“Has Luffy grown as a leader over the course of the story?”
That is what I was originally planning on talking about in this video.
And we WILL actually also answer this question later on.
But while doing the research on Luffy´s development as the leader of the straw-hats, I very quickly
became aware of a simple truth: Luffy is, and always has been a great leader.
Now this obviously does not mean that Luffy doesn´t have any flaws or room for improvement
in his role as a captain.
And we will also discuss that towards the end of this video, but it much rather means
that Luffy as a person fulfills a TON of requirements that make up a good leader.
Leadership is an essential part of our world and therefore, it is often at the center of
much attention and debate.
At its core, a leader is simply the person holding the most power in a group or organization
of people.
Leadership by itself is therefore actually a very neutral term.
As a result, you will probably not have a single person in mind when you hear the term
leader.
Rather you will think of good leaders and evil leaders, of cruel leaders and kind leaders
and of inspiring leaders and ineffective leaders, as well as many more.
But why is it that we look up to some of these people while we dislike others?
Why do we like some evil characters better than good ones?
And what actually makes a great Leader?
Let´s take a look.
There are many elements and aspects that determine how leadership plays out.
But in the end, it all comes down to the person itself.
This combination of individual personality and power makes leadership a concept that
fascinates us and that therefore plays a key role in many stories.
One Piece is no exception for this.
The One Piece world is filled with different kinds of Organizations with different kind
of ideologies.
The different leaders of the marines have different values and goals.
The different pirate captains have individual leadership styles and ambitions.
And every.
Character.
became a leader under different circumstances and for different reasons.
This makes it so incredibly fascinating for us to watch opposed groups clash with each
other in the story.
No two leaders are the same.
In the context of One Piece this diversity of leadership styles, that Oda introduced,
is what manages to give the huge number of characters and groups in the world individual
and memorable features and themes.
Because at the bottom of it, every marine or pirate crew mirrors the leadership style
of their captain.
But, while there are countless leaders in One Piece that might be worth talking about,
today we will discuss the most important of them all: The leader of the straw-hat pirates:
Monkey D. Luffy.
As I have mentioned already, I´d like to argue that amid all the criticism of Luffy´s
leadership style and character, he has actually always been a great leader with the potential
to become even better.
As a basis for this argument I´d like to discuss the different characteristics and
personality traits that are associated with good leadership and then compare them with
Luffy´s character.
So, let´s start with the 6 most commonly stated personality traits that can be found
in great leaders: The first trait we look at here, is honesty.
Honesty is an important personality trait for leaders because it inspires trust and
credibility within their followers.
This again brings with it many positive factors when it comes to teamwork.
As we all know, Luffy is an honest person through and through.
He is more or less incapable of lying and probably has one of the worst pokerfaced in
history.
While this can sometimes come across as annoying or tactless in the story, it is the bases
of why the crew trusts him so much and takes his words seriously.
The second important leadership trait is a sense of humor.
This not only makes the leader more likeable, but also creates a friendly and positive atmosphere
in the group.
Luffy´s sense of humor and the lightheartedness that comes with it is the reason that the
Straw-hat Pirates are so very different from any other pirate crew you could come across
in the grand line, with the exception of shanks maybe.
The crew feels comfortable and respected and are able to form bonds on a level that goes
far beyond what most other crews have.
An example for this would be Luffy´s imitation of his crewmates.
Next on, we have confidence.
While confidence is a great trait for a leader in many aspects, the most important one is
inspiring motivation among the group.
Luffy´s confidence is pretty much beyond limits and is a central part of his character.
No matter how bad the situation, he is confident in his ability to overcome any hardship with
his powers.
Just look at the fight with Katakuri.
Additionally, he is also confident in the characters and powers of each and every one
of his crewmates, which might be perceived as naïve, but ends up creating even more
trust and loyalty towards him.
This could be seen with Sanji in Whole Cake Island or Robin in the Enis Lobby arc.
Connected to the previous two, the 5th important leadership trait is having a positive attitude.
Approaching challenges and hardships with a positive perspective is important in order
to enable your group to create the necessary conviction and motivation to tackle these
challenges.
Luffy without a doubt shares also this personality trait.
And that to the extent that he took on the plan to take down Kaido with a broad grin,
while Law was clearly being more serious and pessimistic about it.
Still I think you could argue that without Luffy´s positive attitude, the Straw hats
might never have made it to where they are now.
Last but not least, the 6th central leadership trait is creativity.
This trait is important to find creative and flexible solutions to unexpected problems.
Now while Luffy is in no means a genius when it comes to creating creative strategies,
he definitely proved to be creative when it comes to fighting.
His creativity can especially be seen in the way he uses his devil fruit in more than creative
ways.
Simply the way that his gear system works, is more than creative by itself.
Additionally, the way he has built his crew can definitely also be described as creative.
Now, just to make it clear, I have not made up any of these factors.
I have taken them from up-to-date research on leadership.
And yet Luffy shares all of these traits to a certain extend.
I do not believe that this a coincidence.
I rather think that Oda constructed Luffy´s character exactly in this manner to make him
as likable and able as possible as the leader of the straw-hat pirates and the main character
of the story.
