Steve Jobs, one of the greatest leaders of all times said that people who want to become noble and reach all the goals in their lives should stay hungry and foolish. This quotation is widespread around the world and motivates many leaders to work harder and to stay open for their new beginnings and ideas. The following paper is to evaluate and to compose a personal leadership philosophy, which will be helpful for my daily activity.
Leadership Evaluation
According to one of the media sources, Timothy Donald Cook was using his legitimate formal power in a business battle against Qualcomm (the company that produces chip technology for Apple iPhones). The main point of this article is that Timothy Donald Cook is intimidating his opponents by his financial circumstances and influence power (“It turns out Apple is funding a legal battle against a rival,” 2017). As it was mentioned above, Apple’s president seems to be using his legitimate power bases as a leader. His main strategy is to demonstrate his abilities to frighten the opponents.
It would be proper to discuss the following influence tactics that are being used by Timothy Cook:
- Pressure (this type of influence tactic is usually used by people who demand, treat, and intimidate a leader’s followers or competitors to comply with his or her request).
- Rational persuasion (leaders use this influence method to convince their followers or opponents of some actions that would be beneficial for one’s strategy, based on his or her personal experiences and expectations).
- Personal appeals (used by leaders who have good relationships with their team members that are always open to one’s requests).
As Timothy Cook is a businessman, he uses a style of an authoritative leader, which helps him to improve such aspects of his team as productivity, focusing on the primary goals, analyzing the company’s actions, and so on. This also means that such tenets of conscious capitalism as a higher purpose and stakeholder orientation are followed by Tim Cook. Nevertheless, conscious leadership and conscious culture tenets were disregarded in this instance. An Authoritative person is always respected and discussed by society. Besides, such a style of leadership does not allow making friends with one’s auxiliaries for collaboration.
The potential outcome of the aforementioned situation is predictable because Timothy Donald Cook has a strong team of professionals, self-confidence, and almost an unlimited source of financial means for his company’s purposes and ideas. Hence, he is likely to overcome any difficulties and barriers that might be on his way to victory in this case.
To conclude, it would be proper to stress that Timothy Cook does not support the main values of conscious capitalism because his actions and strategies against the leader’s opponents are not always fair and equitable. Cook’s leadership style seems to be effective, but one’s power can be lost in a minute under particular circumstances, which will ruin his or her influence on others. Timothy Cook did not act ethically in this situation because he did not leave any chance to his opponent, which means that he might be afraid to lose.
If I had a chance to influence and organize the situation above, I would make it different by giving my competitor a chance for a fight. According to such principles of conscious capitalism as conscious leadership and conscious culture, only strong opponents improve people’s leadership skills (Mackey & Sisodia, 2014). I would use the expert power bases in such a situation to demonstrate my knowledge and experience.
Besides, my influence tactics would be the following: coalition (to consult my team) and personal appeals (to be aware of my weak sides). I would adopt a style of democratic leader who analyzes and evaluates any situation objectively to avoid judgment from my colleagues. Hence, the outcome of the same situation would not be as predictable in my instance. Even if I lost one case, I would be thankful to my competitor for motivating me to grow in my leadership philosophy and to improve my professional qualities. Such tenets of conscious capitalism as a higher purpose and stakeholder orientation influence my values by showing me the primary goals, whereas the other two tenets give me an understanding of leadership morality and ethics.
Leadership Philosophy & Conclusion
There are many things that I have learned about effective leadership and conscious capitalism. For instance, following the simple tenets of the latter one, gives a person an ability to become an example for one’s colleagues. Moreover, it is essential to listen to one’s mind and strategies, regardless of other people’s opinions to reach particular personal goals. An effective leadership study made me realize that any leader has to demonstrate all the good qualities to one’s followers to make his or her work in a team more efficient.
The main value that influences my leadership style is a reliable and trustworthy team, which is very important because a person is considered to be a professional leader if all one’s team members are satisfied with his or her regulations and decisions. The values above were influenced by leadership experience among my friends and peers in various situations during my childhood. As it was mentioned above, I expect my future team members to trust me, which will give me the ability to rely on them in some awkward instances. My leadership style and influences will vary and depend on the benefits and succeeds of my auxiliaries and organization. I need to remain flexible to solve a challenging problem.
References
It turns out Apple is funding a legal battle against a rival. (2017). Web.
Mackey, J., & Sisodia, R. (2014). Conscious capitalism: Liberating the heroic spirit of business. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press. Web.