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Urooj Mohammad

Professor David Ritchey

Organizational Behavior 3310

7 April 2016

Resonant Leader: Angelina Jolie

A resonant leader is someone who has a high ability in emotional intelligence and also

has the ability to connect with his or her followers on a personal level. They use compassion and

hope when dealing with the people who follow them. This type of leader shows empathy and

motivation to followers who are struggling or are in stress. Resonant leaders also have skills

dealing with situations that cause a lot of stress, yet they encourage there followers to never give

up and to stay focused on the main vision. An example of a resonant leader in my life is

Angelina Jolie because she has the social competence, social awareness: empathy, and personal

competence, self-awareness, capabilities that a resonant leader should have.

To begin with, I believe that Jolie has self- awareness capabilities because of the

decisions she has made with her movie roles. Throughout the years, Jolie has been known as

being a type of actress that chooses films based on her own personality; an example of this

would be the Lara Croft movies. These movies showed how Jolie has a tomboy side of her and

she is not afraid to show it. The way that Jolie acted in these series was really authentic and did

not seem like she was forcing herself in this role; the acting seemed really natural. You could tell

that she was having a lot of fun acting in this type of role and that it fit her as well. I feel like the

message Jolie was trying to portray throughout these series was that women could be

independent and yet do everything a man could do, and more. The Lara Croft series had caused

much controversy throughout the media; people believed that her actions and behavior in these
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movies were not acceptable in society. The media believed that the message that Jolie was

portraying would not have a good effect on society. After hearing all these negative accusations

towards the series, Jolie claimed that she does not regret taking the role as Lara Croft because it

showed the tomboy side of her. And she was not afraid of people knowing that she has this type

of personality. She has encouraged many people since then that they should not hide behind a

mask, and be proud of how they are no matter what. The way that Jolie showed no fear in

accepting for who she is, displayed to me how she is a resonant leader who is self-aware of

herself. Jolie did not care what people thought about her when she acted in the Lara Croft series,

she just wanted the world to see who she really is. And when the media accusation started, she

still stuck with who she is truly and did not change because of the fear of others. And thats what

I really admire about Jolie; she stands with what she believes in no mater what people are saying.

She shows the world that is it okay to act in what you believe in. And that its better being who

you are rather than lying to yourself about whom you are not.

I believe that I admire and respect Angelina Jolie for being self-aware because I do not

posses this type of ability. For example, if someone judges me for the type of person that I am

then most likely I will hide that type of quality that I have; no matter if that quality about me is

good. I have noticed many times that the way society wants me to be is how I act and not the

way that I am. Especially since I wear a scarf, many people expect me to be quiet and not fun or

outgoing. When in reality, I am basically the center of attention in parties and I talk so much; that

I even talk in my sleep as well. But since people have told me many times over the years as to

how I am suppose to be, I have noticed that I am acting that way now. Even though I am not that

type of person, the fear of others judging me has caused me to behavior in a way that I am not.

And I do not like that I change based on what people say, I want to be like Jolie; carefree of
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others judgment. I am the type of person that is an advocate of being ones self, yet I find it hard

doing this myself. I believe that I have a lot of learning to do in order to accept myself for who I

am and what I believe in, and to not go on what others say.

Furthermore, I consider Jolie to be empathic because of the amount of work she has done

toward humanitarian needs. For instance, she is apart of United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees, pushed legislation to aid child immigration and education, and lastly she is a part of

the Council on Foreign Relations; human rights and womens rights. This list that I have

provided above is only a bit of contributions that Jolie has done for humanitarian needs, she has

done much more than what I have stated. Over the past years, Jolie saw the issues that were

going around in the world and many people had approached her for the cause, because they knew

she was the type of person that wants to help. And thats when Jolie decided to take some

manners into her own hands. For instance, Jolie had joined the UNHCR because she wanted to

help people in other countries who were in desperate need of help. After that Jolie had gone to

many different countries worldwide giving donations, food, and other contributions that would

help them out. And since her children were adopted from different parts of the world, she always

made sure to give back to those countries as well. Jolie always donated a minimum of $1 million

to any country that she had gone to, realizing that there were many people in the states who

wanted to do something for there home countries. So she realized that by doing all this work, this

might put herself and others in concern at ease. Jolie act for humanitarian needs maybe small but

it had a huge impact on the people in the states. It made them realize that she does not only care

about wealth and herself, instead that she cares about people as well. The way that Jolie sensed

other peoples emotions toward a matter and did something about it, demonstrated to me why she

is a resonant leader who has a social awareness of empathy towards people. Jolie invested her
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time to finding out what people cared about, then she did something about it, in order to show

that she does care about what others care about too. The way that she joined all of these

humanitarian movements shows her care for people, and how she is willing to change the world

for better. And how she does work and donations towards her adopted childrens birthplace

shows too that she cares for her children. And many years later, her children will be grateful

towards Jolie as well because they see that there mother cares for the states along with the

country they were born in.

I consider myself not be socially aware of empathy because I make decisions based on

logic not emotion. For example, if one of my friends comes to me to find a solution for a

problem they are having; instead of helping them to make a decision based on how they feel. I

help them make a decision based on what is more logic, rather than what will make them feel

better. I do not know why I am this is, but I have noticed many times over the years that my

decisions are based on logic. Even when I am doing something for someone, I do it based on

what logically makes sense and not on how it will make him or her feel. And Im not saying that

whatever I do logically will hurt them but it probably will not be what they were thinking since

there final result was based on there emotions, of how they felt. And for instance, how Jolie

donated $1 million to so many countries; if I were in her position I would have thought about it

many times before doing it. And again, this would be because I would think what the outcomes

would be if I donated this money. In my mind, I would think that let me just donate this because

so many people in the states are worried about how there country is doing. I sometimes wish that

I had this quality in me that I do decisions for others based on their emotions rather than during

the time what is considered most logic. Many people I know perceive this quality in me as being

selfish, when in reality I am doing what is best for them in the long run. It makes me think
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sometimes that maybe decisions based on others emotions are more successful than decisions

based on what is logically good for that person.

When asked the question does diversity impact the decisions and behavior of leaders, I

believe that yes it does. Everyone in this world is born with different backgrounds and skills; no

leader in world is same as another leader. Diversity is one the reasons why different leaders have

different decisions when it comes to problems. For instance, something considered morally

wrong for one leader is maybe considered morally right to another based on how the leader grow

up. The atmosphere that leaders grow up in gives them an advantage or disadvantage when it

comes to problems. I believe that leaders with different backgrounds have to think about how

there decisions to another person, will affect them in their community. For example, if a leader

gives a very detailed and excellent advice to someone who has a troubled problem, even though

the advice helped the person for the better. If the advice they gave is against their communities

beliefs, then the reputation for the leader could be ruined. So in general, leaders diversity does

impact there decisions and behavior because they have to act in a way that along with helping

people, they also have to keep in mind the values and beliefs they have based on how they grow

up.

In conclusion, resonant leaders also have a huge impact on people because of their skills

in personal relationships and emotional intelligence. One example of an excellent resonant leader

is Angelina Jolie, she posses all the qualities a resonant leader can have. She is a reminder to the

world that something small can have a huge impact to the world as well. Resonant leaders impact

the world by showing that leaders who know themselves and help others based on their needs

can be successful as well.