Strategic Leadership

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
All big brands and companies are unique and believe in a different set of values and function
around these values in their everyday working. It has been observed these days, that the
companies no longer believe in spending hours of meetings in the secluded boardrooms, but
instead spend lesser time together, which has lead to having shared values, planning,
employee and shareholders engagement to a large extent. These features, together with
hardcore corporate values have become eminent for their survival. When the values are
shared within the organisation it builds an integrated corporate culture. The CEO’s of every
global company understand and follow the core values which have helped them to grow and
create a sustainable future for their companies. They take hundreds of decisions everyday
pertaining to their market, employees and other stakeholders which are the reflections of
these values. These values, in turn, help the organisations to achieve their respective
objectives and goals. Moreover, when the values are aligned with the culture of the
organisation, it is able to attract customers and retain talents.

 Whether it is a big enterprise or a small one, a CEO or the chief executive officer is the most
senior officer of the organisation. He is responsible for implementing plans and policies, to
ensure effective management and for planning future strategies. He is, in fact, the face of any
organisation. It is the CEO of any company who can make an enterprise grow and expand by
incorporating values and ethics into the business. Some of the core values that a CEO of any
company must have, are listed as:

Integrity- The CEO of a company needs to understand the importance of integrity and
honesty in the workplace. Integrity means working with honesty even when no one is
watching (C.S Lewis) .Since values disseminate from the top, the lower level in the
organisation tends to follow the lead. It thus becomes the organisation culture.

Innovation-Innovation is the key to success. To be successful, a CEO has to pursue

innovative ideas that can change the world.Keeping the promise and delivering more than
customer’s expectations is the result of adhering to the core values. Jeff Besoz (CEO Amazon
Inc) stresses that ‘the customers are their invited guests and they are their hosts, it is their job
daily to make every important aspect of customer experiences a better one.’ Thus a leader
who understands the value of commitments towards customers is an effective leader.

Accountability-A company has to be accountable for all its actions, plans, products, decisions
and policies. Thus a CEO has to be answerable to both, the employees as well as the
customers. Thus a culture of transparency, openness and collaboration are the values that
come into play.

Corporate and social responsibility-Doing business ethically and responsibly is another value
that organisations must possess. As has been rightly put by Ray Kroc, founder of
McDonald's, that ‘if you work for money, you will never make it , but if you love what you
do and put the customers first, success will be yours.' By focusing on corporate and social
causes, companies can attract customers. Hence, imbibing values like global citizenship and
sustainability make the investors appreciate the organisation and more likely to add valuable
talents to their workforce.

Diversity and ownership-If a CEO believes in diversity at workplace, it ensures a culture of

respect and value for talents throughout the organisation. Encouraging the employees in
contributing new ideas and maintaining an open space for communications leads to
empowerment of employees developing a sense of inclusion in them which in turn leads to
increased productivity and ensures retention.

Hence, the crux of the ongoing discussion is that in the present age of consumerism, the
companies that have passion for giving the best to customers can only do that under the
leadership of an officer or a CEO, who understands his team and uses these values to gain a
competitive advantage in the war to sustain in the global markets.

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 Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, who is also the CEO of the company.Under his
leadership, Amazon has lifted itself from a mere online bookselling company to an
‘everything company’, ranging from hardware, and cloud services to robots. In order to
become such a top brand, Bezos followed certain core values. He believed that in order to be
successful, a company has to be customer oriented and to exceed customers expectation is
their motto ever since. Their services like rapid package delivery or delivery by drone is an
excellent example of exceeding customer expectations. He also believes that the leaders need
to be accountable for the entire company and should act on their behalf rather than pushing
people around to carrying out their orders. The team should be well balanced. Bezos thinks
that leaders should be open to ideas and suggestions and should be able to think big, as he
started with selling books but later thought of selling almost everything online. He further
cherishes the value of an employee, contributing to the growth and development of the
organisation. For Bezos, the employees must be open to learning and should maintain high
standards of work throughout. The employee contribution is held with high regards in Bezos
enterprise. Hence, with such futuristic values, Amazon is a billion dollar organisation which
dominates the online retail market. It has future insights into robotics and cryptocurrencies
which is only possible with its CEO’s core values.

