Virginia Rometty

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/technology/ibm-names-a-new-chief.html?ref=business 

       On Tuesday, I.B.M. named current senior vice president Virginia Rometty to the position of chief executive.  Ms. Rometty has led divisions of the company during its shift to high profit services and products.  Rometty also managed the sales and mergers in fast-growing new markets.  This promotion elevates Rometty into one of the most prominent woman in corporate America.  From the article, it is said that Rometty was part of establishing I.B.M.’s emphasis on “selling business solutions, not just products.”  Rometty, a Northwestern graduate, has been with I.B.M. since 1981.  Since that time she has rapidly worked her way up the corporate ladder.  I.B.M. recently passed Microsoft as the second most valuable technology company.  This newly added pressure puts a large burden on the new chief executives shoulders. 

       When I applied Ms. Rometty to the major leadership traits, certain traits are clearly evident.  The first trait I recognized was her intelligence.  From the article, it was stated that Ms. Rometty was a graduate of Northwestern University.  She graduated with a degree in computer science.  This is an important leadership aspect because her intelligence is on the same level of her subordinates.  This allows easy communication and increases her ability to portray her ideas on others.  Another trait Rometty exhibits is sociability.  When faced with the tough task of convincing a newly acquired consulting firm, Rometty’s personality and ability to seek out a pleasant relationship sealed the deal.  George F. Colony, a chairman of research said, “Ginni Rometty combines performance and charisma.  She orchestrated a massive charm campaign to bring the PricewaterhouseCoopers people into the fold. That was the trial by fire for her.”  The last trait that Ms. Rometty exhibits is determination.  Throughout her years at I.B.M., Rometty has led many questioned changes in the way I.B.M. functions and markets itself.  An example was the coordinating of workers from a newly acquired consulting firm.  Many thought that the consultants, who preferred to operate independently, would leave the consulting firm rather than work under I.B.M.  Rometty worked tirelessly and effectively to win over the consultants.  Another obstacle Rometty has worked through has been the criticism of her hiring.  Many have questioned I.B.M.’s hiring of her as a socially progressive policy.  Rometty has ignored these statements and remains focused toward her responsibilities.  In my opinion, it is clear to see that regardless of her critics, Rometty has successfully lead change in her company.

From these examples do you believe Rometty has the correct skill set to lead I.B.M.?

If not, do you agree with critics when they say that Rometty’s hiring is no more than a socially progressive policy?

-Clay Gruenwald

Larry Page

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/01/google-founder-larry-page-ceo_n_843794.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/10/19/googles-brin-larry-page-is-rallying-company/?KEYWORDS=Google+Larry+Page

I completed my analysis on Larry Page, CEO of Google. Larry Page stepped down as CEO in 2001 and regained his position as CEO earlier this year. When he was first CEO, Larry had a bat habit of being late to meetings and tuning out conversations. Now that he is 38, admirers believe that he is more apt to leading Google successfully. Co-founder Sergey Brin stated in an interview that Larry has done a great job at rallying the Google Company together. Brin states that Larry has been able to reorganize Google into seven key product categories and the company has been involved in some larger acquisitions such at Motorola and ITA.   

I would relate the Trait Leadership Theory to Larry in many ways. Intelligence, Self-Confidence, and Determination are all traits that Larry Page has. He has great determination because of wanting to dissolve the bureaucracy and complacency and focus more on thinking and acting like a brand new startup company. Larry also demonstrates great intelligence. He is very knowledgeable when it comes to technology. The fact that his Father was a computer scientist and his Mother taught computer programming helped Larry to become the successful CEO he is today. Lastly, Larry demonstrates self-confidence by challenging his employees to reach the status quo. He encourages independent activities and strives for workers to make decisions on their own.

By reading both of these articles, do you see any different traits in Larry Page?

-Michelle Fulkerson

Bill Gates

I completed my analysis on a Microsoft article discussing Bill Gates leaving Microsoft as the Chief Executive Officer. In 2000 Bill Gates transitioned from the full time Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft to the Chairman of the organization. The article mentions that Mr. Gates resigned from his office of CEO in order to work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that he and his wife started. I feel that Mr. Gates was an extremely successful CEO and still remains an important part of the leadership at Microsoft.

