Introduction
There are many different definitions of leadership, but most of them state the same core idea. According to the website www.nwlink.com ''Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent''.
In her article called Leadership, Susan Ward states that the leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and leadership skills that makes others want to follow his direction. (Ward, n.d., para. 3)
Ward also explained that leadership is an influence relationship between leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes. (Ward, n.d., para. 8)
One should not confuse the boss and the leader. Although boss has the authority and the decision making power based on his/her position, he/she may not necessarily be a leader. The major difference between the two is that in the case of the leader, people are willing to follow him. Leaders are not followed because people are forced or pressured to do so, but because people want to follow them.
We all need leaders in order to be inspired motivated and to develop, act and create. But are leaders born, or they become leaders with the time?
In his article The Role of Leadership in Business Success Elvis Ukpaka writes that there are three theories of leadership. Ukpaka states that firstly, the Trait Theory, which says that some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. Secondly, Great Event Theory, which believes that a crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion. And thirdly, the Transformational Theory, which says that people can choose to become leaders and learn leadership skills. (Ukpaka, n.d. para. 2)
Depending on the situations one can lead himself, other person, a team, organization/business and even a nation.
Most common leadership types
Not all leaders are the same and they all have different leadership styles. Below are the most common styles and their brief descriptions.
Autocratic leadership is characterized by the extremely high level of power over the employees. With autocratic leader staff does not have right to make suggestions and involve in decision making. Few people are happy with such leader; therefore many leave the organization once there is a chance. This time of leadership though may be effective for routine and unskilled jobs.
Bureaucratic leadership is working by the book. It includes many different procedures, which the staff needs to follow. The style is not flexible and involves high control.
Charismatic leadership is focused on the leader, who injects enthusiasm in his team and drives them forward through his energy, motivation and passion.
Democratic or participative leadership is followed by a leader, who makes the final decision but involves his team in the decision making process. This style help keeping staff motivated and develops employee’s skills.
Laissez-Faire leadership gives employees freedom of working autonomy and delegates certain decision making authorities to them. Usually teams in corporations, where the style is practiced are very experienced, skilled and independent.
People-oriented or relationship-oriented leadership is encouraging good teamwork and collaboration.
Transformational leadership style is practiced by a leader who has very clear vision about the future and communicated it to his team. Such leader inspires, communicates a lot and spreads enthusiasm. He prefers project, which add value and is more flexible.
Skills of successful leaders
Unfortunately there are many examples, when people become high level executives but do not become leaders, because they do not have the skills absolutely required for leaders.
Successful leaders need to have strong communications and interpersonal skills. They have to know how to deal with different people and how to communicate their messages to their teams, public and customers.
In order to reach success leaders need to skillfully motivate and inspire their teams, which is not an easy task since teams usually consist of many different individuals with different requirements.
It is obvious that leaders need to have strong knowledge in their field. It is easier to be inspired by someone who knows what he is talking about.
Besides that, successful leaders have to be passionate about what they do. It is a strong force to drive forward, enjoy their work and inspire others about it.
No executive can do well if he/she does not have strong decision-making skill. Leaders are facing decision-making needs several times per day and most of the decisions are very important and strategic.
None of that organization is insured from conflicts. Different scale conflicts among the team members happen quite often and leader has to be very skilled conflict manager.
And last, but not least successful leaders need good teams behind them, which are why team building skill is very crucial.
Leadership role in business
It is needless to say that the leadership has extremely important role in business. Great leaders may make average business great and bad leaders may destroy a business with great potential.
The above statement may be proved by the example of Steve Jobs – exceptional leader, who inspired millions of people.
Steve Jobs was brave enough to break the rules and create his own ways. That is maybe why his leadership style cannot be found in textbooks. He cannot be totally referred to any of the leadership styles as a whole, but there are different elements in his behavior, which are similar to some of the styles.
For example David Kramer (2010) stated that because of his “manipulative” behavior he is considered by some of his employees as autocratic. His behavior in meetings for instance is described as being rude, authoritative and obnoxious''. (Kramer, 2010, para. 15)
Steve Jobs himself had told “My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better. My job is to pull things together from different parts of the company and clear the ways and get the resources for the key projects.” However, it seems that in his later years, he shows more warmth and less vindictiveness towards his employees. (Kramer, 2010, para. 13)
Steve Jobs may be considered as transformational leader since he has transformed more than one company over the years. Pixar was an example of big transformational success story.
