The Rise And Fall Of Carly Fiorina Essay

19). Still a part of the Great Man Leadership era, these trait theories just went a step further in attempting to pinpoint exactly which traits of these “great men” were consistently associated with the leaders, in an effort to more clearly define what a great leader was. This was again a further attempt to be able to identify a leader early on and predict which individuals were born to become leaders. It is thought that a major flaw with these theories was the failure to account for external factors, such as the environment in which the individuals were brought up in, as well as the situations they experienced (Horner, 2007, p. 270). Still today we do continue to study the characteristics of leaders in order to better define and understand what makes someone a good leader.

In Lesson 6, Dr. Fischer explores the ideas of whether leaders are born or made. In some cases certain traits such as extroversion, conscientiousness, openness, and emotional intelligence can suggest that leaders can in

The Trait Theory is based on the innate characteristics that a leader should have in order to lead successfully. For example, sense of humor, caring, and friendly. People in the Trait Theory have to show certain qualities when they communicate and these qualities have to remain constant in different environments.

As a growing debate, the question at hand is whether great leaders are born with specific leadership traits, or if one can be taught certain traits over time. According to (Wikipedia.com) the approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. I believe that leadership traits such as honest, competent, initiative, inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, and the ability to lead the masses, are some of the leadership traits one should possess. Within this paper, I will examine the overall concept of leadership traits, while observing the traits that were, or can be associated with successful leaders.

Understanding who Carly Fiorina is as a leader, and her path to the C-Suite, it is important to start at the beginning. Fiorina, born in 1954, is highly educated and holds dual masters degrees in Business Administration (1980) and Information Technology (1989) from the University of Maryland and MIT respectively. She married Frank Fiorina after her first marriage ended in divorce, and is the step-mother to Frank’s two daughters Traci and Lori Ann. Having never had children herself she considers Traci and Lori Ann (now deceased) to be her children.

The 2016 presidential election signified only the second election of my short voting career. I understood this unconventional election sparked extreme emotions from major political pop culture figures and required new campaign strategies. As a young adult trying to form my own political opinion, the election atmosphere made it challenging to uncover unbiased information about the candidates. I chose to read Carly Fiorina’s memoir of her leadership journey in order to learn more about a candidate that sparked my interest. I find women politicians fascinating and Fiorina’s background in business proved relevant. I began reading with an open and curious mind. I came to learn that Fiorina’s political views are shaped from her real world experience making her genuine and relatable. Specifically, I believe her experience in the business world has made her a stronger leader and offers her a unique perspective to bring to the Republican Party. I am supportive of Fiorina’s ultimate goal to better America by unlocking the potential of US citizens.

The Trait theory is based on the innate characteristics that a leader should have in order to lead successfully. For example, sense of humor, caring, and friendly. People in the Trait Theory has to show certain qualities when they communicate and these qualities have to remain constant in different environments.

The trait leadership theory focuses on the individual leader’s personal characteristics as the basis of its investigations. It is one of the earliest leadership theories upon whose tenets many researches on leadership have been done. Although it is not very coherent, its heuristic nature has contributed to its significance in leadership research. Zaccaro and Klimoski (2002) define traits of reference to leadership as the stable personality characteristics, which result in a consistent leadership performance pattern, given different scenarios and groups. They include individual personalities, temperament, rationale, prowess, as well as cognitive abilities. Initially, the theory explored both physical and psychological characteristics that tell apart leaders from non-leaders.

The Trait Approach was the 1st systematic attempt to study leadership. In the 20th century it was known as the “great man” theory. This approach takes a look at the leaders personal attributes such as but not limited to: motivation, energy, intuition, creativity, persuasiveness and foresight. Some of the traits that are essential to this list include: intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability. Thus it focuses mainly on the leader and not on the followers or situations. The strengths of the Trait Approach includes: 1) it is intuitively appealing, 2) it has research to back it’s theory, 3) it highlights the leader, 4) it identifies what the traits of a leader should have and whether the traits we do

Trait theory is similar in nature to that of the great man approach in that traits of personality are considered to be inherent. Trait theory was explored in the early 20th century and was built on from the great man theory. Tead (1929) discussed trait theory as someone who held a specific group of traits that would evolve followers to complete a chosen task.

Moreover, the trait approach gives a deeper understanding of the leader element in the leadership process by emphasising exclusively on the leader, (Gore et al, 2011). The trait theory does not offer hypotheses about the role of situational variance or characteristic of the followers. Instead, this approach provide information about leaders, and about which traits cause which behaviours and that certain set of traits are central to the leadership process and play an indispensible part of effective leadership.

Much is made of the impact of leadership on an organisation. Theory has moved on from the idea of born leaders and specific traits that deliver effectiveness, to behavioural approaches and a distribution of the function through the organisation. ‘The Rise and Fall of Carly Fiorina’ (Johnson 2008) details Hewlett Packard’s recruitment of a celebrity CEO who took the organisation away from 60 years of distributed leadership, to implement an autocratic leadership style. This essay examines the case study and discusses elements of leadership and leadership failure. The continuum between task oriented and relational leadership is examined in the context of the scenario and a contrast is drawn between the autocratic leadership style employed and transformational leadership. While hindsight suggests the match between Hewlett Packard and the incoming CEO was hopelessly flawed, there is reason to blame Fiorina’s lack of emotional intelligence for a style completely at odds with organisational culture.

Trait Theories:- Trait theory shows similarities with Great man theories, In trait theories specifically it has been assumed that people are born with certain qualities and characteristics. These make them better leaders from choice. It also shows specific personality or behavioural traits shared by leaders.

Trait theories assume all leaders share a number of common traits. This theory identifies traits or characteristics that are essential when being a leader. Traits like assertiveness, good decision making, empathy, integrity, and confidence are some examples of traits of successful leaders; however, there is no magic combination of traits that will guarantee someone to be a successful leader. Traits are based on our inner thoughts and beliefs. Many different studies about leadership traits agree only in the general righteous qualities needed to be a leader. Those traits are known as core traits. The core traits include

Research on management and leadership in organizations over the past century shows there are still no clear definitions or answers about what counts as effective and successful leadership; the field remains varied and argued. Actual studies of leadership began in the early twentieth century. The research and studies on leadership have resulted in defining what characters, traits and attitudes are considered to be significant for leaders to possess. The early studies of leadership theories focused on the person and their behaviors, currently known as leadership trait theories and behavioral theories. It is important for organizational leaders and managers to understand what characteristics, traits and actions of an individual mark a great leader when forming a strong diverse workforce.