I think Mr. Gates has many traits the relate very closely with the Trait Theory of Leadership in the Northouse text. Intelligence, Self - Confidence, and Determination are all skills that I think Mr. Gates posssed as the CEO of Microsoft. Mr. Gates was incredibly intellegent in the world of technology and computers. He was extremely knowledgable about what the next trend in the computer world would be, and was able to create products to supply to the demands of customers. I personally feel that Mr. Gates was one of the first very knowledgable leaders in the technology and computer industry. I feel that his intellegence can be justifified in part by the significant success that Microsoft has experianced. I feel that Mr. Gates was also very self confident and determined. When designing new techologies or programs, Mr. Gates was also determined to have the next best thing, and demonstrated the self confidence in himself as an innovator. Mr. Gates also demonstrates integrity and doing the right thing.

I think it is interesting to compare Mr. Gate's leadership with the Skills Model of Leadership. I think Mr. Gates demonstrated technical, human and conceptual skills fairly evenly - even though he severed in top management as the organizations chief executive. Mr. Gates demonstrated technical skills or knowledge in building or designing software or new products for Microsoft. I feel that Mr. Gates also demonstrated human skills very well. Mr. Jobs work with software architects, vice presidents and many other employees at Microsoft. Lastly, he demonstrated conceptual skills in when creating strategic plans for the future on Microsoft.
 
In comparing Mr. Gates to the Contigency Theory, I would classify him as a task oriented leader resulting from a low least preferred co-worker score. I feel that the leader-member relations relations are very high at Microsoft, because Mr. Gates is very involved in the design creation of new products. Mr. Gates worked very closly with his subordinates in many ways in his role as CEO. I believe that the task structure would be rather low at Microsoft. I dont feel that Mr. Gates would expect tasks to be completed in a certain way, with no other option. While I do think the Mr. Gates had very specific expecation of his subordinates, I feel he was open to new ideas, new ways of doing this and created a very innovative organization at Microsoft. Lastly, Mr. Gates has very high position power because he was the CEO of the organization. Based on this, I would evaluate Mr. Gates to be a task oriented leader - though I personally believe he was also a relationship oriented leader as well - a combination of both.

Mr. Gates was a very successful CEO at Microsoft, which can be demonstrated by the outstanding success of the organization and the fact that he still remains involved with Microsoft. I believe that Mr. Gates has a very successful leadership style helped him attain great success while serving as the CEO of Microsoft.

Questions
1. Do you believe Mr. Gates was a successful leader at Microsoft?
2. Do any other leadership theories directly apply to Mr. Gates as the CEO of Microsoft?
3. I mentioned that Mr. Gates seems to be both task and relationship oriented as a leader - can you agree or disagree?

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jun06/06-15corpnewspr.mspx

Kyle Burrows

Leadership at SAS-- Jim Goodnight CEO and Co-Founder

Here is the Link to the article! http://resources.greatplacetowork.com/article/pdf/sas_2010.pdf

This article is an overview of company SAS and its CEO and co-founder Jim Goodnight.  SAS is an analytical software company that has been recognized for being one of the best companies to work for for over 7 years and was America #1 company to work for in 2010! A key reason behind this is Goodnight's leadership skills.

Based on the article I think it is a safe assumption that Goodnight, utilizes the leader-member exchange theory.  He values his employees and credits them with being the companies largest assets.  Goodnight is very involved in all levels of the organization, when it comes to decision making there're yearly surveys that ask employees what they would like see change or implemented.  As a result, Goodnight and others go through and implement on average 80% of the suggestions.  The 20% of suggestion that are not accepted are returned to employees with explanations of why they could not be implemented.  This helps create the dyadic relationship that LMX focuses on.  Goodnight makes himself available to his employees whenever they need him he has an open door policy, where employees can drop in whenever they need/want to.  Another example of this is, the basic framework for executive conversation is that "executives speak directly and honestly with employees, and ask their ideas and feedback."

What leadership phase with in the LMX theory do you think most SAS employees are at?
Brittany Bowen

John Sculley

http://it-jobs.fins.com/Articles/SBB0001424053111903285704576560420813121788/John-Sculley-on-Steve-Jobs-and-the-Experience-of-a-Lifetime

            In 1983 John Sculley, then head of Pepsi- Cola Co., was approached by a young Steve Jobs who invited him to join Apple as their CEO.  Sculley took the job and would witness Steve Jobs stepping down in 1985, before his own departure in 1993.  Today Sculley serves as a mentor to a number of private companies.  In this interview with Janet Guyon, Sculley talks about his past experience leading companies like Pepsi and Apple.  He also discusses what he thinks it takes to be a great manager.  From this interview I will analyze the type of styles, skills and traits that make Sculley the leader/mentor he is today.

