As I search google for CEO and CIO, I came across someone whom looked similar to me . I came across an African American women, the first African American women CEO at that, to head a fortune 500 company. I was not aiming to writer about anyone in particular. The reason I chose Ursula Burn because she is a CEO of a fairly known company Xerox. For this paper I will review and research Ursula’s personal view on life, as well as her management style and of she "lives" their management style? Ursula had a changeling up bring. She didn’t let her home life affect her school life. Burns earned an engineering degree from the Polytechnic Institute of New York and went on to earn a graduate degree from Columbia University. Believe it or not Xerox …show more content…
If you have an opinion, you should make it be known, At a meeting on work-life balance with Wayland Hicks, someone asked a question about “bringing in all these women and minorities, lowering the performance of the company.” After Wayland responded, Burns spoke up, expressing her shock that he even addressed such a question. Her outspokenness led to a back and forth with Wayland, which led to her job as an assistant to Wayland, then a senior Xerox executive. The Makers: Women Who Make America documentary. Ursula management style to me is authoritative, affiliate and participative intertwine in one. Ursula follows her own five points of power communication, culture, vision, people, and customer service. Ursula explain them, “A true leader is indispensable. You must be consistent, honest, and forceful. Successful in communication, built it upon honesty and being straightforward. Culture will help your business succeed. Strengthen the good times, have diversity, teamwork, and change the bad things. Become the culture itself. Let your employees know what they are in for. Aim for reaching back to your company’s highest success and exceeding forward. People can do just about anything when they are aligned around a common goal and objective. Think about who you are serving, your mission to them, and make the customer the center to everything.
Ursula went on and finally received a master’s degree from Columbia. Burns became an internship at Xerox in 1980, which ultimately led to an entry-level engineering job at Xerox with a salary of $29,004 after graduation. That was enough to afford a middle-class life. At that point, she owned a car and a house in upstate New York. Burns' course at Xerox changed forever in 1989 when she attended a company event on work-life balance.
In a dialogue before a group at MIT sharing their feelings regarding her rise in leadership, Ursula Burns, spoke of her family's modest beginnings, living in the projects in the lower east side of Manhattan. Where she and her siblings were encouraged excelling, shielded them and kept safe.
“Leadership is the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation in order to accomplish the mission and improve the organization” (FM 6-22). There are a few factors that contribute to being an effective leader. These factors include: Decision making, cultural awareness, your leadership style, and obtaining leadership characteristics, which include; attributes and competencies.
These paved roads allow me to discuss Ursula Burns. Ursula Burns is the first African-American female Chief Executive Officer. Not only is she a Chief Executive Office, but she is the CEO of Xerox, which is also a Fortune 500 Company. Ursula’s own road was not paved in gold, it was exactly the opposite. A single mother on the lower East Side of Manhattan raised her. Ursula was quoted stating that, “Many people told me I had three strikes against me: I was black. I was a girl. And I was poor. Mom didn’t see it that way. She constantly reminded me “where I was didn’t define who I was.” (Ursula Burns, 2016)
Barnes is considered an introvert that preferred simplicity. In 2005, when she assumed control of Sara Lee she had to go to work quickly because there were a wide series of complex problems she had to address, but she was not afraid to tackle the challenge. Once she developed a vision she would stick to it. She would break the problem down to the simplest form and address each one until the problem was resolved. “She was patient and committed to her vision…Her vision allowed for input from others” (Brenda Barnes Leadership Style). Ms Barnes led by example. She connected well with the workers… and wooed her peers in the boardroom (Brenda Barnes Leadership Style).
In reviewing this week's video of Ursula Burn's her journey mimicked the struggle of the black American of her era, reflecting a shared generational experience with her story. During the 1960s running a single-parent household, while trying to raise brown-skinned children in a world that says they did not belong was not uncommon.
There are four main leadership styles, the first being Autocratic style which the manager retains as much control and decision making authority as possible, the manager does not give employees any input or consultation. The next is Bureaucratic which is where the manager manages ‘by the book’ which is where everything must be completed according to procedure and protocol. Mangers using this style will only consult with those above them in the chain of command. They simple enforce the rules of the workplace. The next style of leadership is Laissez-Faire which is also known as the ‘hands off’ approach to management. The manager usually provides little or no direction and give employees as much freedom as possible. All power is given to employees and they are to dictate their own work ethics. The last leadership style is the Democratic style which is also known as the participative style and this is where employees are encouraged to be a part of the decision making process. The democratic manager keeps their employees informed about everything that affects
This case study is an analysis of leadership as exhibited by Rebecca S. Halstead. The article published at Harvard Business School by Boris Groysberg and Deborah Bell details the traits, motivations and leadership style that Halstead exemplified. Through the analysis of this article I hope to not only document the achievements of Rebecca Halstead but also document and assimilate the leadership lessons imparted by her. An important observation I have made from the progress of time I this course is that study of leadership is synonymous with studying great leaders. The study of science involves experiments & making observations based on results. However, leadership is not an absolute science, there are various approaches. Every leader has a different style & combination of traits. Aspiring leaders & scholars of leadership must find their individual combination to succeed.
To create and maintain a healthy organizational culture is a trait of an effective leader. To be an effective leader requires certain skills. I will identify six skills effective leaders have in common. Followership, concern for subordinates, development of others, communication, high standards of performance and loyalty to the organization.
According to Yukl (Yukl, 2013) one of the many definitions of leadership is “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable other to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organization”. Therefore it is of importance to have an effective leader in an organization to guide the company in the correct direction, in order to achieve the company’s’ main goal.
Good leadership is also important to run a business. Usually, in companies, management stresses more on decision- making skills. They believe a timely and smart decision will help their company to succeed. They forget that implementation of those decisions are as important as making those decision. Without a proper implementation , there will be no results. Like there is a saying that, it’s easier to said than done. Similarly, making a decision will change nothing, its how to get things done in a timely and an effective way will help an organization to accomplish their goals. Leadership is crucial in implementing decisions correctly and successfully.
A leader needs to “believe” in oneself and have the confidence that whatever you say will excite and what you do can motivate others. You must be optimistic about what you do, do have some relevance for being in existence. Believe it or not, “leadership begins with you”.
Leadership is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as the “action of leading a group of people or an organization.” Leadership is also the ability to set trends, inspire, motivate, and sway others to produce desired results. There are different styles and ways of performing leadership and a good leader has the ability to take ordinary people, put them all together, and hopefully yield successful results. For organizations to have sustained results from their performance there must be a good balance of business insight, technical and interpersonal skills, and good team dynamics. A leader must know how to use all these areas as well as trust and communicate with their people in
management style and why you admire it. Please write a one page, single spaced reflection.
Leadership is defined as the ability to accomplish a set goal(s) due to the act of inspiring and motivating a group of your peers. Former United States president Dwight D. Eisenhower made famous a quote that stated, “Leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.” (Notable-quotes.com). One of the most important aspects of the work area is leadership. Without leadership, there will be no guidance to for teamwork and the percentage of successful goal will be slim to none. Becoming a great leader is no easy feat however. An exceptional leader must lock in on specific attributes such as intellect, moral character, and human