Basic Approaches to Leadership : Assignment

CHRISTINE HOLGATE 1
LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
By
Name

CHRISTINE HOLGATE 2
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................... 2
Christine Holgate Background............................................................................................. 3
Approach to leadership...................................................................................................... 4
Key Challenges faced by Christine Holgate.............................................................................6
Lesson learnt by Studying Christine Holgate...........................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 7
Introduction
Leadership is a major determinant of organizational success. The Australian Corporate
world has had many successful business leaders each defined by the unique aspects and

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leadership traits that they possess. Successful leaders are known both for establishing successful
enterprises and turning around the fortunes of failing organizations. Therefore the success of an
organization is one of the aspects that are used to gauge the effectiveness of a leader. In addition,
their ability to define and establish and define an organizational culture is used in accessing the
effectiveness of a leader (Fox, 2017). Leadership is the act through which persons in influential
position inspire their subordinates to achieve certain objectives. Leaders play both inspirational
and motivational roles. Influential Australian business leaders have earned their popularity
because of their leadership attributes and abilities (Aigner, 2011). Christine Holgate, the
Christine Holgate, CEO Australian Post is among the most influential young Australian leaders.
This report focuses on certain aspects about Christine Holgate.
Christine Holgate Background
Christine Holgate is among the most recognized Australian Businesswomen and the
Current CEO of Australian post, a role which she has held since 2017 October (Dent, 2017).
Before being appointed as the CEO of Australian Post, Holgate served as the CEO of
Blackmores, a Nutritional supplement company based in Sydney Australia. She also serves as
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Chair. Her previous roles include working
as the MD Telstra Corp, Nonexecutive director at Ten Network Holdings, MD, and CEO of
Blackmore (Adams, 2015). .Holgate was born to an Entrepreneur father in England, the United
Kingdom about 54 years ago. She was brought up in a small farming community where she was
introduced to the concept of work from a tender age. By the age of 15, she was already working
as a window’s cleaner and ban the bomb badges seller (Rothstein & Burke, 2010). Holgate
was also much involved in street campaigns and protests. She holds three postgraduate diplomas
in purchasing and supply, marketing and management. She also holds a masters a degree in

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Business Administration. Her impressive education; together with her leadership acumen have
been the main reasons for her success at many positions in different countries and organizations.
This has also enabled her to rise steadily through the leadership ladder (Adapa & Sheridan,
2017).
Christine Holgate has been described as the most successful woman in the Australian
Corporate world. She has held multiple positions in Australia, Americans, and Asia. In her, over
30 years in a corporate word, she has played leading roles in healthcare, media, finance and
telecommunication industries (Fuda, 2013).. Her appointment as Chief executive of Blackmore
came as a result of the impressive run she had at her former organization, Telstra where her hard
work and impressive leadership skills saw her rise from the post of marketing director to
Business Unit sales Head. She played a significant role in changing the fortunes of Blackmore to
its current position as a leading Nutrition supplement company (Hewett, 2016).
Approach to leadership
Christine Holgate has been majorly focusing on leading teams through startup, growth,
and change. Her main achievements in the organization that she has worked have been acting as
an effective leader and turning around the fortunes of organizations that were not doing well
previously. Through her effective leadership skills, she was able to inspire an organization
change in Blackmores and lead the organization in recording a profit of 70%. She also improved
the share price of the organization (Lussier, 2011). Because of her exemplary performance, she
was named Australia’s CEO of the year in 2015, an award which earned the title of the best
Australian woman for the great role she played in Blackmore (Adams,2015).

