Leadership in Multinational Firms and After an Earthquake

LEADERSHIP 1
Introduction
Leadership refers to the ability to establish the challenging goals, take decisive action,
and overall guiding and inspiring others to outperform the competition. It is significant to
note that the different environmental factors demand the different leadership style, depending
upon the contextual framework. It must be noted that over the years too
much emphasis has been placed on the individual capabilities for the
leadership, as compared to the situational context. Nevertheless, there is
a long list of one successful CEO leader who has failed in a new setting.
There are various leadership styles that can be adopted by the leaders
such as the transactional leadership, participative leadership, autocratic
leadership and others. Therefore, a leader must possess the contextual
intelligence or the ability to adapt to the opportunities and threats and
should also possess the necessary personal characteristics to lead the
people in a particular situation. The following work highlights the
leadership in two key contexts as follows.
Topic 1) Leadership by the CEO of a multinational firm
In the organisational context, the leaders can adopt either the charismatic leadership
style like that of Steve Jobs or transactional leadership style to guide the subordinates. With
the rise in the globalisation, the leadership functions in the multinational organisations have
grown complex and the challenges faced by such leaders are qualitatively different from as
those faced by the leaders of old times (Zander, Mockaitis & Butler, 2012). Some of the
important aspects of the leadership to be exercised by the CEO of a multinational firm are as
stated as follows. One of the chief quality that such leaders that need to develop are the global
mindset. It is an ability to scan the environment of the enterprise form a broad perspective,
which includes the evaluation of the unexpected trends and opportunities while thriving to
achieve the professional or the organisational objectives. In terms of visioning, a global
leader must articulate the vision, mission, and objectives of the entity to the employees in
light of the environmental scan. It is essential for leaders to act as a catalyst for strategic
change. A leader must be capable enough to articulate the company values in the strategies or
the policies of the entity (Young & Ghoshal, 2016). The CEO must further be capable of
devising a tangible strategy and segregating into the departmental goals and communicating
to the departmental leaders. In terms of cognitive orientation, it is significant for the leaders

LEADERSHIP 2
to have an open mind and agile thinking capability, in order to perceive the change in the
environment of the company. The same must be backed by the flexibility in the behaviour
and receptive to the uncertainties in the internal framework of the enterprise.
Yet another set of the prime trait in the global leaders is that they must possess and
exercise the cross-cultural relationship skills. The CEO of a multinational firm must be
culturally sensitive, must appreciate the diversity among the employees, and have
constructive dialogues with the varied range of stakeholders of the enterprise (Cullen &
Parboteeah, 2013). The CEO can do this by being socially and culturally literate in terms of
the cultures and customs in the locations of the enterprise. The CEO must further be capable
of sharing the leadership among the others and empowering the subordinates towards the
achievement of the personal goals and the professional goals. It is essential for the
shareholders to develop collaboration activities and to enable the members of the organisation
to appreciate diversity and cultural sensitivity. The CEO must ensure to motivate the
employees by rewarding and recognising them and to facilitate them to make them feel part
of the organisation (Clinebell, Skudiene, Trijonyte & Reardon, 2013). Further, in terms of the
global business context, it is essential for the leader or the CEO to be technologically
perceptive; customer oriented and must possess the business literacy in terms of current
trends in the industry. Further, they must ensure to maintain a competitive edge by building
meaningful partnerships with the stakeholders.
In terms of the leadership, it is essential to note for the leaders that the human
resources are the prime assets of an entity. Therefore, on a personal level, it is essential for
the leaders to have a high score in terms of emotional intelligence and resilience towards the
stress, in addition, to be optimistic and energetic. They must possess the character of integrity
and must be receptive enough to acknowledge the aspirations of the stakeholders and to
address the same in the light of the organisational strategy and available resources
(Schaubroeck et. al, 2012). In addition to the all of the above, it is significant to possess a
great set of the communication skills that would not only aid in the communication of goals,
motivating the employees, interacting with the stakeholders and take the feedback.
Topic 2) Leadership after an earthquake
The natural calamities such as that of the earthquake not only test the firmness of a
town's building structures and planning, a town’s preparedness to cope with a large-scale
disaster; but also the moral values and the leadership capabilities of the leaders of the town.