Osama Bin Laden's Leadership (Essay Sample)

OSAMA BIN LADEN’S LEADERSHIP
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Osama Bin laden had a consistent and very clear vision, which was to attack America. His reason was that America was an immoral nation full of alcohol, gambling and homosexuality. His mission was highly adopted by other terrorist groups, which expanded the mission to attacking local governments. Osama made an effort to moderate these groups. He achieved all this by his ability to communicate and exert influence upon his organization, its affiliates, and to the world at large.
The fundamental rule in any communication effort is to understand the audience. Osama had taken this principle to heart for he regularly applied conceptual distinctions wherever he talked about the enemy. For his organization, the problem had to do with controlling a distributed, secretive and amorphous organization and directing everyone to a common goal. He instilled discipline and a code of conduct on his followers. This way it was easy to control them.
One method Osama used to communicate and exert pressure to the world is buy using legitimation. Social legitimation involved having the communities in areas where his organization operated know his story, share his goals and support his efforts. Religious legitimation involved having the jihad’s efforts seen as acceptable under the Muslim teachings. Seizing on the symbols of Islam’s past greatness, Osama promised to restore peace to people who considered themselves victims of foreign masters. He used the religious allusions of the Quran. He appealed to the people who had been perplexed by change as they confronted globalization and modernity. He also stressed grievances shared in the Muslim world against the United States of America. This way he was able to diverge the attention of the Muslims into attacking the U.S.
Despite his claims to universal leadership, Bin Laden had an extreme view of Islamic history. The view was designed to appeal mainly to Arabs and the Sunnis. He drew his ideas from the work of fundamentalists who blamed the eventual destruction of the Caliphate on leaders who abandoned the pure path of religious devotion. Osama repeatedly called on his followers to embrace the values of martyrdom since the oppression walls could only be demolished by a rain of bullets. He captured the attention of those who longing for a lost sense of order and offered his ideologies as an alternative to the existing uncertainty. To others he offered conspiracies to explain the world.
Again, his videos posted online for the whole world to see illustrated the pragmatic complexity communication principles. One of these principles was deemphasizing control and embracing complexity. In the era Osama lived in, communication and reality were very complex. Communication is about creating meaning and different people will interpret something differently. Osama used this principle to acquire followers and sympathizers worldwide.
Another principle was replacing repetition with variation. Repeating the same message regularly does not guarantee clarity. Instead, Osama changed tactics in presenting his communication and this helped him to adapt to the existing complex systems of communication. Again, Osama always considered disruptive moves. When an audience already has a response to your story, a change in story can go along way in disrupting their interpretation of your message. This will allow for new avenues of understanding.
Osama also expected and planned for failure. He new that his message may not be understood as intended. He always used different strategies to disseminate his messages. This was to allow for testing, strengthen these strategies, and diminish the chances of failure.
Osama pursued all his strategies by using public relations and the modern communication methods. He segmented audiences and adapted his message to the audience. He actually used the same public relations techniques used by big corporations of conducting disinformation campaigns and then coordinating operations with the communication. He managed to do this by using different means, which include traditional mass media among others.
A three-step strategy Osama used was, First, he justified his organization by establishing its social and religious feasibility while engaging in violent acts that on its face seemed to violate the norms of civilized society and the doctrine of Islam. Second, he aimed to expand his organization by spreading messages to sympathizers in areas where he wanted his organization to expand. This helped to prepare the way for political efforts that pave the way to establishing actual operations. Third, he sought to intimidate his opponents . This applied ...