Individuals possess dissimilar outlooks on leadership, its mode of application, style and most significantly the outcomes of the various choices that define an effective leader. In essence, leadership presents itself as a discipline that is in nature, both an area that needs in-depth research, and skill that is practical in nature, predominantly, in comprehending the models and frameworks needed for success. As such, leadership is practical in the sense that it incorporates an individual’s ability or that of the entire organization. This innate ability extends even to the leader’s ability and prowess in providing guidance and leading other persons, complete teams or even organizations. On the one hand, the attempt to bridge the gap between the academics and executive within an organizational setting is often impeded by a partiality towards student leadership at the expense of practicing executives. Therefore, in leadership, the need to focus on practicing executives is of utmost importance as leadership has presently evolved into a phenomenon that is global in nature. The fact remains that the diversity of international cultures or even national demography directly correlates to the various styles of leadership, its techniques, and perspectives. Therefore, in light of the dynamic nature of leadership, this paper focuses on the leadership style of Larry Ellison, extrapolating his personality, leadership traits and behavioral tendencies at work.
Larry Ellison was born in the year 1944 in Manhattan; when he was 9 months old, his teenage mother, who was unwed sent him to live with his uncle and aunt in Chicago. During his teenage years, Ellison had an inherent tendency to heavily augment facts, when in real sense these facts were not that fascinating. As he went along in a conversation, Ellison would make facts appear seemingly intriguing and delightfully plausible (Mendleson, 2011). Overall, in the making up of his stories, certain pertinent aspects appeared common, which were that he would often make them seem funny. This style of verbal communications often glorified Ellison, and unless one had the propensity to challenge him, the facts he portrayed were often impossible to disapprove (Mendleson, 2011). Most of his alleged fabrications pertained to and centered on his education, although he did not finish college, dropping out from the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago; he regularly made contrary suggestions. Such fabrications were common with Ellison to the point that in 1988, the New York Times corroborated Ellison’s lies by identifying him as a holder of Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Physics from the University of Chicago. This propensity to aggrandize has always been the demeanor of Ellison even in his personal life where he is currently in his fourth marriage.
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Although the embellishing demeanor in Ellison resulted in a stagnant and negative personal life, it proved a significant asset in Silicon Valley, which enabled him to appear like a competitor while in essence, he had not yet become one. In the intense battlefield of Silicon Valley, it takes immense forethought and initiation to extricate oneself as being bloodthirsty than the rest of the tech minds. The incredible success Ellison has experienced is a marvel to most people who are familiar with the various literature in the effort that it takes for one to make a great leader through having qualities such as empathy, humility and meditation skills. In all accounts, Ellison presents a somewhat aloof personality, in that; he is a bad listener and a big talker, whose impetuous disposition of leadership takes an approach that tends towards the alienation of his customers and employees alike. However, with this temperament, in the past 35 years alone, the renegade often seen in flying jets and racing sailboats has managed to build one of the most significantly technologically attuned firms globally, propagating revenues that are well over the $20 billion mark (Mendleson, 2011). Moreover, while numerous of his colleagues have moved to merger positions in other projects, Larry Ellison remains to be the fundamental driving force behind the success of the computing corporate that is Oracle. Besides, he has gone ahead and has fashioned it in his own design.
In all this, certain pertinent leadership traits appear in the style of leadership of Larry Ellison. Efficient leadership requires general mental acuity. Although Ellison did not finish his college education, he remains to be intelligent. Most people who have fallen out of the graces of Ellison speak typically of his brilliance not only in business but also in comprehending the intricate demands of running a software company (Leibovich, 2000). Psychologists refer mental ability as “g” while in general everyday language this type of acuity is referred to as the “IQ.” Mental ability remains to be the foremost variable relating to the emergence of a person as an effective leader. More specifically people with a higher mental capacity have the disposition of emerging as leaders in their various environment. Nonetheless, intelligence is a modest leadership predictor, since when measured in actual tests; its relationship to leadership becomes weaker. On the contrary, present dynamics within the corporate world dictate that leadership needs to embody pertinent traits in emotional intelligence, as this is more applicable not only in the corporate world but in also dealing and relating with people effectively. As such, according to Goleman (2004), what distinguishes a leader is their innate ability to impede their own emotions through the understanding of people and of themselves. This fact is substantiated in Ellison since he is good at working with people (Mendleson, 2011).