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 Organisations working within the ambit of the rules and values that their leaders believe in.
These values become the organisational culture and are reflective in their day to day
workings. But sometimes their effectiveness is lost due to certain barriers that come into play
knowingly or unknowingly. These barriers or obstacles hamper the smooth functioning of the
organisations and limit the influence of values of the organisations. The most common
barriers are negative or ambiguous relationships, which show how people see their leaders
personally. Therefore it is important to develop strong, close associations or acquaintances
with few people first who can understand the values and ideas of a leader and can further the
same among all the work groups at various organisational levels. The negative relationship
barrier can, in fact, be the biggest obstacle in the flow of ideas. Another potential obstacle is
the lack of credibility of ideas, as people become quite uneasy and cannot trust their leaders
when they lack the understanding of work.Generally, a leader cannot be an expert in
everything, but they must be experts in the process of management, viz a viz planning,
directing, organising and controlling. Barriers in communication are another obstacle that can
influence the flow of values. A leader needs to choose proper communication channels and
 style to pass on important ideas, as talking in their people’s style and manner will create a
better influence on their minds rather than imposing ideas on them. Employee belief systems
can also be crucial in forwarding ideas.Sometimes, the employees tend to choose their basic
values and ideas over the new values, hence consultation and sharing the views before
floating them is essential for the leaders so that they can get positive responses. Moreover,
clashes of ideas and beliefs can lead to internal conflicts too. Apart from these barriers,
sometimes displaying authority and avoidance of asking for help from others can also
become barriers in putting across the ideas.

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 Today’s workforces follow leaders who can inspire and influence them to achieve their
objectives in cognisance with the organisational goals. A leader who leaves an impression on
the minds of people is most sought after. The leaders cannot become effective or impressive
in a day; they become leaders after years of experience and learning. There are certain
qualities or attributes of effective leaders like courage, creativity, innovation, collaboration,
interpersonal skills, which make them stand apart from the rest. There are some theories that
define leadership, which are:

a) Trait theory: This theory suggests the personality traits of a leader, like assertiveness,
quick decision making, dominance, adaptability to changes. According to this theory,
leaders possess certain inborn traits.

b) Behavioural Theory: Leaders are also described according to the behaviours they show,
instead of the personal traits. This theory believes that the leaders are made not born. As
per the theory, the leaders can be autocratic, democratic or Laissez Faire- who involve
their subordinates in decision making. It is appropriate when the team is capable, highly
motivated and can perform without any supervision.

c) Contingency Theory: This theory believes in handling situations as per the requirement or
displaying leadership as per the demand of the situation. According to this theory, there is
no particular style that can suit all the situations, thus leaders have to groom themselves to
handle various situations differently.
 Other theories that apply to leadership are power and influence theory, transactional
theory, two – factor theory etc and in order to apply the most suitable theory to a
workplace is not possible, as there is no single perfect leadership style that can suffice. In
today’s dynamic workplaces sometimes the leaders need to motivate employees,
collaborate with them for new ideas, and involve them in decision making. Whereas,
sometimes the leaders need to be autocratic making own decisions or assertive in some
instances.Thus a successful leader needs to evolve himself in different situations by
learning, experience and continuous improvisation in order to create a win-win situation
for all.

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 Everyone posses certain qualities or traits which make them leaders in various situations.
Once I happened to stumble into a situation where I got an opportunity to display my
leadership ability. It happened on a usual visit to my doctor at the hospital when his
assistant was on leave and no specific arrangements were visible for a substitute
assistant.Patients were waiting in long queues but no one was there to manage their turns
to meet the doctor or schedule the time each patient would need to wait before going in.
The whole place started to become chaotic, as the patients started to flock inside the
doctor’s chamber. There was utter confusion among the patients and their caretakers.
People started breaking the rule of first come, first- serve, turning it into first come –the
last serve. I could not tolerate such mismanagement and chaos, as some people could not
voice their concern. I at once reacted to the situation, collaborated with some of the
patients and communicated the need for proper management of the system, thereby
working as a team to calm down aggressive patients and stressing upon them the need to
take turns. We planned the entire process, by firstly writing down names of patients and
allotting them numbers as per their arrival to meet the doctor first. All the patients and
carers supported the idea and hence the things started flowing systematically.