Leadership Comparison Between Sir Richard Branson and Bill Gates

(2006, 05). Leadership Styles: Richard Branson. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 05, 2006, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Leadership-Styles-Richard-Branson-88459.htmlBlustein, A. (2013). What kind of leader are you?. Inc, 35(8), 58-59.

Good leadership is a process of influencing ans encouraging people to work as a team with efficiency to achieve the organizational goals (Drouillard & Kleiner, 1996). Different leaders has different leadership styles, a good leadership style can be very efficiency for an organization which can develop and encourage employees. According to Darling and Leffel’s (2010) framework, this essay will discuss how Steve Ballmer as a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Microsoft, the leadership styles as both Creator and Connector made him such a successful leader of Microsoft. This essay will argue that Steve Ballmer has the leadership style as Creator and Connector, and he has the abilities to develop well, encourage people to towards the Microsoft to success.

Richard is not afraid to take risks and believes that his people are the foundation to his company’s success. `My philosophy is, put your employees first, your customers second and your investors third and in the end everyone will be happy’ (Inc, 2013). From researching his leadership style I would say that Richard is a transformational democratic leader, he likes to get other peoples input and develop on their ideas. Richard believes that praise goes much further than criticism in achieving results so he likes to lead his team using positive reinforcement. Richard seems to be a very caring and involved leader who listens to everyone and is very professional in his leadership style, he is definitively a relationship-oriented leader who is good at aligning people and giving them emotional support and encouragement. He seems to fall into the segment of being a participative and consultative leader whilst his strong charisma seems to make anyone listen and follow him.

Collins (2005) defines Level 5 hierarchy leadership as the manager in whom honest individual modesty mixes with strong expert willpower. Mr. Gates displays this type of leadership much in his individual life than in his career events. Bill Gates represents a critical segment not only in his earnings but of his net worth to philanthropic causes but as well motivates similar leaders to follow his path. Gates’ duty as a trailblazer of leaders is a thing that uplifts his reputation about leadership globally.

These are the five personality traits that Richard Branson has, and he use while managing Virgin Group. The five traits have been identified as Self-confidence, openness, locus of control, motivational and authenticity.

Many may measure leadership in success, however, leadership is also measured in personality. The phrase “born to be a leader” holds true when considering the qualities a leader must possess. To be an effective leader, first it must be understood that respect, logical problem solving, and confidence without arrogance is key; these qualities are present in the leaders of the novel The Lord of the Flies as well as in modern leaders of today’s society.

Steve Jobs and Father Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta were both exemplary leaders. In just 35 years, Steve Jobs took Apple Computers from a mere idea to a $380 billion dollar enterprise. Father Arizmendiarrieta educated and aided the first founders of the Mondragón Cooperative that today employs more than 80 000 people. Great achievements from two man who simply cannot be defined by any one “textbook” leadership style. It appears that in real life leadership theories may be applied in synergy, allowing the flexibility for a leader to adapt their style as the situation requires. Whilst Steve Jobs and Father Arizmendiarrieta were both effective leaders, one stands out. Father Arizmendiarrieta led a population to self-sufficiency and whilst never

Effective leadership is one of the most important key factors for success and longevity in every organisation. So it does not come as a surprise that the topic of leadership has continued to be a subject of interest in the modern world both from practitioners as well as academics and the extensive research for decades has not exhausted the topic (Bennis W., 2007).The purpose of this essay is to apply the three relevant leadership theories in relation to Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc., one of the most admired leaders of recent times. The essay firstly introduces the concept of Charismatic leadership, transformational leadership and transactional leadership and then briefly reviews Jobs and his leadership styles in relative to the theories.

1. Richard Branson's leadership style works for his particular role as visionary and figurehead of his diverse group of companies under the Virgin Group umbrella. However diversified the Virgin Group may be, Branson remains an essentially charismatic and transformative leader. His leadership philosophy is built on employee empowerment and stimulating employee satisfaction. In his own words, Branson states, ""Rather than focusing on mistakes, catch someone doing something right every day," (cited by Adonis, 2010). Likewise, Branson advises that managers "place greater emphasis on unearthing what their employees are thinking and feeling," (cited by Adonis, 2010).

Steve Jobs is the CEO at Apple. Jobs founded Apple in 1976, and the company has developed into a major force within the electronics industry. Much of the success of the company has been due to the leadership of Steve Jobs. He has the personal attributes which are needed in order to be a successful leader, for example he is smart, communicative and is a great co-ordinator. However, there are limitations to Jobs leadership at Apple with factors such as shareholders,  corporate governance, corporate social

According to organisational behaviour by McShane, leadership is defined as influencing, motivating and enabling others to contribute towards the effectiveness and success of the organisation of which they are members (page 382, McShane).Becoming an effective leader depends on the leader’s leadership style. Successful leaders have vision and charisma, also the leader should have an ongoing personality, talkative, careful and self-disciplined. The leader must also have self-concept

From Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela’s charisma, to Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King’s intelligence and Steve Jobs’ analytical nature, there can be as numerous ways to lead as there are leaders (Crossman, 2010). Leadership is a hot debate both in the business world and other areas of the society. Throughout the world's, there have been as many leadership models as there have been their commentators (Burns & Peltason, 1966). Fortunately, psychologists and businesspersons have established useful frameworks that refer to the main ways of leadership.

Sir Richard Branson's model is a personification model of Virginia brand and explains it using his life when he was young. He uses both his life and Virginia brand to elaborate his leadership skills which is not based on any professional skills. Over the years, he is seen to recruit the best managers. Leadership is one of the strategies and strategic management. It includes planning for informal, formal and strategic planning systems by the leader. It has planning for emergent strategies, which include; responsiveness to arising threats and opportunities, increasing of changes to predetermined intended strategies, and adaptive learning and responsiveness to intended strategies. The Branson's model includes visionary leadership, which is planning, for the future. Competitiveness and competitive advantage for business services and products are dependent on strategic plans.

There are different leadership styles; a particular leader that will be discussed is Alan Mulally a CEO of Ford Motor. Alan faced many challenges and he impacted

This theory is based on the premise that there are certain personality characteristics that are essential for a person to possess in order to be a leader. The main emphasis is on what the person is in terms of a constellation of personality traits. This theory searches for that set of universal leadership traits that will assure success. Numerous traits have been suggested: courage, integrity, loyalty, charisma, ambition, intelligence, honesty, clairvoyance, persistence, arrogance, health, political skill, confidence and vision.