This paper will review 2 successful and 2 unsuccessful leaders, with the examples of success being Steve Jobs and Jack Welch, leaders of Apple Inc. and General Electric, whereas failures would be presented by George Fisher (CEO of Kodak) and Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who was the CEO of Nokia.
Steve Jobs was the iconic leader of Apple, though he was not always present with the company. He returned in 1998 and made a market breakthrough with the first Apple smartphone in 2007 (Hayes, 2018). His base of power and influence came from his history with the company. The company was not profitable and needed a change in its function, operational method, and innovation, to keep competing. Jobs was a successful change agent because he was able to provide all of that.
The second successful leader was Jack Welch. He was CEO of General Electric (1981-2001) (Hayes, 2018). His base of power came from the results he achieved during his years of tenure. He became CEO after rising in the company’s corporate ladder, finding themselves in a position to exact change. Welch greatly expanded the number of services provided by the company and introduced a culture of excellence and high standards, making him a successful change agent.
Unsuccessful change agents were George Fisher and Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEOs of Kodak (1993-2000) and Nokia (2006-2010) (Hayes, 2018). The former was a hired talent, the latter – a rising officer within the company, which shows their bases of power: competence and loyalty. Both had to adapt their companies to changes in the market, to respond to the rise of computers and smartphones. They had to use the pull the companies had to transform their business and compete on new grounds. They were too slow in seizing the opportunity and failed, resulting in Kodak’s and Nokia’s fall.
Reference
Hayes, J. (2018). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave.