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OL Assignment 9.3

Betty Ford exhibited authentic leadership through her compassion and openness. As First Lady, she advocated for issues like abortion rights, equal pay, and spoke publicly about her own experiences with breast cancer and alcoholism. Critical life events, like her cancer diagnosis and substance abuse issues, prompted Betty Ford to be transparent and help others facing similar challenges. She established the Betty Ford Center to provide substance abuse treatment, demonstrating her commitment to serving the common good through moral leadership.

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Ankit Kumar
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205 views

OL Assignment 9.3

Betty Ford exhibited authentic leadership through her compassion and openness. As First Lady, she advocated for issues like abortion rights, equal pay, and spoke publicly about her own experiences with breast cancer and alcoholism. Critical life events, like her cancer diagnosis and substance abuse issues, prompted Betty Ford to be transparent and help others facing similar challenges. She established the Betty Ford Center to provide substance abuse treatment, demonstrating her commitment to serving the common good through moral leadership.

Uploaded by

Ankit Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Organizational Leadership Assignment

Group Number: 11
Ankit Kanaujia 18BM60140
Abhishek Tiwary 18BM60142
Rutuja Sarage 18BM60144
Ankit Kumar 18BM60146
Neelabh Garg 18BM60148

Case Number: 9.3 The Reluctant First Lady

1. How would you describe Betty Ford’s leadership? In what ways could
her leadership be described as authentic?

Betty Ford’s leadership was an example of authentic leadership. According to the


very basic definition of authentic leadership, it develops from the interpersonal
relationship between the followers and leaders. When Betty Ford became the first
lady, she noticed the discrimination going around in the society and thus interacted
with the ladies and further raised her voice against the impartiality going around in the
society.
Another definition tells us that authentic leadership views authentic leadership as
something that can be nurtured in a leader, rather than as a fixed trait. We saw that
Betty Ford struggled with breast cancer during her life. Rather than just cursing her
fate she learnt from the situation and helped out many women by speaking about the
disease which was not discussed so much in the society. From another instance Betty
struggled with alcoholism during her 60’s but rather than not doing anything she
confronted it discussed it publicly to supported people who are facing similar issues
and told them they can also get over this addiction. She later found Betty Ford Center.
Betty ford had many of the characteristics found in an authentic leader: -
a. She had compassion. She understood that society is not treating women equally.
b. She connected with the people very and discussed the problems in an open
manner.
c. She had the passion to serve the people. She found a treatment center.
d. She had a good behavior and had good moral values.

2. How did critical life events play a role in the development of her leadership?

a. Betty always focused on learning from each and every incidence. When she
became the first lady, she utilized the platform to standup for the women. She
spoke out in support of abortion rights, women in politics, and the Equal Rights
Amendment. When women were suffering from unequal pay and impartiality at
workplace, she talked about it and protested it publicly.
b. Soon after she became the first lady, she developed breast cancer. She again broke
with social conventions and spoke openly about the diagnosis and treatment for a
disease that was not widely discussed in public.
c. After getting out of hospital she openly discussed and candidly shared her views
on the provocative issues of abortion rights, premarital sex, and marijuana use.
She used her position to make everyone realize that by not talking about any
problem does not lead to the solution of the problem.
d. Later in her 60’s she suffered from alcoholism and an addiction to prescription
medicine. She talked and discussed it publicly and later found Betty Ford Centre,
a nonprofit treatment center for substance abuse.

3. Is there a clear moral dimension to Betty Ford’s leadership? In what way is


her leadership about serving the common good? Discuss.

Betty Ford surely had a clear moral dimension. She always led by example. She
had moral values which led her to fight for all the women out there. She raised
issues such as same pay for everyone and also issues such as abortion rights,
premarital sex and marijuana use which was not very common to discuss and
people used to refrain from such topics. This led to many developments in the
condition in which women were working. Also, when she openly talked about her
breast problem it encouraged every woman that it is okay to talk about issues.
She suffered from alcoholism and addiction to prescription medicine. She again
came out in public and talked about her problem. She even built a center for
substance use which was built for everyone and was for a greater good of the
society. Thus, her leadership was serving the common good and not only about
talking. She always led by examples.

4. As we discussed in the chapter, self-awareness and transparency are


associated with authentic leadership. How does Betty Ford exhibit these
qualities?

Betty Ford exhibited self-awareness and there are many instances in the given case.
Betty during her period as the first lady was diagnosed with breast cancer. Those were
the times in which it was not considered appropriate to discuss this issue in public.
Betty realized that being at such a responsible position she has to come out and
discuss this for all the ladies who don’t get checked because they don’t find it
appropriate to discuss this in public. She was self-aware of her responsibility as the
first lady. She also exhibited transparency as she was very much vocal about the equal
rights of women. She wanted a transparent system where men and women are being
treated equally. This was also evident from her bringing the “Equal Right Amendment
Bill” which further indicates that she wanted a transparent system and she not only
talked about it but also worked on bringing it in the system. Thus, transparency was
associated with her leadership characteristics. She also was self-aware about her
responsibility when she accepted being addicted to alcohol. She realized that even
when she has overcome this, she should help others and she later found Betty Ford
Center.

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