Psychological Profile of Cesar Chavez

Why Cesar Chavez’s leadership is important to study

Studying Cesar Chavez leadership style is important because the findings reinforce the value of the servant leadership works that were demonstrated by other celebrated leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. Cesar sought to find the best way to make a permanent change for migrating farm workers, which was the use of nonviolent means to voice the concerns of the workers nationally. Just as other servant leaders did, Cesar was familiar with the needs of the farm workers and he chose to be their servant first to advocate for their rights. The farm workers Cesar led trusted in his leadership and they followed his example and leadership in their effort to make their lives better as farm workers (Ortiz).

The nature of Cesar Chavez’s leadership in terms of how he viewed the world

 Cesar lived in the 1900s at the time when the American society was deeply corrupted by racism and other forms of social discrimination. Thus, to Cesar, the world around him lacked ethical leaders that could consider the interests of others. That is, no leader worked for the best interests of the minority groups and the structures in place only favored the dominating community. To develop the leadership skills he desired, Cesar read many books about the leadership practices of other leaders that fought for the rights of the oppressed people. In addition, he read widely to gain knowledge in political science, economics, management, and philosophy. More so, Cesar interacted with influential religious men that introduced him to servant leadership practices and gave him an opportunity to practice them in the work they gave him in organizing services for the community (Guerra).

Cesar’s perceptions of the world around him gained from his key experiences

Cesar was born in 1927 to a well off family that was Mexican-American. The family lived in Yuma, Arizona but it lost its home due to some tax issues and that made the family become migrating farm workers. Thus, Cesar at his school-going age worked in other people’s fields whose working conditions were harmful to humans. Cesar struggled on and later joined the military but still lived in poverty after he married and it was at this time when he met the two religious men that began to make a change in his life. The work that Cesar was given was in favor of the Mexican-American farm workers that needed a better life especially improved working conditions. Here, Cesar made an effort to find out what could be done to make the anticipated change better. As Cesar gathered more information, he knew that it would not be easy to realize the change and that he needed to be patient and endure many intimidations when advocating for the rights of the farm workers. When his organization could not agree with his new views, Cesar left and created his own association for farm workers nationally. By doing this, his only support was his wife and where he needed a major push, he fasted for many days to have the concerns of farm workers known. From his struggles, consumers boycotted buying the farm produce, which caused the farm owners to make the required changes. Thus, Cesar viewed the world as one that needed unusual tactics to make desirable changes and his immediate organizational environment feared going an extra mile to make changes for the needy (History.com Editor).

A statement assessing Cesar’s leadership policy and strategies

Human nature as perceived by Cesar fails when it lacks a purpose and a meaning. People need to be self-actualized by establishing what they can do to make things they found better. Humans are naturally servitudes and therefore, they should be of service to others around them to improve their lives. Cesar trained his followers and the political leaders what servitude is all about and what it can do to make leaders ethical. That is what is still celebrated about Cesar Chavez up to this day since he died in 1993 (ADL 1).

Works Cited

ADL. Who was Cesar Chavez? 2014. Web. Retrievedhttps://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/education-outreach/who-was-cesar-chavez.pdf.

Guerra, Elaine G. Cesar Chavez: From the Fields an Extraordinary Leader is Cultivated. 2016. Web. Retrieved< https://sites.psu.edu/leaderfoundationsdobbs/2016/09/25/cesar-chavez-from-the-fields-an-extraordinary-leader-is-cultivated/>.

History.com Editors. Cesar Chavez. 2018. Web. Retrievedhttps://www.history.com/topics/mexico/cesar-chavez.

Ortiz, Maria. Cesar E. Chavez- The Man and the Servant Leader. (n.d). Web. Retrieved< http://chavez.cde.ca.gov/ModelCurriculum/Teachers/Lessons/Resources/Documents/The_Man_and_the_Servant-Leader_Essay.pdf>.