Leadership Challenges: Critical Perspective Report, University Name

This report critically examines three key leadership challenges faced by corporate leaders: digital transformation, entrepreneurial leadership, and superior-subordinate relationships. The first challenge addresses the impact of digital interconnectedness and the need for leaders to adapt to rapid technological advancements, maintain workforce balance across generations, and prioritize clear goals. Real-world examples like Ford's transformation are used to illustrate this. The second challenge focuses on the essential traits of entrepreneurial leadership, emphasizing the importance of future-oriented thinking, calculated risk-taking, self-confidence, and adaptability, with Jeff Bezos of Amazon as a case study. The final challenge explores the dynamics of superior-subordinate relationships, highlighting the impact of leadership styles on employee motivation and workplace environment, using Mark Zuckerberg as an example of a leader with a progressive and open approach. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of these challenges, supported by academic references, and concludes that effective leadership is a continuous process of guiding organizations through adversity to achieve success.

Running Head: LEADERSHIP: A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
Leadership: A Critical Perspective
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

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LEADERSHIP: A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Description:......................................................................................................................................2
Challenge 1:.............................................................................................................................2
Challenge 2:.............................................................................................................................4
Challenge 3:.............................................................................................................................5
Concluion:........................................................................................................................................7
Reference List:.........................................................................................................................8

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LEADERSHIP: A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
Introduction:
The term leadership can entail so many things: a political leader passionately pursuing a public
or personal cause; a coporate executive, taking his organization above the competition standards;
an explorer, leading a group to new horizons and terrain. Leaders are people who help
themselves and others achieve a set goal. They inspire a vision for followers, setting a direction
to create something new. A leader has to face and solve numerous problems every single day,
which may be related to external factors, the organization as a whloe, one department, or even a
particular employee or customer or client. The ability to effectively deal with these challenges
and bring out the organization on top of it is what determines a good leader. In this report we will
address 3 such problems faced by leaders around the world: Challenges of transformation due to
digital change, challenges of entrepreneurial leadership and challenges of superior-subordinate
rlationhip.
Description:
Challenge 1:
The contemporary world is in a state of constant relentless change due to digital
interconnectedness through mobile devices and virtual networks. Under such circumstances a
leader must know how to sort these changes and ensure stability among his workers. Flexibility
is one of the biggest requisites in this era of digital change. Many leaders even adopt agile
change management practices to stay on top of latest digital advancements and utilize them in
the best possible way. Flexibility goes hand-in-hand with speed. In a world where new
technologies develop overnight, leaders, with their organisations need to be able to grasp, use,
and exploit those innovations in the shortest possible time (Monahan, Chmiola & Roos, 2017).

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LEADERSHIP: A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
Any company that fails to keep up with the contemporary trends and demands will soon be
overtaken and consumed by their competitors. Constant awareness, rapid adaptability and
effective implementation should be the driving force of any leader who wishes to keep his
company afloat in these changing times.
The present workforce is a mixture of ‘old school’ and ‘new school’ employees. Leaders need to
adopt and incorporate policies that can balance between the different generations. Today’s
generation gaps are emphasised by the growth of the internet, which over the last 20 years.
Change leaders must consider how they can adapt their culture to accommodate both ends of the
spectrum. Contemporary business has seen a demand in creativity, personal skills and soft skills.
Leaders and managers should assess these skills of their employees and introduce training
wherever necessary. Such attempts can be made to regulate the nature of employees, however it
is difficult to monitor an employee’s social beaviour on virtual platforms and manage the level of
distraction it creates. Therefore, in order to ensure minimal production loss, leaders must be clear
about their target priorities. Leaders who were clear about shifting priorities and progress
measurement have more engaged employees during the digital transition. Goal-setting is an
important factor that enables employees to track their progress and meet deadlines more
efficiently (Smith, 2019).
Some organizations require overall change to develop its technology and update its way of
working. Particularly tech companies keep revamping their work procedures to keep updated
with the latest technological breakthroughs. Communications, IT solutions, software, automation
and transportation are some of the major industries that have to go through constant
technological transformation. One significant example in this context is Ford. Over a hundred
years back Ford, by introducing the moving assembly line, revolutionized mass mobility. Today,

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his great grandson Bill Ford Jr. and CEO Jim Hacklett are renovating the company for a future
heralded by the new age of connectivity and digitization. The automobile industry is going
through some major changes, with fully electric vehicles and self-driving cars on the horizon.
CEO Hackett made it clear that Ford is pushing on all fronts to keep itself relevant and updated
with its competitors in the market by announcing modern concept vehicles with futuristic designs
and facilities (Trevor, 2017).
Challenge 2:
Entrepreneurial leadership is the most important form of leadership in today’s world market and
requires certain essential traits. Business leadership cannot really be quantified as most
leadership traits are qualitative in nature. A successful business leader must always have an eye
for the future. He must always think ahead of existing problems and search for new opportunities
of growth. An entrepreneur’s plan for tomorrow determines how he will plan his actions today.
This involves taking risks and an entrepreneur must never be afraid to take calculated risks.
Starting a business in the first place involves a great deal of risk-taking. A strong, progressive
business always discovers new ideas and possibilities, and for that, there is always a risk of
failure and of incurring losses. However, the rate of risk must be carefully assessed. The possible
losses shouldn’t be so great that the company cannot hope to recover from it (Alton, 2018).
Self-confidence is another essential trait of an entrepreneurial leader. Confident people attract
others to inspire them, instilling a feeling of security. Confidence helps leaders win clients,
investors, joint ventures, crack deals and assure customers. Success and confidence complement
each other. A study in applied psychology found that successful entrepreneurs have higher
confidence levels than those who are not interested or satisfied with their business. Changing
times and quick-changing public opinions require every business to be flexible. Adaptability is

