Jay Z Leadership Style - Research Paper Example

? LEADERSHIP Contents Introduction 3 Background 3 Early life of Jay Z 4 The onset of success 5 Analysis 7 Common Theme 7 The Leadership Style appliedhere 7 The Traits 7 The Motivation 8 Power & Charisma 8 Vision 8 Ethics & Values 9 Effectiveness 9 Conclusion 10 My Opinion 10 Works Cited 11 Introduction The lexicon meaning of leadership is a particular quality of a person which may be in-born or may be acquired due to culmination of several other factors, resulting in a situation where one can rule, command, direct, govern, administer, run, manage, supervise ,control ,guide one’s followers .The person is otherwise a normal individual but for a given circumstances he is able to make his followers believe in his extra-ordinary capacity to handle the issues in his own style to deliver the desired result. So, the basic characteristic of leadership is trust of followers in ‘leader’s capacity. There are several theories on ‘leadership’ but at the end it is trust of followers and leader’s capacity to deliver, which counts most. The leader faces many resistances while introducing a change in the ongoing process. But it’s his confidence and consistency that motivates him and guides him throughout his life. Leaders also have the unique capacity to foresee things which the people with non-leadership traits fail to realize. The focus of our thesis is to study the recent news articles related to leadership and learn the form of leadership those articles refer to. We have chosen Jay-Z as our leader as he is known to be equally successful in showcasing his talents of music and entrepreneurship simultaneously. Background Early life of Jay Z Born on the 4th of December 1969 at Brooklyn, he was known as Shawn Corey Carter to everyone. His childhood was spent among war & crime ridden environment of the Marcy Projects. He had the habit of writing since his childhood days. He was adventurous by nature & learnt bike riding at the tender age of four. A poetry that he revealed in Rolling Stone Magazine’s November 2007 issue says that, “I’m the king of hip-hop/Renewed like the Reebok/The key in the lock/with words so provocative/As long as I live”. He listened to Al Green, Stevie Wonder & Prince. He was a good student, good at sports & a happy-go-lucky kind of person. He always felt the need for a male in his house when his father left his mother. He was only 11 years old when this sudden change in his life totally shocked him. He lost his only mentor. To support his family he started rapping on the streets. Soon he was popular as a fledging rapper. The people who knew him started addressing him as Jazzy. He shortened this name & became known as Jay-Z. In his life, he found two people to guide him, one was a rapper named Jaz-O who taught him the tricks of the rap industry, and the other was a drug dealer. Jaz-O was experienced than him & they met for the first time in a contest to rap against each other. Jaz-O underestimated the talent of the 15year old kid & decided to sing with each other rather against each other. Its then he got impressed by the kid’s talent & decided to train him. Jaz-O advised him to practice as much as possible. Sources say that Jay-Z was found rapping in between his classes & during his lunch breaks at schools when most of the kid would involve in fights & games. Jay-Z also participated for a short time in a now forgotten group, named Original Flavor. It’s known that two of the popular rappers of present days hailed from George Washington High School & they used to be Jay-Z’s classmates. They are, Notorious B.I.G. & Busta Rhymes. (Heos 3) The onset of success Struggle & tough times were all around Jay-Z. Still he managed to make a great decision. He decided to start his own music label instead of signing other renowned labels. This strategy would surely cut the cost of middleman still it was risky enough. His friends, Kareem Burke & Damon dash helped him in the formation of Roc-a-Fella Records. (starpulse.com) Damon dash had a childhood similar to him; he was raised by a single mother. From the very childhood Dash was a bright student & He achieved scholarship for his studies to a renowned private school. Sadly enough Dash lost his mother at the age 15. Still he continued with his studies & he used to teach the students of his own class. In the year 1988 he became an entrepreneur after meeting his cousin’s step father, who was having a record company. It was during that time, when Dash thought of coming up with his own record company named Dash Entertainment. (Brown 39-42) Jay-Z needed a good distributor for Roc-a-Fella Records & he signed a deal with Priority Records. His debut album,” Reasonable Doubt” was finally launched in 