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Title: To lead or to follow? That Is the question. Assignment Topic: Compare and contrast two leaders, at least one of whom must be a business leader. Which of the two was the more effective leader? Why? What skills did they demonstrate? These two leaders must be explicitly named in your assignment and will be drawn from your knowledge of them or from biographies of modern-day leaders. Provide enough details of these two leaders so that a reader, who does not know of them, will be able to follow the points about them that you are making.
Your assignment should demonstrate that you know what makes a successful leader, manager and entrepreneur in any situation. Word count (from the start of the Introduction section to the end of the Conclusion section, does not Include tables): 251 8 Executive Summary Defining the difference between a manager and a leader comes down to a few fundamental elements. Within this is the bases of identifying a follower from a leader, and the situation at hand.
Often great leaders are created form a critical situation, hence why a continual development plan on self-growth and organizational growth Is Important as It pushes a leader beyond what Is expected of them In an everyday situation. A leader can be defined in many areas of life. Being a parent would be the first real role of presenting as a leader. From there, career choices or situations then reveal aspects of a leader. Some of the most powerful leaders of today, have stated that through adversity, they become who they are in this moment as it taught them fundamental lessons in managing life.
To illustrate what makes a good leader, I will be comparing two personalities In this paper, 1. Richard Brannon (Abramson because he really does some outrageous moves In business and 2. Anthony Robbins (Robbins), because he has this unlimited passion for creating unlimited potential in anyone he meets. Table of Contents 1. Introduction to leaders 6 1 . 1 Anthony Robbins – The God father of life coaching 6 1. 2 Sir Richard Brannon – World’s most exceptional business leader. 7 2. Understanding the nature of leadership 8 2. 1 Leadership or management 9 2. 2 The leader, the follower and the situation. 0 The followers 10 The situation 1 1 3. Leadership and change 13 4. Leadership skills 15 Leading an individual 15 Leading a team or group 15 5. Leadership intelligence, power and influence 16 Intelligence 16 Power and influence. 18 Conclusion 19 “For people to be true leaders, they must first see things for how they are, not worse. It’s really about mastering the strength within yourself so that you can conquer the outer world around you” “Life is a gift, not a chore”. Anthony Robbins Entrepreneur, Author, Peak Performance Specialist. Mimi shouldn’t blindly accept leader’s advice.
You’ve got to question leaders on occasion”. Sir Richard Brannon Entrepreneur, Visionary, Founder of Virgin Group 1 . Introduction to leaders 1 . 1 Anthony Robbins – The God father of life coaching Robbins (born in California, February 29, 1960) is an exceptional example of turning struggle into success. He is a recognized authority on the psychology of leadership. In the personal improvement industry, Robbins was the first to surpass more than a billion dollars in sales. He is one of the most successful advisors to world leaders, such as Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Cockroach and Bill Clinton.
And one of the most sought-after speakers in the world (Anthony Robbins Biography n. D). His philosophy is simple – create a set of standards that will in turn create change. See table 1. Brannon, (born in Blackhead, London July 18 1950) the name behind the world’s most irresistible brand, Virgin. There are over 100 Virgin companies in various industries all over the world. (Richard Brannon Biography n. D). According to an Ipso MOOR Captains of Industry Poll, Brannon has been voted as the most impressive business person in Britain’ (Britain’s most impressive businessman’ n. ). Brannon got a taste for entrepreneurship when he started a business magazine ‘Success’, at the age of sixteen. The Virgin brand was then discovered, starting as a mail order business, then expanded into Virgin Records. Abrasion’s is the only person to build eight billion dollar companies in eight different sectors. He was ninth in the Sunday Times Rich List 2006, worth slightly more than E billion (Richard Brannon Biography n. D). Abrasions values to his success. See Table 2. What makes a leader? What makes one greater than the other?
Firstly both are leaders because of their ability to create change through drive and passion, in turn inspiring followers. To compare Brannon and Robbins, the need to analyze the fundamentals of the nature of leadership are required. 2. Understanding the nature of leadership Hughes, Gannett & Church, 2012, define a good leader as more than Just a calculation, planning or following a checklist, it also involves touching others feelings. This emphasizes that leadership is more than Just instructing followers, but rather touching people’s hearts as well as their heads.
Emotions play a major role in success. Brannon and Robbins do this equally. Robbins does this on a greater scale as he is called on by leaders when facing a critical situation to provide strategic advice. In 2009, Robbins worked with over three million people in eighty different countries ‘Unleashing The Power’, Figurers, 2009). In 2014, Robbins, worked with over fifty million people in more than one hundred countries (Anthony Robbins Biography n. D). Are these men leaders or managers? 2. 1 Leadership or management Leadership and management are closely related.
They overlap as well as have distinguishable functions. See figure 1 . Described as a ‘complex phenomenon involving the leader, the follower and the situation’ (Hughes, Gannett & Church, 2012 p. 4). Galilean (Hughes, Gannett & Church, 2012), expresses that some people are managers by nature and some people are traders by nature. Table 3 identifies the individual distinctions. 2. 2 The leader, the follower and the situation. The leader The leader is considered a role model to followers. They influence through their personal wisdom contributing to the follower’s personal development and well-being.
