Mark Zuckerberg: The Face of Transformational Leadership
For everyone in the business world, Mark Zuckerberg is a well-known name to them. He is an undeniably young, successful businessman. However, Zuckerberg is also a very successful leader in his own company as well as in the world. His impact from creating Facebook is more than just impressive. Zuckerberg created the social media website where people get connected virtually and led the company to incredible success. Zuckerberg’s leadership style can be seen with inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and idealized influence. With all the aforementioned components, Mark Zuckerberg is a great example of transformational leadership.
Transformational leadership, according to
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Leaders with idealized influence serve as role models to their employees and emphasize the mission’s importance of the mission. Mark Zuckerberg runs his company based on the principle that, “I will only hire someone to work directly for me if I would work for that person” (Weiss). Zuckerberg wants to assure that his employees share his thinking about Facebook’s mission and how Facebook progresses. He makes sure that his employees understand his ideal and are influenced by his passion for Facebook. In the book “Think like Zuck: The Secrets to Facebook 's Success” Ekaterina Walter, mentions what Zuckerberg believes in when he hires people for the company: “No one can achieve success alone. So hire people who share your values and beliefs. And hire for attitude: skills can be taught, passion can’t” (Walter). Through these elements of what he believes in, Zuckerberg has shown that he is very focused on influencing his employees through his passion and emphasizes the importance of the mission because only people with passion can overcome the obstacles that they deal with in their job. He wants to assure that his employees can overcome all the obstacles with not just the skills they have but with their determination. This is one of the examples of how he influences his followers as the leader or serves as a role model for his
Did you know that almost everything you do on the internet is being tracked and recorded in some way? In the Article, George Orwell… Meet Mark Zuckerberg, by Lori Andrews, Andrews talks about how behavioral advertising, which is the tracking of consumer’s online activities in order to bring custom-made advertisements, is a topic that is concealed to many people and can cause damage. Search engines like Google store the searches you have made and in 2006 there were search logs released which had personal information that people were judged by (Andrews 716-717). Data aggregation is the main way Facebook makes its money. Andrews believes that it’s an invasion of privacy and is not known well enough by the public. This article is aimed at young and new internet users that are ignorant of the possible dangers on the web. Lori Andrews is successful at informing novice users about the dangers of behavioral
Heroes and leaders have long had a popular following in literature and in our own imaginations. From Odysseus in ancient Grecian times to May Parker in Spider-man Two, who states, “We need a hero, courageous sacrificing people, setting examples for all of us. I believe there’s a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble” (Raimi, 2004). Organizations need heroes, too. We call them organizational leaders. The study of organizational leadership, then, is really the study of what makes a person a successful hero. Or, what processes, constructs, traits, and dynamics embody the image of a successful leader.
By definition, fate refers to “the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power.” Therefore, believing in fate implies believing in a master plan of some sort, or as stated before, a supernatural power. Fate consists of nothing but a man-made idea created in hopes of helping people to cope with extreme loss, low periods in life, or lazy attitudes. I find it sickening how people dare to say that the greatest men and women in history pioneered in the ways they did because of destiny or fate.
It focuses on how to formulate and define clearly vision statement (organizational culture), challenging goals (organizational strategy) and gaining respect and trust (Humphreys & Einstein, 2003). The leaders encouraging participations, willing to take risks and acting as role models, who are highly admired, respected and trusted by their followers (Conger and Kanungo, 1998; Howell and Frost, 1989 and Bass & Riggio, 2006). Therefore, the followers will be highly motivated to perform beyond leaders’ expectations (Howell and Avolio,
As a whole, Warren Bennis defined the values and achievement plan for becoming the most successful leader one can be. He highlighted the link between self knowledge and business. A leader is not just “doing a job” or “running a company,” but it’s finding one’s personal vision. Bennis tries to do as much as he possibly he can to shatter this myth. Today, more people are starting to learn what leadership exactly means and what is expected of a leader. It might be evident that in the future competition will be harder
There are many types of leadership styles and ways in which leaders can influence the people around them and they all have their strengths and opportunities, however it is the behaviors that we encourage in our followers that will ultimately determine their success or failure. By articulating a vision to our team that helps them understand how their role in Social Media, and how these actions contribute to the overall success of the organization. Yuki (2012) stated, “The essences of leadership in organizations is influencing and facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives. Leaders can improve the performance of a team or organization by influencing the processes that determine performance” (p. 66). We will look at specific real life experience in the creation of a web based Customer/Technical Support Team; analyze the leadership behaviors that were used to implement the goals, the metrics used to measure their progress, and make recommendations as to how those behaviors could have been improved. We will look at some of the effects of the negative behavior and how it affected the team. What could have been done to improve the overall effectiveness of the team and what, if any affect that may have had on the team or organization as a whole.