1996. Jay-Z once rapped that “I’m not a businessman”, “I’m business, man”. He is regarded not only as one of the greatest rapper but also a successful entrepreneur in the fields of fashion and sports. (bet.com) His songs soon achieved a huge fan following especially “Ain’t No Nigga”, featuring Foxy Brown. He came up with a new album “In my Lifetime Volume 1” in 1997. From this time onwards, Jay-Z never had to look back. His one after another hit songs soon made him the heartthrob of millions. The popular albums like “Hard Knock Life”, “The Blueprint” & “Life & Times of S. Carter” created millions of admirers for him. (xfm.co.uk) In 2008 he was invited to headline the Glastonbury festival. He was accompanied by fellow headliners like Kings of Leon & Vivers and around 134,000 tickets were sold that year in spite of the terrible flood that occurred in 2007. Critics said that the festival was for contemporary guitar players and including a rapper is irrelevant. (GLASTONBURY 2008) Today Jay-Z also has a sports agency in his name. It’s known as Roc Nation Sports which is an agency for athletes. It is a partnership firm with the president of the agency, Juan Perez & Creative Artists Agency. It started its first contract with Robinson Cano. In 2004 he purchased the basket ball team named New Jersey Nets. Recently Kevin Durant left Landmark Sports to join Jay-Z’s agency. (Healy 1) The company’s fast growth and signing of stars like Victor Cruz made it the cause of jealousy for some other rappers in the industry. American rapper Curtis James Jackson, who is popularly known as 50 Cent, picked up a fight with Jay-Z stating rappers “should never” be sports agents. (tmz.com) Jay-Z also owns a clothing line named Rocawear which was founded in 1999. Off late, the brand was sued for not paying an outstanding amount of $450,000 to a company named iSource NYC. (Cowles 1) Jay-Z got married to popular singer Beyonce Knowles in 2008. They worked together for songs like, “Bonnie & Clyde”, “That’s How You like It” & “Crazy in Love”. They avoided discussing their relationship and their marriage was a secret thing which was celebrated with a very close group of friends. Their daughter named Blue Ivy was born in 2012 and recent rumors said that Beyonce is expecting her second child. These rumors were proved wrong when the singer denied the news in public. (Ramsdale) Analysis Common Theme The articles used here, shows a common theme which is Transformation. As we have already discussed earlier that leadership is the capacity to guide people, similarly we find here that Jay-Z his career from the grass root level. Jay-Z created his own labels & achieved success through it. The story of his early life reflects those common traits of an inborn leader, though he faced lots of challenges in life still he had the courage to fight back. It’s like an inspiration for all those who are unable to achieve their dreams due to lack of money or luck. The Leadership Style applied here The leadership style applicable to Jay-Z is Transactional where the leader & follower share an “exchange” relationship. This type of leadership is more practical which consists of a specific goal. Here we can see that Jay-Z & Damon Dash were great business partners. Their childhood was much alike though Dash was already an entrepreneur by the time Jay-Z started his career. They decided & participated in the formation of Roc-a-Fella Records with equal contribution. The Traits Every leader of the world applies separate strategies & policies but still they all have some common traits which make them the person they are. The traits found in Jay-Z portrays Patience, Determination, Ambition, Confidence, Courage to take risk, Doing things differently, Dedication, Passion, Courage to accept challenges, Ability to overcome the weaknesses around & consistency. The Motivation In the case of Jay-Z we find the story of motivation that affected him from his early childhood days. On a fine day, while roaming around, Jay-Z found a group of kids standing in a circle & clapping, surrounding a teenager who constantly rhymed about anything that came on his mind. On that very day he got attracted towards writing his own poems. He used to carry a notebook along with him & used to put down in it as soon as something came into his mind. Also his family was very fond of music. The atmosphere always had music in it. His parents were huge fans of Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye & Prince. From floor to ceiling, the house was always full of music records of famous singers. He found music as a very good medium to speak out his mind, the pain he was going through when his father left him alone. He had the zeal within him to become famous & make