Leadership Style of Richard Branson - Essay Example

Leadership style of Richard Branson of Leadership style of Richard Branson Introduction Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is one of the famous English entrepreneur and an investor. Richard is known to be the founder of Virgin Group. He currently holds more than 400 companies worldwide. He is also a great author of many famous magazines and books. Sir Richard’s famous leadership principles are considered to be the key elements for the success of any business. The leadership principles introduced by Richard Branson have gained enormous popularity in different professions especially among businesspersons who intend to provide success to their business from the initial level. Richard believes that his principles for leadership are straightforward and easy to understand. The beauty of his principle enables subordinates to understand the message quickly. It also helps to encourage the working staff and leads the business to the top in less time (Dearlove, 2007). Discussion The very first and effective principle of leadership mentioned by Richard Branson is the interest of the leader in the enhancement of his team performance. Richard believes that an excellent leader should be curious to find his people challenging and struggling. If the leader is not aware of his people presentation and shows no concern for their success or failure, he lacks a very basic quality of leadership. Moreover, he describes that a leader should create such team for his task that includes effective personnel. The team that the leader selects should be motivated and agreed with the decisions of the leader. A fine gap exists between the leader and his team if the individuals of the team are not in the mutual understanding of the decisions of the leader. In the above context, Richard’s principles emphasize the better relationship between the leader and the subordinate that are built with the common interest and vision. If the divergence is found in the vision of the leader and his team, the leadership will gradually lose its genuine position. For such reasons, Richard Branson strongly stresses on the type of team that remains loyal to the leader in hard times and also sees eye to eye in the decision making of the leader. Thus, the above principle has significant value for the leaders in making firm position in their respective field and helping the business to lead towards success. Another principle pointed out by Richard Branson is essential for every leader in enhancing the quality of leadership. He mentioned that a leader should always praise his subordinates in their work and job. The praising statement passed by the leader always motivates and encourages the team and they try to perform better in future to please their leader. According to Richard, it is a human nature to expect praising words on behalf of good quality work. If men are not admired or honored with his work, he will subsequently feel low and demotivate. Richard classified this point as the principle of leadership about the nature of human. To become a good leader, a person has to be a good listener first. Richard Branson presented a principle on this base that leadership will always if the leader has the capability to listen to his team. The ability of hearing and understanding the ideas of others seems easy but in reality it requires a great strength. If a leader is a good listener with the addition of other qualities, he is eventually a perfect and ideal leader. Many successful entrepreneurs including Richard Branson believes that listening to the opinion of the team workers is from one of the ideal features of leadership. Also, Richard has also targeted the leaders in motivating their team members to achieve beyond of what they expect. Leadership in this context handles the career of the workers. Leaders are always remembered for their role and especially by their behavior with their team workers. Therefore, the vital principle of leadership is to induce the workers towards success and remove all those limits that are acting as a hindrance towards their excel career (Northouse, 2010). Another leadership principle highlights the motive of the leader. He stated that a leader should always seek to bring change in the lives of the people. A leader must have distinct thinking than his competitors in order to bring revolution in the market. Innovative ideas, if presented by leaders, can help to boost the economy of the country and assist the business to meet its goal. A leader should strive to introduce cheap and good quality products in the market in order to meet the demands of the middle and low-class people. Furthermore, ideal leadership requires the ability to be well prepared for the crises like situation. Success for any business is certain if the leaders are able to meet the challenge in their difficult times. Worst times can arrive financially, economically or politically. The efficiency of the leader is judged when he is well prepared to handle tough situations and move his team and business towards success with the same spirit (Northouse, 2010). In addition to the above principles, Richard pointed out some more principles of leadership, which are necessary for any entrepreneur. Richard Branson identified a principle that depicted the initiating of the business with long term planning. The leader must think more of survival of the business rather than just starting it. Leadership is blamed if the business does not survive for too long and end up due to financial or economical crises. An effective leader should always plan strategies that are fruitful in carrying the business for a long period. Moreover, the best leader is one of those who give best to the community. The responsibility of the leader is to bring different opportunities for