            Upon his graduation from Wharton, Sculley was hired to Pepsi and thrust into the role of an assigned leader.   Sculley states, “I was put into jobs that I wasn't really qualified for because the Pepsi management bench was very thin. It was like a high-wire act experience because I didn't know what I didn't know. But these were great opportunities for me and I managed to succeed.”  This demonstrates Sculley’s use of determination.  Although he lacked experience in the field, Sculley was dedicated to making Pepsi successful.  As part of top management, Sculley demonstrated mostly conceptual skills when it came to his work.  When hired at Apple his main task was to keep the Apple II commercially alive versus the competition for three more years.  Sculley says, “Keeping the Apple II alive didn't require someone to know much about computer technology, it required someone who knew something about how to market and sell a near end-of-life product.”  This demonstrates Sculley’s emphasis on using his conceptual skills over his technical skills.  When I compared John Sculley to the Comprehensive Skills model I noticed certain areas in which Sculley excelled.  His main competency is his problem-solving skills.   When faced with the problem of making a dying product alive versus an emerging competition, Sculley re-marketed the Apple II and kept it selling.  When looking at Sculley’s individual attributes, his motivation cannot be ignored.  At Pepsi and later Apple, he was thrust into a position of leadership.  Sculley demonstrated his willingness to tackle unfamiliar problems, exert his influence, and better his organization.  When asked about how he dealt with the problem of marketing the Apple II Sculley says, “There are moments of transformation in one's career. When you seek alignment between your own interest to grow and be transformed and you get the opportunity to play a key role in an industry that is in the process of transforming. This was one of those key transformational moments.”  This quote shows Sculley's motivation to make Apple successful under his lead.  When evaluating Sculley’s leadership outcome at Apple, his disagreement with Steve Jobs on how to run the company lead to his demise.  From his work at Pepsi and Apple Sculley has gained career experiences which he can now share with the companies he mentors. 

            When asked what it takes to be a good manager Sculley states, “Really good managers want to turn one-off projects into as much of a routine process as they can. I am a project-centric leader. I like to work on projects and solve tough problems. Whereas a really good manager will say, "How do we replicate the processes so that when a problem comes up like this again we can routinely solve it?  That is a very different skill set. It takes both to run a successful company.”
From Sculley’s point of view, it would seem he agrees with J.P. Kotter’s functions of management and leadership.  He also states that it takes both managerial and leadership skills to successfully run a company.  Do you agree that both are necessary to successfully run a company? Is it possible to successfully run a company by only performing management or leadership functions? What do you think?


-Clay Gruenwald

Mark Zuckerberg

http://www.strategicbusinessteam.com/successful-entrepreneurs/mark-zuckerberg-success-secrets-of-the-youngest-billionaire-in-the-world/

 http://www.wired.com/techbiz/startups/news/2007/09/ff_facebook?currentPage=all

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904836104576556773663005068.html?KEYWORDS=Mark+Zuckerberg+success

 http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/07/07/is-facebook%E2%80%99s-video-chat-really-something-awesome/?KEYWORDS=Mark+Zuckerberg+Video+Chat+Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg is a very well-known leader across the world. Mark created Facebook in the year 2004, which has experienced wonderful growth since then. When Mark started to invent this Social Network, it was meant for him to communicate with his college friends. It did not stay that way though. By the year 2006, over 7 million users had a Facebook account. Today there are over 750 million users on Facebook. Mark is compared to visionaries such at Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The article by Wall Street Journal states that Facebook has doubled its revenue to $1.6 billion from about $800 million a year earlier. This change in net income is good for Facebook and demonstrates that Facebook has been a great social network.  

Mark is successful in a few areas. First, out of his personal traits I believe that he has a large amount of determination. According to Tony Martins, Mark “Thinks Big.” An example is when Yahoo asked Facebook a second time to purchase it for $1 billion; Mark would not allow that to happen. He had the willingness to put effort into making Facebook what it is today. Second, Mark has both technical and conceptual skills. The 3-Skills Administrative Approach demonstrates that Top Management does not require as much technical skills. In Marks case, he is very smart when it comes to software and knowing how to program. His conceptual skills are great because he has had many ideas for Facebook and has made those ideas known. I then compared Mark to the Skills Model Approach. Mark is able to use his general and crystallized cognitive ability in order to demonstrate his problem-solving and knowledge skills to show effective leadership. His general cognitive ability came from his childhood. He had a passion for programming and was able to learn more about it as he grew older, while learning more about leadership. Third, Mark would be considered a task-oriented leader. He uses a directive approach towards his group members by giving direction and establishing goals. In the past, he had 3 main goals that he wanted to accomplish. His main goal was to create Facebook to make it easier for friends to communicate. He then chose to extend Facebook membership to the entire world. Lastly, he wanted to open the site to developers and encourage them to build Facebook application. Mark encouraged his team to work hard at accomplishing these tasks.

