The Leadership Of Anne Sweeney, Cochair Of Disney-ABC Television Group
What Is Leadership?
What makes someone an effective leader? This question has challenged great thinkers for most of written history, and it is the focus of this chapter. The opening vignette, which described the leadership of Anne Sweeney, cochair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney-ABC Television Group, offers a few clues. Sweeney’s leadership is viewed from several perspectives, all of which are important. The opening vignette also reveals that leadership is no longer yesteryear’s image of the command-and-control boss. Although Sweeney steps in when the situation requires, followers say her success as a leader comes, in part, from trusting them to do their jobs without micromanagement.
Also notice that Sweeney’s leadership …show more content…
Integrity involves truthfulness and consistency of words and actions, qualities that are related to honesty and ethicality. Leaders have a high moral capacity to judge dilemmas on the basis of sound values and to act accordingly. Notice that integrity is ultimately based on the leader’s values, which provide an anchor for consistency.
Several large-scale studies have reported that integrity and honesty are the most important characteristics of effective leaders. 15 Unfortunately, numerous surveys report that employees don’t trust their leaders and don’t think they have integrity.
For example, only 2 percent of Americans have a great deal of trust in the people who run big companies; 30 percent say they don’t trust these leaders at all! 16
• Leadership motivation. Effective leaders are motivated to lead others. They have a strong need for socialized power, meaning that they want power as a means to accomplish organizational objectives and similar good deeds. This contrasts with a need for personalized power, which is the desire to have power for personal gain or for the thrill one might experience from wielding power over others …show more content…
Effective leaders possess tacit and explicit knowledge of the business environment in which they operate.
• Cognitive and practical intelligence. Leaders have above-average cognitive ability to process enormous amounts of information. Leaders aren’t necessarily geniuses; rather, they have a superior ability to analyze a variety of complex alternatives and opportunities. Furthermore, leaders have practical intelligence; they are able to use their knowledge of the business to solve real-world problems by adapting to, shaping, or selecting appropriate environments. Unlike cognitive intelligence, which is assessed by performance on clearly defined problems with sufficient information and usually one best answer, practical intelligence is assessed by performance in real-world settings, where problems are poorly defined, information is missing, and more than one solution may be plausible. 19
• Emotional intelligence. Effective leaders have a high level of emotional intelligence.
20 They are able to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in themselves
and
What makes someone an effective leader? This question has challenged great thinkers for most of written history, and it is the focus of this chapter. The opening vignette, which described the leadership of Anne Sweeney, cochair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney-ABC Television Group, offers a few clues. Sweeney’s leadership is viewed from several perspectives, all of which are important. The opening vignette also reveals that leadership is no longer yesteryear’s image of the command-and-control boss. Although Sweeney steps in when the situation requires, followers say her success as a leader comes, in part, from trusting them to do their jobs without micromanagement.
Also notice that Sweeney’s leadership …show more content…
Integrity involves truthfulness and consistency of words and actions, qualities that are related to honesty and ethicality. Leaders have a high moral capacity to judge dilemmas on the basis of sound values and to act accordingly. Notice that integrity is ultimately based on the leader’s values, which provide an anchor for consistency.
Several large-scale studies have reported that integrity and honesty are the most important characteristics of effective leaders. 15 Unfortunately, numerous surveys report that employees don’t trust their leaders and don’t think they have integrity.
For example, only 2 percent of Americans have a great deal of trust in the people who run big companies; 30 percent say they don’t trust these leaders at all! 16
• Leadership motivation. Effective leaders are motivated to lead others. They have a strong need for socialized power, meaning that they want power as a means to accomplish organizational objectives and similar good deeds. This contrasts with a need for personalized power, which is the desire to have power for personal gain or for the thrill one might experience from wielding power over others …show more content…
Effective leaders possess tacit and explicit knowledge of the business environment in which they operate.
• Cognitive and practical intelligence. Leaders have above-average cognitive ability to process enormous amounts of information. Leaders aren’t necessarily geniuses; rather, they have a superior ability to analyze a variety of complex alternatives and opportunities. Furthermore, leaders have practical intelligence; they are able to use their knowledge of the business to solve real-world problems by adapting to, shaping, or selecting appropriate environments. Unlike cognitive intelligence, which is assessed by performance on clearly defined problems with sufficient information and usually one best answer, practical intelligence is assessed by performance in real-world settings, where problems are poorly defined, information is missing, and more than one solution may be plausible. 19
• Emotional intelligence. Effective leaders have a high level of emotional intelligence.
20 They are able to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in themselves
and