Examing Skills of Black and Buffett
Examining the Skills of Famous Business Leaders
Cathleen Black & Warren Buffett
6/15/2013
I chose to examine the skills of Cathleen Black and Warren Buffett, two successful business leaders. Both have achieved great success and an amassed large fortune, although Buffet’s fortune is substantially larger than Blacks, but Black’s is nothing to sneeze at. Even though they have both been successful they went about it in entirely different ways with an entirely different skill set. Black’s bottom line approach differs from Buffett’s investment in companies he deemed undervalued; once purchased Buffett took a more hands off approach to the company letting the managers continue to do a great job which contrasted Black’s failure to produce and be discarded approach.
In terms of power both leaders had personalized power. Both showed initiative at an early age, Buffett would sell goods door to door and bought his first shares of stock at age 11. (Bio True Story, 2013) Black, while attending an all-girls catholic high school changed the spelling of her name to stand out. (New York Times, 2010) They both had legitimate power while serving as CEO of a company or sitting on the board of directors. Where they differed was the remaining 4 sources of a leader’s power. Black’s only other source of power was coercive. Being in the cut throat industry of advertising, Black often set very high standards or numbers and if they were not met the person responsible would be terminated. Buffett on the other hand used every other source of power but coercive. He rewarded his employees and would take input of what they wanted, for instance he let the employees delegate which charity receives their money when the norm was when executives would donate to the money to their own children’s schools, churches, or their own organizations. He also had expert and referent power. He studied business and had been making investments since he was 11 years old. Whereas Black
Cathleen Black & Warren Buffett
6/15/2013
I chose to examine the skills of Cathleen Black and Warren Buffett, two successful business leaders. Both have achieved great success and an amassed large fortune, although Buffet’s fortune is substantially larger than Blacks, but Black’s is nothing to sneeze at. Even though they have both been successful they went about it in entirely different ways with an entirely different skill set. Black’s bottom line approach differs from Buffett’s investment in companies he deemed undervalued; once purchased Buffett took a more hands off approach to the company letting the managers continue to do a great job which contrasted Black’s failure to produce and be discarded approach.
In terms of power both leaders had personalized power. Both showed initiative at an early age, Buffett would sell goods door to door and bought his first shares of stock at age 11. (Bio True Story, 2013) Black, while attending an all-girls catholic high school changed the spelling of her name to stand out. (New York Times, 2010) They both had legitimate power while serving as CEO of a company or sitting on the board of directors. Where they differed was the remaining 4 sources of a leader’s power. Black’s only other source of power was coercive. Being in the cut throat industry of advertising, Black often set very high standards or numbers and if they were not met the person responsible would be terminated. Buffett on the other hand used every other source of power but coercive. He rewarded his employees and would take input of what they wanted, for instance he let the employees delegate which charity receives their money when the norm was when executives would donate to the money to their own children’s schools, churches, or their own organizations. He also had expert and referent power. He studied business and had been making investments since he was 11 years old. Whereas Black
References: Barbaro & Gootman. Cathleen Black Is Out as City Schools Chancellor. New York Times. April 7, 2011 Forbes.com. Profile of Warren Buffett. 2013. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com /profile/warren-buffett/ Kaskovich, Steve. What’s It Like to Work For Warren Buffet? D Magazine. January 2, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_CEO/2013/January/What