visionary and how it relates to two core lessons, Team Dynamics and Full Range Leadership. Then I will discuss how Mr. Ford’s ability to be an ethical leader and how it ties directly to the core lessons Critical Thinking and Ethical Leadership. Lastly, I will relate the core lessons and research to my own personal leadership style and traits.

Visionary Leader Henry Ford demonstrated

Henry Ford went against societal norms and made the right decisions. He demonstrated the trait of intellectual integrity from the Critical Thinking module. According to our reading the intellectual integrity trait is the ability “to be true to our own thinking” and “it means you can honestly admit discrepancies and inconsistencies in your own thought and action.” (Barnes Center for Enlisted Education, 2017) To show how Ford demonstrated this trait, according to Wheels for the World by Douglas Brinkley, Mr. Ford not only owned Ford Motor Company but also bought a local newspaper company, The Dearborn Independent. In the 1920s it published a series of racist pamphlets against all Jews, known as “The International Jew”. (Brinkley, 2004) Which resulted in a letter from Mr. Ford himself to The American Jewish Committee, he wrote, “I deem it to be my duty as an honorable man to make amends for the wrong done to the Jews as fellow-men and brothers, by asking their forgiveness for the harm that I have unintentionally committed.” (Ford H. ,

According to our reading the three Os are: Owing, respecting others as human beings; ordering, our duty or obligation to the mission and people and being able to prioritize these obligations; and oughting, “what we do might not be what we ought to do.” (Barnes Center for Enlisted Education, 2017) According to Wheels for the World, by Douglas Brinkley Mr. Ford demonstrated owing by his willingness to hire men and women, black or white. (Brinkley, 2004) His ability to care for his employees, ordering, was captured in an article, African American workers at Ford Motor Company, covered how Ford provided additional social welfare services to employees during the Great Depression. (Ford T. H., 2013) Lastly, oughting, luckily Mr. Ford did what was right and respected people and took care of them when most in our country was