Reflections on Leadership of the World - Research Paper Example

? Reflections on World’s Leadership Prior to distinguishing between good and bad leaders, it is imperative to first understand theconcept of leadership and attributes that prompt one to be designated as either a good or a bad leader. Daft (2007) defines leadership as an influence association between leaders and followers whose intention is to impact real change and generate outcomes which reflect their common purpose. The term influence alludes to the fact the association is mutually beneficial, meaning that leaders mold followers and vice versa. In terms of features, efficient leaders come up with their own ideas and pursue them with the necessary enthusiasm. Such leaders are also dedicated to actions beyond their own interests and they adamantly support their values and beliefs. Further, great leaders formulate and convey strong beliefs and they do not simply impose their will. Instead they rally followers to support their visionary ideas through leading by example. This paper seeks to differentiate between two contemporary leaders using the mentioned features, among others. As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, leadership is termed as an influence association among leaders and followers who are interested in influencing real change, as well as, exceptional outcomes that reflect their shared rationale. Therefore, it is imperative to ask oneself what make an individual a good or a bad leader. For instance, Warren Buffett is termed to be one of the good business leaders in the world. The main question that everybody is interested in is to know what makes him successful as a leader. Buffet is a good leader because; his leadership has made a positive change in the world today (Spindler, 2008). There is a huge relationship between change and leadership and Buffet has portrayed the ability to change the world and make it a better place. This is attributable to the fact that he has the ability to survive in very uncertain business ventures. As a leader, Buffet has adapted ways in which he can respond to crisis or change and channeled his ambition to change the world by achieving better goals (Mclaughlin, 2013). Understanding whether leaders are born or made is an aspect that is extremely imperative. This will assist in determining whether Buffett was a born a leader. Research and Experience depicts that there is little evidence showing that an individual that rises to power can be termed as a “born leader.” It is evident that Buffett has had challenges equal to other others leader. However, he has always managed to be successful in his work. This is because Buffett had learned from all his mistakes and managed to turn them into positive aspects. For instance, Buffett ensures that he has shared his leadership at all organizational levels by empowering others to share his responsibilities. This enables him to actively act efficiently in all categories as a leader (Mclaughlin, 2013). This is what creates a huge distinction between good management and leadership. Managers have controlling, organizing, and budgeting powers and Buffett contains leadership skills in all these three levels. These are traits that make an exceptional business leader (Daft, 2007). Another imperative trait that business leaders should posses is communication (Daft, 2007). Buffet is described as an accomplished communicator in all facets of his life. It is crucial to note that communication is the principal aspect in leadership. This is why many skilled communicators are able to appreciate for in the business world. Buffet has the experience to position himself in favorable positions in the business world. He is able to comprehend individuals that he is communicating to easily. He possesses audience knowledge and understands what different people want thus capturing their concentration encouraging them to listen. This makes him a good leader because; he not only knows how to communicate with high profile people, but also with the subordinates with ease. Additionally, Buffett is an outstanding listener and considerate of what other people have to say and also convey his comprehension (Mclaughlin, 2013). Buffett has personality ties to the Social Cognition as a leader. This is because he tries to comprehend, as well as, make sense of other individuals. He is a keen observer in diversity in social knowledge especially when dealing with individuals. This is why; he is keen on referring the community as to 'stakeholders' instead of ‘shareholders’, because the phrase stakeholders includes not only investors, but also workers and the community at large. This has s strong purpose and moral aspects especially in areas where they conduct business (Spindler, 2008). Buffett is a good example of a bona fide leader. According to Osborn, Hunt, and Jauch, 2002), authentic leaders are able to comprehend their own moral values, as well as, behave toward other people in the same way based on the values they posses. This is because such leaders have comprehensible idea of who they are, what they want and which characters they should posses. Authentic leaders have a purpose and self discipline. This is what makes Buffet a good leader and incomparable to other leaders in business. According to Grant (2004), there are personal traits that characterize a leader. For instance, a leader should be honest, confidence, and intelligent. In the case of Buffet, he is a self empowered leader. This is because of his loyalty to his organization. He is also organized and sets achievable goals for the employees. This is because he understands the essence planning and making good strategies in order to achieve his objectives. Buffet is committed to his work and makes sure that he has accomplished his purpose before venturing into any other business. This is what makes him the best stock broker of all time. He is courageous but extremely conservative in investment thus prefers to invest in organizations that vend name brand products which are used in his business. For instance, Coca-Cola and GEICO are some of the major organizations that he has invested. This portrays a lot of intelligence and patience. This means he is smart in investing and avoids taking unusual and big investment risks. Buffett is loyal to his partners, and his team makes sure that they work their best in order to maintain his happiness (Mclaughlin, 2013). The leadership style utilized by Buffet is democratic. This is because; he likes to participate in projects and decision making processes. By using this style he is able to