Leadership Style of Googles CEO Larry Page - Case Study Example

Leadership Style of Google’s CEO Larry Page Leadership Style of Google’s CEO Larry Page Larry Page is one of the founders of the Google Company. He core founded the company with Sergey Brin in 1998. At that time, Page was undertaking his Ph.D. at the Stanford University. The company that began in 1998 has registered an immense growth over the years and hired more than 4000 employees across the globe. Page had the privilege of becoming the company’s chief executive officer from the company’s inception to 2001. In the next 10 years that followed, Larry worked as the president of Google Products. In 2011, he took up the chief executive officer position once more. Notably, Larry Page has worked for the Google Company since its inception, a factor that gives him the advantage of understanding the company’s operations very well. He has a unique leadership style that explains why the company has proven to be highly successful. This paper will highlight the critical aspects of Page’s leadership style. Description of Larry Page’s Leadership Style Over the years, Larry Page has demonstrated that he believes in democratic leadership. He indulges his employees in the decision-making process and gives attention to innovation. Page also believes in empowering more employees to exhibit more creativity and innovation. During the first three years when he served as the chief executive officer, he led the company to an immense growth of over 200 employees. Page believes in an active management approach, which explains why he ensures that he is involved in all the company’s projects. He does not support traditional management and does not believe in autocratic leadership. He seeks to ensure that his leadership style is highly transformative so that he can attract more talent and retain the company’s employees. Page is a team builder who avoids bureaucracy in order to minimize employee turnover. The company prides itself with talent from employees who have worked for the company since its inception (Helft, 2014). Without doubt, Page has a unique leadership style, which has become evident over the years. Larry Page’s Leadership Style and Philosophy Page believes in the philosophy that “We should be building great things that don’t exist”. He has often believed that the company can achieve anything as long as they have the resources and the right people on board. According to Page’s philosophy, innovation has remained to be an outstanding feature of his leadership at Google. He ensures that the company is working on products that have not existed in the globe before. The company gives little attention to competitors working on imitating its existing products. Instead, Page ensures that the company stays ahead of the competitors by being highly innovative. Larry promoted continuous innovation and encouraged employees to rely on the benefits of hard work if they are to maintain the company’s market position (“Larry Page and Googles midlife crisis”, 2012). Due to its increased innovation, the company has become an epitome of success as a search engine and has many Google applications in the market today. Since Page believes in innovation, he makes sure that the company hires the right people who have the capacity to be innovative. The company’s recruiters seek to bring in talent to the company and focus on hiring the smartest individuals. For sometimes, Page worked closely with the recruiters in order to ensure that the company hired people with high levels of intelligence. Page regards his employees highly and regards them as a Googler. Over the years, it has become evident that the Googlers share a common vision for the company. The existing platforms within the company ensure that Googlers exchange ideas in their efforts to develop new products. Unlike other leaders, Page has remained open to great ideas developed by his employees. He does not relent his efforts to develop new solutions and ensure that the company’s products keep improving. For example, the company has continuously upgraded Gmail through its highly innovative process. Users of Gmail have highlighted the fact that the company has upgraded the product in order to improve customer experience (Manimala & Wasdani, 2013). Page recognizes the importance of creating a favorable working environment for the employees. He considers ethical factors before making decisions. He recognizes that ethical values determine the reputation of any organization. Therefore, he seeks to ensure that the company’s decisions are highly ethical. Larry Page exhibits a combination of both transformational and transitional leadership. The powerful combination of different leadership theories explains why Page has remained highly influential in the company and is an example worthy to be emulated (Nekoranec, 2009). Page’s Personal and Organizational Value A successful leader must ensure that his personal values conform to the organizational values. Such a conformity ensures that there is no conflict of interest between the leader and the organization. The Google Company has defined outstanding values that define it as an organization. For example, one of the company’s outstanding values is being able to bring smart people on board and partner with them in an effort to develop new products. Therefore, the company hires intelligent individuals giving them an opportunity to test their ideas. In addition, the company has expressed an additional outstanding value titled “Do not be Evil”. “Do not be Evil” represents an ideology developed by Larry Page in an effort to ensure that the company operates ethically (Oke, Munshi, & Walumbwa, 2009). Over the years, Page has seen it that the company balances the maximization of profits and ethical strategies. The core values of the organization are well reflected in Page’s personal values. From the company’s inception, Page has made it evident that he likes engaging smart people in the company. For several years, he has worked closely with recruiters in order to identify smart people who can contribute positively to the company’s innovation. Without doubt, Page’s commitment to innovation reflects the company’s outstanding value of hiring individuals who can drive innovation. In order to ensure that the company has a competitive advantage in the market, Page has mandated every employee (Googler) to allocate 20% of working time in developing innovative products for the company. Therefore, the Googlers are constantly in search for new ideas and implementing them in order to register success for the company (Rochman, 2011). How the Ethical Values of Page Influence Ethical Behavior