Richard Branson Leadership Essay

There are many components to being a leader; a strong leader has to be able to clearly communicate, to intensely inspire others to collaborate in bringing the vision to fruition. James MacGregor Burns a leadership expert introduced the transformational leadership concept he suggested that “the transforming leader as one with the ability to create visions and employ charismatic behaviors, they are purposeful and seek to understand the motivation and needs of their followers (Crowell, 2016). Not only does a transformational leader have the ability to empower and motivate others “transformational leadership emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships, and the goal is to generate employee’s commitment to the vision or ideal rather than to themselves” (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). According to Smith, (2011) the ultimate goal of transformational leadership is the leader and the follower to discover meaning and purpose in relation to their work, in addition to growth and maturity. There are four I's of transformational leadership " individualized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation" (Riggio, 2014). The transformational leader causes changes in both the system and the individual. Creating positive and valuable changes in the followers with the result creating followers who will

Today’s potential leaders who have enhanced there skill with education in leadership, believe in the elements that they 've learned. The rational, technical reducible in today 's marketplace could be ill-equipped without the proper motivation and mentoring because motivation of followers isn 't created out of thin air. It’s accomplished by aligning individuals and members who take pride in their contributions and have an understanding of shared goals and values.

(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.

Richard Branson had three children by the names of Sam Branson, Holly Branson, and Clare Sarah Branson. He’s had two wives. In 1972-1979, he was married to a woman named Kristin Tomassi. His current spouse, married in 1989, is Joan Templeman. A famous quote by Richard Branson says “If you fall flat on your face, at least you’re moving forward.” Branson was born on July 18th, 1950 in Surrey, England. According to “Biography Reference Bank”, pg. 1 on Richard Branson, Branson’s Father was a barrister, and his mother, a flight attendant in London. "My parents brought me up with this philosophy," Branson has said, as quoted by Fred Goodman for Vanity Fair (May 1992): "'You must do things--you mustn't watch what other people are doing; you mustn't listen to what other people are doing.'" Branson took this advice seriously and he ended up doing more sports than studying. His academic performance was poor. Branson’s dyslexia did not help his academic performance.. He went through several schools and struggled for a long period of time with schooling. Virgin.com is Richard Branson’s website today

For this section I am going to compare the skills and styles of 2 very different leaders; Richard Branson founder of the Virgin Group and Steve Jobs founder of Apple Inc.

Richard Branson is genuine and honest about his values and beliefs. Throughout his career as an entrepreneur, he has been able to anticipate the future trends, inspire followers to understand and embrace a new vision of possibilities. Virgin group rewards their employees with more intangible dividends like comfort, independence and healthy salaries. The staffs have the rights to renegotiate the pay scale offered to them but however for the past 10 years no one has chosen to do so. (Tannenbaum 1985) This proved that Richard Branson authentic leadership has captured his employee’s loyalty towards the company.

The topic of leadership continues to attract several theoretical arguments as the practice of leadership varies depending on a variety of factors (Loveridge, 2014). However, the contributions made by John Wooden in transforming leadership are impeccable, with his many years as a basketball coach earning him admiration and success in equal measure. John Wooden, therefore, explains how leaders can get the maximum potential out of their followers through enhancing the individual abilities and shaping the personal efforts in a manner that guarantees personal peak performances and subsequent improvement of team or organizational performance.

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).

This case study will examine the strengths and weaknesses of the managerial leadership of Fletcher Jones and Continental Airlines.

References Doyle, M., & Smith, M. (2001). Classical models if managerial leadership; traits, behavioral, contingency of transformational theory. Dyer, J., Gregersen, H., & Christensen, C.M. (2011). The Innovator's DNA: mastering the five skills of disruptive innovators. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press Hitt, M. A., Haynes, K. T., & Serpa, R. (2010). Strategic Leadership for the 21st century. Hoffman A. (2012). Intuitive Surgical Inc.: How Long Can Their Monopoly Last.

The contents and assignment in this course has helped me understand the various theories of leadership and how different leadership styles can have a negative or positive effect on followers and organizations. The leadership theories helped me understand the concept of leadership better because it educates me on the different leadership options that are available. Leadership and followership is not based on specific characteristics. Leaders must draw from things and approaches to find the right style. A follower’s attitude determines the way a leader leads. According to Johnson (2011) “Being a good follower means ensuring your boss is supported, but only if he is making optimum decisions”.

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.

Branson, born July 18th, 1950 in London England, started his working at an early age. Due to his dyslexia, school and academia never came easy for Branson. He attended multiple schools in his early teens such as the all-boys Scaitcliffe School, which he almost failed out of, and the Stowe School, a boarding school in Buckinghamshire, England. After struggling at both of these schools, Branson dropped out at the age of 16. After he dropped out, he started his first business, a youth culture magazine called Student. By 1969, Branson, influenced by the British music scene, decided to start a mail order record company to help fund his magazine. By 1972, Branson had enough money to build himself a record studio in London to continue his record business. Branson and co-found Nik Powell named their record business “Virgin” because they were both virgins to the business world.

Warren Buffet is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Berkshire Hathaway (http://www.berkshirehathaway.com), a holding company for several businesses (Berkshire Hathaway, n.d.). Fortune Editors (2014) named Warren Buffett number four on The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders (2014) list for his leadership techniques with his 300,000 employees. Buffett is also a proponent for philanthropy and earmarks Berkshire Hathaway shares to distribute to several foundations annually (Berkshire Hathaway Inc., n.d.). In 2014, Buffett led his followers with a hands-off style empowering his managers to act as owners (Fortune Editors, 2014). However, Buffett did not begin his career with a hands-off style; his leadership techniques evolved as he became a seasoned CEO. Over time, Buffett shifts from a unilateral power to a mutual power (Kelly, 2013).

Prior to attending the Business Internship course, my knowledge and understanding on successful business leaders was very limited. Although I had heard of countless success stories in business, I had never actually understood what it took to achieve such measures of success. However, it wasn’t until we had the privilege of hearing from four different business magnates in weeks 6 -9. Each of the business leaders gave an hour’s seminar and which was aimed at providing insights into their personal lives, working experiences and the core essence of 21st century business leadership.