the society such as a job or other social efforts that may drive the lives of the people towards betterment (Kets de Vries & Florent-Treacy, 1999). Richard Branson and Nik Powell founded Virgin Group in 1970. The Company with its multifaceted features is the fastest growing company in the world. Principles identified by Richard Branson have provided enormous business to the Company. The Company has always strived to bring anything new to the market which may please its customers and which is never experienced before by their customers. Virgin Group is renowned in the industrial world due to its distinct qualities and innovations brought on the market. The terrific service and useful products of Virgin Group disrupted the local market and helped the company to win the customers from the competitors. The Company throughout its successful 43 years has always surprised and delighted its customers by offering unique and different products (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2010). Employees are the engines of the business who work hard to change the dream of the entrepreneur into reality. An essential part of the business is to keep these employees motivated with their work and do not let them feel low and discourage. Richard Branson made some policies that helped him in motivating his employees. He motivated his employees by providing them an opportunity to invest in their company where they work. It provides a sense of happiness to all the employees of the company when they invest their share. The policy increased the spirit of work and trust of the employees. Moreover, Richard also engaged his employees in discussing the issues of the business and took their advice for making new changes. The tool he provided to his employees resulted in the motivation of the employees. The employees came in touch of how their business is progressing, and their effort increased to meet the objective of the company sooner (Hyman & Mason, 1995). The strategy applied by Richard can be implemented in any other organization as it empowers the employees and improves their morale at large. Participation of employees in the decisions of business and changes in policies also increases the productivity of subordinates and they learn to fulfill their responsibilities with relying less on the managerial staff. Moreover, the better relation is build between employees and the managers due to the autonomy that is provided to the employees. The strategy applied by Richard Branson can provide immense success to all sorts of organizations and therefore it has great importance. If I were the manager of Virgin Group, I would have adopted the principles that are identified by Richard Branson. His principles and policies not only motivate the employees and benefit them but are fruitful for the entire organization. The principle of leadership may help me being the manager of the company in taking tough decisions. Moreover the quality of praising and appreciating the team workers will also be helpful in building better and strong relationship with them. If I work for this type of leader, it will help me in learning and developing my skills. The effective leadership might be of assistance to me in presenting my ideas and engaging me in the decision making of the organization. I may also feel motivated if my managerial staff appreciates my work and my creativity would be increased under the leadership of such leaders. I truly believe that Richard Branson is a global leader. His priorities to his staff members and the friendly culture of his organization made him distinct from his competitors. Furthermore, he has set a non-hierarchical organization where he wants his employees to meet him directly and coordinate on the issues is something very unusual. The leadership principle he has introduced benefits the team who works under him. His sense of hiring workers on the basis of their thirst to push change with creative ideas and his informal attitude with the employees in the discussion of business makes him the global leader (Goldsmith, Greenberg, Robertson, & Hu-Chan, 2003). Conclusion Richard Branson is one of the greatest entrepreneurs of his times. His leadership had provided him with great success that is increasing day by day. If Richard continues to succeed with the same speed and attitude, he will surely be one of the biggest entrepreneurs of the world. The success story of last 43 years predicts that his passion can lead him to the further heights of success in the next five years. The owner of 400 companies has enough experience and wealth to start further many companies at this time. The skills that Richard Branson possesses can help him to bring a great revolution in the world. His desire to bring a revolution in education is the hint of his evergreen success. The achievements of Richards Branson are the result of his effective leadership. If he continues to work and guide people around him with the same leadership and spirit, next five years shall bring wonderful revolution in the chapter of business. References Dearlove, D. (2007). Business the Richard Branson Way: 10 Secrets of the Worlds Greatest Brand Builder. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Goldsmith, M., Greenberg, C., Robertson, A., & Hu-Chan, M. (2003). Global Leadership: The Next Generation. New Jersey: FT Press. Hyman, J., & Mason, B. (1995). Managing Employee Involvement and Participation. New York: SAGE Publications. Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. (2010). Organizational Behavior. Boston: Cengage Learning. Kets de Vries, M. F., & Florent-Treacy, E. (1999). The New Global Leaders: Richard Branson, Percy Barnevik, David Simon and the Remaking of International Business. Hoboken: Wiley. Northouse, P. G. (2010). Leadership: Theory and Practice. New York: SAGE. Read More