Leadership in Business - Essay Example

Leadership in Business Business is an organizational system or a firm that deals with exchange of goods and services for cash or exchange of goods for other goods. Leadership is the ability to manage yourself and others effectively. (Kenton, 2000). It is also the ability to influence a group, an individual, or teams to achieve a certain goal (Ristau, 2011).Business leadership is therefore the ability to manage the operation of a business firm or organization and in order to achieve the objective of the business. The research work that follows shows some characteristics of good business leaders and their importance in business management. It will also show how specific business leaders have demonstrated the characteristics in their business careers. The high competition in the business world nowadays needs competitive business leaders who will manage to organize their business organizations to achieve their goals. Business leaders need several characteristics in order to achieve their goals. Risk taking Risk taking is doing something hoping for any outcome, be it good or bad. Any competitive business leader must be ready to take risks. Starting a business involves depositing money or capital where you are not certain whether you will get profit or not. It involves one asking themselves many questions like, “should I start a business, or should I not?”, “Should I employ new workers or not?” and many others. Those people who take risks in business will emerge successful, given the high competition in the business world. A business leader who fears to take risks cannot succeed in business because they will fear getting to losses (HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, 2007:41). A good example of an entrepreneur is Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos. Amazon is an organization that deals with internet business. The CEO says it is good to take risks to manage a business, but it is also good to reduce the risks as the business grows. He says he had to think whether to build Amazon, or continue with his previous job on Wall Street. He risked leaving his job to start Amazon, but he succeeded in his online business. Therefore taking risks is always important for success in a business. Another successful business leader, Sir Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group (A group of companies in the United States), says, “Great success does not come without taking risks”. The most important thing is taking the right risks. Innovativeness Innovativeness is the ability to be creative. It involves creating new ideas that can help improve the performance of a business and lead to achieve its goals. The current competition in the business world needs business leaders who can come up with modern ideas of business administration because things have changed and the more a business leader turns innovative, the more the business becomes competitive in the market (Williams, 2012). The CEO of “Intuit”, Brad Smith, brings out an example of innovation. “Intuit” is an organization that provides mid-sized businesses, institutes of finance, consumers, and accountants with solutions to financial management. Through his innovativeness, Intuit’s CEO brought the idea of the consumer tax- preparation software that has substituted the traditional methods of financial management. Quick books and other financial management systems are most common in today’s business world due to their effectiveness. It is only through being innovative that a business leader will come up with new business ideas that can improve the success of a business (TULEJA, 2008:47). Perseverance Perseverance is the ability to withstand challenges. Any business leader who wishes to be successful has to be able to face any challenge they encounter. The competition in the market does not need a leader who would close their business incase they face challenges, instead of fighting back. Anne Mulcahy, the CEO of Xerox Company displayed perseverance when the company was facing high economic inflation. The company was making very low profits but its expenses were relatively high. She came in as a CEO at this time when she had little knowledge about finances. When she asked for advice, her advisors told her to declare the company bankrupt. She instead chose to restore the company. Although the company had many debts and almost collapsed, even the advices given were all negative, she chose not to follow the advices and later rescued the company and restored it to its original status but under new management. It calls for a lot of patience and perseverance for a business to succeed and if the leader lacks the quality, they will definitely quit. Flexibility This is being able to accept any outcome that results from an activity. Being flexible in business helps a leader to accept any changes that occur in the organization and making the necessary conclusions. Businesses undergo many changes for example, new regulation by the government on businesses (Smith, 2005: 113), strikes by workers, and even natural disasters occur, affecting the production of the business. A strong business leader will accept any change that comes, but make sure that the business survives (MCBEAN, 2013). The Xerox CEO, Anne Mulcahy, gives a good example of flexibility. Although the company was almost collapsing, even being under many debts, she was flexible enough to accept what had outcome and started to act upon it. She had the confidence that she could reform the company even after facing such financial crises. Communication Communication is passing information from one individual to another. In a business organization, communication matters, ranging from how the organization’s leader relates with their stakeholders. A competitive and good business leader will seek to have good modes of communication with their workers (Smith, 2005:152). They will also form a proper communication protocol with their clients. Clients are an important group in a business organization, and the forms of communication a leader adopts contribute much to the progress of the business. In this competitive business market, good communication will attract clients to the organization. Communication involves giving out your ideas and living room for other people’s ideas (Myatt, 2012). An example of a successful leader who had clear communication is Steve Jobs, CEO Apple Computer Co. He says clear communication in the organization gives success in business because people are aware of their duties and they are accountable for any task in their line of duty. He also says secrecy is important in a technology company (Moisescot, 2012). This is dependent on how a leader communicates with clients. The highly competitive business market nowadays needs leaders who can stand and face the stiff competition by the other businesses. According to my views, I feel that a good business leader should have the following characteristics: For success in business, the business leaders should be innovative. Innovativeness is the ability to come up with ideas that can move the business to a higher level compared to where it is. A great leader will always seek to turn from the old way of undertaking issues and do then in accordance to the current generation (Kezar, 2008:11). Technology has changed and the competition in the market is very high, compared to the past days, therefore new management procedures have to be adopted for a business to venture in this competition (Greenberg). It is only an innovative leader who can sit and think of ideas that are not in the market. Secondly, a competitive business leader should be assertive. This is having self –confidence. A leader who has confidence in themselves will perform their duties well. Self-confidence helps leaders to face challenges that face a business, for example financial crises that arise in the market. A leader who is confident will stand and say they will manage the challenge even if the business is almost collapsing. Jim Marcrum, D.A Stuart vice president, once said, “Assertiveness is the backbone of leadership”. This means if one cannot trust themselves then other people will not. Another characteristic of a business leader is humility. It helps a leader to listen to the views brought out by their employees and this makes a smooth running of the business (Singh, 2005: 275). The leader should also be honest, fair and have integrity. This brings respect to them from their employees (McBean, 2013). A business leader should be responsible. This is accepting the task of being the leader, incase there is any blame. They should be the first to accept the blame and later help to solve any problem. In addition to being humble, a business leader should also be flexible. Businesses face many challenging situations, which, without a leader being flexible can lead a business to collapse. Being flexible is expecting anything to happen and deal with it in the best way (McBean, 2013). Conclusion In conclusion, business leaders should be ready for anything, be it positive or negative. A leader who expects only the best things to happen in business cannot manage to solve a problem if it comes in the opposite way. Therefore, it is always advisable to stay prepared for any new encounters. Another character of a business leader is being a risk taker (Snyder, 2010:90). Although taking risks is a challenge, it is inevitable to anyone who wishes to succeed in business (Greenberg). Taking part in business is itself a risk and if one decides to be a businessperson, they should accept to take all risks involved. Taking risks is important because, if one succeeds, it acts as a progress to the business. The fear of taking risks means that the leaders are not flexible or prepared for anything that may arise. If a business leader adopts all the characteristics discussed above, they can manage a business in this market competition era. Bibliography BONFIELD, P. 1999. U.S. Business Leaders: a study of opinions and characteristics. [S.l.], Conference Board. Domeck, Craig Edwin. 2008. 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