Assessing Richard Branson's Leadership Style: An Impactful Essay On Business Success.

Write a six to seven paper in which you:

1.Assess the key elements of Richard Bransons leadership style and the impact that those elements have had on his business success. Provide support for your rationale.

2.Given that The Virgin Group has been described as a fast-growing entrepreneurial company with many facets to the group, suggest how the unique aspects of Richard Bransons leadership style mesh successfully with the particular attributes of a multifaceted organization like Virgin.

3.Determine two (2) key ways in which Richard Branson is likely to motivate employees in order to achieve his goals for the Virginia Group. Indicate whether or not his approach is likely to work in a different organizational setting. Provide support for your rationale.

4.Assess the effectiveness of Richard Bransons ability to articulate and communicate his vision for his company to employees and other stakeholders. Provide support for your rationale.

5.Assume that you have received a job offer to be a manager within the Virgin Group. Determine the criteria you would use to evaluate whether Richard Bransons leadership style is a good fit for you as a manager and what conclusion you may draw about working under this type of leader.

6.Take a position on whether or not you believe Richard Branson is a global leader. Justify your position and provide support for your justification.

7.Predict Richard Bransons success as a leader over the next five (5) years. Support your prediction.

8.Use at least three (3) quality academic resources. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources. .

Key Elements of Branson’s Leadership

Richard Branson is among the great entrepreneurs of the time who have grown in the business world. Richard has made many entrepreneurial attempts, among which his main company the Virgin Group emanated.  The organization operates in the airways sector running in various countries of the world. Under the Leadership of Branson, the company has managed to be mentioned among the fast growing businesses in the world (Murphy, 2012). Therefore, the leadership of Branson has a lot for business leaders to learn.

Richard Branson as one of the most successful entrepreneurs has various leadership style aspects that he has applied to attain business leadership success. One of the most important aspects of Branson’s leadership is him being the founder and the chairman of the Virgin Group business. This position has given Branson an opportunity to make primary independent decisions that are not influenced by any other party in the business in any way whatsoever. Also, the independence of business leadership gave him a chance to collect comments and opinions from the workers. Such kind of feedback has helped him build the business and also made the employees feel respected in their capacity (Branson, 2010b).

The ability of Branson to the lead the business without the influence of other parties has enabled him to have control over the entire business. He regulates the idea implementation process through selection and managing the execution process (Blustein, 2013). Branson can set any objective and work towards achieving it at the proper speed. Therefore, this autonomy has helped him move his business to a greater level since there is no interruption nor resistance to his views and plans.

Various aspects come out of the leadership of Branson that matches the successful management of the multifaceted business. Firstly, the leadership style of Richard Branson as the aspect of creating an open of environment of trust. This aspect has helped Branson to keep the employees motivated, and this has contributed to the successful management of his multifaceted business environment (Altman, 2009). Branson allows employees to make comments, give suggestions and opinions and then plan for their implementation. Therefore, this has helped Branson to achieve the aspect of respecting the views of the worker which is an essential aspect of the successful management of the business (Chung, 2009).

Also, Branson has managed to lead the multifaceted business through hiring the rightful employees successfully. He always looks for the best talent to work with, and this has been key in helping the successful management of the business. Besides, Branson is always on the frontline to create a culture that fosters innovation (Branson, 2010a). Culture is one of the most powerful ways to influence people in a given business organization and thus, has helped him to manage the business (Cong & Yu, 2009).

Unique Aspects of Branson for Managing a multi-faceted Business

Branson has always worked to motivate his employees. Branson has used the aspect of company vision to communicate to the employees in a way that motivates and increases their feeling of belonging to the company. He has been able to incorporate the direction for the by integration into its organizational culture in the vision of the company. The vision of this organization communicates clearly to employees on where they are expected to go and also points out what they are required to do to reach theirs. Therefore, in his management, Branson has managed to provide a vivid direction to both the employees and also the stakeholders through integration in the corporate culture.

Branson has adopted a simple style of leadership which has helped him to become one of the greatest business leaders in the entrepreneurial world. This type of leadership has enabled Branson to create a vision for direction and incorporating it into the organizational culture of the company which provides a guide on the way the employees execute their tasks. Therefore, Branson’s leadership promotes a good working climate which essential in the success of businesses.

