Leadership Case Study: Analysis of Richard Branson's Leadership Style

This case study delves into the leadership style of Richard Branson, the owner of the Virgin Group, focusing on his application of authentic and transformational leadership principles. The analysis examines how Branson's leadership aligns with the authentic leadership model, exploring c...Read More

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Leadership

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Introduction
Leadership is the ability of a leader to use a different style of leadership in order to encourage
its followers to achieve goals. Authentic leadership is an approach to leadership that focuses
on building an honest relationship on an ethical foundation with followers (Northouse, 2016).
On the other side, authentic leadership is a subcategory of transformational leadership. In
order to understand the concept and application of leadership styles, a case study is chosen
that is of the new age transformational and authentic leader Richard Branson (Bryman
et.al,2011). Richard Branson is the owner of the Virgin group and seen as a dynamic
entrepreneur and possesses traits of an authentic and transformational leader. This report
consists of an analysis of the leadership style of Richard Branson using the above concepts.
Concept and application
Authenticity leadership model
There are many leadership theories that have been proposed over the years. Such as
transactional, ethical, spiritual and servant leadership; however, authenticity is a quality that
is essential in a leader and can be acquired through actions, morals, values, and relationships
(Bryman et.al,2011). According to Algahtani, (2014), authenticity means being true to
oneself, this is a quality that plays a significant role in influencing others. Thus an authentic
leader is the one who is consistent in his behavior and feelings and inner thoughts. Hence,
the authentic leadership model emphasizes authenticity as an important trait in a leader that
can be acquired through self-acceptance, self-awareness, and self-knowledge (Luzinski,
2011).
Figure 1: Authenticity Leadership Framework

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Source: (Algahtani, 2014)
Framework
In the authentic leadership model, there are four components that help the leader to deal with
followers and to encourage them to follow the right person. Being an authentic leader is a
difficult task as it requires more skills and self-knowledge and self-reflection to understand
own weaknesses and reactions (Northouse, 2016). One of the components is self-awareness
(Know thyself), this includes that a leader knows his strengths, values, and limitations.
Further, in order to work on another component, it is necessary for a leader to focus on self-
awareness. Another component is relational transparency (be genuine) that includes being
straightforward and honest in dealing with followers so that a connection can be built with
followers. Further, an authentic leader follows balanced processing (be fair-minded) and has
ethical conduct (do the right thing) (Yukl, 2017).
Richard Branson Leadership style
Richard Branson is the owner of the Virgin group and seen as a dynamic entrepreneur and
possesses traits of an authentic and transformational leader. In order to understand these traits
of authentic leadership, the case study is considered by Richard Branson. For instance, the
way he leads the organization to set an example for others (Algahtani, 2014). He focuses on
maintaining a good relationship with its staff members as Virgin Group offered a little less
salary as compared to the industry standard to its employees. But employees are happy to
work for the company because of the work culture. Branson believes that running an
organization should be fun and considering this he developed a working culture that excites
people to work. The leadership style of Richard Branson reflects self-awareness, authentic
behavior, and balanced processing. Virgin Group sales and profitability are its key strengths
because of its leadership style that includes building a connection or relationship with
employees (Yukl, 2017).
The way Branson represents itself as an example for others or for its staff members reflects
its authentic leadership style. The most important trait of Branson is that he respects the
opinion of others and listens to them that can be another leadership trait of authentic
leadership. These traits of authentic leaders encourage followers to accept things. Such as the
belief of Branson about bringing excitement, fun and challenging environment attract more
employees to work for the company (Gold, et.al, 2015). Further, the way he sets an example
for others is the way he encourages people to follow him.

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Evaluation
Authentic leaders have the ability to bring positivity amongst employees at the time of
change. As change is part of any organization and needs to be implemented on time by
leaders. Here, an authentic leadership style is best suitable as an authentic leader possesses
the ability to inspire others with their traits and qualities and attract them to follow the right
person (Luzinski,2011). Further, it is a unique collaboration of transformational leadership,
spiritual leadership, positive leadership and servant leadership. The main advantage of using
an authentic leadership style is relational engagement as the main focus of the leader is on
maintaining trust and cohesion among the group (Gold, et.al, 2015). Further, authentic
leaders combine their values and with organizational objectives, with that, they ensure moral
and ethical standards in the process so that an organization has a strong ethical foundation
(Yukl, 2017).
These advantages can be linked with the leadership style of Richard Branson as due to his
leadership Virgin Group employees are happy and satisfied this leads to more productivity
and high retention ratio. Further, Branson embedded values such as integrity, teamwork,
honesty, challenges, creativity, and fun in its organization environment that also give
advantage to the brand in the market as customers trust Virgin Airlines. Moreover, Branson
managed 200 companies in the Virgin Group that would be an impossible task for other
leaders. Hence, using authentic leadership helps the leader to uplift the image of the brand in
the market and to lead the organization in a way so that it becomes successful as a leader in
the market (Wagner and Hollenbeck,2015).
This model of leadership has certain disadvantages some of them are that this theory does not
have any unified concept, as different authors provided a different opinion for authenticity
(Mauri,2017). According to Northouse, the main issue is “ambiguity around specific
context”, that means the measures of authenticity are not cleared and explained. Further, the
moral and ethical component in this theory contradicts organizational objectives because
organizations in different industries have different moral and ethical values and standards. On
the other side, the concept of authentic leadership is affecting the ability of an organization to
make quick decisions (Grint,2010).