Outstanding leaders influence inspirational and intellectual stimulation creating a vision of the future (Cheer, et al 2014). Robbins and Brannon have become leaders without trying. Their unique styles have shown their level of success and therefore created followers to further nurture their dervish influence. Robbins has a unique ability to identify patterns that an individual is presenting and then gain consistent results by modeling underlying strategies. Such as his “Leadership in times of crisis” strategies. This approach was how Robbins took his own pain and suffering to evolve into a leader.
For three decades, Robbins has been taking leaders at the pinnacle of their success, to align with their respective values and raising their standards by which they live. More often than not, they call on Robbins when facing critical decisions. A leader leading leaders requires continual additional engineering, as the leader then becomes the “follower”. Brannon started leading as an entrepreneur at the age of sixteen from his dorm room. Virgin Records was formed with Mimic Oldie being the first to sign a record deal with other household names assisting Virgin in becoming the biggest independent label in the world.
From here, Virgin Airlines, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Galactic etc. Were born (Richard Brannon Biography n. D) Brannon stands as one of the pioneers in business and taking risks that other would never even dream of. Could a leader then become a follower? Leaders and followers have strengths and weaknesses, when under pressure, these will be exaggerated. The followers “Leadership is not restricted to the influence exerted by someone in a particular position or role; followers are part of the leadership process, too” (Hughes, Gannett & Church, 2012).
Fellowship is a critical part of the leadership equation. Without followers there would be no leader. Robbins has a theory that leaders give, and followers receive, but equally these two elements can only exist as being as one and Robbins has changed the lives of over one hundred million people. He is a Unitarian feeding more than three million people in fifty six countries a year. He has impacted many followers’ lives by his bestselling self-help books, audio programs and live events (Anthony Robbins Biography n. D).
Abrasion’s Virgin brand has over one hundred companies’ worldwide employing approximately sixty thousand people. Brannon is an avid social media user voted as the Auk’s number one twitter user and worlds most followed person on Linked with more than eleven million followers across social media networks. He has written several books and has touched the lives of many students etc. Y encouraging an advisory centre to support common issues (Richard Brannon Biography n. D). The situation Does a leader develop from a situation? Out of crisis, some of the most extraordinary leaders are born.
This would indicate the influences from a particular situation will encourage leadership qualities to be initiated in possibly a follower who now becomes a leader. ‘Leadership is the result of a complex set of interactions among the leader, the followers, and the situation’ (Hughes, Gannett & Church 2012 p. 15) Brannon and Robbins have developed as powerful leaders by implementing the viral of experience which highlights the process of action-observation-reflection (A- O-R) model, which has been critical in their leadership development and understanding of dealing with the situation (Hughes, Gannett & Church 2012 p. 7). 2. 2 Understanding the Interaction Model of Leadership Understanding what makes a good leader and the effectiveness of the application to practice can be challenging. There has been no development of a leadership frame to model, unless it is aligning with spiritual, servant or transformational theories that have formulated a structure (Lethal, 2014). Subsequently, the way one leads will be determined by the followers and the situation. This then creates an element of interaction that overlap to influence the outcome. See figure 2. Gannett & Church 2012, p. 5).
Situation vary greatly therefore analyzing and responding to situations vary between leaders. Behavior outcomes are largely innate – or artistic, and formal – or scientific, (internship plus experience). An effective leaders will exercise both the rational and emotional views – the Whole person’ approach – of followers in order to produce desired results (Hughes, Gannett & church 2012, up. 6-7). Robbins gained innate (artistic) abilities from his own pain and suffering, and his formal (scientific) learning from motivational speakers and personal mentor, Jim Iron, and observation of individuals who were struggling.
Brannon gained innate (artistic) abilities from his early learning from his father, a barrister, his grandfather, a Judge and as a student entrepreneur, and formal (scientific), from education at Stows School (however he had dyslexia and poor grades) and his business adventures (Richard Brannon Biography n. D). Brannon has been quoted in a presentation to Mambas, part of one’s ability to succeed, be aware that to all business succeed and that they should be prepared to fail (mambas Presentation article’ n. D). Through failure comes success. . Leadership and change Leading change is perhaps the most difficult challenge facing any leader (Hughes, Gannett & Church 2012, p. 556). Change has been known to cause fear. Leaders must therefore have a strong element of trust from followers that give a sense of security. Identifying a rational approach to change requires road map for leaders to follow. According to Beer (Hughes, Gannett and Church 2012, p. 559), application of C = D x M P > R is a rational and straightforward approach to implement (see table 4).
