Leadership in Complex Organizations: CEO Role and Challenges

This report delves into the essential qualities and challenges faced by CEOs in large, complex organizations, using the CEO of Telus Corporation, Darren Entwistle, as a case study. It discusses key aspects of the CEO's role, including managing external responsibilities, reporting to the board of directors, understanding the limits of power, obtaining the right information, maintaining visibility, personifying the company, managing time horizons, addressing expectations of change, handling unpredictability, and dealing with severe time constraints. The report evaluates Darren Entwistle's leadership based on these factors, concluding that he demonstrates the qualities of a successful CEO by balancing internal and external operations, understanding organizational dynamics, and motivating employees. The analysis emphasizes the importance of communication, transparency, and adaptability in effective leadership within complex organizational structures.

Running head: LEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The following report dealt with the qualities that are essential for a good leader. The report
focused majorly on the leadership techniques that are practiced by the CEO of Telus
Corporation, Darren Entwistle. The report had also attempted an evaluation of the CEO on
the basis of the factors that are discussed within the given article.

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Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3
Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 3
Broader Scope ............................................................................................................ 3
Reporting to a Board of Directors .............................................................................. 3
Limits of Power.......................................................................................................... 4
Obtaining the Right Information ................................................................................ 4
Visibility .................................................................................................................... 5
Personify the Company .............................................................................................. 5
Time Horizon ............................................................................................................. 5
Expectations of Change ............................................................................................. 6
Unpredictability ......................................................................................................... 6
Severe Limits of Time ............................................................................................... 6
The evaluation of the CEO ........................................................................................ 7
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 7
Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 8

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Introduction
A good leader is characterized by the demonstration of the various qualities like the
appreciative nature towards the concerned employees, the confidence in the employees and
their ownself, the feeling of compassion towards the employees who have been working for
him. The good leader is observed to be fair, diligent, courageous, flexible, honest, responsive
and honest towards the employees of the organization. Telus Corporation is a national
telecommunications industry based in Canada that deals in various services and products
pertaining to the telecommunications (Telus.com, 2018). The following report deals with the
various challenges faced by the CEO of Telus Corporation and the ways in which the CEO
might deal with them. The report further deals with the evaluation of the level of the CEO
based on the given article.
Discussion
Broader Scope
The CEO of Telus Corporation might face challenges based on the factors related to
the broader scope. The CEO of an organization would need to manage himself during the
activities pertaining to the various external responsibilities that are relevant to the concerned
company. The CEO of the organization is advised to keep a track of the matters pertaining to
the industry groups, the regulators and other such matters (Porter, Nohria, & Khurana, 2010,
January). The CEO is also advised to hold effective communications towards the various
stakeholders of the concerned company and thus convey the appropriate strategic statement
of the company to them.
Reporting to a Board of Directors
The CEO is also responsible for reporting to the board of the directors of the
concerned company. The CEO is also responsible for meeting the expectations of the various

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expectations of the board of the directors of the concerned company. The CEO is responsible
for the management of the board of directors of the concerned business organization. The
CEO is advised to maintain a “no surprises” policy of communication with the board of
directors and must maintain the transparency with the board of directors. This helps the board
of directors to be aware of the various risks and the implications of the strategic decisions that
are implemented within the concerned organization.
Limits of Power
The CEO of Telus Corporation might face various issues pertaining to the
segmentation of the variety of the tasks and the operations that need to be maintained by the
employees of the organization. The issues might arise due to the non-cooperation of the staff
of the company with the concerned CEO. The CEO might address the concerned issue by
sorting out the responsibilities and the job descriptions of the various employees who have
been working within the concern. The CEO of the organization might address the issues of
the non-cooperation of the staff by bringing about a change in the leadership style.
Obtaining the Right Information
The CEO must maintain the effective communication within the organization in order
to address the issues related to the communication gap that exists within the organization.
The CEO must display the qualities of a good leader in order to address the issues that pertain
to the communication gap (Leavy, 2013). The information that is delivered by the CEO of the
organization must maintain the credibility of the concerned communication. The
communication from the end of the CEO must display the honesty in them. This helps in the
maintenance of the credibility in the communication that exists within the organization.

