My Leadership Journey

My Leadership Journey 0
Title: My Leadership Journey
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My Leadership Journey 1
Contents
My Chosen Leader.....................................................................................................................2
My Career Goals and Interests...................................................................................................2
Leadership Theorizing and Schultz’s Leadership Style.............................................................3
Principles of Transformational Leadership............................................................................4
Schultz’s Leadership Style.....................................................................................................4
Leadership Stereotypes..............................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

My Leadership Journey 2
My Chosen Leader
My chosen leader is Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks. The reason what makes
me drawn to his leadership is his principle of maintaining transparency or sharing the truth of
the company with the employees. He is criticized for this trait as many C-suits do not prefer
this decision for the profit of the company. Starbucks was in crisis in 2007 while its market
share reduces to 42% because of the competitors like Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's (Chris,
2019). Mr. Schultz decided to transform the business and re-innovate it by changing the
existing product line. In order to avoid hard completion from McDonald's and Dunkin'
Donuts, the leader eliminated the sandwiches and introduced the aroma of freshly cultivated
Coffee. In response to this situation, he keeps an open apology to his employees and their
families associated with the existing products and services. He was questioned by the store
managers, whether sharing 100% transparency will be beneficial for the company or will it
affect the business. Schultz replied that the employee should have clarity of their business
and understand the needs for change management. He emphasizes the importance of
communication with the workforce in the time of dire situation which can keep the business
going on. The trait of giving importance to the employees and empathize with them while
introducing change management intrigues me most (Team, 2016).
My Career Goals and Interests
I am highly interested to take the role of leadership in my organization. The most
important trait in me what motivates me to this career is my empathy and high tolerance
ability. I have an inherent quality to influence the people and in real life, I found my friends
and teammates who value my decision. My people easily assume me as a representative of
themselves. As my empathic nature enables to listen to them attentively and consider their
problems instead of prioritizing personal interests, and they trust my decision making. Not

My Leadership Journey 3
only communicating with the workforce, but I am also capable to deal with the external
shareholders, including government, providers, and influencers. I believe that every
individual has different perception and values based on their cultural background and I am
aware of that. This cultural awareness makes me at ease communicating with the external
stakeholders as they come from different cultural background. I will consider their different
interests, priorities, values, and relationship while dealing with them. It leads me to match my
business interests with the needs of the external stakeholders. My ability to engage the people
with my communication strengthen my leadership ability. The leader needs to understand the
relationship of the stakeholders with the organization and wisely chooses the content to
convey them. For instance, the Influencers have no direct interest or relationship with the
company and so conveying the message regarding the equipment update is meaningless to
them. I have an ability to make people understand in an easy way, as many stakeholders get
disgusted with content embedding too many technical terms.
Leadership Theorizing and Schultz’s Leadership Style
Keller & Foster (2012) comment that the manager makes things right, whereas the
leader does the right thing (Keller & Foster, 2012). Grey (2013) explains this notion by
saying that, fixing the thing right denotes efficiency, whereas doing the right thing denotes
effectiveness. Allison, Goethals, and Kramer (2017) point out that making the balance
between efficient and effective, in response to change management or changing work
environment is critical. It is not possible by a single person, but needs the coordination of the
team. As a manager maintains the efficiency for short term, leaders make it effective in the
long run (Allison, Goethals & Kramer, 2017). For example, my chosen leader, Mr. Schultz
makes the change management effective by educating the Starbucks outlet workforces about
their new job role through Masterclass, an online educational platform. Schultz leadership