Business and Organizational Leadership

Please read this case (Alibaba and the Future of Business- Zeng), listen to the podcast (How i Built This: Zappos/Tony Hsieh) and listen to the podcast (How I Built This: Spanx/Sara Blakely): 1. https://hbr.org/2018/09/alibaba-and-the-future-of-business 2. https://www.npr.org/2019/05/15/723670593/zappos-tony-hsieh 3. https://www.npr.org/2017/08/15/534771839/spanx-sara-blakely Answer these questions: 1. Re Alibaba article, what does it mean to "software" every activity? Should companies"software" every activity? Explain your answer. 2. Talking about either Sara Blakely (Spanx) or Tony Hsieh (Zappos) from the "How I Built This" Podcast, what is their leadership toolkit? What could you use from their toolkit in your own toolkit?

Business and
Organizational
Leadership

Contents
SHOULD WE SOFTWARE EVERY ACTITVITY?.....................................................................1
LEADERSHIP TOOLKIT – SARA BLAKELY............................................................................1
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

SHOULD WE SOFTWARE EVERY ACTITVITY?
The term software everything is the process of every activity and operation using a software.
This process is excellent in business growth as real time calculation and analysis is done which
increases accuracy in decision making. Business decisions are made by machines instead of
humans being, based on data analysis and patterns. The first step to software everything is to
create a based on human decision making, studying the process involves and modelling its basic
parts with use of software. The development is to create an online environment to enhance
decision making based on the patterns of human judgement and behaviour. Such as in case of
Alibaba where they created an online rental bike system which decreased cost and improved
efficient using software and real time reactivity to locate potential locations and enhance
customer satisfaction. Companies must try to study the online based business models and
replicate their developments in accordance with their business. Software everything is a good
design which calibrates efficient processing and profitability of business through accurate
decision making. The real time data analysis and reactivity will provide the companies with
trends, slows and patterns of potential markets and customer preferences on a more precise and
speedy basis (Zeng, 2018). Companies are recommended to adapt the concept within its business
plan and model and integrate the activities into software and configure the processes. Software
all the activity will enhance the knowledge, operation efficiency and profitability of the company
with improved and increased decision process and real time data analysis.
LEADERSHIP TOOLKIT – SARA BLAKELY
Leadership is one of the most important elements of business success. A Leader is a person is
malignant to growth and is at the centre of any business’s decision and operations (Allard, et.al.
2017). In the podcast with Sara blakely it was identified that the Founder of Spanx is a strong
willed and intelligent headed entrepreneur who lead the company from scratch to a leader in
garments.
Clarity – Clarity is significant to working in a leadership role as everyone around is dependent on
the leaders direction to move further ahead. There needs to be clarity in what has to be achieved
and the path to reach the position. Sara has a clear picture what she wants to achieve and is
skilled in finding innovative ways to get the objective.
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Emotional intelligence – This is one the prime aspects of a leadership. It is a broad term which
dictates many values in a person which define its role (Esters et.al. 2016). Sara Blakely is a
strong headed leader but along with that she has a great sense of self awareness through which
she channels innovative thinking and confidence in self decisions. Moreover her social skills and
connectivity instigates new and welcoming opportunities, in her approach to her first order she
used her confidence and connectivity to land the person (Puccio et.al. 2010).
Learning from the leadership qualities of Sara I can add finesse to my toolkit. From her approach
and confidence in her product, she gained popularity through the years. Also, Learning from her
experience, one needs to find innovative ways to lead from the front which will embark success
to the business.
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REFERENCES
Allard, S., Qayyum, M. A., & Mehra, B. (2017). Intercultural leadership toolkit for librarians:
Building awareness to effectively serve diverse multicultural populations. Education
Libraries, 30(1), 5-12.
Esters, L., Washington, A., Gasman, M., Commodore, F., O’Neal, B., Freeman, S., & Jimenez,
C. D. (2016). Effective leadership: A toolkit for the 21st-century historically Black
college and university president. Philadelphia, PA: Penn Center for Minority Serving
Institutions.
Puccio, G.J., Mance, M. & Murdock, M.C. (2010). Creative leadership: Skills that drive change.
Sage Publications.
Zeng, M. (2018). Alibaba and the Future of Business. [Online]. Available through:
https://hbr.org/2018/09/alibaba-and-the-future-of-business.
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