communicate with the subordinates and understand their ideas first hand. This has made him one of the best leaders in the business world. I have learnt that this leadership style has a lot of advantages this is the style that should be adopted if one needs to have optimal productivity. Additionally, just like Buffet, there is need to develop characteristics like integrity and trustworthiness and this can be achieved by forming the right behavior (Spindler, 2008). In further analysis of leaders and their attributes, Brian Dunn qualifies as a bad leader. Dunn, who recently resigned as the chief executive officer of Best Buy (BBY) has several features characteristic of an inefficient leader. The first thing that prompts one to categorize him as a bad leader is his lack of integrity, which is a crucial attribute of a good leader. Dunn was forced to resign from his CEO post primarily due to allegations of having an affair with a younger BBY employee (Sag, 2012). This went contrary to the company’s code of ethics, which governs work relations. Given the fact that Dunn is married and has three children, his actions are highly controversial and they jeopardized BBY’s reputation. Dunn’s actions also showed that he is more focused toward his own self-interest as opposed to the company’s and other stakeholders’ interests (Zaccaro & Zachary, 2003). Brian Dunn’s communication skills also portray him as a bad leader. For instance, soon after becoming BBY’s CEO Dunn was asked in an interview about how he runs meetings. His response was surprising since he said that he lost interest quickly if employees went to great detail explaining things. He even had the audacity to state that he would refer to such employees as apostles of the obvious and that their pontification drove him crazy. He went on to assert that he viewed meetings to be necessary evil and he preferred it when people directly conveyed their point. This response gives the implication that Dunn did not give his employees an opportunity to express their opinion about things. His clear assertion that he interrupts with what appears to be an insult or rude expression shows that he liked to have the upper hand during discussions (Bryant, 2009). This disqualifies him as a democratic leader and makes him appear to use a dictatorial leadership approach (Northouse, 2013). In addition to his illicit workplace affair, poor communication and suppression of employees’ opinion, Dunn had other negative attributes. For instance, he made management decisions that made Best Buy incur extensive losses during the course of his tenure. It is imperative to note that a leader is supposed to guide the followers towards attaining higher productivity by ensuring that he too works enthusiastically with the dynamism that the work demands (Osborn, Hunt & Jauch, 2002). This was not the case with Brian Dunn as shown by BBY’s acute stock price decline and excessive loss of its market share to both major competitors like Wal-Mart and minor rivals. Dunn propelled the company to continually share buybacks, which led to incurrence of about 6.4 billion dollars with no positive outcome to show for the strategy. It is also during Dunn’s tenure that Best Buy was reduced to a highly fragmented business, with majority of its departments constantly losing money or failing to produce sufficient revenue to fuel the company’s continuity. The excessive losses clearly show that Brian Dunn’s management strategies were not suitable for Best Buy (Sag, 2012). Brian Dunn’s leadership style tended toward the dictatorship approach as mentioned earlier. Perhaps if he could have bothered to listen to his employees and delegated some decision making responsibilities to employee, they would have developed better operation strategies since they are engaged in everyday company operations. It is also possible that the company could have retained its market share and competitive ability, because BBY definitely has creative personnel who could have averted the loss making trend, through collaborative discussion and decision making. Brian Dunn’s leadership style and management strategies made me rethink the role of employees in the work environment. These individuals should be given an opportunity to state their perspective on diverse issues since the company hired them for their competence. Dunn’s leadership style led BBY to an acute decline and must, therefore, be avoided (Bratton & Gold, 2007).                         In conclusion, leaders cannot be judged as being either good or bad solely on their personality traits. Rather, classification into the said categories is dependent upon diverse leadership attributes and outcomes of management strategies that they choose to adopt.  This is clearly illustrated by the two leaders scrutinized, that is, Buffet and Dunn. Buffet is deemed to be a good leader based on a combination of personality traits, distinctive leadership features and immense success of his management strategies. In contrast Dunn is considered a bad leader due to his morality flaws and ineffective management strategies.                         References Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2007). Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Bryant, A. (2009). You Want Insights? Go to the Front Lines. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/business/16corner.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Daft, R. (2007). The leadership experience (4th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning. Grant, R. (2004). Contemporary strategy analysis: concepts, techniques, applications. 5th ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Mclaughlin, J. (2013). Warren Buffett as a model of authentic leadership. Retrieved from http://www.personal.psu.edu/bfr3/blogs/leader/2013/06/warren-buffett-as-a-model-of-authentic-leadershp.html Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Osborn, R., Hunt, J. & Jauch, L. (2002). Toward a contextual theory of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 13: pp. 797–837. Sag, A. (2012). Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn Suddenly Steps Down - Situation Analyzed. Retrieved from http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2012/4/10/best-buy-ceo-brian-dunn-steps-down.aspx Spindler, M. (2008). Superior Leader - Warren Buffet. Retrieved from http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/superior-leader-warren-buffet-377648.html Zaccaro, S. & Zachary, H. (2003). Leadership theory and practice: Fostering an effective symbiosis. The Leadership Quarterly 14: pp. 769–806. Read More