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crucial in modern day entrepreneurship as businesses need to deliver according to the moods and
changes of clients and customers. Leaders need to be flexible to change and must be ready to
incorporate any major alterations to the organizational policy and strategies depending on the
market swing. Clinging on to old ideas and expecting them to work out will most likely lead to
problems and losses (Wade, 2018).
The capacity to take major decision is a quality each and every entrepreneur and leader needs to
have. It is one of the biggest responsibilities of a business leader to take the final heavy decisions
that determine the trajectory and performance of his organization. A leader is aware of all the
factors he is accountable for while taking a decision and bears the pressure of full responsibility
of the choice he makes. Often a leader does not have the option of a ‘right’ choice, so he must
take the decision that causes the least loss and yields maximum profitability.
We can take the example of the world’s wealthiest entrepreneur, the founder and CEO of
Amazon: Jeff Bezos. He is known for continuously reinvesting the company, ignoring short term
profitability and favouring long-term growth channels. This shows his confidence towards
expanding the company’s horizons and his tendency to constantly take small risks. Amazon’s
launching of Kindle revolutionized book reading across the world, making Amazon popular as
the brand who digitized books (Clifford, 2019). This is one of the many instances where we see
the farsightedness of Bezos and how a firm decision took his company to nw heights.
Challenge 3:
Leadership is not a position; it is an on-going process to address an organisation’s needs and
objectives through viable communication and interaction between the leader and his subordinates
within an oganisational structure. Statistics from a number of researches around the world has

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LEADERSHIP: A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE
shown that a fair ratio of employees have quit their jobs because of their superiors. Furthermore,
there is a clear established relationship between employee’s motivation and his relationship with
his boss. A leader is supposed to perform a set of functions which directly affects his followers,
such as providing guidance, direction, motivation, confidence and the like. Leaders are supposed
to know the strengths and weaknesses of his employees and assign an appropriate load of work
accordingly (Payne, 2014). Often bosses become unpopular among his followers due to
unnecessary pressure or lack of motivation and guidance.
Employees who feel valued and rewarded for their work automatically get the encouragement to
work better and tend to have a better impression of their leaders. This boosts company
performance, workplace environment, leader-follower relationship and overall morale of the
workforce. Effective leadership is about producing and maintaining a sustainable relationship
between the leader and his subordinates in a way that encourages each other to work in and
productive and innovational way. One thing that must be kept in mind is that the nature of
leader-follower relationship is not symmetrical. While all employees have one primary leader to
look up to, who might be superseded by other more senior leaders, every leader has a number of
employees working under them (Popli & Rizvi, 2015). Therefore, while an employee’s relation
with his leader is one way; that of the leader with all his employees is multi-faceted.
Modern workplace relationships between employees, and employees and superiors should be
devoid of the traditional hierarchical barriers. Although a minimal sense of formality should exist
in corporate organizations, informal communication, especially in the case of an urgent
requirement should be encouraged. This helps to remove the invisible strictness barrier and
makes superiors less formidable and more approachable. Founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark
Zuckerberg is probably the most popular leader when it comes to employee satisfaction, having

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received a 99.3% approval rating from his employees (Kux, 2019). Mark is highly appreciated
for his progressive leadership style and informal, open approach towards his employees. His idea
of incorporating all-glass walls in the workplace helps eradicate a sense of personalized
hierarchy. He ensures all his employees feel equally important as he values everyone’s ideas and
laves an open floor for communication. Zuckerberg’s ambition and commitment is to create a
more open and connected world is reflected through his attitude in his workplace and can be
affirmed from the adoration of his employees.
Concluion:
From this report, the nature and significance of three different challenges faced by corporate
leaders around the world was understood and analysed with the help of real world examples. It
can be concluded that leadership not a position but a process of guiding an organization and its
companies through various adversities, towards success.

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Reference List:
Alton, L. (2018). 9 Essential Qualities of Entrepreneurial Leadership. Retrieved 16 August 2019,
from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/essential-qualities-of-entrepreneurial-leadership-
4164828
Clifford, C. (2019). 4 of the boldest business moves Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has ever made.
Retrieved 16 August 2019, from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/08/amazon-ceo-jeff-
bezos-boldest-business-moves.html
Kux, S. (2019). 10 Reasons Why 99% of Facebook Employees Love Mark Zuckerberg.
Retrieved 16 August 2019, from https://www.lifehack.org/articles/work/10-reasons-why-
99-facebook-employees-love-mark-zuckerberg.html
Monahan, Chmiola, & Roos. (2017). How Effective Leaders Drive Digital Change. Retrieved 16
August 2019, from https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-effective-leaders-drive-
digital-change/
Payne, H. J. (2014). Examining the relationship between trust in supervisor–employee
relationships and workplace dissent expression. Communication research reports, 31(2),
131-140.
Popli, S., & Rizvi, I. A. (2015). Exploring the relationship between service orientation, employee
engagement and perceived leadership style: a study of managers in the private service
sector organizations in India. Journal of Services Marketing, 29(1), 59-70.
Smith, C. (2019). 10 Change Leadership Challenges in the Digital Age. Retrieved 16 August
2019, from https://change.walkme.com/change-leadership-challenges/

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Trevor. (2017). Transforming Ford: Supplying Mobility in a Digital World – Technology and
Operations Management. Retrieved 16 August 2019, from
https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-rctom/submission/transforming-ford-supplying-mobility-
in-a-digital-world/
Wade, M. (2018). Redefining Leadership for a Digital Age. Retrieved 16 August 2019, from
https://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/reports/redefining-leadership/