1. How would you describe the leadership styles of the different CEOs who have led Coca-Cola using the three leadership styles of managerial leaders, visionary leaders and strategic leaders? Use examples from the case to support your arguments.
2. What is your assessment of executive succession strategies at Coca-Cola? To what extend do you think executive succession planning is important for the success of a company like Coca-Cola?
1. How would you describe the leadership styles of the different CEOs who have led Coca-Cola using the three leadership styles of managerial leaders, visionary leaders and strategic leaders? Use examples from the case to support your arguments.
- Robert Goizueta’s leadership style can be considered as visionary and strategic.
He was a visionary leader because as he said his job was to pick people, then give them the responsibility and authority to get the job done. He “viewed” people and the business from far, rather than having his hands placed on them. We know that, even though 80% of Coca-Cola’s profit earned abroad, however, Goizueta only visited a half-dozen of them a year, and observing them form his office headquarter in Atlanta. He focused on his own role and that of other senior manager on other fields of the company like branding, making deal and sales rather, and through them; he learned and controlled the company’s business.
He was also a pioneer in promoting the idea of economic profit, which have been later used widely as economic value added (EVA) – a tool for increasing shareholder wealth.
Robert Goizueta is a visionary leader also because he knew what he could handle and what he could not, and using other people to support him with his job. This can be seen through the cooperation between him and Don Keough, while Goizueta was known a business philosopher, Keough did more of the footwork.
He was also ready to be a risk taker as he emphasized very early at his position “We are going to take risk”. He