Blog 5: My vision of leadership

Figure 1.0 Vision of leadership (Immofinanz 2018)

My vision of leadership is mainly to inspire and motivate others along with being able to give the followers the freedom to think creatively. My vision is in line with transformational leadership model which is focused on identifying the needed change, creating a vision in order to guide the change through motivation and inspiration and executing the change with the help of committed followers (Gomes 2014).

If I were to lead in today’s ever-changing business environment, I would definitely practice transformational leadership style as mentioned in Blog 3. It is my dream to become a great transformational leader with qualities such as being able to communicate effectively, take the right risks, make effective and quick decisions, entertain new ideas and inspire and motivate followers to work beyond their self-interest towards the shared goals and vision of the organisation. Moreover, envisioning myself as a transformational leader, I would also ensure to passionately listen to followers and provide constructive feedback on their performance. I would also encourage creativity among the followers by giving them freedom to creatively solve problems and develop new ways to expand the business.

My inspiration: Richard Branson

Figure 2.0 Richard Branson, Founder and CEO of Virgin Group (Letts 2017)

Richard Branson who practices transformational leadership style inspires my vision of leadership in many ways. Richard Branson inspires me as not only he has the ability to challenge the status quo and inspire change but he also an adept communicator and risk taker who portrays high level of self-confidence and dedication for all his tasks (Wasson 2016). Moreover, the entrepreneurial spirit of Richard Branson also inspires me as he always put his employee’s interest first and provides them with ample opportunities to think creatively and pitch new ideas to expand the business (Niphadkar 2017). Moreover, his leadership style reflects that he is in tune with the changes taking place in business environment and based on that he is able to transform his organisation accordingly. This is because he does not believe in following established procedures to get things done and mainly work on flat and non-hierarchical organisational structure making it easier for his organisation to adapt easily in times of change (Joseph 2015a).  I am mainly inspired by Richard Branson as he has proved to be a great transformational leader by adapting to organisational changes such as by moving to new locations with his staff and acquiring other firms in times of distress while still maintaining his moral and social values (Joseph 2015b).

Personality Test

Figure 3.0 Results of My Personality Test

Based on the personality test, it can be observed that I am an extrovert and highly observant. I strongly agree with this results as I believe I have great ability to interact with people and put myself forward which can assist me to become a great transformational leader. Besides that, I am also very observant as I pay close attention to details and tend to deal with facts and concrete objects better compared to abstract theories or fantasy scenarios.

On the other hand, it can be seen that I am highly affected by emotions and feelings which indicates that I am deeply concerned with my social status which in turn tends to influence my decision making process. Hence, I need to improve on this aspect by enhancing my creativity skills and being more open minded to different views of individuals. I should also learn to experience new ideas and thoughts by challenging them against the beliefs I currently have which will enable me to experience the change and view the world in different perspective (Williams 2013).

Feedback from Peers

Skills	Model the way	Inspire	Challenge	Enable	Encourage	Hofstede’s Culture
Average Marking	8.42	5.74	5.74	8.7	8.38	8.34

Table 1.0 Peer Review Assessment

Based on the peer review assessment, I discovered that my group members see me as a person who has the ability to lead and set a personal example of what is expected. This can be demonstrated by my actions such as being responsible during group tasks, listening to each members view and doing a fair share of work. However, I received a low marking for inspirational and challenging skills and hence these are the two main skills that I would like to develop further through my MBA programme. In order to enhance my inspirational skills, I should first develop a strong vision which will help me to see a clear picture of the future and based on that I can communicate, inspire and motivate my team members towards a shared vision (Folkman 2013). Moreover, to develop my challenging skills I need to further enhance my creativity skills by allocating time for cohesive creative thinking, learning to pitch ideas clearly and excitingly within short duration to grab attention and fuse my new ideas with others which will enable me to explore different and innovative ways to deal with challenges (Abazov 2015).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the leadership learning journey has been a great experience for me as I got the opportunity to discover my personal leadership style by being exposed to different leadership styles and how they are practiced by known leaders in the business environment. Moreover, I also learned the area of my weaknesses through my personality test and peer review and I believe overcoming my weaknesses will turn me into a great transformational leader in the future.

(815 words)

References

Abazov, R. (2015) 5 Ways to Improve Your Creative Thinking [online] available from <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281629958_5_Ways_to_Improve_Your_Creative_Thinking&gt; [15 July 2018].

Folkman, J. (2013) ‘Everything Counts: The 6 Ways To Inspire And Motivate Top Performance’. Forbes [online] 20 May. available from <https://www.forbes.com/sites/joefolkman/2013/05/20/everything-counts-the-6-ways-to-inspire-and-motivate-top-performance/#2e3383f725e1&gt; [15 July 2018].

Gomes, A.R. (2014) ‘Transformational leadership: Theory, research, and application to sports. in Contemporary topics and trends in the psychology of sports. ed. by  Mohiyeddini. C. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 53-114.

Immofinanz (2018) Vision & Mission [online] available from <https://www.immofinanz.com/en/company/all-about-us/vision-mission> [14 July 2018].

Joseph, C. (2015) Richard Branson Leadership Style Commandments [online] available from <http://www.josephchris.com/richard-branson-leadership-style-commandments> [15 July 2018].

Letts. Q. (2017) ‘Is this Britain’s most condescending swine? Richard Branson makes out he is caring and sharing when he’s a flinty moneyman who grooms his image as carefully as his beard, writes QUENTIN LETTS’. Daily Mail [online] 8 October. Available from < http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4961022/QUENTIN-LETTS-Richard-Branson-condescending-swine.html> [15 July 2018].

Niphadkar, C. (2017) ‘The new age transformational leader: Richard Branson’ International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research [online] (8) 6, 542-547. Available from < https://www.ijser.org/researchpaper/The-new-age-transformational-leader-Richard-Branson.pdf> [15 July 2018].

Wasson, A. (2016) 10 Ultimate Skills and Qualities of Richard Branson [online] available from https://www.businessalligators.com/richard-branson-ultimate-skills-qualities/ [14 July 2018].

Williams, D.K. (2013) ‘The 5 Secret Strategies Of Great People: How To Become Open Minded In 2013’. Forbes [online] 7 January. available from <https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkwilliams/2013/01/07/the-5-secret-tricks-of-great-people-how-to-become-open-minded-in-2013/&gt; [15 July 2018].