Leadership Development Plan: Jeff Bezos Analysis and Report

This report presents a leadership development plan, focusing on the analysis of leadership qualities through the example of Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon. The report begins with an introduction outlining the importance of leadership in organizational success. It then delves into an observation of Jeff Bezos's leadership qualities, highlighting his autocratic style, customer-centric approach, focus on innovation, risk-taking capabilities, and communication skills. The report emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and long-term vision in Bezos's leadership. Following the observation, the report includes a self-assessment section, where the student identifies their strengths and weaknesses based on several diagnostic tools, including emotional intelligence, self-confidence, and team leadership skill tests, as well as a cultural intelligence assessment. The student recognizes the need to improve communication and relationship management skills, as well as build confidence in decision-making. The report concludes with a detailed leadership development plan, outlining specific goals, activities, timeframes, and measurement indicators for improvement. The plan focuses on enhancing communication skills, building team leadership capabilities, and boosting self-confidence. The appendices include the feedback checklist and the results of the diagnostic tests. The report offers insights into leadership development and self-improvement through practical application and analysis.

Running head: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
2. Observation on the leadership qualities of Jeff Bezos.................................................................2
3. Leadership Development Plan.....................................................................................................5
3.1 Need for individual leadership development grounded on observations...............................5
3.2 The plan.................................................................................................................................8
4. Feedback....................................................................................................................................11
5. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................14
Appendices....................................................................................................................................16
Appendix 1- Leader’s feedback on the Feedback Checklist form.............................................16
Appendix 2- The tests results....................................................................................................17
Emotional Intelligence Test...................................................................................................17
Self confidence test................................................................................................................18
Team leader skill test.............................................................................................................19
Cultural intelligence assessment............................................................................................20

2LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
1. Introduction
Leadership plays an integral part in improving the rate of operations of the venture while
operating as per the common goals of the venture. In this connection, the continuous
modifications in the leadership approach and practices permits an organization in increasing the
feasibility of the organizational design while improving the operational performance of the
venture. According to Yahaya and Ebrahim (2016), the exposition of different leadership roles
specifically aims at calibrating different organizational processes and governance structures. The
report will evaluate the leadership qualities of Jeff Bezos while observing and reflecting on the
individual leadership qualities. Moreover, after assessing the qualities a leadership development
plan will be created and feedback from a leader will be taken as a part of the report for
identifying the modifications in the personal leadership qualities.
2. Observation on the leadership qualities of Jeff Bezos
The leader that will be considered for observational purpose in the section is Jeff Bezos,
the chairman and CEO of Amazon. The leadership styles and qualities of Bezos enabled him in
improving the innovativeness of the concerned organization while operating in adherence to the
common goals of the venture. According to Solanki (2019), the skills and techniques of
leadership that is implemented by Jeff Bezos is unconventional and equally outcome oriented.
Moreover, Matthews, Harbin and Daigle 2018) commented that Jeff Bezos is an autocratic leader
who aims at managing and regulating the different activities that are initiated by Amazon while
inducing different innovative measures. It has been observed that the leaders who follow an
autocratic governance approach specifically manages and takes the critical decisions for the
growth of the organization themselves. Therefore, the leadership style of leadership specifically

3LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
outlined the management skills of Bezos while taking every critical decision with the purpose of
supporting the growth and expansion of the venture.
The growth of Amazon specifically depends on the culture that was promoted by Bezos
of adhering to the customer needs and expectations. The overall work processes and the
propositions that are made by the organization are guided through the principle of consumer first
approach. Moreover, Newark (2018) opined that Jeff Bezos has an eye for continuous innovation
in the business practices and the quality of the propositions. The continuous learning capability
of the leader enables an organization in improving the rate of innovation while operating as per
the changing needs and preferences of the customers.
It has been observed that the perseverance and resilience of Jeff Bezos specifically
enabled the leader in inducing different modifications in the different operations for achieving
the common goals of the venture (Taylor, 2018). Again, Jackowski (2018) stated that the long
term thinking capability of Jeff Bezos contributed towards the growth of the visionary practices
and continuous innovation in the business processes and the propositions that the organization
made to the customers. The continuous innovation in the business practices enabled Jeff Bezos in
improving the rate of operation of the venture while operating as per the changing preferences of
the customers and the intense competition in the market environment. The risk taking capability
of Jeff Bezos, as a leader in Amazon, enabled the organization in improving on their capability
of inducing different innovation grounded practices.
According to Schoemaker, Heaton and Teece (2018), the risk assessing capability of a
leader enables the same in improving their decision making competencies while adhering to the
common goals of the venture. In this connection, the improved risk assessment capabilities and
long term vision of Jeff Bezos empowered the same in making business decisions for the

4LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
organization in adverse situations. Breen (2020) stated that the decision making capabilities of a
leader enables in influencing the continuous growth and expansion of an organizations while
operating as per the common goals. In this connection, the improvements in the decision making
capabilities of Jeff Bezos are specifically empowered through his market and technological
knowledge associated with long term vision (Covin & Slevin, 2017). The attributes specifically
enabled Jeff Bezos in improving the operational aspects in Amazon while adhering to the
changing needs and preferences of the customers.
On the other hand, it has been noted that Jeff Bezos is a good communicator and
motivator. Communication with the business stakeholders play an important role in empowering
and encouraging their engagement in the different operational practices. Jeff Bezos took the
initiative of improving interaction with the employees with the purpose of making the same
aware of the strategic goals of the venture. Keeton (2018) opined that organizational operations
are often empowered through open communication which helps in resolving the challenges to
continuous operations while building on the resource grounded capabilities (Oc, 2018). In this
connection, the communication skills of Jeff Bezos might be taken as one of the positive sides of
the leadership personae as it not only help in motivating but also influencing the workforce
towards achieving their respective goals. The overall leadership qualities of Jeff Bezos enabled
in improving the performance of Amazon while operating as per the common objectives of the
venture (Storey, 2016). Therefore, from the above observation it might be stated that leadership
approaches initiated by Jeff Bezos enabled the business n empowering its sustenance while
operating in intensely competitive markets.

5LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
3. Leadership Development Plan
3.1 Need for individual leadership development grounded on observations
Self- reflection through assessments assist an individual in identifying the strengths and
weaknesses of the same and the possible interventions that might be considered towards
improvements. The different assessments critically evaluate the personal capabilities of an
individual and the areas that require improvements with the purpose of perfecting the different
activities. In this connection, the leadership assessments helped me in identifying the different
issues that are being faced by me while managing a team in the cross cultural context. Diversity
and inclusion are the major elements that induced through the introduction of globalization in the
organizational operations. The modificationsin the organizational operations are grounded on the
effective functioning of the diverse processes in adherence to the common goals of the venture.
The emotional intelligence test projected that I have relatively lower levels of skills
relating to relationship management. I scored 4 in the aspect of relationship management is
relatively lower. Social awareness is also lower as I scored 5 in the test. Therefore, I believe that
I am required to develop skills on managing relation with people through extensive
communication and empathy. Reiche et al. (2017) opined that the relationship management is
one of the most important skills that might be imbibed by a leader with the purpose of
identifying and resolving the issues that are being faced by the subordinates. Therefore, I believe
that insufficiency of communication and social awareness might affect my capability of
improving my operations as a leader while operating as per the common goals of the business.
Again the insufficiency of communication and my introverted nature restricted my capability of
improving my operations in the cross- cultural context.

6LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
According to Yahaya and Ebrahim (2016), the improvements in communication skills
enables a leader in developing the overall operations of an organization while operating in the
cross- cultural context. In this relation, the different changes in the organizational operations are
grounded on the effect9ve functioning of the systems in adherence to the common goals of the
venture. However, my self- management and self- awareness skills are moderate which has
helped me in improving my individual operations. However, the introverted nature restricted my
capability of inducing team work through sufficient communication skills. Again, in self-
confidence test I gained achieved 40 which portrays that I am moderately confident on the
decisions that in take while operating in different business situations.
The restrictive factor in my case was again my inability to communicate clearly with the
subordinates while running an individual show. I believe in individualistic operations and are not
adaptable to different team grounded projects. It has incapacitated me to become a proficient
leader. According to Hoch et al. (2018), the different changes that are planned by the
organizations are specifically reliant on the effective functioning of the teams towards achieving
the common objectives of the venture. However, insufficiency of communicational abilities
restricted me in integrating the team efforts while operating in a complex project. The issues that
I face while communicating in the cross cultural setting is reflected through the cultural
intelligence test. Most of my responses, signifying my capabilities towards working in a cross-
cultural context in an organization, were negative.
The absence of social awareness and cultural competence might be considered as the
major factors that restricted my capability of improving the operations as per the common goals
of the venture. The lack of effective team leadership skills are reflected through the score I
achieved through the team leadership skill test. I scored 6 which is way below the standards of

7LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
the test, signifying that I have no specific quality of managing a team while operating in the
different business situations. Empathy and communication might be taken as the critical factors
that supports a leader in improving the possibilities of management. The key modifications in the
organizational operations are grounded on the effective functioning of the diverse processes in
adherence to the common goals of the venture. According to Shapiro and Stefkovich (2016),
communication plays an important role in encouraging inclusiveness among the employees while
operating as per the common goals of an organization. Moreover, Uhl-Bien and Arena (2017)
opined that relationship building is an important attribute that must be considered by a leader
while improving the organizational operations with the purpose of achieving the common goals
of the venture.
Therefore, I believe that I must improve my most common weaknesses like
expressiveness through communication and relationship management skills. The improvement of
communication would not only enable me in increasing the social awareness but also guide the
different operations of the workforce towards achieving the common objectives of a firm.
Moreover, I believe that I must work on improving my confidence towards the decisions I make
with the purpose of improving my decision making skills as a leader. The improved confidence
would provide me with a scope of overcoming my fears and resistances that have been affecting
my inclusiveness in the business operations.

8LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
3.2 The plan
GOAL Strengths/
Weaknesses
ACTIVITY TIMEFRAM
E
MEASUREMEN
T
Developing
efficient
communicationa
l skills
Weakness: Inability to
communicate with
people from different
cultures
Undertaking
speech therapy
2 months Improved quality
of verbal
communication
skills
Taking part in
a cross-cultural
learning
program
3 months Specific
understanding of
the communication
needs in the
context of different
cultures

9LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Taking part in
meetings and
sessions
2 weeks Understanding the
prerequisites of
communication
while making
stakeholders aware
of the different
business goals
Building on the
team leading
skills
Weakness: Absence of
relationship
management leading
to mismanagement in
the teams
Undertaking
team hurdles
2 weeks Increase in team
inclusiveness
while assigning
goals to every
individual

10LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Developing
delegation
skills while
guiding and
integrating the
team members
1 month Empower the
strengths of the
team members
while encouraging
their active
engagement in the
different business
operations
Improving self
confidence
Strength: Improving
social awareness,
knowledge on the
processes and market
knowledge
Developing
knowledge on
the markets
and the
different
changing
processes
3 months Improved
knowledge on the
processes and the
market situations
would allow in
empowering the
adaptability
Improving
links of
communicatio
n with the
stakeholders
for
2 months Better knowledge
on the concerns
that are being
faced by the
stakeholders and
thereby knowledge

11LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
understanding
their concerns
on the manner in
which the same
might be managed
4. Feedback
I took the initiative of approaching Benny Fajarai, the Co-founder and CEO of Qlapa,
with the objective of reviewing my leadership development plan. The main purpose of meeting
with Benny was to receive a feedback on the plan and the manner in which the improvements
might be sought. Benny took the initiative of reviewing the overall situation that I have been
facing and the goals that I enumerated as a part of the plan. He stated that the goals are clearly
articulated and are aligned with the issues that I am facing. The goals made way towards the
development of the interpersonal and communicational skills, which I lagged. However, he felt
pretty unsure of the state of actions that are developed by me in the plan. Benny stated that some
of the activities have nothing to do with achieving the goals. He commented that activities like
‘taking part in meetings’ or ‘undergoing a speech therapy’ might not be that helpful in improving
the cross- cultural knowledge or communicational competencies.
Moreover, Benny stated that most of the activities like ‘developing knowledge on the
markets and the different changing processes’ or ‘improving links of communication with the
stakeholders for understanding their concerns’ are not detailed. By ‘not detailed’ Benny meant
that the specific set of activities were not enlisted which might create ambiguities while
measuring the success factors of the development plan. Moreover, Benny stated that the
activities being unclear he is unable to determine if the activities would support me in achieving