1a. Describe Branson’s leadership style in terms of the leadership models addressed in Chapters 10 and 11.
As with any business, a leader must balance various roles to implement an effective workplace while still focusing on the one primary vision of that organization. As a leader, one must convey that knowledge, information and instructions that are needed to ensure the effectiveness of the organization whether it is now or in the future. “Leadership is the process of developing ideas and a vision, living by values that support those ideas and that vision, influencing others to embrace them in their own behaviors, and making hand decisions about human and other resources” (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011, pg. 290). According to all the information I have read on Sir Richard Branson, it is believed that he mostly represents the transformational leadership model style. According to our textbook, “a transformational leader involves anticipating future trends, inspiring followers to understand and embrace a new vision of possibilities, developing others to be leaders or better leaders, and building the organization or group into a community of challenged and rewarded learners” (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011, pg. 329). Transformational leaders are known to be visionary, inspiring, daring and ethical and are said to be thoughtful thinkers when it comes to interaction between technology, culture, stakeholders and other external environmental forces. According to Branson, there are five secrets to business success:
• Enjoy what you are doing
• Create something that stands out
• Create something that everyone who works for you is really proud of
• Be a good leader
• Be visible (Branson, 2010).
In doing these five things above, you will see just how much your organization will grow and not just the organization but all that are associated with that organization. Sir Branson’s