What personality traits do leaders like Todd MacFarlane possess that distinguish them from other individuals?
Todd MacFarlane is a leader who has mastered the art of emotional intelligence. He is a very intelligent individual with a warm personality and soft characteristics which serves as a great boost in his managerial position.Even though great emphasies has been placed on the importance of a high IQ for people in leadership position its important to note that being able to rationally deal with your emotions and respond to others emotions in a logical way is equally important.
For one to be dubbed as emotionally intelligent they should posses various aspects(Sadri, 2012). These aspects include the following:
Self awareness this is the deep sense of understanding that one may posses about their feelings, abilities and their emotions. Such kinds of individuals rationalize their feelings and are not so hard on themselves in terms of criticing their actions. They posses characteristics like confidence, they are capable of assessing themselves and even when they appear to have flaws they are able to use humour to overcome such mistakes( Goleman, 2004, p. 4). .Macfarlane in this case is a leader who posses a great sense of self awareness because of his ability to detect an opportunity and go for it as well as take up another opportunity whenever he has a fallback.
Self-regulation this is the ability to control oneself before engaging in an irrational act. An individual with self-regulation can be able to control the way they feel or their intense desire to act on impulse. In companies, a leader should posses such a quality because of the sense of security it gives his/her employees. Displaying a calm personality even in moments of intense stress can be a positive sign to the employees that everything will be fine. Changes alos keep occurring in the market as the world progresses into a technological error and having the ability to regulate one’s emotions prevents one fom experiencing any form of anxiety related situations so as to facilitate better descion making.
Motivation-this refers to the desire and need an individual posseses that drives him or her towards the fulfillment of a goal. Macfarlane is a good example of an individual who was highly motivated. Some of the obstacles he faced was multiple rejections for his comic designs by 300 companies.Nevertheless he was optimistic that he will be able to one day own his own creations and this pushed him to work for small salaries so that he can see his dream become a reality. The motivating factor of being the owner of his own company became his greatest drive which he achieved with a lot of hardwork.
Empathy it refers to the ability of being able to identify with what others are feeling.Macfarlane has been able to achieve this through the way he relates with his employees.Working with employees from different cultural backgrounds requires the leader to be sensitive and considerate in how they deal with the employees.
Social skill this refers to how one deals with others and how they maintain this good relationships.It’s very important for a leader to possess good social skills especially in a company. This is because this skills are important when it comes to communicating with employees as wel as in explaining the process of change to this employees in the company. Macfarlane posses this skill which explains his good relationship with his employees.
How have global competition and technology advances changed business coalitions and leadership challenges?
The great advancement of technonolgy globally has encouraged many business to extend their business relationships all around the world. This advancement has led to a great increase in business competition which has increased working hours to even 24hours,7 days a week.Communication has also advanced making it easier for businesses to facilitate the 24hour economy.Electronic devices are being used to transfer information from one continent to another which in turn facilitates business activities.
Leadership in businesses has also been improved because of the use of satellites which facilitate the transfer of information among different companies around the world. Companies have been able to set up satellite offices even in third world countries where executives in this companies can manage any proceedings going on in this countries even from the first world countries. Each of this offices have their own appointed COO’s who are given the responsibility to report to the management.
Technology has brought the aspect of innovation for people to consider. As a result of technology people look for convenience when it comes to different products or services. Before technology began spreading great empasy was placed on huge cars but in today’s market the Japanese came up with more convenient, small car models with lower capacities. This model was at first considered unattaractive and with very little profit (Porter, 1990, n.p.) by most foreign marketers but it later changed the face of the car industry when consumers began appreciating and using this types of cars.
It is very clear that technology has made the world a global village and therefore a global marketplace. So its very important that different companies involve themselves in research with an aim of improving themselves as well as their services. Different countries have been able to use technology in different ways to develop their companies and studying some of these methods can be a very intelligent move. Companies can be able to achieve maximum success if they can be able to incooperate technology in their innovations as well as in developing their working environment.
References
Porter, M. (1990). The competitive advantage of nations. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/1990/03/the-competitive-advantage-of-nations
Goleman, D. (2004). What makes a leader. Harvard Business Review. PDF.
