Learning effective leadership is as important for business persons as it is for others in diverse fields. Leaders provide the much required sense of direction, which places organizations in prime positions to perform their best. Much as many people understand the critical role that leadership plays in the success of organizations the world over, many others may not be aware of effective leadership skills, which is why some people are outstanding in these attributes while others lack what it would take to make them great leaders despite serving in such positions for their organizations. Considering this scenario, this paper studies and reports on effective leadership skills drawing relevance from the case study of Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Group. While it was not possible to hold a personal interview with the business icon, the author managed to gather as much information on the entrepreneur and owner of more than 400 companies operating around the world as possible.
Rationale for the Choice of Sir Richard Branson
It is easy for an entrepreneur of Sir Richard Branson’s caliber to inspire many people around the world. I am into business, and I feel that being motivated by established business personnel is critical for success. I am attracted to the leadership style at Virgin Group, which Sir Branson spearheads, because I feel that he is a model of effective leadership—managing more than four hundred companies that engage in the provision of products and services spanning almost the entire human needs spectrum is no mean achievement (Martins, 2012). The fact that the leader works with others from diverse backgrounds and that he has been successful in almost each new market and product portfolio that his line of business has ventured into is another thing worth admiring. Overall, my attraction to Sir Branson is founded in the fact that he effectively manages both is businesses and employees for success.
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Background Information on the Environment and Culture at Virgin Group
Virgin Group of companies has a complex organizational structure, which academia best describes as a keiretsu—a group of companies in which each of them has shareholdings in the other and all of which work to further the interest of the group (Morck & Nakamura, 1999). Because of the large size of Virgin Group, the business is organic because of the need to adapt to changes in its operating environment, especially because doing so allows significant levels of flexibility to change (Jones et al., 2008). Sir Branson’s individual management philosophies shape most elements of the organizational culture at the group of companies. In the same way the employees are important to the CEO, Chief Executive Officer, Sir Branson perceives customers to be critical to the organization. The ability of the group to operate effectively without a formal organizational structure owes a great deal to its unique organizational structure, which reflects the CEO’s casual nature and his great disrespect for formal authority and hierarchy while showing immense commitment to customers and employees as well as responsibility and hard work (Welcome to the Virgin Group, 2019). Because of the organizational culture at the organization, an environment is created in which ambitious and talented persons get the required motivation to perform optimally. In the absence of a formal organizational structure, most of the success of the group is influenced directly by the leadership effectiveness of Sir Branson.
How Sir Branson Models Leadership
The fact that Virgin Group lacks a formal organizational structure calls for its management and leadership to be greatly motivational. Sir Branson can best be described as a motivational leader. The belief that someone does not have to assert their authority on others to communicate their leadership status primarily drives managerial success at the organization. Sir Branson is committed to success and continued group of the group, especially with all the new lines of products and services that the group ventures into, such as the recently opened Virgin Trains in the US (Welcome to the Virgin Group, 2019). The CEO believes that each of his employees has to be motivated to providing the best for the company, especially in gearing the product offerings to meet the needs of the customers served. At Virgin Group, Branson is a figure of motivation primarily because he manages all the public relational activities of the group and gives his group of workers the rejuvenation they require to attain set targets and goals without enforcing orders on them.
How Sir Branson Inspires a Shared Vision
Sticking to the vision of a company founds success. At Virgin Group, everyone believes in the following:
“ The Virgin Group is the home of Virgin. We support the Branson family and the growth of the Virgin brand by developing and nurturing valuable Virgin businesses. We aspire to change business for good,” (Welcome to the Virgin Group, 2019).
As cited, the Branson factor is at the center stage of the vision of the company, which suggests that Sir Branson is the source of inspiration to attain set goals and the vision of the group. In line with his motivational leadership model, the CEO forged the vision of being the model of a visionary and committed business brand around the world, which he shares with the rest of his employees through his effective communication strategies. Through sharing the corporate vision of the company and the manner in which it fits the large picture, Branson manages to inspire the rest of his team to work towards the realization of success, which is only defined by the attainment of set goals and targets at Virgin Group. Furthermore, as Choi (2006) and Ilies, Judge, and Wagner (2006) suggest, Branson is always self-motivated because he comprehends the criticality of continuous professional and personal improvement. The CEO at Virgin Group, therefore, always actively seeks out new ideas, which is shares with the rest of the employees. Much as he does not always push employees to work, Branson is committed to ensuring that the workers meet the set goals and move in the direction of realizing the group’s vision. The CEO believes in his employees, and he always communicates his perspective to the employees, which inspires them to work harder towards customer satisfaction.
