Content Category
Rhetoric & Writing
Abstract/Description
The purpose of this presentation is to examine the relationship between leadership, rhetoric, and ethics. I have specifically chosen to examine Margaret Thatcher’s leadership as demonstrated in her speech “The Lady’s Not for Turning.” I have also used examples from her political career and personal life to examine whether leadership is limited only to a position of power.
Understanding the relationship between leadership, rhetoric, and ethics can help us develop these skills in ourselves as well as being able to identify them in our current and potential leaders. To formulate a rubric for these skills, I studied Thatcher’s speech, as well as choices made and other things said throughout her political career and personal life. Through this research, I determined that an acceptable rubric for leadership is a person’s ability to unite people with different views to pursue a common goal; for rhetoric, not only as spoken and written words must be taken into account, but also as the actions taken by a person; finally, ethics provide the foundation on which rhetoric and leadership are built and can work hand-in-hand.
Upon drawing up this rubric, I reviewed the information I had found in my research. Through her leadership, she was able to unite a country going through difficult times, she was consistent in her words and actions throughout her life and career, and all of her choices were made based on the ideals she had been raised on and held her whole life. Holding Thatcher to this rubric proved that she was an effective leader.
Copyright and Licensing of My Content
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Origin of Submission
as part of a class
Faculty Involvement
Nancy Christiansen
Margaret Thatcher as a Leader
The purpose of this presentation is to examine the relationship between leadership, rhetoric, and ethics. I have specifically chosen to examine Margaret Thatcher’s leadership as demonstrated in her speech “The Lady’s Not for Turning.” I have also used examples from her political career and personal life to examine whether leadership is limited only to a position of power.
Understanding the relationship between leadership, rhetoric, and ethics can help us develop these skills in ourselves as well as being able to identify them in our current and potential leaders. To formulate a rubric for these skills, I studied Thatcher’s speech, as well as choices made and other things said throughout her political career and personal life. Through this research, I determined that an acceptable rubric for leadership is a person’s ability to unite people with different views to pursue a common goal; for rhetoric, not only as spoken and written words must be taken into account, but also as the actions taken by a person; finally, ethics provide the foundation on which rhetoric and leadership are built and can work hand-in-hand.
Upon drawing up this rubric, I reviewed the information I had found in my research. Through her leadership, she was able to unite a country going through difficult times, she was consistent in her words and actions throughout her life and career, and all of her choices were made based on the ideals she had been raised on and held her whole life. Holding Thatcher to this rubric proved that she was an effective leader.