in the Organization Without doubt, the values of a company’s chief executive officer determine the organizational culture. Organizational culture serves as a determinant of the company’s growth and ethical values exhibited by the employees. Chief executive officers usually apply personal values and belief systems in their decision-making processes. The decisions they make are a reflection of the outstanding personal values. Employees are followers of the leader. Therefore, employees are keen to note the ethical values of leaders and to imitate them. A CEO with a strong belief system and desirable values register a positive impact on the organizational ethical behaviors. However, a CEO who disregards ethical values as an individual encourages employees to do the same. Therefore, chief executive officers must ensure that they develop a strong personal value system that can have a positive impact on the company’s ethical behavior. In the case of Larry Page, he has been continuously aware of the fact that his personal values have the potential to influence the company’s ethical behavior. His conviction that one should not be evil has had a positive impact on the company, which undertakes projects that do not exhibit any form of evil (Turunç, Çelik, & Mert, 2013). Pages Greatest Strengths and Weaknesses Every individual has a set of strengths and weaknesses. As a CEO, Larry Page has exhibited certain strengths that have propelled the company to its current success. In addition, Page also exhibits certain weaknesses that may serve as hindrances in his leadership. Being able to recognize strengths and weaknesses is of critical importance in personal growth. Larry Page has continuously demonstrated that he is well aware of his strengths and weaknesses. One of the outstanding strengths is the fact that Page has an introverted personality. As an introvert, he has successfully developed to be a successful leader for his highly innovative employees. Experts have highlighted that leaders with an introverted personality are more likely to be effective leaders for highly innovative and creative employees. The Google Company omits itself to hiring individuals who are proactive and determined to make the best contributions to the company. Page, an introvert, has proven to be a better leader than many extroverts are. His introverted personality explains why he is a better listener and that he allows employees to express themselves fully. In addition, Page has had a passion for technology and innovation since his school days. His passion is evident in his commitment to introduce new technologies into the Google Company. Page, an engineer, has been able to provide solutions for the company during critical times when the company needs technological solutions. His expertise in engineering serves as one of the outstanding strengths that have helped him become a better leader. Interestingly, Page exhibits a quiet spirit and a reserved personality that focuses on pursuing personal passions. Innovation has been one of Page’s treasured passions. His reserved personality allows him to dedicate his time on contributing positively to emerging technologies. He has the capacity to listen to others and encourage them to be more innovative. However, Page has certain weaknesses that are potential hindrances to his leadership. He has some behavioral traits such as a bad temper that may serve to create conflict and tension between him and employees. In addition, Page has expressed his intention to delegate duties, but finds himself only being able to micro-manage. Finally, Page’s passion for innovation and his belief that everything is possible may compel him to overlook certain critical ethical consideration, which may be a negative aspect of the company. Recommendations for Pages Leadership Style Without doubt, Larry Page has proven himself a great leader over the years. Page, as an introvert, he should dedicate his time for innovation and the provision of technological solutions. Page has often failed to communicate effectively to different stakeholders. Therefore, he should focus on an extensive communication with the outside world in order to build a positive reputation for the company. In addition, Page should focus on positively delegating duties instead of micro-managing. Page should promote the development of highly empowered management team that can handle different projects. The implementations of these recommendations are more likely to make his leadership experience better (Helft, 2014). The Effect of Communication, Collaboration, Power, and, Politics on the Organizational Dynamics Communication is of critical importance in any organization because it enables the leader to communicate the company’s visions and goals to the employees. Effective communication also facilitates feedback systems that can help leaders in decision-making. On the other hand, collaboration denotes the process of shared decision-making, which brings into concept different parties who explore alternatives and identify a common strategy. Without effective communication, collaboration is impossible. Effective collaboration determines whether an organization can effect change successfully; develop new task forces, as well as forming coalitions. Organizational structure determines the distribution of power in an organization. The patterns adopted in power distribution determine the level of control that line managers and employees at the lower levels have on the company’s operations. Effective distribution of power promotes the participative decision-making, which contributes to the success of an organization. Finally, politics has the potential of determining the dynamics of an organization because of the promoted ideologies (“Larry Page and Googles midlife crisis”, 2012). References Helft, M. (2014). The most ambitious CEO in the universe. (cover story). Fortune, 170(8), 140-150. Larry Page and Googles midlife crisis. (2012). Executive Leadership, 27(1), 1-2. Manimala, M. J., & Wasdani, K. P. (2013). Distributed leadership at google: lessons from the billion-dollar brand. Ivey Business Journal, 77(3), 12. Nekoranec, W. (2009). Ethical Leadership and OD Practice. OD Practitioner, 41(2), 2-7. Oke, A., Munshi, N., & Walumbwa, F. O. (2009). The Influence of Leadership on Innovation Processes and Activities. Organizational Dynamics, 3864-72. doi:10.1016/j.orgdyn.2008.10.005. Rochman, H. (2011). Google Founders: Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Booklist, 108(6), 47. Turunç, Ö, Çelik, M., & Mert, I. (2013). The impact of leadership styles on ethical behaviour. Journal of Academic Research In Economics, 5(1), 60-86. Read More