Leadership of Richard Branson - Case Study Example

LEADERSHIP OF RICHARD BRANSON It is an important common assumption that great leaders are able to shape the society through their personal and professional qualities, impact and actions. Hence, leadership is considered as a matter of personality and a style of leading people, in particular, which is a power to some extent that enables one person to focus group’s attention on certain subject and activities (Mills, Bratton, Mills & Forshaw, 2006). In the recent decades with the growth of successful organizations and companies, the concept of leadership has acquired its exceptional meaning among the workplace environment and focus is given on the culture change which is called by the leadership styles that manage this change. In addition, modern corporations are seeking for the types of leadership which would develop human potential and generate employee contribution, commitment and innovation to meet organizational goals. So far these new types of leadership include transformational, charismatic and self-leadership. The following paper will assess the main elements of leadership style of Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, a multinational conglomerate that consists of more than four hundred companies specializing in travel, entertainment, lifestyle, financial services, transport and others. While influence is more likely to use in the leadership definitions (Rost, 1993) with the focus on one’s do-the leader-wishes and achieve foals which a leader has set, the style of leading people of Virgin founder is never coercive, but it rather inspires people and creates the status of credibility, which motivate employees of Virgin companies to perform their tasks better (Dearlove, 2009). These few traits can be called unique aspects of Branson’s leadership style. Along with them, Richard Branson is a talented entrepreneur with enthusiastic attitude to his business and a hard worker who understands leadership as an art. Another important point is that Branson, being a leader of so many companies, is capable to understand how to empower others to rule the business while he gets out the way. In addition, the uniqueness of leadership style of Branson is in ensuring its employees to be satisfied with their work at Virgin due to the set of values which are concentrated not only on the profit but on something that makes the business run successfully (Dawson, 2013). The other characteristic of Richard Branson’s leadership style that meshes successfully with the attributes of Virgin conglomerate is planning, where its founder is a successful researcher of new ideas for business ventures. Moreover, whether certain ideas are not applicable, others are paid great attention and Branson plays the role of a catalyst of the development of the new business idea. What is more noticeable is the ability to gather talented people around him without any managerial skills, but who are good entrepreneurs and which create the right surrounding for the company. Feloni (2014) explains the leadership styles of Branson based on the steps he took when creating his business. Thus, Virgin founder follows his passion and never backs down for others criticism of his ideas. His attention to charitable works reflects his activities within the companies and among employees. In addition, he recommends breaking down barriers of corporate hierarchy and keeps his employees to be open and share ideas as much as it helps the company to be developed. With all the achievements that Richard Branson’s companies reached, there is a great human potential that stands behind their performance. However, keeping it focused is the work of great leader, which Branson is considered to be. According to Branson himself (2015), to motivate people for successful performance, companies’ core values are the helping hand. Besides, involvement of employees in the company’s events engages them and gives the chance to communicate certain feedback. In addition, “keeping things exciting” (Branson, 2015) is among the main motivations for Virgin employees as then people are more productive, feel enthusiasm at their work and contribute more ideas in the business. Another important feature of Branson’s leadership style is looking after employees always stand on the first place, despite the fact that most companies put shareholders and customers at the top of their interests. Thus, one of the main motivators for employees within the company is the flexibility and challenging and interesting work. Branson is also capable to empower employees and give them a room for failure. Despite the common consideration about the money that motivate employees moat of all, for Branson’s companies it is creation of challenging situations where people are capable to make a visible contribution to the common business and such need for achievement motivates more (Ahlstrom & Bruton, 2009). Unlike other companies, there is no mission statement in the Virgin Company, which would inspire and inform employees, customers and all other stakeholders about what a company is striving for. This can be explained by the importance of all information that should be put into the mission of Virgin (Branson, 2013). Gallo (2012) explains Branson’s effectiveness to communicate the companies’ vision without unnecessary statements for his personal attitude to confusing and long presentation. It is better to communicate for this leader in more unconventional and outdoor setting, where he would be able to inform others, owners, entrepreneurs and other leaders about the valuable information. In addition, the effectiveness of companies’ vision stands behind genuine conviction, trustworthiness and eye contact which would be impossible during the boardroom meeting. Being a leader, who follows a radical improvements on the status quo, Richard Branson is obsesses with the customer service, engagement of employees and all that surrounded with fun in the business units (Gallo, 2012). When taking an offer in such company Virgin, being on a position of a manager, one should always think about the opportunities for growth and development broth in personal and professional areas because of the great charisma and enthusiasm of its leader who shows what the company is by all possible means. However, for a manager, it is also important to understand the leadership style of a leader to follow. Knowing that Richard Branson promotes democratic and pacesetting leadership style, it is obvious that he participates