To prove this even more, let´s look at the 5 most important principles of a great leader
and weather Luffy shares them as well: The first principle we´re gonna look at is
“leading by example”.
In other words: It is important to be able to do yourself what you expect your followers
to do.
This is pretty much Luffy´s supreme discipline.
Luffy always goes first heads on into the fight.
He does not expect his crew to do his job, but rather sees it as his duty to fight and
bleed for them.
A good example for this his fight against Katakuri that Luffy only starts and enters
on his own, to allow his crew to get away.
The second principle is “talk less, listen more”.
While many leaders think it is important to do all the talking and demonstrate skill,
it is actually much better to involve the group into discussions and decisions.
This is especially important to get people on your side and connect with you.
In return it shows your respect for your group members.
As we know, Luffy is defiantly not the super talkative guy.
When it comes to making decisions or even to fighting, everyone in the crew can have
their say in it.
Tactics and tasks are decided on together.
This creates a sense of equality and respect in the Straw hat crew.
Next, it is important to “not play favorites”.
While this one should be quite obvious, in many groups in the One piece world, certain
people receive special treatment or status.
Luffy however has never given any straw hat a different treatment than any of the others.
This strengthens his credibility and respect within the crew.
The fourth principle we´re looking at is “be yourself”.
This one is, once again, very important for credibility and authenticity which will strengthen
the morale in the group.
This principle is actually much more prominent in the One Piece world than in ours.
While many leaders in our society definitely “aren´t themselves” in a way, in the
context of One Piece, only Buggy comes to mind when it comes to breaking this principle.
Now the last important leadership principle is “taking responsibility for your actions”.
In essence this means two things: Sharing success with the group and taking the blame
when something goes wrong.
Luffy does not only take the responsibility for his own actions, but also takes the blame
of others to protect them.
For example, when Big Mom threatened to destroy Fish-Man Island for not supplying her with
their monthly candy tribute, Luffy took the blame of eating all of the candy to protect
the island from Big Mom's wrath.
Also, when Katakuri apologized to Luffy for Flampe interfering with their fight, Luffy
told him that fighting dirty is normal in a battle between pirates, and that it was
his mistake for not dodging.
What has become very clear in my mind is that Luffy actually fulfills all of the most important
personality traits and principles that a great leader needs to succeed.
He inspires and motivates his Nakama and he has built a crew that is as loyal and close
as maybe no other in One Piece.
So now, this leads me directly to the question of why so many people think that Luffy is
not a good enough leader at this point in the story.
And the only way I can rationalize this is that people have expectations towards Luffy
that he simply cannot fulfill.
People seem to yearn for a more “badass” leadership style from Luffy and I often see
the comparison to Law.
Not only is Luffy a great leader the way he is, but also becoming more serious or stern
would lead to Luffy´s personality getting lost resulting in a character that has little
to do with the Luffy we love.
Additionally, without the positive and careless approach that characterizes Luffy´s leadership
style it is not clear that the Straw Hats would succeed in the New World.
Luck and positive will play a huge role in the crew’s success.
Another point of criticism that I often hear is that Luffy hasn´t really developed as
a leader over time.
I also think that this is only true partially, if at all.
The time skip, but especially Whole Cake Island have shown that Luffy has in fact lost some
of his naivete and has grown.
This can be seen in various instances: Luffy stayed calm after Pedro was killed and he
saw sense in and supported the plan to bring down Big Mom.
Luffy also started fighting smarter: He mostly avoided a direct confrontation with Big Mom
and accepted the power difference between himself and Katakuri.
And he also used Bruleé to move around more freely while recharging his Haki.
All of these behaviors we most likely wouldn´t have seen from pre-time skip Luffy.
Now having said that, I certainly DO think that there is an area that Luffy can and maybe
should improve in.
And that is leadership skills.
While Luffy has a great set of personality traits and principles that make him a great
leader, there are many skills that make leadership more effective and that might be necessary
to make it to Raftel in the end.
While there are probably a few skills that might be necessary for Luffy to learn in terms
of leading his crew, I want to introduce two that I find particularly important: “Thinking
ahead” and “creating a strategy”.
While I don´t think that Luffy needs to become more serious in order to become cooler (because
let´s face it, Luffy is already super cool!), I DO think that he should think ahead a little
more from time to time.
And even though Luffy is not famous for great acts of thinking, he certainly isn´t stupid.
So I think that this would definitely be a skill that he would be able to learn and that
would prove immensely useful the closer he gets to become the pirate king.
Now the second skill builds a little bit on top of the first.
After thinking ahead, it would be smart to use the insight you get and translate them
into a useful plan or strategy.
Same as with the previous point, I think that Luffy would be more than capable of doing
so, even if it might act out in a different way than we would expect.
So all in all, based on the arguments of leadership personality traits, principles and skills,
I hope I could lay out for you why I think that Luffy is actually a great leader.
If you made it this far into the video, I am sure you have your own thoughts about this
topic!
So, please let me know your opinion in the comments below.
Do you think Luffy is a good leader?
Do you think there are other important leadership traits that Luffy has or does not have?
And where do you think Luffy still needs to grow in the future?
Tell me your thoughts in the comment section below.
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I hope to see you around next time and until then, have a great week.