Not only common people, but also many inspiring leaders also admired Steve Jobs. Kramer wrote that interestingly, in general Jobs personality traits would not be characterized as the traits of an effective leader. In a way, he is far from a classical “text-book” example, as Dubrin for instance describes it. Nevertheless his charisma, self-confidence and passion for work overshadow all his negative characteristics thus making him one of most successful CEO’s of the decade. (Kramer, 2010, para. 13)
In on of the web articles article Richard Branson mentioned that Apple boss Steve Jobs was the entrepreneur I most admired. (Branson, 2011, para.10)
During his career Steve Jobs has been personally involved in recruiting over 5,000 people. His criteria’s have not been standard either. This is what he mentioned about the subject. “When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself.
They’ll want to do what’s best for Apple, not what’s best for them, what’s best for Steve, or anybody else.'' (Ambler, 2008, para. 4)
At the same time it is told that Steve was very generous in rewarding his employees and managers. Apple was known for its terrific team buildings on different islands after each accomplished big project. This helped the team feel appreciated and valued and kept the motivation.
Besides that Steve Jobs personality is one of the major reasons Apple did so well. If not him, most probably Apple would not have the courage to conduct bold business experiments.
Conclusion
Leadership plays extremely important role in today's business. Having successful leaders provides companies with competitive advantage, since successful and real leaders are rare these days. Great leaders drive their companies to their targets and create businesses they dreamed of. They inspire and motivate people around them and make people unite around one vision.
At present the requirements for the leaders are different and being a leader is not easy. If in the past being a good manager and having competence in the field were enough for someone to be a good leader, now much more is required. People need to see more qualities in their manager in order to follow him willingly.
In his article The New 21st Century Leaders Bill George states that in the 21st century the most successful leaders will focus on sustaining superior performance by aligning people around mission and values and empowering leaders at all levels, while concentrating on serving customers and collaborating throughout the organization. (George, 2010, para. 5)
Microsoft would not be what it is without Bill Gates, Google would not exist without
Larry Page and Sergey Brin and there are not many impressive leadership female examples as Oprah Winfre. They are from the 25 most influential business leaders of the past 25 years, as ranked by USA TODAY's Money section editors and reporters.
Great leaders will be followed by many no matter where they are ad most probably Steve Jobs would do something else equally great if not the Apple and Pixar, Larry and Sergey would do something equally amazing if not the Google and Bill Gates would be part of something completely different than Microsoft.
Leader's role in business is very important and although there are not many exceptional leaders, those who are change the world, just like in Apple's voiceover, which states that '' the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
References
Ward, S. (n.d.). In Leadership. Retrieved Apr. 10, 2012, from http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/leadership/g/leadership.html
Ambler, G. (2008, Mar. 30). In Steve Jobs and his leadership. Retrieved Apr. 10, 2012, from http://www.thepracticeofleadership.net/steve-jobs-and-his-leadership
Branson, R. (2011, Oct. 6). In Virgin’s Richard Branson: Apple boss Steve Jobs was the entrepreneur I most admired. Retrieved Apr. 10, 2012, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/steve-jobs/8811232/Virgins-Richard-Branson-Apple-boss-Steve-Jobs-was-the-entrepreneur-I-most-admired.html
Coddington, R. (2007, July 30). In 25 Most Influential Business Leaders. Retrieved Apr. 10, 2012, from http://www.usatoday.com/money/top25-leaders.htm
George, B. (2010, Apr. 30). In The New 21st Century Leaders. Retrieved Apr. 10, 2012, from http://blogs.hbr.org/imagining-the-future-of-leadership/2010/04/the-new-21st-century-leaders-1.html
Kramer, D. (2010, Feb. 15). In Leadership Behaviors and Attitudes of Steve Jobs. Retrieved Apr. 10, 2012, from http://davidkramer.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/leadership-behaviours-and-attitudes-of-steve-jobs
Ukpaka, E. (n.d.). In The Role of Leadership in Business Success. Retrieved Apr. 10, 2012, from http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Role-of-Leadership-in-Business-Success&id=2459102
