Leading Huawei: Critical Analysis of Leadership & Application

This case study critically analyzes the leadership strategies employed at Huawei, drawing lessons from Ren Zhengfei, a prominent Chinese executive. It explores how to apply purpose-driven ambition by aligning employee goals with Huawei's success, fostering adaptive vision through creative chaos, and inspiring employees through personal success stories and managerial commitment. The analysis also covers the importance of humble dedication, directive leadership with devolved decision-making, cooperative mindsets encouraged through awards, and continuous learning through in-house training to enhance employee skills. The author reflects on their strategic leadership qualities, highlighting strong communication and passion while acknowledging areas for improvement in collaboration and innovation.

Running head: LEADING HUAWEI 1
Leading Huawei
Name
Academic Institution
Author Note
Class
Professor
August 29, 2024

LEADING HUAWEI 2
Leading Huawei
Critical Analysis
The first lesson is purpose driven ambition. In this context, tying the personal ambition of
the employees at Huawei is applicable. As part of the leadership, I would tell them success
stories of past and current senior managers who got promoted by aligning their ambitions with
the goals to make Huawei successful. Within the role theory of leadership, this will set
expectations about what role they will play within Huawei in order to achieve their ambitions
(Stowell, 2016). The second lesson is adaptive vision. I would apply this by encouraging
“creative chaos” in all levels of the company in order to allow for the creative input by Huawei
employees. This creates a culture of creativity with regard to customer satisfaction and
innovating new products.
The third lesson from Zhengfei is inspiration. Telling the employees under my direction
about my personal success stories while working with Huawei would be inspirational. This
would be part of leadership by example and would inspire them to follow me as a role model. A
managerial grid style of management where the employees would be committed to their job
assignments while I would be committed to ensuring they succeed (Maccoby, 2015). The fourth
lesson humble dedication. This would be applied by acknowledging that I may not know
everything as a manager but would be willing to work collectively with those under my charge.
This transformational leadership approach is important in getting the employees to focus on the
organizational goals of Huawei.
The fifth lesson is directive leadership. In this lesson, I would make clear demarcations of
where my authority is limited. I would encourage participative leadership by devolving some of
the decision powers to the junior mangers working under me. The sixth lesson is the cooperative

LEADING HUAWEI 3
mindset. I would encourage the junior managers under my authority to work in cooperation and
not competition (De Cremer & Tao, 2016). I would institute a yearly award to the manager
whose department was the most cooperative while working with other departments. The seventh
lesson is the power of learning. As a senior manager, I would ensure that all employees get
regular in-house training in order to upgrade their skills. According to the cognitive resource
theory, improving the cognitive abilities of the employees would improve their leadership skills
which are important to the overall success of Huawei.
Strategic Leadership Qualities
I have strong communication skills which are important in communicating the vision of
Huawei to the employees working under me. I also believe that I have passion and commitment
which is necessary in exciting enthusiasm in other people. In this regard, I believe in leading by
example in order to infuse excitement and passion within my team. However, I believe that I can
improve on my collaboration skills (Gujral, 2013). I have always tended to take the credit for
major achievements and this has made it hard for me to collaborate with others. In addition, I am
poor in innovation. I am not adaptive to new changes and take time to accept new trends. I can
improve on this strategic leadership quality.

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References
De Cremer, D., & Tao, T. (2016). Leading Huawei: Lessons from China’s most Successful
Executive. Harvard Business Review.
Gujral, G. S. (2013). Leadership qualities for effective leaders. New Delhi: Vij Books Pvt Ltd.
Maccoby, M. (2015). Strategic intelligence: Conceptual tools for leading change. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Stowell, S. J., & Mead, S. S. (2016). The art of strategic leadership: How leaders at all levels
prepare themselves, their teams, and organizations for the future. New Jersey: Wiley.