As exemplified in his numerous appearances in meetings, interviews, and numerous talk forums, Ellison displays the five major personality traits proposed by psychologists. These traits represent a proposed system that categorizes characteristics, which make up a person’s unique personality and is one of the most widely accepted models. In it, personalities and traits are rated in accordance with experience, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroticism. Larry Ellison portrays quite a number of these traits, a good example being extraversion. Extroverts display intense levels of social acuity, assertiveness, and energy. In doing this, these people interact with people effectively and enjoy being in an environment where they can demonstrate increasing self-confidence. Since they remain to be dominant and highly sociable in their environments, they subsequently emerge as leaders within a wide variety of situations. Aside from being assertive, Ellison displays a rather neurotic nature in leadership since he is somewhat moody, temperamental and domineering in most of his executive aspects (Leibovich, 2000). In addition, the trait of conscientiousness is exhibited in Ellison since he appears to take the initiative and exhibits intense tenacity in all his endeavors. As such, he has emerged as a leader in his own capacity due to his nature of execution in all his business endeavors. Finally, in openness, he displays originality, creativity and the desire to try out new things ("12.2 Who Is a Leader? Trait Approaches to Leadership | Organizational Behavior", 2017).
Larry Ellison exhibits two fundamental leadership styles, which are the transformational leadership and the democratic leadership. First, he is transformational since he inspires followers to commit to his vision and a shared vision of the company in achieving targeted organizational goals. Further, through challenging his employees to become innovative problem solvers, and through the development of leadership capacities among his followers using mentorship and coaching strategies, he exhibits his transformational style of leadership. In the daily activities of humans, it is part of nature to require proper support and encouragement in the taking of new steps to ensure the achievement of daily tasks. Similarly, Ellison inspires and motivates his staff members through the establishment of a clear objective and vision of the future state of his company. As exhibited in transformational traits such as vigor, confidence, and courage, Ellison’s transformative tendency explicitly anticipates demands within the markets creating products that are competitive in nature, introducing ideas that are disruptive and altering the way the world functions. He is also transformative in the sense that he is able to work differently than most other CEOs. As a maverick, he works fewer hours compared to other CEOs and dedicates most of his time to other passions that build his personal developments (Hymowitz, 2005). Compared to his previous work time of 80 hours a week, he currently spends less than 50 hours a week on work depicting his transformative acumen and temperament.
In conclusion, behind his domineering façade, Ellison demonstrates a democratic leadership style. Democratic leaders often delegate their authority to others through the encouragement of the redistribution of power and the participation of employees in the process of decision making. In doing this, Ellison has ensured that his employees are developing decision-making skills through performing at their best without the presence of unremitting close supervision. In a combination of his transformative tendency and semi-democracy in relation to autocracy, Ellison is able to manage his company with more autonomy and less working hours for him. In doing this, Ellison rejects a model of management he views as being exceedingly practiced by numerous chief executives. Conversely, he delegates a large amount of his executive duties to the three co-presidents of the company, permeating a business unit that focuses more on delegating responsibilities and the semi-democracy of corporate management (Hymowitz, 2005).
References
12.2 Who Is a Leader? Trait Approaches to Leadership | Organizational Behavior . (2017). Open.lib.umn.edu . Retrieved 8 November 2017, from http://open.lib.umn.edu/organizationalbehavior/chapter/12-2-who-is-a-leader-trait-approaches-to-leadership/
Goleman, D. (2004). What makes a leader? Harvard Business Review , 82 (1), 82–91.
Hymowitz, C. (2005). Working Fewer Hours Is Hard for Most CEOs, But Some Find a Way . WSJ . Retrieved 8 November 2017, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB112112134804482690
Leibovich, M. (2000). The Outsider, His Business and His Billions . Washington Post . Retrieved 8 November 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/10/30/the-outsider-his-business-and-his-billions/c1ffea25-3eb5-4918-8fa6-8837b79336a5/?utm_term=.d8262bccf46a
Mendleson, R. (2011). Larry Ellison: Why it pays to be a jerk . Canadian Business - Your Source For Business News . Retrieved 8 November 2017, from http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-strategy/larry-ellison-why-it-pays-to-be-a-jerk/
