Two Business Leaders, Two Philanthropist, who is more effective?
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Assignment Topic
Compare and Contrast two leaders, at least one of whom must be a business leader. Which of the two was the more effective leader? Why? What skills did they demonstrate?
Word Count: 1982
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Achieving effective leadership is a process. This paper considers the different attributes to becoming an effective leader. The paper firstly defines leadership, and then introduces two modern day business leaders Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates, giving brief biographies on their lives and leadership qualities.
It then outlines characteristics of an effective leader and compares and contrasts the two leaders as such.
The paper concludes by
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* The series finale of The Oprah Winfrey Show aired on May 25, 2011. * OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network launched on January 1, 2011. * She was titled Richest African American of the 20th Century * Ranked “world’s most influential woman” * Founded “The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy”, a boarding school for girls in South Africa * Operates “Oprah’s Angel Network” charity fund
Oprah as a leader:
Some experts agree that Oprah is a leader to emulate; she uniquely inspires her team and executes her vision while maintaining mass appeal. Oprah’s basic philosophy is her team, vision and values.
Oprah’s Best Leadership Practices are as follows; * She carefully selects her team to ensure competence and compatibility and stands by them * Gathers trusted members, she seek mentors that she admires who will offer guidance * Values her customers- inspires her audience through large scale humanitarian work * Strategically extends her brand * Keeps her brand focused- Core audience and content area. * Knows how to motivate, she reward employees through incentives, lavish gifts and vacations for employees. * Dreams Big- she has the ability to dream the dream and confidence to make it happen. * Communicates her vision- she utilizes participative leadership style and encourages input from colleagues, she
She leads over 300 people and they all respect her and look up to her. They listen to her and they do not like to disappoint her. She dresses appropriately for position and she is confident in herself and her staff that she works with. She is always professional with her staff and how she handles different situations that she is faced
Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.
This approach emphasize that having a leader with a certain set of traits is crucial to having effective leadership. It’s the leader and the leader’s personality that are central to the leadership process.
This inquiry is set out to define the components that make up an effective leader, whilst taking
Oprah Winfrey is an American entrepreneur, TV show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Oprah Winfrey owns her own network called OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) and she is the chairman of Harpo Inc. She is a self-made billionaire. She is the ONLY African American female billionaire with an estimated net worth of 3.1 billion. Winfrey is the first black woman to own and run a television network, The Oprah Winfrey show was the highest rated, most seen talk show in history and was watched in 110 countries. Oprah has been honored with awards in broadcasting, including the Peabody award and the IRIS Gold Medal award and 39 daytime Emmy awards.
I've seen her drive for success an I'm certain she won't give anything but her best. I'm proud to have witnessed her growth an I'm sure she'll encourage more an cultivate an atmosphere of leadership in her role!
Choose two business leaders either living or deceased, and provide three examples that illustrate how they demonstrated leadership characteristics. For each of the people in the chosen examples, compare and contrast the differences between his / her leadership characteristics.
Choose two business leaders either living or deceased, and provide three examples that illustrate how they demonstrated leadership characteristics. For each of the people in the chosen examples, compare and contrast the differences between his / her leadership characteristics.
In the Leadership Challenge, 4th edition, it is Kouzes & Posner (2007) intention to present a road map for individuals to follow on their leadership journey. The authors stress that “leadership is not a gene and it’s not an inheritance.” Leadership they assert is “an identifiable set of skills and abilities that are available to all of us” (p. 23). They make clear that the “great person” theory of leadership is “plain wrong.” Leaders are our everyday heroes who do extraordinary things on a regular basis (p. 23).
A leader I admire, whether real-life or fictional character from the television, the movies or a book, will be identified. Leadership theories will be used to evaluate my selected leader to determine what characteristics and leadership abilities helped this leader become successful. I will also include an evaluation of my own leadership style and identify what my individual leadership characteristics are. The plan will be developed to improve my leadership style based upon the findings of my chosen leader’s leadership style compared to my own.
While lots of theories of leadership have been projected, characteristics of leaders have been endless over a period and around the world. Leaders are individuals with vision and he/her view the future different from the commonly accepted view. A leader can influence change and communicate his/her vision to other staff and gain the support, and acceptance in order to implementing the vision. Leaders have established values which offer a basis for vision and passion to attain individual and organizational goals. Influence is vital to attaining change and to be grounded based on knowledge through formal schooling and proficiency (Yphantides, Escoboza, & Macchione, 2015). The influential leader how is a pioneer in her field is Rebecca Onie who is instrumental in creating a company for communities in poverty and have become an advocate for these individuals to be heard and acknowledge by society (Michaels, 2011).
When choosing a leader to profile, I had a difficult time choosing between some of my favorite modern day role models including Suze Orman, Martha Beck and Sheryl Sandberg; and historical figures like Susan B. Anthony, Marie Curie or Amelia Earhart. But I selected a great femal e leader of our time, Oprah Winfrey, not only because I have admired her since I was very young – but because her personal history highlights something I think is not only important but unique to any leader – triumph over adversity.
Read Ch. 8's Leadership Case Problem B – "Maya the Manipulator" pp. 273-274. Analyze Questions 1-4.
Leadership is a very broad topic; I never knew just how many different traits and skills that it takes to become an effective leader. Some of which I was familiar with, and others that I was not aware of, but now from taking this course, they all seem to be necessary for the role of leadership. The attached paper, will explain of some of the important theories and concepts that I thought were most important to be able to become and effective leader.
For decade’s individuals, companies, and organizations have spent an unprecedented amount of money on researching, molding, modeling and working to define what a leader is and what characteristics make successful leaders. Despite all the research, there is not a quick answer or even full agreement as to what makes an individual an effective leader. The definition of a leader is “someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority.” (Robbins, Decenzo, Coulter, 2015. P.370)