Question

Activity 5.1 (Forum): Leadership Traits

Introduction

Leaders possess traits and skills that make them successful. They are effective communicators, skillful planners, and successful motivators. Leaders can be villains or heroes. This discussion provides us with an opportunity to examine the skills displayed by famous leaders.

Initial Post Instructions

Select and research two leaders. One should be classified as a villain, whereas the other leader should be considered a hero. Address the following in satisfaction of Weekly Learning Goal 2:

Profile both of the leaders you chose in terms of their skills and traits.

In what ways are the leadership styles of these leaders similar? In what ways are they different? Explain.

Answer 1

The two leaders that I have selected are Jeffery Keith Skilling (former CEO of Enron) and Jack Welch (former CEO of GE). While Mr. Skilling turned out to be a villain Mr. Welch turned out to be a hero. Mr. Skilling was involved in the Enron accounting scandal in which Enron cooked up its books and fudged its accounting numbers to mislead the investors and stock markets. The company eventually went out of business. Mr. Welch was a hero and under his leadership GE saw new success and gained market prominence through steady gains in market share. Mr. Welch overhauled GE from a large and slow organization to a flexible and nimble footed organization.

Both these leaders shared common leadership traits and skills. Both Mr. Skilling and Mr. Welch were forward looking and visionary in their own rights. Both the leaders had excellent communication skills and underlined the importance of motivating people for an organization to succeed. Both the leaders wanted their organizations to grow in a desirable manner and for this both leaders had proper and tangible strategic action and plans in place. Both were thinkers and believed in empowering people.

Having mentioned the similarities both the leaders had their inherent differences as well. Mr. Skilling was not an ethical leader while Mr. Welch was an ethical leader. Mr. Skilling focused just on the ends and not on the means while for Mr. Welch the ends and the means were equally important. While both of them were highly aggressive Mr. Skilling mixed his aggression with unethical actions. On the contrary Mr. Welch ensured that he, his employees and all stakeholders of his organization always worked within the boundaries of the ethical framework.