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Visibility
The CEO might face the issues that pertain to the identification of the proper issues
within the organization by implementing the two-way communication within the concerned
organization. The effective communication within the organization helps in increasing the
amount of visibility within the organization. The two-way communication among the
employees of the concern helps as well as encourages the employees to provide the effective
feedback to the leaders of the organization (Zerfass, Verčič, & Wiesenberg, 2016). The two-
way communication among the employees help them to share ideas that might help them to
come up with the various ideas that might prove to be beneficial for the company in the
future.
Personify the Company
The CEO of Telus Corporation might face certain issues that pertain to the
personification of the company. The CEO might resort to the effective communication within
the company in order to help the employees in forming an understanding of the activities that
might help in the formation of the better brand image of the concerned company (Fleck,
Michel, & Zeitoun, 2014). The CEO might also arrange for the creation of a platform within
the company that might help them to put forth the grievances and the concerns that the clients
of the concern might be raising.
Time Horizon
The CEO might face issues regarding the management of the time by the employees
who have been working within the organization. The CEO is responsible for the management
of the various issues that might arise due to the timeline within which the concerned tasks
need to be completed (Katila & Eriksson, 2013). The CEO might help in the management of
these issues by allocating the concerned task to a whole group of people and thereby helping
in the completion of the task within the assigned deadline.

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Expectations of Change
The CEO of the concerned organization, Telus Corporation might have to deal with
the issues raised by the employees who intend to bring in changes in the organization. The
CEO of the organization might deal with the issues by demonstrating respect for all the
employees of the organization irrespective of the posts that they hold within the organization.
The CEO might need to look into the root of the issues that might have triggered the rise of
the demand of the change by the concerned employees of the concern (Maxwell, 2018). The
CEO might need to gain access to the full potential of the team in order to extract the
intended outcome from the concerned employees.
Unpredictability
The CEO might address the issues pertaining to the unpredictability of the conditions
at the organization by implementing the measures that are needed for the maintenance of the
transparency within the given organization. the CEO might take the help of some advisor
who might help the CEO to identify the areas wherein the staff might need the assistance
(Peni, 2014). The CEO should encourage the employees of the concern to put forth the issues
that might have been bothering them. This might help the CEO to form an open platform
wherein the problems faced by the concerned employees heard and solved.
Severe Limits of Time
The CEO of the Telus Corporation might need to address the issues that pertain to the
severe limits of the time that is assigned for the completion of the concerned task at hand.
The CEO might attempt a solution of this issue by dividing the tasks among many employees
and by promoting the completion of the activity through the display of the team effort within
the concerned department of the organization in discussion, Telus Corporation (Huang,
2013). This step taken by the CEO would promote the internal bonding among the
employees, a much-needed aspect for the progress in the organizational performance.

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The evaluation of the CEO
The CEO of Telus Corporation, Darren Entwistle, is observed to have depicted the
qualities of a good CEO. The CEO had always abided by the fact that the company is not run
by him. The CEO has always maintained a healthy balance between the internal and the
external operations of the company. The CEO has always demonstrated the understanding
that is required in order to help the concerned organization to function properly and keep all
the employees of the concern motivated (Porter, Lorsch, & Nohria, Seven surprises for new
CEOs., 2004). The CEO might have taken the required external; help in order to form an
understanding of the issues that were present among the employees of the concern.
Conclusion
Thus, from the above discussion, it might be concluded that the CEO of Telus
Corporation, Darren Entwistle, had depicted the various qualities that need to be depicted by
the CEO of a successful organization. The leadership styles that are depicted by the CEO tend
to depict him as a good leader who is capable of leading the organization to achieve the
success that it has been aiming for. The evaluation of the CEO based on the given article
depicts him to be a successful leader for the concerned organization.

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Bibliography
Fleck, N., Michel, G., & Zeitoun, V. (2014). Brand personification through the use of
spokespeople: An exploratory study of ordinary employees, CEOs, and celebrities
featured in advertising. Psychology & Marketing, 31(1), 84-92.
Huang, S. K. (2013). The impact of CEO characteristics on corporate sustainable development.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 4(20), 234-244.
Katila, S., & Eriksson, P. (2013). He is a Firm, Strong‐Minded and Empowering Leader, but is
She? Gendered Positioning of Female and Male CEOs. Gender, Work & Organization,
1(20), 71-84.
Leavy, B. (2013). Effectiveness at the top–what makes the difference and why? Strategy &
Leadership, 41(3), 11-19.
Maxwell, J. C. (2018). Developing the Leader Within You 2.0. HarperCollins Leadership.
Peni, E. (2014). CEO and Chairperson characteristics and firm performance. Journal of
Management & Governance, 18(1), 185-205.
Porter, M. E., Lorsch, J. W., & Nohria, N. (2004). Seven surprises for new CEOs. Harvard
Business Review, 82(10), 62-75.
Porter, M. E., Nohria, N., & Khurana, R. (2010, January). What Is Leadership?. In Handbook
of Leadership Theory and Practice: An HBS Centennial Colloquium on Advancing
Leadership. Harvard Business Review Press.
Telus.com. (2018, March 16). Telus.com. Retrieved from Telus.com:
https://www.telus.com/en/about/

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Zerfass, A., Verčič, D., & Wiesenberg, M. (2016). Managing CEO communication and
positioning: A cross-national study among corporate communication leaders. Journal
of communication management, 1(20), 37-55.