I.

Introduction

Mother Teresa was one of the famous charismatic leaders of 20th century. She was born in August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Yugoslavia in a well to do family. Though her real name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, she became world renowned as Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa joined the Sisters of Loreto, a religious order to become a nun in 1928.She studied there for less than a year, and left to join the Loreto convent in the city of Darjeeling. On May 24, 1931, she took the name of Teresa in honor of St. Teresa of Lisieux. In 1946, she set up her own home to help the poor and sick people of Calcutta. She became an Indian citizen in 1948. She left the Loreto convent on August 16th 1948 and founded a Roman Catholic religious order of nuns in Calcutta named Missionaries of Charity. Through this association she dedicated her life to helping the poor, the orphanages, the sick, and the dying around the world, particularly those in India. And as a leader of charity organization, she became Mother Teresa from Sister Teresa. The Missionaries of Charity's mission statement was 'helping the poorest of the poor'. The organization focused in selected individuals from society. Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity had missions in almost all countries in the world that served people with HIV, leprosy and tuberculosis. Her most remarkable projects included care homes for the abandoned dying called Nirmal Hriday (home of the pure heart); a basic public education system primarily targeted at children in slum areas with elementary lessons in hygiene, manners, matters of faith, math, and reading, which was called Shishu Bhaven (the children's home in Calcutta for the Sisters of Charity); centers and mobile clinics that ministered to the needs of people with leprosy and AIDS; shelters for single mothers; homes for handicapped children; soup kitchens for the homeless; visits and ministry of love to prisoners; and many others. The vision of Mother Teresa was if you are focusing on some particular individuals then you can provide proper service for those individuals. Today, more than 4,800 Missionary Sisters of Charity, about 400 Brothers, and thousands of volunteers continue Mother Teresas work in Calcutta and around the world. Mother Teresa was a good example of servant leadership. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and Indias highest civilian honor in 1980 for her humanitarian work.

II.

Leadership Qualities of Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was truly an inspirational figure who had followers from all around the world. She was passionate for relieving the sufferings of the poor and destitute. She was caring, generous and self motivated. Her leadership style is also associated with transformational female leaders such as being concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards and long terms goals and engaging with other in creating a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both herself and her followers (Palestini, R. Feminist Theory and Educational Leadership: Much Ado About Something!) She had strong purpose in life which she fulfilled till the end of her life. Her passion and hard efforts attracted and motivated followers beyond the call of duty toward exceptional acts. She had power of knowing people's strengths and needs. She was a great listener and always focused on others. She was daring for she stepped up to care for individuals struggling with leprosy when the society had neglected them. Also the mental and moral qualities she showed throughout her life are admirable. She never wavered away from her goal in life. She used to give importance to collective effort. She said I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples." And through these qualities she had become a successful leader. III. Leadership and Theories

Mother Teresa was considered a transformational leader or a charismatic leader. According to Burns these two leadership styles are similar and can be easily related with Mother Teresa. According to Burns (1978), transformational leaders influence followers by moving them towards self-actualization, by building enthusiasm, and by creating challenging and meaningful goals that followers aim to transcend. Bass (1998) describes transformational leaders as influencing their followers by instilling pride in the group and gaining trust and respect from the followers. He stressed that transformational leaders greatly value their followers by giving them personal attention, advice and coaching leading to their personal development, yet the leaders strive to be always fair and just with everyone. Mother Teresa complies with both these definitions. Mother Teresa had most of the characteristics of charismatic or transformational leaders. She was highly esteemed and confident, displayed exemplary qualities, had a strong sense ofpurpose, articulated the goals and ideas for which her followers were psychologically prepared, secured herfollowers' unquestioning cognitive and emotional commitment, and had

extraordinary moral inspiration,attraction, and influence over her followers. Mother Teresa owned extraordinary gifts. She devoted herself tothe service of the poorest of the poor, totally dependent on divine providence, which meant being constantly ina crisismanagement situation. She always developed (or rather received) radical solutions to crises. She hadfollowers who were attracted to her because they believed they were linked through her to transcendentpowers. She continuously validated her gifts and transcendence in repeated experiences of success. She was expressive, self-determined, insightful, free from internal conflict, eloquent, and active, even when her followerswere not exactly the optimum type of followers that would be easily led by her charisma. IV. Lessons Learnt From Her

MotherTeresa was able to address a higher levelof need inside her followers, beyond just the need for a personified charismatic leader. Her modesty, strong conviction,and worthwhile cause challenged them. She conceived and articulated goals that lifted people out of their petty occupations, carried them above the conflicts that tear a society apart, and united them in the pursuitof objectives worthy of their best efforts, Mother Teresa was truly a transformational leader. 1. Little Thing Makes a Difference We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something. Mother Teresa Strategies are important but without tactics you are going nowhere. As a leader it is important for a person to understand and develop a day to day tactics to get into gear to achieve the goals and vision. Lesson learned: Plan big but focus on simple day to day task.Ultimately, it is these small things that will determine if you will achieve anything big.Mother Teresa gave herself fully to alleviate the poverty around her by touching one life at a time, and she accomplished so much at the end of her life. 2. Be Committed Mother Teresa gave everything she had of herself and became a world changer and a history maker. At some point in her life, she decided that the needs of the poor people in India was

far more important than her comfort level, and it launched her into her work of ministering to the poor, sick and destitute. Action speaks louder than words, to expect others to work hard and deliver quality; a leader must lead by example and not just words. There is no greater motivation than seeing the Manger working alongside everyone else, showing that hard work is being done on every level. Lesson learned:As a leader, the more you are willing to sacrifice and give up of yourself for the benefit of your subordinates, the great fruits you will see in your life. The more you sow in terms of your effort, time and money, the more you will reap in your life. 3. Work closely with your colleagues and subordinates I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things. Mother Teresa. The most effective method of achieving a collective goal is to work closely with the subordinates closely. Each one of has our strength and weaknesses, as a leader we should be able to identify these factors and exploit the strengths. As a leader, we must understand that things can be done by enforcing yourself, but to achieve a greater and lasting goal you should collaborate with the subordinate Lesson learned:Acting aloof, or above your employees, does not make a leader. Leaders have to be able to talk and listen to their employees on all levels of the company. Mother Teresa was successful in her cause not only because she was committed but she was Influential above all. To become a successful leader we should know and understand the context and act to inspire our subordinates and followers.

V.

References:

http://www.sagepub.com/northouse6e/study/materials/reference/reference9.3.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa http://www.govloop.com/profiles/blogs/one-person-at-a-time-the-leadership-genius-ofmother-teresa http://smallbecomesgiant.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/mother-teresa-a-great-figure-ofleader/ http://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2013/11/09/a-true-servant-leader-mother-teresa/ http://itchybon1.tripod.com/hrd/id28.html