Introduction
Iacocca is a recognized American businessman whose input in the commercial sector has been significantly realized in the past decades. He has been significant in the motor vehicle industry both in the capacities of management and entrepreneurship. This paper seeks to offer a review of the biography of Anthony Iacocca. The paper will offer a summary of the biography and discuss leadership styles as realized by Iacocca and expressed in his biography. The paper will also look into the impacts of family and adversity on his opinions.
Review of the Autobiography
Early Life
Anthony Iacocca was born in the year 1924 in the state of Pennsylvania, the United States. He has an Italian origin. He was born to Nicola (Iacocca and Novak 4). His father who was an outstanding entrepreneur was presumably an influential figure in his life as he made a foundation upon which Anthony grew up to be an outstanding entrepreneur. Nicola is reported to have been actively involved in several business ventures that provided a business and innovative atmosphere for his son. Some of Nicola’s business engagements included being a “cobbler, hot dog restaurant owner and a theater owner” (Ho Jo 1). As much as his father’s economic activities influenced and molded him, Anthony was keen on his academics with a focused mentality that was since his child age aimed at being an executive of an automobile company (Iacocca and Novak 10). He did his undergraduate degree in industrial engineering and then his master’s degree before settling to work with the Ford automobiles company (Ho Jo 1).
In Ford
The life of Anthony in the automobile industry was a fairly humbling one owing to how he joined the company. With his master’s degree, he joined Ford as a trainee. His work was recognized in the company which led to his long-time retention in the organization that was occasionally coupled with promotions. After fourteen years of his stay with the Ford company, Anthony had been duly promoted to managerial positions in the company to ultimately have the post of the vice presidency of the company. Four years later, he was leading a team of the company into launching the introduction and marketing of a new motor vehicle brand which was also similarly well received in the market. This particular product together with its marketing was outstanding and set the record of attaining the highest new sales of production. His promotions were further realized to rise from the position of the organization’s vice president to finally become the company’s top official (Iacocca and Novak 91). His appointment further made him be a recognized figure in the United States who could at any time be able to sell his “products, ideas or himself”, a potential that he used to drive the sales of Ford Mustang that he helped to develop (Ho Jo 1).
Moving from Ford
His life in the Ford company was however to be cut short as he was dismissed in the year 1978. Though disappointed by the dismissal, Anthony was to within a year return to the same industry to work for Chrysler Company as its president (Iacocca and Novak 160). He only required five years to make a mark in his new office. While the company was struggling to make profits on his arrival, he improved the firm’s profitability to the extent that in the year 1984 it realized a profit that exceeded the company’s cumulative past six-decade profit. Iacocca’s innovativeness was similarly realized in Chrysler as he led the introduction of a new car brand for the company. K-car, his newly introduced brand for the company at the beginning of the 1980 decade also became a brand car (Iacocca and Novak 264).
Social Life
Anthony became a public figure who was even globally recognized due to his effective work that was appreciated for his production. His popularity also led to his autobiography’s record selling in the decade in which it was produced, the 1980s. Sales proceeds from the book were donated for medical research. He was formerly married to Mary with whom he had two children. His wife however died in the year 1983 and his further attempts to settle have not been successful. He has since then tried two marriages that never worked out having been forced into divorce (Ho Jo 1).
Elements of Iacocca’s Leadership Styles
One of the leadership styles that can be directly identified with Iacocca is democratic leadership. Democratic leadership is one in which the participation of all the individuals is enlisted before a step can be taken by the leader. Though all inputs are necessary before a course of decision into action is taken, the democratic leader remains the decision-maker in the process that is supposed to be done under consensus. Democratic leadership is based on the active participation of all members of the group to a uniform conclusion. One of the key elements of democratic leadership is the empowerment and encouragement of the team members into exploiting their potential into processes under the leadership. Another concept of democratic leadership is the free flow of information among team members facilitating consultations and taking care of the interest of the individual team members. It ensures that the responsibility of the members to find a solution to an issue is shared and issues sorted out in a collective approach. This type of leadership at the same time depends on values such as “cooperation, team spirit, and high morale” (Un 17) among others.
It is also normally characterized by a high level of success. The features of a democratic leader which at the same time include factors such as allowing the team members to establish their targets and at the same time allowing them to pursue the targets, promotion of development among the team members through motivation among the use of other incentives that can help the staff to develop a sense of belonging in the processes of decision making. The nature of the work as illustrated by a biography of Iacocca reveals traits of a democratic leader. The fact that the launch of his products is released with the notion of a teams’ work rather than his own making for instance reveals the approach of including all his team members in his leadership. The adoption of an idea by a team for implementation also illustrates high chances that the process into such a decision was an all-inclusive one in which the team members are satisfied with the decision. Such was the leadership approach that he demonstrated in the introduction of the Ford Mustang for the Ford Company. Antony can at the same time be viewed to be a transformational leader.
Transformational leadership is one in which the leader is keen to initiate positive changes in the processes of an organization or a team. A transformational leader will always be interested in initiating and implementing changes in processes. Such changes may be directly or indirectly directed towards individual team members, other parties outside the leader’s jurisdiction, the entire team, or even the entire firm. This form of leadership is based on pure influence with extreme dependence on oratory skills. The nature of changes that Iacocca induced in the two motor vehicle industries that he worked with illustrates his property to be a transformational leader. He was also particularly able to transform Chrysler Company into a profit-making organization. His leadership at the same time reveals some aspects of creative leadership. This is particularly true because his leadership was identified with innovations into new products, both in the Ford Company and Chrysler Company. His leadership also illustrates skills such as “corrective leadership, change leadership” (Un 31) among others.
Impacts of family and adversity on his views
The biography of Iacocca at the same time reveals how emotional setbacks are a threat to him. A case review of his bitterness when he was forced out of Ford and his inability to settle down into another marriage following his wife’s death supports the opinion that emotional setbacks are a hindrance to Iacocca. He thus perceives the two elements critical in his life (Ho Jo 1).
Conclusion
The biography of Iacocca reveals a life that was molded from a tender age into the business world. This forms the most valuable part of the book for me because an instilled concept into a child develops to a part of him or her and will most likely be utilized when the child grows up, just like in Iacocca’s case. This concept proved right concerning Iacocca who made success in his corporate leadership.
Works Cited
Iacocca, Lee and Novak, William. Iacocca: an autobiography. New York: Bantam Books, 1986. Print.
Ho Jo. Lee Iacocca biography. Encyclopedia of world biography, 2011. Web.
Un. Leadership styles. Unpan, n.d. Web.