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Leadership style may be described as “how you behave when you are trying to influence the performance of someone else and is a combination of directive and supportive behaviors” (Blanchard, Zigarmi & Zigarmi, 1994, p. 46). According to Heathfield (n.d) in ‘leadership rewards and recognition,’ “a key leadership trait is the ability to inspire followership.” “In addition to supplying a shared vision and direction, leaders must develop a relationship with the people they inspire to follow them.” Moreover, an effective leader influences people to accomplish and achieve their goals which they would otherwise have never thought of achieving. Moreover, many corporations spend a huge sum of money and time seeking to increase the originality of their workforce, hoping as a result to have an edge over their competitors in the market place. Such programs bring no change if the management does not recognize the valuable ideas among the many at its reach and then find a way to implement them. This paper discusses the leadership qualities of Mary Kay Ash and Bill Gates, their similarities, differences and what makes them effective.
Bill Gates of Microsoft and Mary Kay Ash of Mary Kay cosmetics are some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world but are quite different when it comes to leadership styles and their drive to accomplishment of their dream. Mary Kay Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) level is high, whereas Gates level is low for he is task oriented according to Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness. Mary Kay, is “relationship oriented, focused on relationships, family values, and integrity, couching them all in a pleasant personality and gentle manner” while Gates on the other hand is more interested in doing business exclusively and is motivated more by accomplishment of tasks and not the welfare of the people (The Cosmetic Queen and the Software King, n.d).
According to Fiedler model in the ‘article leadership style of Bill Gates’, “leadership effectiveness is the result of interaction between the style of the leader and the characteristics of the environment in which the leader works” (Kumar, 2009, p. 16) The effectiveness of a leader is determined by the degree of match between a dominant trait of the leader and the favorableness of the situation for the leader, whereby the dominant trait is a personality factor causing the leader to be either relationship-oriented or task oriented (Kumar, 2009, p. 16)
Depending on the situation, both low-LPC and high-LPC leaders may successfully reach their destiny effectively. Descriptions of Gates according to The Cosmetic Queen and the Software King (n.d) include acerbic, conferential, condescending, rude, completely task focused, and one of the hardest-working executives in the world. Nothing gets done; no new ideas get developed without Gates’ approval and he is only concerned about outcomes, which puts him in the high situation control on Fiedler’s Contingency Model. Gates has a low LPC hence functions well or effectively in extremely favorable or unfavorable situations for here, the leadership skills are needed. Although the leader may solely be interested in task completion, leader-member relationships can be strengthened if they offer room for promotions and increase salaries for their subordinates. Microsoft has been known to offer competitive salaries and incentives to its workers to motivate them to be more productive. On the other hand, Mary Kay Ash tends to be more successful in an environment where the situation is moderately favorable or predictable; however, the leader who takes into account his relationship with people tends to have unstructured tasks and possess weaker position power, but they are effective and creative in solving problems and making decisions.
Although using different types of leadership, Mary and Bill have some similarities. To start with, they are both successful entrepreneurs who started from zero to become some of the most successful businessmen in the world. They are both highly intelligent, passionate about their business, energetic and self-driven. In addition, they both lavished their well performing employees with gifts and huge salaries. However, they had their differences whereby Gates was task oriented whereas Mary was relationship-oriented-oriented. Bill Gates was motivated by competition and the desire to dominate over the others; he is tense, task focused, overbearing, over controlling, insists on getting things done his way, directive, task focused, serious, and has little concern for others, whereas Mary Kay was driven by the desire to help women become financially successful and be able to plan their lives around their family
Mary and Bill were successful because they held on to the beliefs they had when they set up their companies. In Mary’s case, people came first and she cared about them as individuals while Bill’s original goals when he founded Microsoft remain innovation and systems advancement. Bills demeanor fit into his world for he was motivated by competition and the desire to dominate over the others hence his success. Mary was confident, supportive of her employees and their families, removes obstacles in the way of smooth business running, and stayed out of the way giving the employees a free hand in innovations and new ideas.
Working for Mary Kay Ash would more appealing than for Gates mainly because she is more concerned with the welfare of people and her interest is to ensure relationships, values and integrity are maintained always. She inspired her workers to be more ambitious and proactive by being concerned about their welfare. She put her employees’ welfare before business hence incorporating the employees and their families into her company hence making it a one big family running smoothly as a result of mutual respect, commitment, and loyalty. This gave the employees a free reign to exploit their full potential due to the favorable working conditions.
References
Blanchard, K., Zigarmi, P. & Zigarmi, D. (1994). Leadership and the One Minute Manager. London, Harper Collins Publishers.
Heathfield, S. (N.d.). Leadership Rewards and Recognition. Web.
Kumar, D. (2009). Report on the Leadership Style of Bill Gates. Jaipuri institute of management, Nonda. Web.
The Cosmetic Queen and the Software King. (N.d). The Cosmetic Queen and the Software King. Web.
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