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From the analysis of the Australia most successful businesswoman, two leadership styles
can be identified. These are charismatic and transformational leadership styles. These are the
main leadership styles visible in the leadership journey of Christine Holgate. Transformational
leadership is a process whereby leaders work together with their subordinates to identify the
requirement for a change in an organization and lead through the change process (Waddell et al.,
2016). Transformational leaders create a vision to guide the process of change and motivate their
subordinates to implement the needed changes (Tom & Barrons, 2012). After joining
Blackmores a struggling company in 2008; Holgate introduced critical changes especially in the
organizational culture and strategic alignment, which have enabled the organization to achieve
its current success (McCauley,2015). These exemplify her transformational leadership traits.
This is also visible in her push to expand Blackmore’s operation into Asian and China markets
and diversification of its product offerings through the introduction of new products lines. The
passion associated with transformative leadership lead her to accept a salary 50% lower than that
of her predecessor (Dent, 2017). Her transformative agenda has led the organization through
exceptional growth, turning the once local organization into a $2.5 Billion multinational
organization. She also moved the company’s shares from below $40 in 2015 to about $199 by
the time she left the organization. After joining Australian post in 2017 she was also passionate
about expanding its operations to conquer the Australian market (, 2017).
Charismatic leadership is a leadership approach through which a leader uses
persuasiveness and charm to win the support of their subordinates without reliance on their
external power or authority. There is a high degree of commitment to a course among
charismatic leaders. This aspect is also visible in the leadership of Holgate. Leading a change
process often requires some level of charisma. Her charismatic leadership attribute helped her to

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rally Blackmore’s employees behind her into changing the culture and strategic alignment for the
organization. Her confidence level in transforming the fortunes for Blackmores was also a
reflection of her charismatic leadership attribute. She was also confident about transforming the
structurally and financially challenged Australian Post into a modern logistics company (Cheryl,
2017).
Key Challenges faced by Christine Holgate
Reviving struggling organizations
This is perhaps the most notable challenging encounter she has had in her leadership
journey. The two leading organization that she has led, Australian post and Blackmores were
facing myriad challenges. While Blackmores was struggling financially, Australian post was
struggling financially, politically and had many controversies surrounding it. Her biggest
challenge has been bringing these organizations back to a course of prosperity. Through her
transformative and charismatic leadership approach; past experience and passion, she has been
able to venture into external markets particularly in Asia and China (Dent, 2017). Her focus on
expanding the operation of the organizations beyond the Australian border has seen her turn
around the fortunes for Blackmores and now Australian Post.
Lack of experience in managing logistics organizations
Prior to joining Australian post, Holgate had never had a career in any logistics business.
Her main preoccupation before were in Financial services, Telstra and Health manufacturing
where she had served as chief executive for Blackmores since the year 2008 (Thomson &
Lloyd,2011). Transiting into a different industry altogether was not an easy thing. She had had
many eyes fixed on her with regard to the struggling organizations she has been associated with.

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Her positivity and passion for excellence have been her main tools for dealing with this
challenge. This Challenge has also been partly overcome through collaboration with industrial
players and logistic partners such as Chinese based JD.com.
Lesson learnt by Studying Christine Holgate
As a leader, nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it
I have learnt that passion and determination is one of the major pillars of a successful leader.
Christine represents an excellent case study of what passion and determination can transform a
leader into. Her journey of moving from a window cleaner in England to becoming the most
important woman in the Australian corporate world can only be described as a journey from
grass to grace. She steadily rose through the leadership hierarchy because she had put her mind
in what she was doing and was determined to make a difference (Kouzes, Posner & Bunting,
2015). Despite having come from a humble background this did not deter her from achieving
exemplary success. Passion and determination are therefore important attributes of a leader.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Christine Holgate presents a classic example of a transformational and
charismatic leader whose leadership acumen in the corporate world has seen her become the
most important Australian woman besides turning around the fortunes of formerly dwindling
organizations. Having come from a humble background, education and her determination have
made her achieve in the leadership world much more than she would have ever imagined. Her
most notable achievement and which has earned her much accolade is the role she played in
reviving Blackmores and turning it into a successful international organization. She is also

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working towards the same with her current Organization, the Australian post through her efforts
to penetrate the Chinese market. Her main achievements have come as a result of her
Transactional and charismatic leadership approaches. For example, through a change of
organizational culture business model and the introduction of additional product lines for
Blackmore, she turned the organization into one of the most successful Australian Organizations.
References

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