How Branson Looks for New Opportunities for Experimentation and Risk-Taking
In one of the many interviews with Sir Richard Branson posted online, such as Williams (2012), he remarks that, “everyone is born an entrepreneur.” Based on the context of the cited interview, one notes that Branson believes a great deal in creativity because he continuously underscores the importance of being creative to the development of any successful business brand. Therefore, the Virgin Group’s CEO is a creative leader who is always seeking new approaches to doing business in more challenging environments. The business leader believes that every successful leader should take risks because if they manage the risks, they will always realize great returns on their investment. The group has invested in many industries, but the CEO attributes its success to the fact that he has led is group of employees and other executives to creatively handle customers and related stakeholders.
How Branson Empowers and Recognizes the Contributions of Others
It has been mentioned that Sir Richard Branson values his employees in the same way he does to his customers. The employees are a critical part of the organization considering that they are the ones who produce goods and offer the services included in the group’s portfolio. The CEO always expects that the employees will be sensitive to the needs and demands of the customers, and he is always keen to empower them. First, the company has a reward system, which recognizes outstanding performances from employees. The reward system, as it does for many other organization, motivates workers to commit their efforts to the attainment of excellence (Cameron & Pierce, 2012). In recognizing that a reward system could have detrimental outcomes on some groups of workers, especially those who may not reach the set standards for rewarding, the CEO organizes occasional trips and other social rewards that communicate the fact that he values the exceptional input of all of his workers as a special group (Welcome to Virgin Group, 2019). The employees also recognize that their manager creates a permissive environment for them to express their feelings and to try out new methods of doing things primarily because there is no specific way of working at Virgin Group. Sir Branson encourages his employees to be open-minded, and not to hesitate to share their ideas because they are important for the growth of the company.
How Branson Reflects the Definition of Leadership
Literature, especially on the numerous case studies included at Welcome to The Virgin Group (2019), widely suggests that Branson has a slightly different perspective of leadership because he believes in his own leadership philosophies. Precisely, one notes that Sir Branson believes that leadership is being happy with the group of people with whom one works, the company website, www.virgin.com , reports. For this reason, Branson’s leadership is always inclined to the creation of a happy working environment for everyone and the creation and sustenance of healthy workplace relationships. According to the CEO, a leader’s primary attribute is to provide direction to a happy group of followers (Welcome to The Virgin Group, 2019).
Justifiable Conclusions about the Effectiveness of Sir Branson’s Leadership
The overall relevance and objective of leadership is to provide strategic direction to followers. The realization of this goal, however, requires that an effective leader engages in several other activities, including setting goals, managing relationships, and others. This analysis has revealed that Sir Branson is a motivational leader who commits to providing a sense of direction to his employees at The Virgin Group without enforcing decisions on them. In doing so, the CEO creates an environment of trust where everyone believes that they can do something for their organization and that such contributions would be appreciated. Staying true to his ideas of leadership, Sir Branson is an effective communicator, internally motivated, visionary, and committed to the realization of his organizational objectives. The employees of the company understand the need to maintain amicable relationships and to work towards realizing the dream of their CEO, which are always creatively framed. Judging from the performance of the company over time, it is plausible concluding that Sir Richard Branson is an effective leader for his company.
References
Cameron, J., & Pierce, W. D. (2012). Rewards and intrinsic motivation: Resolving the controversy . Bergin & Garvey.
Choi, J. (2006). A motivational theory of charismatic leadership: Envisioning, empathy, and empowerment. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies , 13 (1), 24-43.
Ilies, R., Judge, T., & Wagner, D. (2006). Making sense of motivational leadership: The trail from transformational leaders to motivated followers. Journal of leadership & organizational studies , 13 (1), 1-22.
Jones, L., Watson, B., Hobman, E., Bordia, P., Gallois, C., & Callan, V. J. (2008). Employee perceptions of organizational change: impact of hierarchical level. Leadership & Organization Development Journal , 29 (4), 294-316.
Martins, F. (2012). 7 Customer Service Rules from Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin . Retrieved April 5, 2019 from https://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/7-customer-service-rules-from-richard-branson-ceo-of-virgin-0156782
Morck, R., & Nakamura, M. (1999). Banks and corporate control in Japan. The Journal of Finance , 54 (1), 319-339.
Welcome to the Virgin Group. (2019). Virgin . Retrieved 5 April 2019, from https://www.virgin.com/virgingroup/
Williams, K. (2012). Top 10 List: The Greatest Living Business Leaders Today . Forbes.com . Retrieved 5 April 2019, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkwilliams/2012/07/24/top-10-list-the-greatest-living-business-leaders-today/#235796c74986
