Introduction
Nowadays rapidly changing world sets new opportunities and challenges in the field of leadership, where transformational leadership attracts more and more attention due to the unpredictability of the modern social, economic, and political changes. In this regard, it is essential to examine Alan Bollard, one of the most successful transformational leaders, including his identity and type of leadership.
Individual’s Identity
Bollard is an Executive Director of the Singapore APEC Secretariat. Prior to 2012, he was the Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand helping the country to overcome the financial crisis. Earlier, he was the Secretary to the New Zealand Treasury and assisted in rebuilding the hydraulic model of the British economy that is well-known as MONIAC. Bollard also published a valuable book called “Crisis: One Central Bank Governor and the Global Financial Collapse”. Bollard has several honorary doctorate degrees.
Rationale
I would like to analyze the transformational leadership style of Bollard as he has thought-provoking ideas and opinions concerning the current challenges faced by businesses. His views are devoted to change that is required by the society. Besides, as one can note from his biography, Bollard succeeded in different areas. The leader’s communication style seems to be one of the integral parts of his success. Bollard uses strong and clear arguments.
For example, in his “Three Friends of Winter” public lecture, Bollard states that the Great Depression, the Great Inflation, and the Global Financial Crisis generated innovative economic thinking. As the intended audience of the lecture is students, Bollard tries to be convincing and open. He uses a vivid metaphor of three friends of winter painted in a Chinese canvas, where the pine, the bamboo, and the plum stay for depression, inflation, and financial crisis. The tone of the speech (pathos) is serious and grabs the attention of the listener.
The paramount purpose of Bollard’s speech is to identify and explain the core of the mentioned concepts and necessary changes raised from them. Therefore, the speaker applies description and definition methods. In order to make the lecture unified and logical, Bollard uses transitions and appropriately structures sentences to make his purpose understandable. The diction of the speaker is perfect – he speaks clearly, at the right pace, and emotionality.
In addition, Bollard was represented before his speech by Professor Arnoud De Meyer, a President of Singapore Management University, who introduced the speaker noting his background. It also contributed to the impressiveness of the lecture. Thus, Bollard’s excellent communication inspired me to choose him for the prospective in-depth research of his communication abilities.
Type of Leader
Speaking of the type of leader, it is essential to point out that Bollard is a transformational leader. His aim is to create a new vision of the current economic situation encouraging followers to do the same. Bollard repeats that people should always improve to achieve higher results. All in all, he believes that changes would bring a positive outcome and even small ones. Additionally, Bollard’s leadership style might be determined as a collaborative as he insists on the fact that the effect on the organization is crucial for the successful leader. The engagement of the whole organization in the change process would undoubtedly benefit the business.
Therefore, according to Bollard’s transformational and collaborative style of the leadership, the vision and subsequent decisions of the modern organization should be based on the change management and the business inclusion.
References
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