Introduction
Leadership styles are the actions that leaders use to communicate with their employees. Their personalities shine through as people encourage, strategize, give instructions, and achieve goals. The character attributes of a leader determine which style he or she employs most frequently.
Each leader in a certain region determines his or her activity approach. This is what characterizes the differences between the leadership methods of different people. Each leadership style has strengths, which help to achieve an organization’s or state’s success, and weaknesses, which hinder development. For my assessment, I chose very different leaders with characteristics – Sundar Pichai, Donald Trump, and Jacinda Andern.
Sundar Pichai
Background
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, is the highest-paid executive in the United States. This was revealed through publicly available records on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website. Pichai currently has dual roles and sits on the boards of directors of both firms. The current Google CEO’s yearly pay was $650,000 in 2019, which has increased to $2 million (Ernesto and Xu, 2020).
Very quickly, Sundar came up with the idea of developing his own Google browser. Page and Brin liked the idea “from the get-go,” but the project was hampered by the position of the company’s then-CEO, Eric Schmidt (Milton and Al-Busaidi, 2023). According to BusinessWeek, the experienced manager believed developing a browser was too costly and inefficient (Taylor, 2022). Time has shown that Pichai was right – today, Chrome is considered one of Google’s biggest successes outside of Internet search and has a dominant global market share.
Leadership
Sundar Pichai is self-critical, supportive of subordinates, and wisely resolves administrative conflicts. Pichai avoids confrontation within the team, preferring to rely on cooperation and compromise. He will not escalate the situation but reconcile with his opponent without problems. Another important leadership trait Pichai has is the ability to build strong communications. He always wants to ensure the team understands and shares the company’s mission (Ernesto and Xu, 2020).
Page particularly valued Pichai because the Indians could properly understand, interpret, simplify, and communicate Larry’s key messages to the rest of the team (Pucik et al., 2023). In support of this hypothesis, which explains Sundar’s rapid rise through the ranks at Google, the following episode comes to mind: at a meeting of vice presidents and board members, several classified projects were discussed, and after a rambling and confusing speech by Page, who left the event without answering any questions, Pichai took the floor and chewed up the speech of the previous speaker for the audience.
Pichai faces many challenges, with smartphone users spending more and more time on apps and less and less time on the search, which gives an advantage to business models like Amazon, where goods and services can be accessed in a few clicks. Mark Zuckerberg’s company is even more effective at selling them to advertisers.
What Sundar may not fear is his reputation with Google (Pitton and McKenzie, 2020). Sundar has an uncanny ability to see the big picture and mobilize teams around the big things, and Page acknowledged this in his promotion letter (Ernesto and Xu, 2020). A significant factor in Pichai’s rise up the management ladder at Google was his technical and engineering skills, said Hemant Bhargava, professor of technology management at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis (Pitton and McKenzie, 2020). True leaders shift their focus from selfish behavior to collaboration. Sundar Pichai illustrates this leadership strategy with his slogan, “Let Others Thrive.”
This person has a democratic leadership style, which can be seen in his behavior. Thus, Sundar Pichai can be viewed through the behavioral theory of leadership. He has acquired these qualities throughout his life and is perfecting them during his professional life.
Reflection
I like Pichai’s leadership style; he is a good leader. He knows how to communicate with his subordinates in a way that makes them feel equal, which is one of the fundamental factors. The only drawback I noticed in my analysis might be that Pichai likes to take risks. However, the risk is only sometimes good when a leader is responsible for his team (Liu et al., 2022). For example, Sundar Pichai announced the launch of Google Cardboard despite not seeing the final product. This may reflect the team’s trust in him, so this aspect needs improvement (Ernesto and Xu, 2020). This leader needs to weigh all his decisions, feeling responsible for his subordinates. Pichai’s relationship with his subordinates is quite good, which is inherent in a good leader.
Summary
A leader sharing experiences with his followers reflects the images and complexes of those around him, looks, speaks, and acts as his own. Followers will comprehend that he or she is just as much a person as they are (Pitton and McKenzie, 2020). Leaders do not produce meaning but reflect followers’ feelings with double pressure (Liu et al., 2022). Pichai encourages the creation of developing relationships with his followers. In this case, the leader must allow team members to develop and improve. I will emulate Pichai’s ability to position the team and inspire trust. However, I will only imitate his ability to take reasonable risks.
Donald Trump
Background
The next leader I want to consider is Donald Trump. In 2016, Donald Trump became president, establishing himself as an opinionated, adventurous politician willing to take undemocratic steps to fight his opponents (Kelly, 2019).