in the processes of his companies, unless he can delegate certain tasks to others. In addition, active listening of his employees is among the main trains of Branson’s leadership style, which gives managers ability to share their ideas and thoughts about the services or products and to the leader to achieve valuable input from the employees. In addition, creation of a challenging and interesting working environment promotes motivation of employees and development of competences for successful completion of their tasks. For a manager such challenging surrounding creates a wide range of possibilities for growth without being afraid that certain ideas will not be accepted and listened to. Another point to pay attention to is the emotional intelligence of the leader or the extent to what the leader is self-reflected. It means that for a manager to better understand whether the leadership style is suitable and how to adjust one’s work and personal style of doing things to the one of the leader (Coutu, 2004). While Richard Branson is a man of action and fun, it is obvious that his emotional intelligence enable him and his employees to be motivated enough to be effective and be team players. Without a doubt, working for a leader where democratic and pacesetting styles are dominating is a good experience for a manager, as more possibilities are opening up and it is possible to create more and achieve more. It is without a doubt that to manage so many companies as in Virgin Group, its founder Richard Branson should possess all necessary attributes of an effective leader. Moreover, as stated in International Business Times (2014), he is also the most admired business leader and takes the top business leader in UK. With four hundred companies, Branson believes that truly inspirational leader is capable to motivate people and look after people without criticism. In addition, good leader is able to delegate and does not try to do everything himself in order to give others space for achievement and improvement. Moreover, it is the great leader who stands back and looks at the bigger picture and delegate free up to lead the company into the new direction. It is the good leader that passionately believes in what one is doing (International Business Times, 2014). For these reasons, it is possible to assume that Richard Branson is a global leader who makes a positive difference within the company and society in general. There is also another point on Richard Branson’s leadership. Along with the ability to lead people and his companies, there is a great strength of this person to lead global setting. To be able to lead the global change, a good leader should have certain physical and mental discipline, or another words, be able to inspire people for bigger contribution. Active attention to people gives persona opportunity to maintain focus on the business. In addition, as a good leader, one should be an engaged listener so that to understand what employees and other stakeholders need. Along with it, a global leader should have a humble strength with the intention to peer into the future and have clear goals (What makes Richard Branson a global leader, 2012). These are the attributes of Richard Branson. That is why one can assume he is a global leader. With such companies that operate and perform their activities under the Virgin Group, it is obvious that Richard Branson, a charismatic and challenging leader will not stop at the reached goals and results. Thus Hyde (2012), reports about Branson’s intentions to add Virgin Money Bank into the conglomerate. It will change the High Street banking and as assumed to double customers within the next five years. It is also possible so the company would supplement its companies with other industries as retail or real estate companies with the name of Virgin. Being a good and attentive leader since the creation of first companies, Richard Branson will be able to become the world leader number one thanks to the type of leadership he follows. There is also a field for development and improvement in terms of becoming more knowledgeable with the modern technologies, which are not supported by Branson now. It is already possible to communicate with people distantly; however, Branson is not involved into the modern technology so far. With the growth of business in the future Richard Branson will be able expand his business through engagement into the Information Technology area where the company is not present so far. References Ahlstrom, D. and Bruton, G., (2009). International Management: Strategy and Culture in the Emerging World, Cengage Learning Branson, R., (2013). Richard Branson on crafting your mission statement, Entrepreneur, Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227507 Branson, R., (2015). Richard Branson on inspiring employees, The Entrepreneur, Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224932 Coutu, D. (2013). Putting Leaders on the Couch, Harvard Business Review, Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2004/01/putting-leaders-on-the-couch Dawson, P., (2013). Managing change, creativity and innovation, Sagepub Dearlove, D., (2009). The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Richard Branson Way: 10 Secrets of the Worlds Greatest Brand Builder, John Wiley & Sons Feloni, R., (2014). Richard Branson’s 10 rules for being a great leader, Business Insider, Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/richard-bransons-leadership-rules-2014-10 Gallo, C., (2012). Richard Branson: if it can’t fit on the back of an envelope, it’s rubbish, Forbes, Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2012/10/22/richard-branson-if-it-cant-fit-on-the-back-of-an-envelope-its-rubbish-interview/ Hyde, D., (2012). People will be queuing outside our branches: Sir Richard Branson predicts big things for new Virgin Money bank, Thisismoney, Retrieved from http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-2084171/Sir-Richard-Branson-predicts-big-things-new-Virgin-Money-bank.html Mills, A., Bratton, J., Mills, J. and Forshaw, C., (2006). Organizational behavior in the global context, University of Toronto Press Richard Branson named UK’s top business leaders, (2014). IBTimes, Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/richard-branson-named-uks-top-business-leader-1466465 Rost, J., (1993). Leadership for the twenty-first century, Greenwood Publishing Group What makes Richard Branson a global leader, (2012). 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