Recently, Mark had released video chat available for people to use on Facebook. This specific article from the Wall Street Journal is titled “Is Facebook’s Video Chat Really ‘Something Awesome’?” There were reporters that did not care for this because of Google recent group video chat. However, Mark concluded that Facebook’s users base are over 750 million now compared to the 600 million that they did have. He says that this is “awesome.” I personally believe that it was a good idea for Mark to create video chat on Facebook. There are a lot of people that are on Facebook throughout the day and this allows them to stay on Facebook in order to video chat with their friends without having to sign into a different website. What do you think? Do you think that Mark Zuckerberg’s video chat is awesome?

Michelle Fulkerson

    

Steve Jobs

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904875404576528981250892702.html

I completed my analysis on a Wall Street Journal article regarding Apple CEO Steve Jobs. This article discussed Steve Jobs announcing his resignation as CEO of Apple and the major impact it plays on Apple and the market as a whole. Steve Jobs was an extremely effective leader as the CEO of Apple. Mr. Job’s leadership helped to keep the company from bankruptcy, but also to become the leading company in its market. I feel that Mr. Jobs has unique traits, skills and an overall leadership style that sets him apart from other successful business leaders. The major leadership traits seem to fit him very well, but two seem to fit better than others. Mr. Jobs seems to excel in the areas of intelligence and determination. Mr. Jobs seems to be outstandingly intelligent in the world of computers and technology. He is an effective leader in this manner, because he knows much more about the field than most people. Mr. Jobs also excels in the area of determination. As the article mentions, he was always looking for new product ideas and ways to create new products. Mr. Jobs showed a great deal of determination in creating new products and quality products.

Mr. Jobs was also very successful as a leader because of the skills he possessed. I found relating this article to the Basic Administrative Skills model to be very interesting. The model shows that as a top manager the level of technical skills decreases. In the case of Mr. Jobs, I think that his level of technical skills was extremely high as he continued to push Apple toward the development of new products. Mr. Jobs seems to be very hands on and a technical leader in the Apple Corporation. I also compared Mr. Jobs to the Skills Model of Leadership, which I analyzed his individual attributes and competencies. Mr. Jobs seems to excel in the areas of general cognitive ability and crystallized cognitive ability. It seems that Mr. Jobs was extremely intelligent in the area of technology that I would guess improved over his tenure working for Apple and developing many new products. What stands out to me is the amount of motivation that Mr. Jobs seemed to have. The article says the Mr. Jobs was always pushing for new product development and design. I feel that Mr. Jobs has an outstanding amount of motivation that helped him as a leader. The two skills that Mr. Jobs seems to excel in are problem solving skills and knowledge. In dealing with creating new products or daily challenges as a CEO, Mr. Jobs would constantly be faced with problems that do not have a right answer, and in some cases, problems that nobody else has faced before. Because of the overwhelming success of Mr. Jobs, it seems that Mr. Jobs excelled in problem solving skills. Mr. Jobs also excelled in the area of knowledge, specifically in the field of technology. Mr. Jobs created new products and designed products that had never before been thought of or created. Because the products that Mr. Jobs created were so successful and led Apple to being such a powerful company, it seems that Mr. Jobs overwhelming excelled in the competency of knowledge. Since Mr. Jobs excelled in various competences, we can see the outcome in the overall performance of Apple as it dominated the technology market.

Using a styles approach, I would classify Mr. Jobs as a team management style. Mr. Jobs worked very closely with co-workers and designers in developing new products. He was very open to their ideas and worked closely with them, which shows that Mr. Jobs has a high concern for people. Mr. Jobs was also very innovative and always working on designing and developing the next new products, which shows he has a very high concern for production. Based on these results, I would classify Mr. Jobs as a team management style leader.

Lastly, Mr. Jobs was a very unique leader in a few ways. Mr. Jobs created a culture and was such an important visionary for Apple. He motivated the company into creative new innovations that lead Apple to becoming the technology giant it is today. As the article states, Mr. Jobs had such a hand in the innovation, creativity and daily operations of the organization. Overall I observed that Mr. Jobs was an extremely effective leader for Apple, which was evident when the stock price fell after his resignation as CEO.  I think the major question that is posed is whether the organization can continue with Mr. Jobs? How much resistance with Mr. Cook face since Mr. Jobs seemed to be well liked and very successful at leading Apple? How will Mr. Cook fill the shoes of Mr. Job is he has a less technical approach to leadership? What do you feel is the long term outlook for Apple

Kyle Burrows