There have been countless books, lectures, and and trainings, and retreats constructed around the idea of cultivating leadership in an individual. However, cultivating individuals’ ability to follow great leadership has received far less attention. Who are these people leading if each person within an organization is being trained to be a leader? The word follower has negative connotations, evoking the images of a weak, uncreative, milquetoast personality. However, Jimmy Collins, in his book, “Creative Followership: In the Shadow of Greatness”, suggests that the ability to be led brings as much creativity, consciousness, and indeed leadership to an organization or team as the leader himself. Great followership is a reflection of great leadership. In this, the follower is just as important as the leader in the relationship. Many great leaders have asserted that a leader with even a modicum of understanding of what drives their subordinates can take their organization to previously undreamt-of heights in creativity and productivity. Collins does not disabuse us of this notion, he does however add that the follower is indispensable agent in this interplay between leader and follower.
In a past MBA course, I studied the leadership qualities of Mark Zuckerberg. Out of these two leaders whom I admire, Zuckerberg is the individual I would prefer to work. Ekaterina Walter wrote an article in Inc. magazine where she identified five leadership attributes of Mark Zuckerberg that contributed to his success. They are passion, purpose, people, product, and partnerships. This transformational leadership skill is part of what makes him such an effective leader. Part of Mark Zuckerberg 's mission at Facebook enhanced openness and transparency, and he believes openness fosters connectivity. Zuckerberg utilizes a charismatic/transformational/authentic leadership approach. He is self-confident, optimistic, resilient, results-oriented, and an
Destiny, brought the book True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership into my life and I want to bring it into the lives of others. More specifically those who may believe they weren’t born with the characteristics or traits to become a leader or those who have not found their passion or purpose in life; their “True North.” The book, written by Bill George and co-author Peter Sims, compiles a series of interviews with 125 managers from Howard Schultz of Starbuck’s to Dan Vasella of Novartis. The interviewees guide readers through their journey to become the leaders they are today; discussing their failures, successes, obstacles, personal tragedies and triumphs. The stories of each manager prove the True North’s thesis, which is no one person is born a leader and there isn’t one path to becoming a leader. The book is separated into three sections: 1) Leadership is a Journey 2) Discover Your Authentic Leadership 3) Empowering People to Lead. Before giving overviews of each section, it is important to define an authentic leader.
According to Yoder-Wise (2015), a leader can be defined as, “an individual who works with others to develop a clear vision of the preferred future and to make that vision happen” (p 35). As employees, we often have our own ideal of a good leader, which may be influenced by experiences and perception of workplace norms. While one’s opinion of an effective leader may vary, there are several recognized leadership theories. The following will focus on the transformational leadership approach.
Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns many different companies, is one of the most successful business leaders of our time. According to Howard (2014), he is the second richest American, coming in at a net worth of over $70 billion. Besides his personal net worth, Berkshire Hathaway is the fifth-most valuable public company in the United States at $350 billion (Howard, 2014). While he is clearly a very wise investor, Warren Buffett is also a successful leader. As stated by Spindler (2010), leadership is a crucial part of any successful business, and good leadership is what Mr. Buffett portrays. The analysis given in this paper will show Warren Buffett’s values and leadership qualities, his leadership style, as well as looking into his influence he has on his followers.
In this time of transition and uncertainty, research suggests that transformational leadership is highly effective (Straight, 2006). Leadership research has drifted from emphasis on the competence of leaders to “manage change” to the ability to “transform” organizations. Transformational leaders have attributes and behaviors needed to successfully motivate and empower employees. According to Bernard Bass (1990), transformational leadership occurs when a leader transforms, or changes, his or her followers in three important ways that together result in followers trusting the leader, performing behaviors that contribute to the achievement of organizational goals, and being motivated to perform at a high level. Transformational leaders can achieve greater performance by stimulating innovative ways of thinking and transforming follower’s beliefs and aspirations. Maxwell (Maxwell, 2007) articulates that most of the time, influence is more important than formal power or authority. I agree with him. Influence is very important in organizational and co...
The practices of a leader can have wide spread implications. They can impact individual stakeholders and the organization as a whole. Clark (2013) states that “you must be the role model you want others to grow into” (para. 9). A strong leader leads by example, is ethical, and earns the trust and respect of their followers. They are also conscientious of the impact they have on the world around them. They practice impeccable communication and learn to inspire others with a positive vision for the future. Clark (2014) describes leadership as the methods of influencing others to accomplish objectives in a collective manner in the direction of the organization's vision.
Zuckerburg’s parents are a dentist named Edward Zuckerburg and a psychiatrist named Karen Kempner. He also has a sister named Randi Jayne Zuckerburg. In middle school Mark started to use computers and had a tutor to help him learn more about computers and software. Zuckerburg went to Ardsley High School, then in his Junior year, transferred to Phillips Exeter Acadamy, a more advanced high school. During high School he took a graduate course at Mercy College near his hometown. Then he went to Harvard University after high school. Zuckerburg made lots of computer games and other small social media sites for Harvard Students. In his Sophomore year, he dropped out of Harvard to pursue his dream in the site that made him famous, Facebook.
The degree to which the leader articulates a vision that is appealing and inspiring followers. Leaders with inspirational motivation challenges followers with high standards, communicate optimism about future goals and provide meaning for the task at hand. Followers need to have a strong sense of purpose they are to be motivates to act. Purpose and meaning provide the energy that drives a group forward. The visionary aspects of leadership are supported by communication skills that make the vision understandable, precise, powerful and engaging. The followers are willing to invest more effort in their tasks they are encouraged and optimistic about the future and believe in their