Leadership Profile: Alan Bollard
Alan Bollard has Honorary Doctorates from Auckland and Massey Universities. He was the head of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Before the approval of this post, Bollard served as Minister of Finance, Chairman of the New Zealand Commerce Commission, and the director of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (Executive Director, n.d.). Presently, Bollard serves as an Executive Director of the Singapore APEC Secretariat.
This noteworthy leader is best known for his outstanding transformational leadership strategy. In particular, Bollard decreased the rate of inflation in New Zealand, leading the country out of a large budget deficit and raising New Zealand’s interest rates to a high level (Executive Director, n.d.). He warned people of the necessity to be concise and cautious in the financial arena within the framework of the country’s monetary policy, as property prices might decrease, employment might become scarcer, and banks would not always be operating in a world saturated with low-priced money. Moreover, Bollard stressed the significance of consistent improvement, which occurs due to the realities of the modern world (Executive Director, n.d.). In its turn, this improvement will promote the design of a new vision that is essential to remain competitive and successful.
Bollard is also highly appreciated by his followers and other leaders. For instance, Holmes (2014) states that the flexible approach to inflation conducted by Bollard helped to reduce the negative outcomes of the global financial crisis in New Zealand, while his communication contributed as well. Hackman and Johnson (2013) also emphasize the efficiency of Bollard’s leadership, in particular, his strong arguments and vivid examples that are clear and specific.
This leader applies inspirational, motivating leadership, creating an apparent picture of the future that is both optimistic and achievable, encouraging others to raise their level of expectation. He reduces complexity by narrowing the problem to its key issues, and uses simple language to convey the organization’s mission. His emotional intelligence helps Bollard to encourage listeners to use their imagination, suggest thought-provoking ideas, and search for new and creative ways to resolve common problems. Bollard repeats that people should always be improving in order to achieve higher results. All in all, he believes that changes, even minor in nature, will result in a positive outcome. Such an approach encourages people to reconsider their own ideas, together with the organization’s overall goal. As a public speaker, Bollard focuses on intelligence, rationality, and relevance.
Bollard is a pragmatic and goal-oriented decision-maker who operates and organizes his work in the most rational way. A significant quality of Bollard’s leadership is his capacity for alternative thinking. For example, in a crisis, he can clearly identify the ways to overcome it. As for the responsiveness of his style, Bollard is ready to respond to the initiative of listeners, and to show appreciation for it. In general, he tends to form a welcoming atmosphere that is of great importance for the right treatment of the leader’s ideas. Thus, I chose Bollard, as he is a transformational leader, developing the innovative thinking characterized by initiative and the ability to create a new vision, new markets, and new leadership approaches. The leadership strategy of Bollard is specific, logical, and convincing, making him one of the most efficient leaders in the world.
Philosophy of Leadership Statement
In my opinion, leadership plays an integral part in the modern world. In the context of globalization, there is a growing demand for good leaders. It is of great importance to formulate my own leadership philosophy statement that takes my personal peculiarities into account. My thoughts presented below were influenced by several factors, including the experience of successful leaders, appropriate books and films, and my leadership experience.
First, I am disciplined, reliable, and ethical at work. I am kind, and relatively modest. My primary interest is the safety and protection of everyone close to me, in particular, family, friends, and employees. Consequently, I am responsible and feel happy if I can protect others from danger, fraud, or other troubles. This means that I am ready to take risks, not only in support of my actions, but also for those of my employees. However, among personal principles I am not willing to violate, there is respect for others’ personality, philosophy, and confidentiality. Thus, I can take risks under the above conditions.
Second, I want to be useful to others in the role of leader. I consider that I can effectively reduce and simplify complex issues to concise sentences, resulting in decisive actions. I can take on leadership and responsibility in a difficult situation that needs to be addressed, and communicate as a leader, even if I have neither authority nor power, as I have proven during various group projects.
Moreover, I am quite conservative and, consequently, respect existing rules and regulations. However, I am not blinded by them, and am open to changes if new approaches do not oppose my intrinsic values. Even though I have some difficulties in establishing relationships and making new friends in a professional environment, this would not prevent me from moving up the career ladder. I prefer working on a cohesive team where there is no tension between the leader and employees. However, I consider that leadership is not fully positional. There might be some particular qualities in any area, yet a number of general strategies and techniques might be applied, as well.
Also, I have a good memory and exceptional imagination that can manifest in different forms. For example, I can clearly notice differences in a story, when a person repeats it a second time and stretches the truth to some extent. Such abilities would contribute to innovative decisions that are significant in a leader’s work. I make my decisions in accordance with the existing evidence and my intuition, yet the last one goes second. I think that a leader should listen to the collective point, but make individual decisions. Sometimes, it might be useful to disregard personal beliefs to prevent misunderstanding. Nevertheless, it depends on the situation. For example, when my leadership beliefs or practices are challenged, it is necessary to examine the situation in detail, and make an appropriate decision while avoiding a value judgment.
Finally, among obstacles I might encounter in a professional field, there is the fact that I find it quite difficult to recognize my success, as I tend to downplay my achievements. This can lead to a lack of recognition, missed opportunities, and misunderstandings. However, my strong points, such as assertiveness and analytical thinking skills, would help me to overcome the above obstacles and become a successful leader.
Analysis of a Critical Leadership Issue in an Emirati Organization
This part of the paper will examine my potential contribution to the future of the Emirati business. Nowadays, “about 640,000 members of the workforce will be needed to fill executive and strategic leadership posts” (Mogielnicki, 2015, para. 2). The above business strategy suggests a focus on the Emiratisation program that would allow attracting more Emirati to leadership positions in the private sector (Mogielnicki, 2015). In turn, it will ensure their control within the country. With this in mind, it is essential to develop an appropriate leadership strategy. Therefore, the future of business in the Emirates should be based on openness, empowerment, and support.
Being an emergent leader, I would like to become a part of Emirati business. I want to respect and inspire employees in accordance with my personal principals, a key goal, and a concrete situation. However, our Generation Z is often identified as “a tech savvy, connected and self-educated group, they are expected to be more focused on working for themselves” (Pupic, 2015, para. 26). In other words, we cannot imagine life without the Internet and technology. The decision is to engage Millennials and use their different mindset, applying a personal approach. Consequently, I would like to work with a new generation of leaders, motivating them by my own experience to achieve high results and to be useful to the Emirates. Besides, it is also crucial to pay attention to expatriates working for the Emirates, bringing them closer to the country (Pupic, 2015). In particular, using my analytical thinking and openness, I want to earn and retain the trust of others, identify and simplify a mission, and implement it.
References
Executive Director. (n.d.). Web.
Hackman, M. Z., & Johnson, C. E. (2013). Leadership: A communication perspective (6th ed.). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
Holmes, D. R. (2014). Economy of words: Communicative imperatives in central banks. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
Mogielnicki, R. (2015). How Emiratis can shape the UAE’s future. Web.
Pupic, T. (2015).Nurturing future Emirati leaders. Web.