Leadership and Martin Luther King's Dream

The civil rights leader used business analogies throughout his famous speech, and his convictions regarding leadership were clear

By Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Posted on Harvard Business Review: January 18, 2010 9:05 AM

"I have a dream" by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is one of the most famous speeches of recent history. Aspiring leaders study it to see how memorable words that sketch a big, compelling vision can inspire significant change.

But four words are not the measure of the man. There is much more to learn from his actions. King, whose birthday is commemorated by a U.S. federal holiday on the third Monday of each January, delivered that speech during a March on Washington in the summer of 1963. The rally attracted a record-breaking quarter of a million supporters for civil rights and against racial discrimination. It provided impetus for passage of equal rights legislation and the dismantling of formal trapping of segregation.

Inclusive change

King was an advocate for disadvantaged African-Americans who had little in common, I guess, with most of those who now examine his speech in business schools and corporate training. Yet King, who was elected president of his predominantly white class in divinity school in Pennsylvania, could reach out to mainstream establishments. The "I have a dream" speech used business analogies. He said, "In a sense, we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir." He went on to say that America had defaulted on this note, giving people of color a "bad check" which came back marked "insufficient funds." Now, he implied, it was time to collect. But while he spoke favorably at times of reparations for slavery, he mostly focused on education, fair wages, and open access, which would benefit all of society.

King felt that racial justice would help everyone achieve his or her potential, because investments in education are the underpinning of civil rights. His dream was that his four children would someday be judged not by the color of their skin but the content of their character. These views gave him moral credibility outside his movement.

Coalitions

To King, a true leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. The civil rights movement, like all social movements, was a jumble of many independent organizations with their own leaders and ambitions. King and his colleagues in his organization were not in charge, but they managed to get many separate groups moving together. A coalition of 6 organizations led the March on Washington, a notable achievement given disagreements over tactics; another, more radical group made fun of the March. King preached moderation and found principles that transcended differences.

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