MGT 545 Leadership: Theory and Practice (PDF)

Article 1
Leadership and Practice Theory
MGT 545
Submitted to Professor Arturo Venecia
By
Vikrant Ganpatsinh Chauhan
Robert Morris University
03/14/2015
This study source was downloaded by 100000816063830 from CourseHero.com on 09-07-2021 02:22:27 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/12379253/Article-1/
This study resource was
shared via CourseHero.com

Abstract
The ongoing problems in business leadership over the past five years have underscored
the need for a new kind of leader in the twenty-first century: the authentic leader. Author Bill
George, a Harvard Business School professor and the former chairman and CEO of Medtronic,
and his colleagues, conducted the largest leadership development study ever undertaken. They
interviewed 125 business leaders from different racial, religious, national, and socioeconomic
backgrounds to understand how leaders become and remain authentic. Their interviews showed
that you do not have to be born with any particular characteristics or traits to lead. You also do
not have to be at the top of your organization. Anyone can learn to be an authentic leader. The
journey begins with leaders understanding their life stories. Authentic leaders frame their stories
in ways that allow them to see themselves not as passive observers but as individuals who learn
from their experiences. These leaders make time to examine their experiences and to reflect on
them, and in doing so they grow as individuals and as leaders. Authentic leaders also work hard
at developing self-awareness through persistent and often courageous self-exploration. Denial
can be the greatest hurdle that leaders face in becoming self-aware, but authentic leaders ask for,
and listen to, honest feedback. They also use formal and informal support networks to help them
stay grounded and lead integrated lives. The authors argue that achieving business results over a
sustained period of time is the ultimate mark of authentic leadership. It may be possible to drive
short-term outcomes without being authentic, but authentic leadership is the only way to create
long-term results.
This study source was downloaded by 100000816063830 from CourseHero.com on 09-07-2021 02:22:27 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/12379253/Article-1/
This study resource was
shared via CourseHero.com

Discovering your authentic leadership
The article states that During past 50 years lots of studies have been conducted to find out
the definitive styles, characteristics, or personality traits of great leaders. None of these studies
has produced a clear profile of the ideal leader. Because every leader has their own styles and
charisma, no one can be authentic by trying to imitate someone else. You can learn from other's
experiences but there is no way you can be successful when you are trying to be like them.
People trust you when you are genuine and authentic, not a replica of someone else. Many
readers of Authentic Leadership, including several CEOs, indicated that they had a tremendous
desire to become authentic leaders and wanted to know how. As a result, a research team set out
to answer the question, “How can people become and remain authentic leaders?” Author
mentions that they have interviewed 125 leaders to learn how they developed their leadership
abilities. These interviews constitute the largest in-depth study of leadership development ever
undertaken. Their interviewees discussed openly and honestly how they realized their potential
and candidly shared their life stories, personal struggles, failures, and triumphs.
 Subjects were around 23 to 93 year old with no fewer than 15 per decade.
 They were based on their reputations for authenticity and effectiveness as leaders
 Researchers also solicited recommendations from other leaders and academics
Results were shocking, none of them shared same personalities rather their leadership
emerged from their life stories. They developed their leadership on the basis of experience. In
doing so, they discovered the purpose of their leadership and learned that being authentic made
them more effective. These findings are extremely encouraging: You do not have to be born with
specific characteristics or traits of a leader. You do not have to wait for a tap on the shoulder.
This study source was downloaded by 100000816063830 from CourseHero.com on 09-07-2021 02:22:27 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/12379253/Article-1/
This study resource was
shared via CourseHero.com

You do not have to be at the top of your organization. Instead, you can discover your
potential right now.
How to develop an authentic leadership?
1.) learning from your life story.
Article depicts how your life time experiences help to develop an authentic leadership.
Everyone has good and bad times, but leaders grab the experience from bad times and utilize it to
become an authentic leader. While the life stories of authentic leaders cover the full spectrum of
experiences—including the positive impact of parents, athletic coaches, teachers, and mentors—
many leaders reported that their motivation came from a difficult experience in their lives. They
described the transformative effects of the loss of a job; personal illness; the untimely death of a
close friend or relative; and feelings of being excluded, discriminated against, and rejected by
peers. Rather than seeing themselves as victims, though, authentic leaders used these formative
experiences to give meaning to their lives. They reframed these events to rise above their
challenges and to discover their passion to lead.
Author gave an example of Novartis chairman and CEO Daniel Vasella. When he was
child he suffered from many illness like Asthma, tuberculosis and he had to live separately from
parents for the treatment purposes. later on his father died during surgery and her sister passed
away as she was suffering from cancer. Her mom started working in different region which
allowed him to party with friends and caught into conflicts. It lasted until he met his first
girlfriend whose affection changed his life. At 20, he entered in medical school, after completion
of residency he wanted to help lots of people therefore applied for chief physician post at
university of Zurich. However committee considered him too young and rejected the application.
Later on joined SANDOZ pharmaceuticals and started working initially as sales representative
This study source was downloaded by 100000816063830 from CourseHero.com on 09-07-2021 02:22:27 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/12379253/Article-1/
This study resource was
shared via CourseHero.com

