In the article “The Leadership Factor”, John Kotter enumerates how modern firms develop practices to inculcate their leadership (Kotter, 1988). In doing so, Kotter explains why most of the big firms in the US do not have the leadership capacity that is required for a firm of their strength. Kotter presents examples of Coca-Cola and points out instances demonstrating leadership development practices. He moves on further to demonstrate the qualities that can help managers become outstanding leaders.
Kotter presents certain pros and cons to demonstrate the competitive advantages he found present in the decades of fifties and sixties in American firms. He demonstrates that the main advantages can be summarized as five factors, such as increasing market share in a market that is growing, having patents on products that are produced by the firm, large capacity production and highly capital-intensive production system, government regulations that do not hinder the production process, and the main control over the supply of raw materials.
Critical thinking demonstrates that though these five features are essential for gaining competitive advantage for a firm, they do not demonstrate the sufficient factors for gaining competitive advantage (Ennis, 1962; Tittle, 2011; McPeck, 1981; Lipman, 1988). Kotter though exemplifies in details how these factors contribute to the development of competitive advantage for a firm and how a leader may bring forth these in order to make the firm more successful but the author fails to show that a leader has to be more than just a controller and manager.
On the other hand, Kotter puts forth a few disadvantages about the present leadership analysis. He says that the analysis begins and ends with identifying famous leaders like Gandhi or Iacocca and fails to understand that only by enhancing the recruitment process of finding leaders a firm can successfully identify leaders. He is correct when he states that leadership quality has to be developed and not just imposed upon them.
References
Ennis, R. H. (1962). A concept of critical thinking. MA: Harvard educational review.
Kotter, J. P. (1988). The Leadership Factor. The Mckinsey Quaterly, 71-78.
Lipman, M. (1988). Critical Thinking–What Can It Be? Educational Leadership 46(1), 38-43.
McPeck, J. E. (1981). Critical thinking and education. Robertson: Oxford.
Tittle, P. (2011). Critical Thinking: An Appeal to Reason. New York: Taylor & Francis.