Leadership
Many have characterized his methods and political style as authoritarian, threatening the American political system and the traditions of liberal democracy. Nevertheless, only some assumed that the 45th U.S. president’s penchant for authoritarian methods of government would surpass all his predecessors (Splitter, 2022). The leadership of the New Reality is about vision, humility, humanity, and character in general. It is about courage, fairness, responsibility, inner and outer integrity, and integrity. It is about drive, leadership, and collaboration; it is about critical judgment, which is pervasive.
Donald Trump is an excessive and unethical individual; he has engaged in racist rhetoric, and he has made racist rhetoric and rhetoric that is contradictory (Bouvier, 2020). Positive support and belief can be the invisible force separating winners from losers. Trump believes that hard work, persistence, and perseverance should and will always accompany whatever heights one reaches, but it is for the best because this is the driving force behind success.
Donald Trump has an authoritarian leadership style characterized by the leader being overbearing and directive. This can be seen with the help of situational leadership theory, as personality qualities manifest in individual moments (Wang, 2021). More often than not, a leader using this leadership style is unanimous in decision-making and systematically controls the actions of his subordinates (Wang, 2021).
An authoritarian leader does not allow interference in managing a group of people who depend on him; he also denies doubt or challenge of his decisions by his subordinates. In an authoritarian leadership style, the leader creates a clear separation between his or her and others’ rights and responsibilities. Often, such a leader limits the actions of subordinates and gives them only executive functions.
Reflection
The ideal subordinate for an authoritarian leader is a disciplined performer. I am not a supporter of this style of leadership, so such a leader is not good. Interactions with subordinates may be more casual with such leaders, and the team may be scared to share their views and opinions (Wang, 2021). This aspect needs to be improved in this leadership style, which can be improved. Subordinates need to feel comfortable so that work is comfortable and effective. I intend to emulate Donald Trump’s tenacity but avoid rigidity and intransigence toward employees, as this approach forms an unhealthy relationship between leaders and followers.
Jacinda Ardern
Leadership
Humanity, compassion, and empathy are the pillars on which political, social, and business leaders may be built. These qualities are now helping some countries’ leaders increase their trust in their governments. New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is one such leader (McGuire et al., 2020). Her leadership style focuses on empathy and resonates strongly with the country’s people. This is likely to help the country successfully overcome the crisis caused by the coronavirus. Many believe the government’s leadership style adopted with Jacinda’s arrival has become more humanistic (Hafner and Sun, 2021).
Furthermore, residents now see the government as a back to hide behind in storms like the coronavirus crisis. This leader has a democratic management style as Andern forms trusting relationships with followers (Kleynhans et al., 2021). Her leadership style is seen through behavioral theory, as her qualities are shaped over a lifetime.
Jacinda is considered an atypical politician in political circles who breaks stereotypes and shows a different face to the world. Remember her visit to the U.N. with a three-month-old baby in her arms. The gesture became iconic for all moms choosing between maternity leave and a career. Conversely, Jacinda says that that choice will not need to be made in the new world (Hafner and Sun, 2021). Both career and motherhood can go hand in hand, making a woman happy, fulfilled, and authoritative. A woman tries to be close to people and has courage. For example, during a broadcast, as New Zealand was preparing to close, the head of government showed up in her worn sweatshirt at her home. Jacinda later explained that she had just put her young daughter to bed. She was not afraid of appearing inauthentic but rather like everyone else. She revealed that she was also at home because of the pandemic, motivating her people.
According to experts, Ardern is similar to Barack Obama in that as a leader, she is ambiguously perceived at home but strongly supported abroad. At the same time, a poll conducted by Colmar Brunton showed that 88 percent of New Zealanders trust the government to make the right decisions regarding COVID-19, and 84 percent approve of the government’s response to the pandemic (Prickett et al., 2021). That is how a leader’s relationship with his followers can be described. New Zealand citizens have come to support government policy, although many feel economic pain, at least in the short term.
Reflection
I like Jacinda Andern’s leadership style and intend to emulate it. Leaders who manage with kindness can make strong and even tough business decisions. Andern stated that one of the critiques she has received over the years has been that she is not forceful or assertive enough since it is regarded as a weakness if she is empathetic (Kleynhans et al., 2021). Her lack of assertiveness is her weakness, but she is not as critical. The woman has proven that success can be achieved through other methods, but I add the need for more quality mentioned above. Assertiveness would have helped Andern achieve credibility, establishing her role as a respected prime minister in the state. I would avoid the excessive softness inherent in this leader. However, I want to emulate her ability to be open and sympathetic to her followers; this would help build trust with the team.
Conclusion
Thus, all leaders have their leadership styles. It depends on the person’s personality, values, goals, and worldview. Every feature of the leadership style of the personalities represented has led them to their success. However, like all people, they have aspects that can be improved. Through this analysis, I have identified traits I want to emulate and avoid professionally. Through this, I have formed my vision of what a true leader should look like.
Reference List
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