money made him what he is known for today. (Hoblin 15-17) Power & Charisma A successful leader never dominates his followers through his power; rather he influences & inspires them. Jay-Z had talent, confidence & the power to foresee. He was known for his friendly nature & his happy-go-lucky nature which acted as the charisma inside him, to impress his fans. Vision It’s very obvious that Jay-Z had an amazing vision. His unique idea of starting Roc-a-Fella was a correct decision on his part though it seemed to others that it’s a wrong step. He had the exact planning of the future & therefore he implemented his idea in a new enterprise. Again a rapper would never think of starting a business in food chain, clothing & cars, but with his vision he realized it to be a profitable business & so he explored these parts too. (Spilsbury 48) Ethics & Values Jay-Z belonged to a poor but socially accepted family, who were strong followers of ethics & values. His parents kept a close eye on him as because the Marcy Projects were quite well known for crimes & drug dealings. From his childhood he was taught to be sympathetic towards the poor & to be helpful to the people at large. He was always a shy boy with talents. From his very childhood he found his mother working & therefore he was always compassionate about her. He was thoroughly devastated when his father left them & never returned again. He was only 11 years old then. It was then he realized that money is essential for livelihood. Though he had enough chances of getting influenced by the crime ridden ambience of Marcy, still he struggled for earning a living by means of hard work & honesty. Though one of the incidents of his life tells the story about how he shot his brother, Eric. Eric was his elder brother & one day he stole Jay-Z’s ring which made the 12 year old furious. He wanted to warn his brother for hurting his pride & therefore he shot him on the shoulders. Eric was immediately hospitalized after this. Also he was known for quitting high school as he decided to sell drugs. Effectiveness The drastic change in the life of Jay-Z doesn’t need an analysis on the topic that whether his tactics were effective or not. The articles state that even being rejected & turned down several times, the rapper didn’t lose hope & continued to fight for a place in the industry. The Articles introduced facts that are not at all different from the topic of thesis. We can find evidence that Jay-Z as a leader had the perfect vision and realization about the things that will be surely liked by his followers. In spite of many criticism and challenges, he focused on his goals and achieved what he wanted. He spent a life full of struggle for food & he often spent his days in friend’s home looking for food. He was insecure as his father was not there to guide him & his mother was busy in earning a living for the family. Conclusion My Opinion We have found mixed traits within Jay-Z which can be summarized as being friendly, creative, talented, & confident. He has good decision making skills and his determination makes the leader within him take dominant role in shaping his life and career. He is determined & has the ability to think out of the box. Also his optimistic attitude & his dedication make him one of the most successful business people of the present era. There is a common saying which says, “A leader has to be born & not made”, the similar is the case of Jay-Z. Among all odds he stood out to accomplish his dreams. He recognized his passion which most of us fail to do. He took the unusual path which general people would like to avoid. Today he is one of the richest men of America & a Grammy Winner. Therefore it can be said that Jay-Z is the perfect leader because he is different. (Adair 56-58) Works Cited Northouse, Peter Guy. Leadership: theory and practice. USA: SAGE, 2010.Print Xfm.co.uk. Jay-Z Biography. Heos, Bridget. Jay-Z (the Library of Hip-Hop Biographies. New York: ReadHowYouWant.com, 2011.Print Brown Jake. Jay-z...And the Roc-a-fella Dynasty. Phoenix: Amber Books Publishing, 2005. Print Adair John. Leadership skills. Great Britain: CIPD Publishing, 1998. Print Spilsbury Richard. Jay-Z. UK: Rain tree, 2013.Print Hoblin Paul. Jay-Z: Hip-Hop Mogul. USA: ABDO consulting, 2012. Print Bet.com. Jay-Z. GLASTONBURY 2008. Glastonbury Goes Hip-Hop. 2008. Healy John. Kevin Durant leaves agent, expected to join Jay-Z's Roc Nation Sports. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. 2013. TMZ. 50 Cents Dissing Jay-Z?Says Rappers Shouldn't Be Sports Agents. 2013. Cowles Charlotte. Jay-Z Gets Sued Over Rocawear’s Outstanding Bill. 2013 Ramsdale Suzannah. BEYONCE'S DEFINITELY NOT PREGNANT, THEN? 2013 Starpulse.com. Jay-Z Biography. Read More