Discussion 1 – MGT 453
CH/PS
I think you made a really good point that Howard lacks political aspects-especially for presidency. I have no heard his speeches quite yet (since I tend to stray away from politics altogether because people are so aggressive), do you think he is a great leader-type and is he charismatic at all? Great leaders, especially for presidency, should be honest, charismatic, and not only cater to the audience’s needs but to the entire country’s needs without sugar coating things.
Also, I am not sure what you mean by “In order to improve his leadership style, Jeff should change his model of carrying out business activities. This is because it can be copied and imitated by other companies (Mauri, 2016)”.- how can it be imitted by other companies? In what way?
Do you think Jeff Bezos is a bad leader? and why?
CH/AR
I found your comparison of Howard Schultz and Jeff Bezos interesting and compelling. When I was looking at the list of leaders to select from, it was staggering to me how many of the corporate leaders have run or are planning to run for political office. I’m not sure, given our current political environment, that running a large corporation is the right background and experience for the leader of the United States. We’ll see what happens in the next year and a half!
Amazon is an amazing, transformative company to watch. I work in the financial services industry and one of our leaders recently described our competition not as other financial services firms but as Amazon. Financial services firms pretty much all offer the same products and services and at a very reasonable price point. Amazon, however, has excelled in service delivery. I would imagine that at sometime in the future, Amazon will partner with a financial service firm to deliver products and services. I’ll admit that I was and still am skeptical about Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods, but Bezos seems to be up for trying just about anything.
In your analysis of the two leaders, you didn’t mention directly the challenges faced by either the leaders or the organization. Last year, Starbucks was all over the news regarding the incident involving two African American gentlemen and how they were treated by a manger at Starbucks. I’m curious how you or others in the class through about how Schultz led the organization through that crisis. Bezos, as well, has not been immune to controversy with his recent affair and divorce becoming public. How do the personal lives and behaviors of leader impact the organizations they lead? Should it matter?
SO
The first leader I chose to research is Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google. Sundar began to show in interest in technology at an early age, and eventually earned a degree in Metallurgy, and an M.B.A from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He then began working at Google in 2004 as the head of product management and development (Shepherd). From there, he assisted in the development of many different departments of Google, including the creation of Google Chrome. Throughout his experience at Google, both Twitter and Microsoft both sparked an interest in him, however he was given financial incentives to stay a part of Googles team. Eventually, in 2015, he was named the newest CEO of Google.
The second leader I chose to research is Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. Bezos started off with an early interest in computers, and studied electrical engineering at Princeton University (biography.com). He then went on to work on Wall Street after graduation, until he decided to quit his job to open Amazon.com. Bezos began his business by developing software out of his garage. From there, Bezos and his team expanded operation into a two-bedroom house, until they eventually developed a test site. After testing the site with 300 friends, Amazon.com was opened in 1995, and started out with meteoric success.
After considering all the different leadership theories, I feel Sundar Pichai best fits the Great Man Theory. The Great Man Theory is described as “a single “Great Man” who put everything together and influenced others to follow along based on the strength of inherited traits, qualities, and abilities” (Daft, Richard L. and Patricia G. Lane). That being said, I feel this theory aligns with Sundar’s leadership style, because he leads by following what leaders before him did. Sundar was given this position at Google, after working there for eleven years and witnessing what leaders before him did that helped make the company successful. In addition, according to Paul Towers, “Sundar knows that Google can’t rely on what worked last year” and that “he has retained his humble approach and commitment to ongoing learning and development” (Towers). This being said, it is evident that Sundar understands that he needs to use some of what he has learned from past leaders and apply it to current situations in order to keep the company as successful as it has become.
While considering the different trait theories, I feel the theory that best describes Jeff Bezos would be the Trait Theory. The Trait Theory is described as researches looking “to see if leaders had particular traits or characteristics, such as intelligence or energy, that distinguished them from nonleaders and contributed to success” (Daft, Richard L. and Patricia G. Lane). This theory best describes Bezos’ success story, because he started his company from the ground up and built his way to success. He was not given any sort of base to build the business upon. Instead, he had to work with what he knew to make his business successful. According to Bezos, “Entrepreneurs must be willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time” (Towers). This quote resonated with me because it shows that while he wasn’t following in anyone’s footsteps, he knew that one day his hard work and intelligence would pay off.
After considering the different quadrants of the Leadership Grid, I feel that both Bezos and Pichai would fall in the Team category, rating (9,9). I feel this way because they both take a very big regard for how their employees and customers are feeling and reacting to any changes, while working hard to get the job done.
One way that I feel Sundar Pichai may be lacking is he didn’t have as much of a hardship getting to where he is today, and therefore I worry he will not appreciate his success as much. By having to build a business from the ground up, the founder feels a much bigger sense of accomplishment and therefore will continue to work just as hard if not harder to keep the business going strong. While Sundar did work hard for this position, I feel he will not have as much drive to see the business continue to thrive as other CEO’s might.
One aspect of Jeff Bezos’s career that I feel may be lacking is his lack of assistance. While Bezos has many people working under him to help keep the operations of the company work smoothly, I feel eventually Bezos will find that he doesn’t have a “right-hand man” to assist in the big company decisions. This may end up being a downfall for him because if he ever decides to retire, he will have a difficult time finding someone to fill his shoes.
