Introduction
The article, Seven Transformations of Leadership, by David Rooke and William Torbert explores the concept of leadership as based on action logic, rather than genes. Depending on the environment of application, the authors note that effective leadership revolves around the ability to be transformational in the action logic. The main action logics discussed in the article are opportunist, diplomat, expert, achiever, individualist, strategist, and alchemist. This essay explains the different leadership action logic types explored in the article. The paper also attempts to apply these concepts in the real business management scenarios through the lenses leadership traits that are closely related to leadership action logic types.
Article Review
There are different leadership logic types as illustrated in the article, Seven Transformations of Leadership. Fortunately, it is possible to shift from one leadership logic to another. For instance, the opportunistic type is characterized by a drive to win irrespective of the consequences and motives. Reflectively, an opportunist leader is inspired by manipulative tendencies and has the always right attitude, even when the situation does not allow for that. This means that an opportunist leader is more of a self-oriented individual driven by the desire to emerge as the winner in all circumstances. In application, the type of leadership logic attracts the best results in emergency situations where quick decisions have to be made. Moreover, an opportunistic leader can be a great salesperson due to the ability to make a persuasive pitch for a product within moments. However, opportunistic leadership logic is laden with challenges such as inability to inspire long-term confidence among followers.
Moreover, creating strong bonds with the followers might become a challenge as people tend to associate with subjects or objects that are likely to attract long-term gain. This is the firth most common leadership logic. The second leadership logic is the diplomat type. A diplomatic leader would use persuasion in all circumstances to establish a middle ground with the subjects. This means that a diplomat is more interested in avoiding conflicts through aligning personal beliefs to the existing group norms without any interference. Thus, a diplomat would want to feel as being part of a team without expressing unnecessary divergent opinion. In the real world, a diplomat is very supportive and a good team player since he or she recognizes the efforts of others and would want everyone to feel comfortable. However, diplomatic leaders perform very poorly in circumstances of high pressure where hard decisions have to be made. For instance, a diplomat would rather maintain the status quo than make radical changes when the outcome is likely to result in painful impacts. This is the third most common leadership logic.
The third leadership logic is the expert leader, who often applies logic and proactive reasoning when making decisions in all circumstances. This type of leader is always an expert in a field and would normally refer to the proven best practices when making decisions. For instance, in most financial organizations, an expert oriented leader would carry out a financial forecast based on the data from previous years and a predictable trend. Since the entire decision process is inspired by experience, this type of a leader is a good contributed in group activities. This is because an expert leader will want to stick to the traditional hard data and scientific evidence void of emotions or personal prejudices. However, an expert oriented leader may not be in a position to engage positive instincts in making decisions.
Due to the limited application of soft emotional intelligence abilities, some decisions made by an expert leader might be void of personal touch and conviction. As a result, the consequences of such decisions might undermine the contribution of persons considered to be unqualified in a specific line of specialization. This is the most common leadership logic. The fourth leadership logic is the achiever type as discussed in the article. This leader is often inspired by the desire to achieve specific set goals and is an active team player. An achiever is very good at balancing different organizational variables such management strategies and market dynamics to achieve the optimal outcome in every decision. Because of this ability to strike a perfect balance, an achiever is well equipped for managerial duties and responsibilities. However, this leadership approach does not motivate proactive thinking beyond a preset standard. This is the second most common leadership logic.
The fifth leadership logic is the individualist type, who is characterized by decision making based on untested or unconventional ways. An individualist leader does not operate with the regulations that he or she thinks are not useful when making decisions. Since most of the decisions are based on personal instincts from previous experiences, an individualist leader can be a great consultant or a venture capitalist. However, due to the unconventional decision making process, such a leader is likely to be a victim of revolt within a team since most environments have specific guidelines for every line of action. For instance, in a typical organizational setting, an individualist leader might once in a while irritate his or her seniors due to the habit of ignoring rules. This is the fourth most common leadership logic. The sixth leadership logic is the strategist oriented leader.
This type of leader is inspired by the need for a positive change at personal and organizational levels. Therefore, a strategic leader would always be collaborative, friendly, and active in following visions and missions to address existing challenges at organizational and personal levels. As a result, this type of leader is effective in generating short and long-term transformations in any decision making environment. This is the sixth most common leadership logic. Lastly, the alchemist oriented leader is inspired by the need for rapid and systematic social transformations beyond a specific environment. Due to an ability to think beyond imaginations, this type of a leadership often results in historical and high magnitude transpirations that could not be predicted. Therefore, an alchemist would lead transformational activities beyond an organization or line of specialization. This leadership approach is the least common leadership style as confirmed by the research carried out in the article.
Application of Different Leadership Logics in the Business Arena
In the modern dynamic business environment, many leaders have successfully applied different leadership logics in decision making. For instance, the current CEO of Apple PLC has been a proactive diplomat, expert, achiever, opportunist, and a strategic business manager. For instance, in order to diffuse the consequences of the legal battle between Apple and Samsung following the accusations of copyright infringement, Tim Cook quickly settled the matter through diplomatic leadership by making sure that Apple complied with the court ruling. Tim went a step ahead to engage the management of Samsung through a proactive partnership within the research and development department. Although Samsung and Apple are still competitors, the two companies were transformed from archrivals to friendly business opponents operating within the same market. The actions of Tim Cook as a diplomatic leader have resulted creation of a friendly competitive market that is void of serious confrontational business rivalry with Samsung.
