Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson as an Effective Leader - Assignment Example

HRD portfolio/reflective assignment/essay Name Subject ---------------------- Professor--------------------------- December 10, 2011 “A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts. Lack of experience does not have to be a liability -- it can be an asset. It is something you should play up when you discuss your ideas with prospective investors, partners and employees, rather than directing the conversation toward your other strengths”. That is Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson, 61, the British Entrepreneur and Founder of the famous Virgin Group, which comprises of as many as 360 plus companies operating within 30 countries, employing nearly 55,000 people with revenues over approximately US$25 billion (Virgin Group, 2011). Branson’s leadership skills started showing up rather too early in his life – he was just 16 years of age when he published a student magazine, and a few years later he founded a recording label, which marked the beginning of his success as an effective leader and an entrepreneur. Known for his marketing tactics and grabbing media attention (Fox, 2004), he did then what he is known for now – turning his own inexperience in the field into a tangible asset by his mart work and leadership qualities by roping in a popular instrumental artist Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" in 1973. The release stayed there for 247 weeks on UK music charts, and one thing led to another while Virgin Records signed up music artists like "The Sex Pistols", "Genesis", "Simple Minds" and "The Rolling Stones"(Knowledge@Wharton, 2005). Daft (2002) is of the opinion that leadership is synonymous with influence, that comes naturally to people who desire change as such that goal of which are shared by others. Branson has been known as an influencer among people since he has shown them common purpose of doing what he does. Branson is said to have quoted once that he wanted to be a journalist or an editor and he wasn't really interested in being an entrepreneur, but he realized that he can be one when he made attempts in order to keep his magazine going. Branson has had a knack for starting new ventures; thanks to his insatiable quest for recognizing new opportunities. Sometime after Virgin Records made it big he had remarked that the music industry was an eclectic mix of real and intangible assets in the sense that pop bands are established brands in themselves and when their popularity is at peak, their name alone is guarantee that each record they churn out would be a practical hit. From starting a student magazine at 16, Branson opened a mail order business selling records at 20, and a short while later a recording studio. Branson says the mail order business was nearly crippled by a postal strike, but before it would have been too late to mend, he immediately hunted for a shop, found one, and set up music store on Oxford Street. The unconventional store, not cluttered with racks and racks of records, but mad ambient with proper seating arrangements and listening booths, was an instant hit among Londoners. The money that came in led to subsequent stores, but Branson retained the basic idea of setting these up – busy streets, and good spaces needing smartening up. There are some very important things that make Branson an effective leader, and he is known to be pretty clear about them all. He knows when to back away from a task after he has strategized one. He believes an effective leader must have an aptitude for building a business from scratch and once it is built, he must also have the acumen to delegate it. Those businesses normally don’t succeed or last long that remain one-man-centric forever. He says, "I have to be good at helping people run the individual businesses, and I have to be willing to step back. The company must be set up so it can continue without me." Branson as an effective leader This is one reason why Branson is able to bring out the best out of his teams, who hail him as “having a personality of caring about teams”. Branson says one can’t be an effective leader unless he or she likes people. Top management, as the recent research reveals, influences the organization’s direction profoundly (Zaccaro, 2001). Throughout the Virgin Group, Branson knows how to draw on talented people, and those who are seconded from the group’s other parts, are the ones who steer new ventures. At the same time while analyzing competitor’s strengths and weaknesses is his forte, Branson doesn’t hesitate from partnering with those who have operation expertise, knowledge, or industry specific skills in any given field. Having created brands as Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Books, Virgin Credit Card, Virgin Megastores, Virgin Holidays, V2 Music, Virgin Trains, Virgin Active, and Ulusaba, Branson has, in fact, created a diverse portfolio. Clearly, he wants to be the best rather than the biggest in the market, and banks on mall profit share from each large market. In his opinion, diversifying "enables you to have a contingency plan when the company is going through a rough patch." Known for his balloon adventures and strange ideas that he comes up with, Branson’s leadership skills transcend to the lowest most level in his companies on account of his great adaptability. Not that he hasn’t met failures in his ventures, but what has kept him going is recognizing the next possible opportunity instantaneously. Twentieth century hasn’t seen any other business leader make so quick recoveries as Branson has after any venture has met a disappointing fate. This, in fact, is where he normally leaves a mark; takes a risk and dares to tread what other might think twice about – both hallmarks of a strong leader. If it weren’t that, he would not have ventured into an industry that was struggling badly – airline. Only leaders can do that. After he ventured into the industry, he is reported to have said, “If I was a businessman, or saw myself as a businessman, I would have never gone into the airline business. My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them." Believing in creating something that stands out, Branson believes that in order to be successful in a world that is competitive; a successful leader has to do things in an unconventional manner radically different from what others do. The key to be known for what you are doing lies in being more and more visible. Preferred home over office for work, Branson leadership skills have been evident from the fact whenever possible he has preferred to meet and mingle in as many people as possible than working behind the desk. Married with two children, knighted in 1999 for his "service to entrepreneurship", ranked among "Top 100 Most Influential people in the World, and hailed as one of "100 Greatest Briton", Branson’s main characteristics are finding the right people for