Secretary Gates Leadership Analysis

I use to work for an organization where the owner always thought his way was the right way. He never took any one advice or ideas, he felt that because he was the boss his way was right. The way he ran his organization made it very difficult for anyone to work for him. In James Clawson Level Three of Leadership Chapter 22 pg 295. A leader who pays careful attention to that fact and includes more people who are going to be better armed to avoid unintended consequences. He never followed this concept if he was willing to get feedback and suggestion from his employees it would have help his organization a lot. He was a Level One leader he didn’t care too much about how anyone felt, he just wanted you to come do your job.

Most people recognize Colin Powell as one of the most admired and popular leaders of our time. Often times in leadership you will not always be popular or admired, so what makes this leader different? It was those core values ingrained in him at early age by his parents that would shape him as a future leader (Koltz & Powell, 2012). As with any great leader he’s had his fair share of trials and tribulations, but like an infantry officer he continued to press forward. Colin Powell has been a visionary and ethical leader since the early days of Persian Gulf to Washington’s corridors (Roth, 1993). Throughout my research he has become a personal inspiration for me due to his ability to inspire and motivate those around him. Let’s take a brief look into his background to provide a better understanding of his leadership style.

During 2003, General Petraeus and his soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division had no clue of the astounding role they were about to embark on. General Petraeus found the city of Mosul in complete destruction, and knew it would take a cohesive effort through mutual trust and teamwork to restore the city. The city of Mosul did not only need a complete make over, but also a regime that shared a mutual understanding as Petraeus. Lastly, with the city rebuilding changes would bring hostility and risk to the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division. General David Petraeus was successful in Mosul, because he applied the mission command control principles of building cohesive teams, creating shared understanding, and accepting prudent risk.

What defines a good leadership? Is it the qualities that he exhibits, or the rather the polices that history remembers him by? The time period of American Civil War is a great time period to examine these questions, and can be done so by looking at the two main presidents of both the Union and the Confederacy: Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. While the two were both skilled in some areas and unskilled in others in terms of leadership, history remembers Lincoln as the better leader due to his characteristics of intelligence in the political /military field as well as when it comes to personal rights.

General Gates also displayed leadership by issuing orders requisitioning new supplies. He ordered better food, clothing and equipment as well as requiring inspections of Soldier support facilities such as hospitals and encampments.7 General Gates desired a ready and able force. He knew that if he took care of the men's needs, he would get their full effort. Resupplies began arriving and the morale was lifted. Soldiers stated that Gates' arrival raised them as if by magic and they began to hope and then to act.8 General gates saw the immediate need to boost the morale of his men. By leading the show of support for their well being and readiness, General Gates was empowering them to affect the outcome of the battle.

Bill Gates' approach to planning, implementing and managing strategic-level initiatives throughout Microsoft Corporation and the long-term effects of his leadership strategies on the culture of the company is the subject of this analysis. Using the model on effective strategic leadership found in the text (Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, 2013) each of its dimensions are also used for assessing Bill gate's leadership style and effectiveness. As the model shows that the factors of effectively managing the firm's resource portfolios, sustaining an effective organizational culture and emphasizing ethical practices form the foundation of effective strategic leadership, these three foundational elements form the basis of the analysis. Determining strategic direction and establishing balanced organizational controls are also essential for guiding organizations to above-average performance and profitability (Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, 2013). Based on this framework and the insights gained, an assessment is also made of Microsoft's ability to sustain an effective, productive organizational culture. Inclusive in this analysis is also an assessment of Bill Gates' strategic leadership style, with two suggestions of how Gates and his predecessors at Microsoft could create higher levels of strategic entrepreneurship throughout the company. This analysis concludes with the identification and discussion of two strategic

I think one of the most important reasons to be familiar with organizational communication as a leader is because of the care we must exercise when choosing to share information, and the media we select for such disclosures. As leaders in the military, we swore to uphold a standard of loyalty – to the government, to our country, to our fellow soldiers, and to our commanders. That means we do not publicly denounce them in a venue where the wrong people can take what we said and turn it into a public debacle. For example, I firmly believe one of the reasons General Stanley McChrystal suffered such a colossal downfall was because of an article in Rolling Stone in 2010. In the article, General McChrystal and members of his entourage were vociferously

General Powell highlights 18 lessons learned in leadership that are applied to successful companies, and how they are applied to leadership in his presentation to the Outreach Program, and the Sears Corporate Headquarters. These approaches can be applied not only in business but life in general. I will highlight three of the lessons that have impacted my career in the military

After reading all 18 of Colin Powell leadership principles, three of the principles stood out that I could identify with. The first, “Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.”

Secretary Gates has many strengths, but problem management was the one that seems most dominant. In his 4 1/2 year tenure as Secretary of Defense, he demonstrated that he could handle difficult problems swiftly. Whether it was pushing for improved equipment on the battlefield (such as unmanned aerial vehicles or MRAPs) that

The leadership style at Boeing is high structured, high consideration where the organization provides step by step guidance on how tasks are to be completed and it is highly considerate of the employee needs and wants. At Boeing honesty matters, the organization outlines initiatives that focuses on enabling the culture of openness and accountability to maintain an ethical workplace that will increase business performance. Their leadership is based on transformational leadership where the focus is on their ethical approach to doing things the correct way and allowing employees to be open about issues and concerns. This approach has become embedded in the ethical decision-making aspect of business, equipping managers

Leadership is “ critical in codifying and maintaining an organizations’ purpose, values, and vision. “ ( PM World Today Journal ). Having good leadership methods in place at an organization is vital in bringing success to a company. Steve Jobs is highly stimulated and has a strong idea of what he wants for Apple to achieve in upcoming periods. He is a transformational leader, and this, “ represents the most popular current view of leadership. This leader is characterised by a capacity to create a highly motivating and absorbing vision of the future, and has the capability to energise others to pursue the vision. “ ( Claremont McKenna College Journal ). Jobs has put in a huge effort to create a strong framework of control and direction, for example, “ Since returning to Apple, Steve has put as much energy into creating a strong management structure as he has into the products. “ ( www.ft.com ). This is highly effective leadership, trying to improve the design of the organisation in order to achieve more efficiency.

As a senior leader in the military, it is important that I am able to communicate effectively. As with previous assignments, there is little doubt that in my next assignment I will be called upon to give a presentation concerning a strategic issue that my organization is involved with. In the last six months, I have been exposed to many different levels of issues affecting the United States. It will be up to me to communicate these strategic issues effectively in a variety of forums. As such, I believe a truly effective presentation must include several key elements to help the speaker prepare the presentation, stay organized, and ensure the message is focused on the audience. Three key elements that I believe are most important are to know your audience, know your material, and rehearse as much as possible before the presentation. In this paper, I will discuss these three elements,

I admire my old Karate instructor, Bart Edge, as a leader. Even though I do not attend Karate anymore, he has been a role model for me throughout most of my life. He has proven to me that it is possible to lead many students into becoming better people through their practice of personal traits. While learning at age 3 how to progress through ranks from White Belt to my present status of 2nd Degree Black Belt, I have learned that you cannot speed through life thinking that the way will be paved easy for you. It is a necessity to practice and critique yourself in order to improve your technique and character. This has been beneficial to me on my path to becoming a stronger leader and has proven successful for many of my peers in the Karate classes.

I am a huge fan of Allan Mulally leadership style. What his team accomplished at Ford is nothing short of legendary. There is something about a corporate turnaround I like, the transformational Journey of these companies close to bankruptcy and back to profitability is very, very fascinating.