Tim Cook is also an expert leader who has made the Apple Company to grow since taking over from the late Steve Jobs. Most of the decisions made by Tim are guided by the logic of quality service and meeting the demand of the company’s customers. For instance, the decision to create different versions of the Apple products is driven by market research from previous experience. These experiences are transformed by the Apple Company under the leadership of Tim into hard data for current and future decision making. As a result, Apple has remained the market leader in the quality and technology advanced product mobile sector. The successes of Apple could be attributed to Tim Cook’s ability to apply knowledge as a refined financial and management expert. The expertise decision could also be associated with the trend of Apple stock, which is always on an ascending angle in the last five years. Since Tim was actually an employee of Apple before being promoted to take over the position of a CEO, it is possible that his experience as an expert influenced this decision. As a result, Apple has sustained its positive growth over the years.
In a management career spanning over two decades, Tim Cook has perfected the achiever leadership logic in different positions of service at Apple. Every financial year, as a management policy, the CEO of Apple is expected to set strategic goals that should be met. In the previous five financial years, under the leadership of Tim, Apple has been able to meet different strategic goals. This is possible because the current CEO is a good team player who encourages innovation within the annual company goals. As a result, Tim has been able to effectively juggle different managerial duties alongside the market demands of this dynamic organization to achieve annual goals. For instance, in the last financial year, Apple’s strategic goal was to increase the profit margin by 7%. The company surpassed this target under the achiever leadership traits of Tim. In the general business environment, a good manager should be a strategist. Reflectively, the success of a venture depends on the strategies in place for personal and organizational paradigm shift. In the case of the Apple Company, Tim has been able to apply the strategist leadership logical orientation to create a collaborative company that fulfills its initiatives in a timely manner. Although the company was performing well before Tim took over, sustaining this positive trend has proven than the current CEO is a strategist. Specifically, Tim has been able to generate tangible transformations within the research development, logistics, and quality assurance at the company in line with the vision for technological paradigm.
The current CEO of McDonald can be described as an opportunist leader. Although just less than three years in the top leadership position of this American fast-food chain, Steve Easterbrook has managed to give the company a new lifeline through the use of opportunistic decision making logic. At the time of promotion to the position of the CEO, McDonald was facing very stiff competition from Burger King, Wal-Mart, and Wendy’s. Some hard decisions had to be made to make the company stay afloat. In order to win the competition battles, Easterbrook decided to reduce the prices drastically and expand the product portfolio. Although the strategy was rolled out for just one year, it succeeded beyond expectations and McDonald was able to make a quick recovery. It is important to note that the opportunist logic was only applied by Easterbrook to solve the emergency situation at McDonald as a result of extreme competition.
The process of solving this challenge at McDonald also illustrated the individualist leadership tendencies of Easterbrook. For instance, there was no clear strategy or guideline for winning the competitive rivalry. Actually, Easterbrook decided to use unconventional methods on a trial and error basis as the head of the business recovery consultation board for McDonald. After full recovery, Easterbrook has resorted to strategist and expert leadership logics to safeguard the company from relapsing in the future. For instance, the current CEO has set out a ten-year management and turnaround strategy for McDonald to transform this fast-food chain into a regional and global market leader. This strategic plan is laden with pragmatic and visionary initiatives that are time bound. For the last two years, the company has managed to achieve the set goals and is forecasted to maintain this trend in the foreseeable future.
The current leadership actions of the Virgin Atlantic chairman can be categorized as inspired by alchemist tendencies. Specifically, Sir Richard Branson has reinvented the research and current experiments on space tourism through his Virgin Galactic project. The project is ambitious and driven by the vision of offering space tourism services to individuals intending to visit the space station and even the moon. Although the project is run by a private entity, the dedication and commitment to finance it makes Sir Richard Branson to stand out as an alchemist. According to the latest reports, the project is currently in the third stage and is predicted to be ready by 2025. Sir Branson’s project was just a dream or a ‘crazy’ idea some few years ago, but is now destined to become a reality. When completed, the project is predicted to generate an imaginable social transformation of historic proportion as ordinary citizens will be able to visit the outer space. Although the pilot stage might benefit a few individuals, its impact will be society wide.
Conclusion
The article, Seven Transformations of Leadership, explores the seven leadership logics. These logical orientations are opportunist, diplomat, expert, achiever, individualist, strategist, and alchemist. The most and least common leadership logics are expert and alchemist tendencies, respectively. Depending on the environment and variables interacting in the process of decision making, business leaders across the globe have applied different logics. Apparently, the expert and strategist leadership traits of Tim Cook stood out in the discussion. Moreover, the alchemist leadership logic applied by Sir Richard Branson in the Virgin Galactic project is projected to result in society wide transformation once completed. Although the individualist and opportunist logics applied by the current McDonald were successful, the resulting decision might not survive the long-term market dynamics.