Mother Teresa - an Integral Leader

Mother Teresa was born in 26 August, 1910 in Macedonia. She was raised Albanian Roman Catholic. At the age of 18, she left home to join the Sisters of Loreto abbey in Ireland where she learned English and the view of becoming a missionary and spreading the love of Christ. Mother Teresa moved to India. On May 24, 1931 took the vows as a nun and was assigned to serve in Calcutta as a school teacher. She chose to wear a white Indian Sari with blue trimming out of respect for the Indian traditions. In 1948 she started the Missionary of Charity with a mission to care and provided food, shelter, and nursing for the people who are homeless, lepers, sick, hungry, poor, naked, blind, crippled and abandoned. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and other recognition for her work from multiple countries and organizations. She had her first heart attack in 1983, then in March 1997 she stepped down from the leadership position. She passed away in September 5, 1997

Mother Teresa was described as an integral leader who require a multi-level and development approach. Mother Teresa also was described as a situational leader who based her service on community, environment and people surround her. She was able to adjust to her followers and not vice versa. In addition, she was described as a transformational leader because she transformed and inspired the lives around her and had a great influence on different people across the world to attain high level of performance for themselves and the organization. The religion, faith and the Love of the Lord Jesus was the propeller for Mother Teresa.

Credibility: Mother Teresa created the missionary of Charity and she was always involved in the process developing her sister’s followers; she also focused on helping every member of the group succeed as well. Treating all people who are in need with the same dignity and respect. Humility was the greatest quality found in the Mother. Servant leaders like Mother Teresa places the good of followers over their own self-interests. That made people trust her well intentions for them and follow her.

Creative problem solver: Mother Teresa was always capable to developing radical solution for crises. She learned basic medicine and nursing to be able to nurse sick and ill people. She learned how to raise funds for the charity for the help of the poor people. After seeing the slums of cities of India, she was determined to change the status quo for poverty in India one person at a time.

Tolerance for ambiguity: Mother Teresa was able to go around diseased people with great courage. She left all the ambiguity in the hands of the Lord and did not worry about tomorrow too much.

Decision making: Mother Teresa did not get involved in politics as most current leaders do to achieve what they want, but she used her influence when it came to promote the respect of human dignity and freedom.

Flexibility: She considered lack of love and charity as this world’s greatest evil. She was very flexible when she was attacked by severe criticism for various reasons. She did not stop to justify her actions. She moved on and let her actions speak for themselves and show exactly her true good intentions for people.

Communication: Mother Teresa learned English to be able to communicate effectively with people in India since English is their second language. She also communicated with those who did not understand he with great love and made her actions speak for themselves. She was very effective in inspiring people to do good deeds and she became famous humanitarian.

Dominance: Mother Teresa was focusing on the small tasks. She was mostly focus on the daily tasks and need for her followers and sisters. She used to leave tomorrow’s tasks to the Lord to provide and determine how it would and should be done then. Her faith made her rely on God and not to worry about future planning. But she was very decisive and know exactly what she needed and how would she accomplish the job in hand. enjoy overcoming obstacles.

Social boldness: Mother Teresa suffered at the beginning of her service from the people of India due to difference in culture, language, traditions, and religion. She was also extremely respectful of others, including their own religion. She never asked anyone to change faith. She always spoke her mind without any political or social agenda.

Self-awareness and Empathy: she was always aware of her capabilities and always seek the help of God. She also was aware of the people around her and their needs and feelings. She frequently said “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”