However, with change comes various factors to consider, which is strongly referenced towards resistance. There is an evident expectation-performance gap (see figure 3) that is commonly seen and should be managed through communication. Expectations that for change to take affect and results to be instant are unrealistic and require a certain level of patience. Another factor is emotions commonly associated with change that involves a sense of self-reflection or rejection and dealt with by being aware of the SARA model see figure 4.
Robbins has a significant amount of trust from his followers, so much so that some of the world’s greatest leaders have called on him as a strategic adviser. American anyone in the world to personally coach their business, they requested Robbins (Anthony Robbins Biography n. D). Brannon as a leader in business, is someone that is most admired. In a presentation to Mambas, Brannon expressed that in business, a strong sense of ethics is fundamental in individual success, also believing that creativity, intuition and empathy are equally important (Abramson gives advice to Mamba’s n. D).
Depending upon the situation, a certain level of skillet is required to be an exceptional leader. 4. Leadership skills Skills associated with leadership will be expressed in various situations. How to lead an individual will differ from a team or a group. Leading an individual When working with and individual, it is obvious, there are areas to consider and work with such as interests/motivation, skills/abilities, values/attitudes, interpersonal behavior. All these factors can be nurtured easily, however when there are multiples such as in a group or team, it can create a new paradigm.
Leading a team r group Team = often members of the same team (football team), with common goals such as developing a new project or winning a championship, often having to work together to create the outcome. Group = members belong to a group for personal reasons, (church group), which may clash with other group members ideals. Often work independently (Hughes, Gannett & Church 2012, p 391). Robbins has a strong influence over individuals as well as groups and teams. During his seminars, he has participants walking barefoot over hot coals.
Robbins metaphor that those who achieve greatness is the ability to take action-even if they experience fear (Tony Robbins’ n. D). Abrasions Virgin Empire, has been recognized as the most desirable employer brand to work for according to two thousand British workers. He has also been described as being knowledgeable and innovative and very popular with 35 – 54 year olds (Virgin-named top employer brand’, n. D). Effectiveness of leadership may be based on whether the team reaches its objectives. However, this may not be an affective observation. To gain understanding how a team functions iceberg metaphor is used to (see figure 5. ). 5.
Leadership intelligence, power and influence Intelligence Hahn, et al (2012), believe that emotional intelligence involves a connection between various states of fear, pain and desire. In business, it plays a significant role determining factors that influence the effectiveness of a person, however it should not be a substitute for skills, knowledge and abilities. Difficult due to their achievements table 5, provides insight into Trichina theory of intelligence. OCEAN method is used to profile leaders. From this, there are five factors that are evident. Robbins and Brannon have shown that they have very similar traits (see figure 6).
Good leaders have a high degree of CEQ and an innate ability to comply with these qualities: Strong sense of integrity, high ethical standards, recognize if they don’t know or understand, confident, aware and exceptional decision-making capacity (Hahn, et al, 2012). Power and influence. Robbins and Brannon would be considered transformational leaders. They have the ability to exude a level of power and influence over their followers. Expertise times trust equals credibility. A 360-degree feedback report identified for leadership success and effectiveness, credibility was the most important (Hughes, Gannett & ropy 2012, p. 277-281). One specific advantage Robbins and Brannon have as being effective leaders is that they are both excellent communicators. Communication effectiveness is based on the ability to articulate arguments, advocate positions, persuade others and communicate feelings and ideas. Robbins was recognized by Toastmasters as one of the world’s greatest speakers with a Golden Gavel Award. Brannon Received ‘The 2014 Business for Peace Award’, in Oslo, Norway ‘The Business for Peace Foundation’, 2014 Business Peace Award. Ethics and values are the bases of why these leaders attract loyal followers.
To become a great leader, it is not necessarily fact that you are a ‘born leader’ as many leaders have developed from crisis situations. It has also been noted that many a great leader has given homage back to a power greater than themselves as playing a part in their leadership abilities and purpose. West and Noel (2013), state that leaders that are aware of God as they lead, understand the effectiveness of not Just numerical growth, but of the quality of life in their disciples {followers} lives and the effectiveness of leadership.
What makes a successful leader, manager and entrepreneur? A successful leader is one who, being self-aware, uses available resources ethically and efficiently, adequately addresses followers’ needs, and applies an optimal rational/emotional solution to the situation at hand (Hughes, Gannett & Church 2012, up. 34-35). Robbins and Brannon exhibit the above qualities. They are both board members of companies other than their own. Robbins has been recognized as “Top 50 Business intellectuals in the world” and voted “Top 200 Business Gurus”, (Anthony Robbins Biography n. D).
Brannon has been recognized for various awards such as amour of Knight Bachelor for his services to entrepreneurship, by Charles, Prince of Wales, and is eighty five of the list of top two hundred Britons. We could safely state, that they are great leaders of the twenty first century (Richard Brannon’ n. D). Comparing one to the other to determine which would be considered greater is difficult. They are both humanitarians, entrepreneurs and naturally exceptional leaders. The differentiation would be that Brannon is a leader ahead of his game in business and Robbins leads the leaders to continually improve on being an exceptional leader.