Dick Smiths Personal Philosophy Concerning Leadership - Case Study Example

LEADERSHIP. by Student’s name Code+ course name Professor’s name University name City, State Date LEADERSHIP. Q.1 Dick Smith’s personal philosophy. This philosophy was within him right from birth. Dick’s philosophy is based on charity work, i.e. gratitude and service to other people. Dick wholeheartedly gave hand to conservation of the environment. With less knowledge that he was a Philanthropist/generous donor, Smith supported many charity activities and needy individuals (Daft, 2008). For instance he supported the safety for refuges and particularly evangelized for the return of David Hicks to Australia. Since then, the name of Smith became widespread the whole Australia region and a lot of honor was accorded to him by 1986. From these efforts, Dick became the chairman of Australia Geography Society in 1995 (Daft, 2008).  In Dec 2008 Smith and his wife gave 1million dollars (Australian) to Scouts in Australia in order to assist in educating young people on “responsible risk-taking” (Daft, 2008).  Responsible Management Team (Daft, 2008). In partnership with Anchorage, the team of officials managing Dick’s businesses embraced new operational programs such as; strategic plans on customer and cultural initiatives (Montgomery, 2010). Stores and staff training program, recruitment policies and roistering processes were improved. A good relationship between the suppliers (Dick’s stores) and buyers was enhanced which spearheaded the opening of private label products office at Hong Kong China (Montgomery, 2010). Good Marketing strategies. Dick advertised his business commodities in the television in a program called Dick Live Daily Deal but later he migrated to website digital platform (Montgomery, 2010). The Dick Smith website creates a channel for all universal shoppers to get, search, purchase and research the products he offers. This gave Dick an outstanding platform to market the products globally thus reducing the competition (Montgomery, 2010). At Dick Smith, customer loyalty is built and maintained by giving trustful advice on products quality and selling them at viable prices. Dick’s inventiveness and curiosity made him to be a great businessman not only in his country (Australia) but to the whole world (Damodaran, 2004). His first encounter initiated when he established Dick Smith Electronics in 1968 selling electronics like calculators and laptops (Damodaran, 2004).  He later ventured into philanthropy (humanitarian), exploration, and publishing as new career. Dick Smith was had an optimistic temperament. Dick’s value of intrinsic motivation about learning, venturing and creating opportunities on supportive environment, made him to stand the challenges, despite the fact he was poor in class work (Damodaran, 2004). As a humanitarian, Dick became the most ever been generous person in the history of Australia where he donated 1 million dollars to the Smith Family (Damodaran, 2004). Mark you, the family had no common bond but was just doing charity work. Farther, Dick invented Dick Smith Foods Company in 1999. The company distributed Australian made products to aid domestic charitable organizations (Daft, 2008).  Dick’s determination and innovation.  Apart from being an entrepreneur, Dick also ventured in other fields like business, aviation, and political activation (Damodaran, 2004).  He founded Dick Smith Electronics, Dick Smith Foods Company and Australian Geographic where in 1986 was appointed the Australian of the year from his achievements. In 2010 he established the media production company named Smith&Nasht intending to produce films on international issues (Damodaran, 2004). The success of Dick Smith is reliant on the knowledge learnt from 14 years experience in scouting movement and was awarded Baden-Powell Award in 1966. According to Daft, (2008), skills are necessary for the success of any firm. Dick says, “I began as a Cub at eight and went right through to Rovers at age 23. I was very much a loner and Scouting gave me mastership, taught me organization and how to motivate people. That's why I was able to be the success I am.” Q.2 Dick Smith was charismatic because in his work, the community was the point of concern. He assisted the community in many ways (Smith, 2011).  His actions made him a public figure, with admiration and love from people. Dick realized that a good and gentle public image is the only powerful competitive arsenal; therefore, he strains maximally to show honesty and the theme of social responsibility. Smith does this personally and extensively encourages his workmates too. The a third of the Dick’s profit gotten from Dick Smith foods gives to charitable causes, to support the needy. Dick Smith Foods supported both farmers and businesses from Australia (Smith & Bennett, 1983). Dick received no payment or financial benefit his Food company since he donated huge amounts to fulfill his urge of helping others specifically Australian farmers, factory workers and those in need (Smith, 2011).  His responsibility made him be respected and honored by the people. Dick says that the best way of making money is to embrace the success of others. He was not a self-centered man but rather embraced the principle of teamwork (McGregor, 2013).  Dick asked for advices from other people instead of being a dictator. So people loved him and his leadership since they were leading (by providing views) and he was monitoring (implementing) the plans. Dick Smith was admired internationally simply because of his impressive travels and business maneuver. The admiration was based on appreciation and service to others. He valued much the rule free enterprise, hard work virtues and freedom of expression (speech). The above co-values gave him an opportunity to emerge as a successful businessman and humanitarian. The success in those aspects demonstrates an extraordinary ability of connecting with the common majority and command respect and love of not only his employee but also the business leaders too (Kase, et al 2005).   