Most people have witnessed both positive and negative leadership styles. Discuss 2 different styles of leadership that you have witnessed: 1 negative and 1 positive. Answer the following questions:

How did you respond to each style, and why?
In your opinion, why was one style of leadership better than the other?

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.

God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

Sample Solution

I have witnessed both positive and negative leadership styles throughout my life. One of the more negative examples I have encountered was when I worked in a group setting with a supervisor who was very controlling. This leader micromanaged every aspect of our work and rarely provided any guidance or feedback on how we could improve our performance. He had a hard time delegating tasks and would instead take over whatever project he wanted to complete himself. As a result, I found myself feeling anxious, overwhelmed, and doubting my own abilities whenever this person was around. It also made it difficult for me to collaborate with anyone else in the group as there constantly seemed to be tension between us all due to his lack of trust in others.

Sample Solution

I have witnessed both positive and negative leadership styles throughout my life. One of the more negative examples I have encountered was when I worked in a group setting with a supervisor who was very controlling. This leader micromanaged every aspect of our work and rarely provided any guidance or feedback on how we could improve our performance. He had a hard time delegating tasks and would instead take over whatever project he wanted to complete himself. As a result, I found myself feeling anxious, overwhelmed, and doubting my own abilities whenever this person was around. It also made it difficult for me to collaborate with anyone else in the group as there constantly seemed to be tension between us all due to his lack of trust in others.

A much more positive example of leadership that I experienced came from an athletic coach during my high school years. This coach showed immense trust in her players by giving them ownership over their roles on the team which allowed us to develop strong team chemistry as well as build upon our individual strengths. She also provided constant encouragement and feedback so that each player felt valued regardless of whether they succeeded or failed at any given task during practice; something which always kept morale high even during tough times or losses.

In my opinion, one style is better than the other because it shows respect towards those they are leading while also providing direction that is constructive rather than destructive. The negative style leaves people feeling discouraged whereas the positive one instills confidence within individuals thereby creating an environment where everyone can grow both professionally and personally without fear of repercussion or judgement from someone above them in rank.

In response to these two different styles of leadership, I found myself being more productive under the positive leader while feeling unmotivated under the negative one since there was no real incentive for success other than avoiding punishment if things went wrong

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