his teams, inspiring and motivating them, learning their best potential and drawing the best from them, being inquisitive and taking life as a learning process. Considered to be a transformational leader, he has an ability to connect with people, innovate in whatever he does, disengage difficulties and accept challenges, and learn everything by “doing” rather than by “theory”. Training and development for people aspiring for leadership role Peter Drucker, the great management guru, has said that if management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things. The former works on improving revenues, operational performance, bring down expenses, and taking up audience appreciation and artistic production; the latter is about creating organizational priorities and fulfilling the organization’s vision by means of fiscal and human resources (Drucker, 1992) Around the same time when Branson was born, the 34th President of the United States of America, Dwight Eisenhower, had said that leadership is the art of getting done what you want by somebody else because the other person wants to do it (ThinkExist, Online). It is easy to understand good leadership and difficult to practice it since, and contrary to popular belief, good leadership is beyond authority and solely dependent on deep and logical human qualities. Today’s businesses know the value of good leadership, and a good leader’s role can be said to have been accomplished when he is able to strike a proper balance between people’s aspiration, place and organization’s aim and objectives. Since the traditional hierarchical system of work has nowadays become obsolete in organizations, being called the “chief of staff” is a redundant appreciation. Effective leaders are leaders in their human management skills, who, it doesn’t matter much, may or may not have great technical expertise to boast or degrees to exhibit. To be efficient leaders, it is important for them to be imparted training in correct people-friendly behaviors and right attitudes to carry them forward or put them across to the other side. The idea to serve rather than be served, hear rather than be heard all the same, accommodate rather than be accommodated are pivotal to being an effective leader (Weiss, 2003). Leaders who invert this principle fault on the notion that they only have a right to take and gain mostly at the expense of those who are led. Leadership is based on humanity; thus centered around people. Leadership isn’t as much based on acquiring knowledge and skills, but on recognizing the responsibility a leader has towards the followers; leaders actions would greatly be accepted if he shows spiritual and mental, and behavioral and emotional characteristics. If management is all about processes, good leadership is all about behavior. Management skills in leader are, no doubt, needed, but when leaders are trained with a primary focus on the same, the very essence of true leadership is lost. Employees follow leaders not for dictates they issue but for the respect that they command. Mintzberg (2004) says one can earn leadership from those who are being lead. Branson is just this type of a leader; people get involuntarily drawn to him because he becomes ‘one with them’. Right training and development for people aspiring for leadership roles is by stressing less on capabilities that are tangibly measurable; for example, organizational systems, planning etc, and more on intangible, ethereal and less measurable things like inspiration, trust, attitude, personal character , and decision-making. Since these attributes are not skills that can be attained through books or knowledge, a leader can enable them on his or her own from emotional and ‘characteristically inherent’ traits. It is all about humanity and leader’s positive attitude. Good and effective leaders can be developed by imparting considerable knowledge on qualities like integrity, humility, honesty, sincerity, confidence, courage, passion commitment, positivity, determination, wisdom, sensitivity, and compassion. If Branson’s case is taken as a reference point, it can be seen that on a scale of 1 to 10, he stands at 10 on all these qualities, which inspire belief, exhibit strength and produce an effect that is charismatic. He involves his peers, superiors, subordinates and even shareholders in his processes which instill a sense of belongingness in all of them. That fits into charismatic and transformational leadership theories (Yukl, 1989). HRD program to prepare new and aspiring employees for promotion to leadership positions To prepare new and aspiring employees for promotion to leadership positions, it is important to start with leadership behavior. The emphasis must be on developing idealistic leadership principles incorporating one or all triple bottom line segments of personal integrity, corporate responsibility, emotional maturity, and business ethics, in which the triple bottom line ' people, profit, and planet'. In the modern, multicultural business setups attitude, appreciation and behavior are the most important components of becoming organizational leaders. Triple bottom line helps recognize and hone potential leadership capabilities and when linked with personality testing or psychometrics it makes choice of development methods easier and leadership selection convenient. Furthermore, it is important to train employees for future leadership positions from a global perception of an organization since businesses san borders now and have diversified to an extent that many cultural aspects can be found prevalent at a single workplace, irrespective of its location. It, thus, becomes important for leaders to understand, accommodate, and adjust to different cultural influences and scenarios. Branson, having operations in 30 countries, has mastered the art of adjusting to 30 or more cultures. His adaptation is such that whichever country of operation he travels to, he dons the mantle of local culture instantly. References Daft, R.L. (2002). The Leadership Experience. (2nd Ed). Drucker, Peter F., (1992). Managing for the Future, p. 299, Dwight David Eisenhower, (nd). Available at http://thinkexist.com/quotes/dwight_david_eisenhower/,. Accessed on December 11, 2011 Fox, Catherine. (2004). The Reluctant Guru. Financial Review. Boss. Knowledge@Wharton. (2005). The Importance of Being Richard Branson. Available at http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1109. Accessed on December 11, 2011 Mintzberg, H. (2004). Ideas about Management. Engaging leadership, Decision, Issue 5. Virgin Group. (2011). Available at http://www.virgin.com. Accessed on December 10, 2011 Weiss, W. H. (2003). Effective leadership : what are the requisites? Supervision. 61 : 3-6. Yukl, G.A. (1989). Managerial Leadership. A review of theory and research. Journal of Management, 15, 251-289. Zaccaro, S. (2001). The nature of executive leadership. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Read More