21001901
İklil Kaya Yıldırım
Eng 102-111
11 May 2012
Research Paper Final Draft SURPASSING CREATIVITY OF GANDHI IN COMPARISON TO HITLER Creativity has been one of the most crucial points that determine the performance of individuals and companies since the measures of performance has changed through the industrialization and developing technology. In this case, creativity has been a respectful criterion for analyzing individuals. Since creativity can be seen in all aspects of our life, it is reasonable to evaluate the leaders based on their creativity. In this work, Adolf Hitler and Mahatma Gandhi, who can be considered as equally top leaders will be compared based on their creativity. Therefore, there will be a need for creativity leadership criteria when evaluating the leaders. As Michael D. Mumford, who is a professor of Psychology at University of Oklahoma, states in his text ' 'How creative leaders think: Experimental findings and cases ' ', I will be using idea evaluation, idea generation and missions as creative leadership criteria. The first criterion for creative leadership is idea evaluation. Creative people are called the ones who are not comfortable with accepting every idea that will be represented. They will be critically evaluating the ideas in accordance to their logic and creating their own and unique ideas which are more logical and innovative. Therefore, the creative leaders are the ones who are able to evaluate the basic information critically and logically. Mumford puts it like ' 'Leader expectations, and the broader cultural and organizational variables shaping these expectations, will influence whether leaders will engage in creative thought. ' ' (419) The second criterion for creative leadership is idea generation. As expected, creativity of an individual directly related to his/her creative ideas and these creative ideas will naturally be based on the initial knowledge and past experience. Therefore, the
Cited: PAGE Adcock, Cyril, and William Martin. "Flexibility and Creativity." The Journal of General Psychology 85.1 (1971): 71-76. Print. Brinton, Crane. "The National Socialists ' use of Nietzsche." Journal of the History of Ideas 1.2 (1940): 131-50. Print. Dalton, Dennis. Mahatma Gandhi: Nonviolent Power in Action. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993. Print. Dreijmanis, J. "A Portrait of the Artist as a Politician: The Case of Adolf Hitler." The Social Science Journal 42.1 (2005): 115-27. Print. Kershaw, Ian. Hitler. London: Longman, 1991. Print. Mumford, M. "How Creative Leaders Think: Experimental Findings and Cases." The Leadership Quarterly 14.4-5 (2003): 411-32. Print. Parekh, Bhikhu C. Gandhi: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print. Werckmeister, O. K. "Hitler the Artist." Critical Inquiry 23.2 (1997): 270. Print. Zalampas, Sherree Owens. Afterword. Adolf Hitler: A Psychological Interpretation of His Views on Architecture, Art, and Music. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Popular, 1990. Print.