Technology Business Management Council - Case Study Example

As stated, one of the primary goals that motivated Robert Webb was a desire to streamline and update the Hilton Hotel brand. However, rather than falling into a pitfall of making broad and sweeping changes straight away with careful insight and collaboration with key shareholders, Webb slowly delved into the issue; utilizing both a top-down and a bottom-up approach (Press Release 2009). In this way, Webb typified the very definition of good leadership by exhibiting his keen levels of awareness by carefully communicating and listening to key shareholders (Aptio Highlight 2012).

Similarly, by taking such an approach, Webb was able to lead from below rather than dictate from the top. Due to the support and shareholder buy-in, Webb’s changes became that much easier to institute company-wide. A particularly unique concept of how Robert Webb engages with his shareholders is his primary emphasis on the communication process as a means of differentiating the needs and positions of key shareholders as a way of making an informed decision based upon the facts (Hickins 2012).

Whereas many flawed leaders are quick to rush to judgment based on incomplete information and still others are fearful to act on any type of information for fear of making a mistake, Webb appears to split the difference between such positions nicely be actively seeking out knowledge and input from his shareholders and then after considering this at length – acting upon it. Says Webb of this process: “We’re only able to solve this with truthful, honest communication,” Webb says.

“When people say ‘This is hard, I’m not sure I’m with you anymore,’ you need to get everyone to remember it’s about one team, one vision, and let’s get grounded on why we did this” (Frank 2011).In this way, the key traits of the leader can be summarized as one who actively sought to analyze and determine the usefulness of existing vendors, actively push for the adaptation of new technology to replace the old (even in a time of economic hardship), and one who placed a high level of emphasis on the communication process as means to affect the previous to items which have been listed.

Though the desire to engage with shareholders and open a useful dialogue of communication has already been listed, what has not been listed with respect to the other issues are the ways in which Webb required a firm overview and justification for nearly every aspect of the business process that Hilton Hotels was experiencing. As successful leadership always does, Webb required an account from the experts in order to formulate a well-reasoned approach towards ameliorating the difficulties and improving the profitability of the brand by the adoption of key technologies and strategies.

In order to achieve this reliance on new technology to rebrand and redefine the firm, Webb heavily relied on a team of experts to report back on the workflow process as it existed when he came to the helm. Likewise, as a way to examine existing vendors, key shareholders were brought in to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the current paradigm. In this way, Webb left no stone unturned in an attempt to streamline and strengthen the firm and the brand.