Although Dick was criticized of self promotion after establishing Dick Smith Foods, later, his ambition of promoting national pride and identity to the Australian population was achieved. The company provided the highest export from Australia which was much significant to the community of Australia. In 1986, Dick established Australian Geographic (McGregor, 2013) and after a year, he brought the Australian Encyclopedia back to Australian ownership (Smith & Bennett, 1983). This made him a very great character in the history of Australia. In 1999, during the Australia Day Honors, Smith was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia, from his community services, charity and business (Kase, et al 2005).  In 2015 he was lifted to a cohort of the Order of Australia "for reputable service to the community as a sponsor of a choice of not-for-gain and conservation organizations, by supporting major fundraisers initiatives for charitable and social welfare programs, to medical research and the visual arts, and to aviation (Kase, et al 2005).   In 2005, Dick Smith provided support to the public on the refuge seeker Peter Qasim (Kase, et al 2005).   Qasim was set free late 2005 by the Australian Government after he had served for seven years in detention. The support he offered was to visit India searching for evidences of Qasim's claims. Q.3 Dick Smith proved his worth embraceable leadership skills through how he worked in every position was given to run either individually, nationally or internationally (Wagner & Kegan 2006).  Under his leadership, Dick transformed people he led to another level in development. He worked as an example to others how they should lead their subjects. Good performance of Dick’s responsibilities made it emerge as the best transforming leader in his country (Australia). Smith was a role model to the people. Smith served the Australian community diligently and with enthusiasm, giving charity to needy. He was also a great inventor in business field (Wagner & Kegan 2006).  Therefore he was allotted an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honors of 1999.  He continued with his good work serving as a sponsor in conservation organizations offering aid to fundraising humanitarian and social safety programs. In 2015 he hence received the award of a Companion of the Order of Australia (Wagner & Kegan 2006).  Smith was a scout for 14 years since Cub at the age of eight up to Rover Section the age of 23. He performed his duties very well and in 1966 was awarded the Baden-Powell Award. In scouting, Dick was much a recluse but they provided mentorship and was taught organization and how to motivate people. So Dick gained a lot of leadership skills which helped him to guide people and serve them. In 1992 Smith was awarded United States' Lindbergh award which was given to individuals whom over couple of years had contributed significantly to the concept of Lindbergh which is about balancing technology and nature (Smith & Cockburn 2013). In the year 2000, Smith was termed the 2000 Adventurer of the Year by the Australian Geographic Society, when he made a trans-Tasman balloon trip from New Zealand to Australia. Smith’s inventions made to stand out a responsible leader who transform his subject to a better place than where he met them (Wagner & Kegan 2006).  In 2010, he became the 100th Anniversary of the Wireless Institute of Australia Patron and main speaker at the yearly annual general meeting in Canberra on 27 May 2010. He utilized this opportunity by inviting AGM attendees in his country. In December 2011, Smith was selected by Dean, Richard P.Saller as a Consulting Professor in the faculty of Biology, School of Humanities and Sciences of Stanford University California (Smith & Cockburn 2013).  The appointment was made in acknowledgment of his couple of years working on issues related to environmental most significantly his 2011 book, Dick Smith's Population Crisis. Up to date Smith is remembered by the Australians from his works on aviation, an adventurer and philanthropist and specifically his long-standing financial aid to Australian scientific endeavor. Dick, in 2013 November was inducted into the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame and by 2014 October he was given the 50 years Special Australian Geographic Society Award (Smith & Cockburn 2013). References Damodaran, A. (2004). Investment fables: exposing the myths of "can't miss" investment strategies. London New York: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Montgomery, R. (2010). Value.able: how to value the best stocks and buy them for less than they are worth. Sydney, N.S.W: My 2 Cents worth Publishing.  Smith, D. & Bennett, J. (1983). The earth beneath me: Dick Smith's epic journey across the world. London: Angus & Robertson Publishers.  Gott, R. (1998). Dick Smith: entrepreneur and adventurer. Port Melbourne: Heinemann.  Daft, R. (2008). New era of management. Mason, Ohio London: Thomson South-Western. Smith, D. (2011). Dick Smith's population crisis: the dangers of unsustainable growth for Australia. Sydney: Read How You Want/Accessible. McGregor, A. (2013). The art of Australian Geographic illustrations. Sydney, N.S.W: Australian Geographic Smith, P. & Cockburn, T. (2013). Dynamic leadership models for global business: enhancing digitally connected environments. Hershey, PA: Business Science Reference. Wagner, T. & Kegan, R. (2006). Change leadership a practical guide to transforming our schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Kase, K., Martinez, F. & Riquelme, H. (2005). Transformational CEOs leadership and management success in Japan. Cheltenham, UK Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar. Read More