and eventually transferred to marketing organization. When Sandoz merged with Ciba-Geigy in
1996, Vasella was named CEO of the combined companies, now called Novartis, despite his
young age and limited experience. Once in the CEO’s role, Vasella blossomed as a leader. He
envisioned the opportunity to build a great global health care company that could help people
through lifesaving new drugs, such as Gleevec, which has proved to be highly effective for
patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.
2.) Knowing your authentic self
When the 75 members of Stanford Graduate School of Business’s Advisory Council were
asked to recommend the most important capability for leaders to develop, their answer was
nearly unanimous: self-awareness.
Authentic leaders have the self awareness, they know what they are doing and it is right
or wrong. They have the enlarged picture of their deeds in their mind. They never cross the line
and perform unethically to just achieve goals and success.
3.) Practicing your values and principles
The article illustrates that The values that form the basis for authentic leadership
are derived from your beliefs and convictions, but you will not know what your true values are
until they are tested under pressure. When everything is good you won't realize the true value but
when something goes wrong you will realize it and by implementing the changes and moral in
real life one can develop good leadership.
4.) Balancing your extrinsic and intrinsic motivations
This study source was downloaded by 100000816063830 from CourseHero.com on 09-07-2021 02:22:27 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/12379253/Article-1/
This study resource was
shared via CourseHero.com

It is really necessary to keep balance between extrinsic and intrinsic motivations.
Extrinsic motivations are the recognition, promotion and financial rewards they get. Intrinsic
motivation derived from their sense of the meaning of their life. For ex. personal growth, helping
other people develop, taking on social causes and making difference in the world. The key is to
find a balance between your desires for external validation and the intrinsic motivations that
provide fulfillment in your work.
Sometime it becomes difficult to balance when you are only looking for personal
benefits. However you have to answer difficult questions later on in order to justify yourself and
pursue truly meaningful success. For ex. McKinsey's Alice Woodwark, at 29 year of young age
achieved success and reflected : “My version of achievement was pretty naive, born of things I
learned early in life about praise and being valued. But if you’re just chasing the rabbit around
the course, you’re not running toward anything meaningful.”
5.) Building your support team
The article enhances that for success of any organization and leader a good support team
plays an important role. That support team can be personal and professional. Many leaders
choose the member of this team form family members, friends and often spouses. In your good
and bad days these team members can be with you and motivate you to go on. In good days they
party with you, spread the joy and in bad days they cherish you, give advice and always back you
with inspirational words. There should be one person with whom you can be yourself and that
person can accept you and support you unconditionally, more often this person is spouse but
sometimes for some leaders this person may be friend, relative or family member.
Author shared an experience of Bill George. In 1974, he joined the men's group and
followed this group for entire life. After 30 years this group used to gather on Wednesday of
This study source was downloaded by 100000816063830 from CourseHero.com on 09-07-2021 02:22:27 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/12379253/Article-1/
This study resource was
shared via CourseHero.com

every week and discuss the difficult of each group member. one of the beauty of this group was
these discussions were open and other group member can give judgments without fear, criticism
or reprisal. They consider this group as one of the most important aspect of their lives and a
source of honest feedback.
6.) Integrating Your Life by Staying Grounded
Author illustrates how it becomes a great challenge for leader to maintain balance
between work, family, friends and community. According to John Donahole, president of eBay
Marketplaces and former worldwide managing director of Bain, stressed, being authentic means
maintaining a sense of self no matter where you are. He warned, “The world can shape you if
you let it. To have a sense of yourself as you live, you must make conscious choices. Sometimes
the choices are really hard, and you make a lot of mistakes.”
Article states that with power comes great responsibility and with responsibilities comes
stress. There is no way to regulate that stress if you are only work bound and seeking for only
success. Many successful authentic leaders are constantly aware of the situations and therefore
they know the importance of staying grounded. They often spend time with family members,
engage themselves in spiritual practices, do community services and get physical exercise. It is
essential for them to sustain their authenticity in order to remain an effective leader.
7.) Empowering People to Lead
Article states that for authentic leaders their main goal is to achieve long term desired
success and for that empowering people within organization becomes essential. They know the
key to success is having empowered leaders at all levels of organization. They don't only inspire
them but empower them to step forward and lead. The author gives an example of chairman and
CEO Anne Mulcahy's stunning turnaround of Xerox. She was assigned as CEO when company
This study source was downloaded by 100000816063830 from CourseHero.com on 09-07-2021 02:22:27 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/12379253/Article-1/
This study resource was
shared via CourseHero.com

was in debt of $18 billion, all doors for credit were closed and SEC was investigating the
company's revenue recognition practices. She was working for the company since last 25 years
with different departments like field sales and corporate staff but never worked in finance, R&D
or manufacturing. That was difficult for her to cope up with the situation as she had not a good
understanding of financial situation. She personally met company's top 100 executives to ask
them if they would stay with the company despite of challenges. Out of 100 98 stayed and 2 left
due to personal reasons with her. Throughout the crisis people in Xerox were empowered by
Mulcahy and they did succeed to set up an example, she paid back $10billion in debt and
restored revenue growth and profits. As a result stock prices tripled. Like Mulcahy it is necessary
to empower people within organization by sharing goals and ideas. For authentic leaders there
are special rewards which are better than personal achievement.
Discovering Your Authentic Leadership is a great read for people who want to improve
their Leadership skills. I have read many articles on leadership and everyone of them focuses on
different aspects of leadership. Best part about this article is it tells you to focus internally to look
at your own history and learn from that. Authors focus on following key aspects of your life to
learn from
 Learn from your own life story
 Know your authentic self
 Practice your values and principles
 Balance your extrinsic and intrinsic motivations
 Build a support team to learn and get guidance from
 Integrate your life by staying grounded
This study source was downloaded by 100000816063830 from CourseHero.com on 09-07-2021 02:22:27 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/12379253/Article-1/
This study resource was
shared via CourseHero.com
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)