The contemporary business world can be seen as one of the most competitive areas where leadership plays a crucial role and where it is easy to trace major peculiarities of leadership styles. Innovation and strive for a better society can be regarded as major concepts employed by contemporary companies. The industry of computer technology is one of the fastest-growing and most competitive. Larry Page, the co-founder, and CEO of Google is the leader who drives the change and enables his company to remain one of the top operators in the world. There are numerous competitors in the field such as Amazon, Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook and many others (Helft, 2014). Therefore, Google must come up with new innovative products and marketing strategies.
It is necessary to note that Larry Pages tends to focus on tasks and development of new products (Waters, 2014). At the same time, he can be seen as a Y leader as he understands that people will reveal more commitment and will work harder if they get more freedom (McGregor, 1960). Page understands that the industry is based on technological advances and innovation. The leader tends to push his employees to come up with innovative ideas and strategies to bring his quite revolutionary ideas to life. However, the leader also understands that people who create things and generate ideas need freedom and a great deal of cooperation (Thomas, 2013). Therefore, he encourages the creation of teams that work on some projects and cooperate with other teams to come up with ideas. Page’s leadership style can be regarded as democratic even though he may be quite demanding. It is quite difficult to call Page a charismatic leader or detect some traits that are usually assigned to leaders. He is an introvert and he often focuses on highly technological things. However, he has great authority among the employees, as he is knowledgeable in the sphere of technology (Helft, 2014). Page inspires thousands of his employees by his vision, his inspiration, and his knowledgeability.
A historical leader, who can be a contrast to Page, can be chosen in the same industry, as it will make it possible to make the differences and similarities in the two leadership styles obvious. Steve Jobs is one of the historical figures who changed the way people thought and the way the business world operated. He was a charismatic leader who changed the business world. Notably, Jobs was an autocratic leader (X leader) who focused on tasks and did not pay attention to relationships with people (Kutsar, Ghose and Kutsar, 2014). He was hard to work with but he inspired people with his confidence and his charisma. Knowledgeability and vision are the traits the two leaders share in common. However, they have different approaches to leading people as Page gives a considerable amount of freedom, while Jobs tended to use my-way-or-highway approach.
It is noteworthy that the two leaders could be successful in other historical contexts as well. However, it is important to add that their success would depend on the peculiarities of societal development. Thus, in democratic societies (Ancient Greece, the USA and countries of Western Europe of the 20th and 21st centuries and so on), Page would be successful but he could face numerous difficulties in autocratic societies. However, in autocratic societies (Ancient Egypt, European countries from 11th to 18th centuries and so on), Jobs would be more effective and he did face certain difficulties as he had to operate in a democratic society.
I believe I could be a good leader. However, I sometimes lack confidence and persistence. I should be more confident and persistent as these two qualities help followers feel that there is a particular achievable goal. They would feel that the leader knows what path to choose and how to reach the aims. This can inspire people, as they would also feel confidence and empowerment. I believe that my leadership development has been largely influenced by my relatives and teachers. I saw them as my role models. At the same time, I could practice my leadership skills when working on different projects with my peers (both in academic and everyday life). I have also read loads of books (fictional, historical, academic) and watched fiction films and documentaries where I could find leadership models for me.
Reference List
Helft, M. (2014). Google’s Larry Page: The most ambitious CEO in the universe. Fortune. Web.
Kutsar, V., Ghose, N., & Kutsar, Y. (2014). Leadership analysis using management tools: Steve Jobs. American International Journal of Contemporary Research, 4(2), 125-130.
McGregor, D. (1960). The human side of enterprise. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Thomas, O. (2013). There’s a pretty big tension in how Larry Page is running Google. Business Insider. Web.
Waters, R. (2014). FT interview with Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page. Financial Times. Web.