The Biography of Lee Iacocca - Essay Example

of the Management of the Concerned 17 October Lee Iacocca There is no denying the fact that going through the biography of Lee Iacocca happens to be an inspiring and stimulating experience. If the management gurus had a hall of fame, the experts would have certainly reserved a whole floor for the management genius named Lee Iacocca. Lee Iacocca pursued a proactive and hands on approach towards management, managed to retained a manly mindset during his failures and took all the success that came his way with a mature and mellowed sense of sobriety. Lee Iacocca spent the eight years of his life running the Ford Car Company, was divested of his job in the prime of his life and instead of brooding on his ill luck and defeat, moved ahead and utilized his managerial acumen to bring out another car company from the verge of bankruptcy to being a mammoth success. The biography of Lee Iacocca happens to be the story of an ordinary person who took the initiative, as and when the life presented opportunities to him and made something out of himself. One thing that set apart Lee Iacocca’s leadership style from others was that he happened to have a strong conviction in his ideas and beliefs. Part of the issues that Iacocca faced at the Ford Car Company was that he seldom hesitated from sitting down and defending the ideas and views that seemed right and effective to him. No wonder Lee Iacocca’s personality carried an immense sense of charisma that made others trust him, believe in him and follow him. Hus style of leadership was marked by a sense of courage that not only motivated others to do their best, but also assured his followers that if anything went wrong, he will be there to help and defend them as Iacocca says, “Leadership means setting an example (Iacocca & Novak 241)”. The communication style of Iacocca was marked by astuteness in being able to and willing to talk about facts, even when they sounded unpalatable and unsavory. I was his ability to bear with hard facts that helped him turnover Chrysler. In the context of Kouzes-Posner model of leadership one thing that Iacocca learned when he was fired from Ford was the fact that a leader ought to set the principles as per which people need to be treated and made to achieve the goals. Iacocca possessed remarkable people skills. Iacocca not only firmly believed in his vision, but also had the ability to make others trust his vision and do their best to further and facilitate that vision. One thing that Iacocca did after joining Chrysler was to challenge the status quo and to question the way things were done earlier, so as to do away with the old flab and make the company focus on the things that added to its success. Both at Ford and at Chrysler, Iacocca pursued a collaborative approach with his team members and acted as a leader who believed in empowering others. It was Iacocca’s ability to keep alive the hope and belief at Chrysler that enabled him and the people working with him to make Chrysler a success. The personality of Iacocca possessed a trait that happened to be both his strength and a weakness. One thing that made Lee Iacocca peculiar was that he tended to be quiet emotive about his professional life. He associated with his work with a marked sense of emotional passion and took both the success and the failures coming his way with an emotive sense of conviction. For instance when Iacocca was fired from Ford, instead of merely taking it as one other aspect of his job, Iacocca rather took this instance quiet personally and meditated on the impact that firing had on his personal and family life. However, one could certainly say that this emotive sense of temperament could have turned out to be a tragic flaw in any other person, but Lee Iacocca instead of allowing his emotions to benumb and stymie him, rather used them to his advantage and moved on to utilize his innate talent to make Chrysler a burgeoning success. On thing that could be strongly attributed to Lee Iacocca’s personality in a personal context is the fact that Iacocca happened to be one more star amongst a plethora of personalities that revived the faith and trust in, what could be essentially called the American Dream. Reading the biography of Iacocca one simply could not helped being enamored by the conviction that one could aspire to become anything, even if one affiliated to a humble and ordinary background, as Iacocca puts it, “I began my life as the son of immigrants and I worked my way up to the president of the Ford Motor Company (Iacocca & Novak 143).”. The other thing one could certainly learn from the biography of Iacocca is the need for treating people in a way that no way compromised on their innate sense of dignity and self respect. Iacocca happened to be an expert in getting along with people ascribing to different personality traits and view points, and always made it a point to learn from and benefit from others’ ideas and skills. One other thing that one could indeed learn from the biography of Iacocca is the value of leading from the front. Throughout his biography, whether it was about Ford or at Chrysler, Lee Iacocca comes out as a person and a leader who never shied away from taking the responsibility and was always willing to bear the blame if any of his ideas misfired. The biography of Lee Iacocca does facilitate a marked insight into as to how the managers worked at Ford and Chrysler to make the company a success. No wonder, much has changed in the auto industry since the day Iacocca worked as a manager, still, it is a point to be noted that the leadership traits and skills enunciated upon by Iacocca in his biography tend to be timeless and evergreen. Thereby, for the young managers, the biography of Iacocca is both of historical and personal significance. Lee Iacocca indeed happened to be an innately inspiring personality that could teach much to others even in the current times. Works Cited Iacocca, L., & Novak, W. (1984). Iacocca: An Autobiography. New York: Bantam. Summary Lee Iacocca indeed comes out as an accomplished and versatile individual if one goes through the history of managers that defined leadership in the last century. In that context, reading the biography of Lee Iacocca is indeed and inspiring and motivating experience. The leadership style of Iacocca was primarily about conviction and an ability to bear with accountability. Lee Iacocca led his followers through the dint of one’s personal example and never shied away from trying new approaches, while dealing with problems at both Ford and Chrysler. It goes without saying that the personality of Lee Iacocca carried a charisma that not only motivated his team members to believe in his larger vision, but also encouraged them to follow him as a leader. Lee Iacocca carried a passion for challenging status quo and was really expert at questioning the old ways of doing things. In that context he did sometimes come out as a difficult person. The other thing about Iacocca was that he tended to be quiet emotive about his professional life. However, instead of becoming a victim of this trait, Lee Iacocca managed to channelize his emotions in a positive way, which enabled him to turn over the things at Chrysler. Besides, Lee Iacocca possessed remarkable people skills that made him learn from and get along with people ascribing to diverse temperaments and abilities. Thereby, the biography of Iacocca could not only teach much about management to the aspiring managers, but also happens to be a rich source of motivation and advice. Read More