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