After researching each of these leaders and considering their leadership traits, I feel the person who I would want to be a “follower” to would be Jeff Bezos. Overall, I think the fact that he took a chance on a business idea and made it into a multi-billion dollar company is unbelievably inspiring, and I would love to be a part of a company that he began out of a garage.
AK
The two leaders discussed in this week’s discussion post are Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, and Richard Branson, Virgin Group’s founder. Both men are very successful business leaders, and their management styles prove to be valuable to their organizations. Pichai has more than 15 years of experience in developing high-tech products for consumers (Bloomberg, 2019). In 2015, Pichai became Google’s CEO after being the company’s product chief. Richard Branson was a school dropout. However, as a teenager, he pioneered a successful business venture with Student magazine (Tikkanen, 2019). After decades of successful endeavors with various companies, Branson became the sixth richest citizen of the United Kingdom according to the 2012 Forbes list of billionaires (Schawbel, 2014).
These two leaders have vastly different leadership styles. Shana Lebowitz discusses Sundar Pichai’s leadership style as being “boring” (2016). However, according to Business Insider, being boring is more about being emotionally mature which means an individual is agreeable, emotionally stable and conscientious (2016). These characteristics are important in leadership because leaders must make rational decisions. Based on research and readings from the book, The Leadership Experience, Sundar Pichai’s leadership style embodies the trait theory. Richard Draft describes the trait theory as being able to identify, predict and even train leaders (2017). Sundar Pichai is a great leader who exudes intelligence and the energy to move Google forward. Regarding the leadership grid, analyzed by Blake and Mouton, Pichai is considered a team leader because his effectiveness is largely due to his devotion towards an individual’s achievement (Lebowitz, 2016). One characteristic Sundar Pichai may want to improve on is his charisma. Although Pichai does not enjoy being in the spotlight, people tend to follow leaders who display confidence.
Richard Branson’s leadership style is more organic. Branson does not study the competition and describes his leadership as being “[a] rule-breaker” (Schawbel, 2014).). Although this is not completely a negative characteristic, reckless decisions are more likely to be made with a leader like Branson. After studying the different leadership theories in The Leadership Experience, Branson’s style most accurately fits the influence theory. The influence theory focuses on charismatic leadership (Draft, 2017). Branson focuses on inspiring people rather than being innovative and challenging the competition. According the Blake and Mouton Leadership Grid, Branson’s leadership style represents a team leader, just like Sundar Pichai. Branson may be more charismatic yet unpredictable, however, he leads his organization very well and focuses on results and people (Make A Dent Leadership, 2018). Richard Branson should pull back on his “rule-breaking” nature and study other leaders. Improving his professionalism may be very beneficial with future ventures.
Sundar Pichai and Richard Branson are both very successful leaders. Pichai tends to be predictable, but that is a common trait of effective leaders. Branson is a visionary; however, his rule-breaking views may direct him into bad decision making. Out of the two leaders, I would prefer to work for Sundar Pichai. I believe he he’s people oriented and enjoys other people’s achievements. Pichai is a very stable leader who is less likely to make decisions that would be destructive to an organization.
DM
The two leaders I chose are Sundar Pichai from Google and Elon Musk from Tesla. I believe that Sundar Pichai displays great leadership qualities, while Elon Musk displays some traits of bad leadership.
Sundar Pichai was previously Google’s product chief, before becoming CEO in 2015. Pichai led project management for Google Chrome and Chrome OS which is Google’s web browser. Following the development of these browsers, he oversaw development of applications such as Gmail, Google maps, and eventually Android. I believe that Pichai displays the great man leadership theory. Pichai believes that your work as a leader is to make sure the ones around you succeed. Pichai does not believe in confrontation and preaches cooperation. Pichai would fall into the category of Team leader on the Leadership Grid. This is because, Pichai is all about people and making sure that they become that they become the best worker they can be, before themselves. I think the one thing that Pichai can do to become a more effective leader is to deal with conflict more. Conflicts will always arise within a business and between employees. Dealing with conflict and then finding solutions to deal with the conflict is a part of great leadership.
Elon Musk founded X.com which would later become PayPal in 1999 and Tesla Motors in 2003. Musk studied in Pennsylvania in which he would obtain degrees in economics and physics. Musk would pursue a PHD in physics during the internet boom, but would later drop out and launch his first company instead in which he sold $307 million. Musk is a great inventor and businessman, however his leadership skills can be lacking. Musk can be known to say some controversial stuff and it ultimately led to him getting in trouble with the SEC. I believe that Musk would fall into the Authoritarian on the leadership grid. Musk is very detailed oriented and has great vision, but can improve with his emotions and the relations with his employees. I think if Musk was more like Pichai and was all about putting workers first the company would be in a better place among its investors. I also believe that his antics don’t help with his employees’ morale and can better be served being more reserved and not always speaking his mind.
I would prefer to work for Sundar Pichai at Google than for Elon Musk. I think that Pichai shows a greater sense of leadership and displays the types of traits that I would like to be a part of. Elon Musk can sometimes go off script, as we have seen play out in the news. I like someone that has a consistent message and will do all they can to make sure everyone is on the same page.
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