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Role of transformational and authentic leadership
According to (Northouse, 2016), authentic leadership is a subcategory of transformational
leadership. Transformational leadership is considered the ability of a leader to take big
decisions and transform the organization. The traits of a transformational leader are
extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The transformational leader
possesses the ability to influence others with its decision making, creativity, charisma, and
intellect (Collinson et.al 2011).
Transformational leaders are the one who has the courage to take the risk and have skills to
face the challenges and take steps in order to bring a revolutionary change in society and in
the world. The first and foremost benefit of transformational leaders in the innovation and
long term vision as due to that nowadays companies are able to manage competitive
advantage. Moreover, the role of a transformational leader in this era is to bring positive
change, innovation, efficiency, transparency and revolution in industries. Further, these
leaders also have authenticity and confidence to make things happen as they want. Due to
that role of transformational leadership become significant in this changing world.
Both the leadership styles play an important role in increasing job satisfaction, commitment
and performance of employees (Hughes et.al,2008). Mainly transformational leaders act as
role models for their followers as a transformational leader challenge their followers to
perform best and motivate them to work by understand their weaknesses and strengths.
According to Mullins, (2010), transformational leadership mainly draws on assorted
approaches that bring many benefits to organizations (Mauri,2017).
Application
From the analysis of Richard Branson's leadership style, it is known that he has long term
vision and ability to deal with changes in a positive manner considering ethical and legal
framework. Richard Branson is a transformational leader and possesses skills such as
creativity, innovativeness, and courage to take risky decisions. As Branson failed many times
but tried again and again, this trait of him proves to be attractive and influence people to take
the risk and perform well (Hughes et.al,2008). He takes business challenges as campaigns
and prides himself on taking companies to the next level. Further, under the transformational
style of Branson Virgin brand changes and mainly known for its qualities that are valued for
money, creativity, reliability, quality, return on investment and innovation. The company

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went through many ups and downs but able to survive in the market and at present taken as
the game changer and trendsetter for global businesses.
Further, the company changes its marketing strategy and came up with the idea of generating
awareness of the brand through free media this helps the company to a safe huge amount on
advertisement and promotion strategies. Moreover, the transformational style of Branson is
seen in its speeches and event held by the company. As his long term vision, strategies and
decision-making skills of Branson reflect its personality traits. One of the important
characteristics of Branson's leadership style is not expecting people to follow him rather he
believes in giving freedom to people to think and implement (Hughes et.al,2008). Richard
Brinson is a leader who does not take credit for its work rather gives it to their employees so
that they can feel their worth and when anything goes wrong Branson took full responsibility
for it. This indicates that Richard always try to encourage and support its employees as he
being the silent captain of the team and let his team play the game
Evaluation
Authenticity also plays an important part in transformational leadership, as it is expected
from leaders to be genuine and do ethical things (Grint,2010). This leadership style is useful
in this changing era as transformation and change are necessary. The first and foremost
quality of a transformational leader is long term vision and ability to communicate its vision
to its followers in a proper and quick manner (Mullins, 2010).
Further, the transformational leader sets an example for its followers and promote enthusiasm
by creating a working environment that drives innovation and creativity in the company.
Transformational leaders focus on influencing and motivating others through that efficiency
and the level of output can increase (Hughes et.al,2008). Transformational leadership style
helps in to compete in the market as they have the ability to take a risk and be the game-
changer in the market (Yukl, 2017). On the other side, transformational leader struggles to
lead in an organization where the focus is on detailed things as it means support of others is
required to the transformational leader for performing efficiently. Moreover, a
transformational leader more depends on the concept of passion and obsession rather than
focusing on truth and reality. They always try to do impossible things and this makes
sometimes not prove to be beneficial for people who are connected with them. This
leadership style is powerful as used by people who want to make a revolutionary change in
society or in the industry (Bryman et.al,2011). Hence the role of a transformational leader in

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an organization is to bring change in a positive manner and motivate its followers by setting
an example.
Conclusion
It is concluded from the case analysis that Richard Branson is a transformational leader and
with them, he is an authentic leader. The trait of authenticity is present in his
transformational leadership style that makes him a great personality. The way Richard
Branson leads the Virgin Group is an example of transformational leadership. Further, it is
concluded that authentic leadership includes four components that are self-awareness, self-
knowledge, balanced processing, and ethical conduct. From the case, it can be said that the
success of the Virgin Group is because of the transformational leadership style of Branson as
he has courage, vision, creativity, patience, self-awareness and morals and ethics to lead the
organization. Hence, leadership style plays an important role in the success and growth of an
organization.

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References
Algahtani, A., (2014). Are leadership and management different? A review. Journal of
management policies and practices, 2(3), pp.71-82.
Bryman, A., Collinson, D., Grint, K., and Jackson, B. (2011). The SAGE Handbook of
Leadership, London: SAGE.
Collinson, D, Grint, K., and Jackson, B. (2011). Major Works in Leadership Studies, Vols. 1-
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Gold, J., Thorpe, R., and Mumford A., (2015). Leadership and Management Development;
5th Edition. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Grint, K. (2010). Leadership: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hughes R., Ginnet R, and Curphy G. (2008). Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of
Experience. McGraw-Hill Companies, Incorporated,6 edition
Luzinski, C. (2011). Authentic and transformational and transformational Leadership,
JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, vol. 41, no. 12, pp. 501-502
Mullins, L.J. (2010). Management and Organisational Behaviour. (9th Edn) Harlow:
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Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks Cal., Sage
Terence Mauri, (2017). Why leadership styles matter, Strategic Direction, Vol. 33 Issue:
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Wagner, J.A. and Hollenbeck, J.R. (2015). Organisational Behaviour: Securing Competitive
Advantage. Oxon: Routledge.
Yukl, G. A. (2017). Leadership in Organizations. Harlow, Pearson

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