The simple leadership style of Branson is likely to also work in other organizations. A continuous communication between the managers will promote better working relations. There will be a good relation between the managers and the workers. The leadership helps the managers to get the best suggestions from the employees which can be helpful. Besides, the approach makes it for the managers to execute and communicate their minds because most of the employee expectations are embedded in the organizational culture. Therefore, the leadership aspects of Branson can successfully work in other organizations.

Branson is efficient in the way he communicates his company vision to the employees and also the other stakeholders in the company. Branson seeks to get every opportunity to use for getting input to his business from his employees and other stakeholders. He is always ambitious and works towards breaking all the barriers that exist in the company by advocating for the parties and other related events to increase the openness of the employees so that they can air out great ideas. Branson uses such events to humbly listen to ideas of his employees (Busine, Watt, Wellins & Boatman, 2013). He has gone ahead to participate in such events thus playing a big role in the communication of the vision in the company.

Key Aspects of Branson that Motivates the Employees

It is clear that Branson has managed to effectively communicate the vision to the employees and other stakeholders in the organization by breaking down all the barriers that exist between the people in the company. His willingness to sit down with every level of employees has helped him to communicate the vision effectively. He believes that the CEOs are defined by the team, and thus they must respect and value every person in the group (Yukl, 2013).

 If I become a manager at the Virgin group where I will have to work with Branson, I will seek to evaluate and understand certain aspects of leadership. This will be mainly regarding his treatment of employees and also his entrepreneurial mind. A look at various aspects of Branson’s leadership reveals that he is one of the great business leaders to work with. He values employee’s comments and suggestions and has always tried to implement them in his business (Richard, 2011). This openness personality and a continuous search for new lucrative ideas for implementation make Virgin Group be a great place to work. Given that am an ambitious employee, working with Branson will one of the best ways for me to learn and move to another level.

Besides, Branson does not only stay innovative but also treats his workers in a good way. As a manager I will find it a good idea to work with Branson at the Virgin group because he will treat me well, respect my ideas and opinions and thus, I will find an ideal environment for growth. In as much as working at Virgin seems to a good deal, there are also certain aspects that I dislike. This includes the fact that there hierarchical leadership at Virgin which brings about bureaucracy in the way of operation. Such factors can lower my performance due to many steps expected in doing things (Boatman & Wellins, 2011). I can conclude Branson's leadership that success in leading business lies in the culture that leaders create in the company.

A look at the Branson's leadership has driven me to take a position that Branson is indeed a global business leader. He has all it takes to lead the company to produce quality and at the same time satisfy the employees (Robbins & Judge, 2010). Branson has a personality that is suited to stand the current needs of the economy in the business world. Branson has a clear vision and uses the best ways to communicate it to the employees and the stakeholders. He uses every opportunity to interact with all the people at different positions and ranks (Lirong & Minxin, 2008).

Effectiveness of Branson’s Communication of the vision

Besides, Branson is innovative in all aspects of the business. Success in the global business demands for leaders to embrace entrepreneurial creativity and innovation. He gets the comments, suggestions, and opinions of his employees and other stakeholders and then puts in practice (Oladipo, Jamilah, Abdul, Jeffery & Salami, 2013). This virtue makes Branson one of the able global business leaders who can stand competition through innovation.

Over a period of five years, Branson is likely to remain successful. In fact, there is more likelihood of him grow further. He has what it takes for success in business leadership and also what will be needed for the coming days (Johansen, 2009). Through his entrepreneurial attributes, Branson is likely to come up great ideas which will drive the business to another level over the coming period of five years. Therefore, his leadership style will make him stand various kinds of challenges in the business over this period of five years.

Conclusion

In conclusion, driving business enterprises to great heights demands for great business leaders. Richard Branson is one of these great business leaders have been successful with his leadership style. Humbleness and ability to listen to people at different ranks, and the willingness to stay innovative is key for great business leaders. Therefore, these are the attributes that are required for the global business for now and even the coming days.

References

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Blustein, A. (2013). What kind of a leader are you? Inc., 35(8), 58-59.

Boatman, J., & Wellins, R. (2011). Global leadership forecast 2011: Time for a leadership revolution. Pittsburgh, PA: Development Dimensions International.

Branson, R. (2010a). Richard Branson on mistakes and bouncing back. BRW, 32(21), 14.

Branson, R. (2010b). Your people are your best assets - celebrate them. Canadian Business, 83(4/5), 9.

Busine, M., Watt, B., Wellins, R., & Boatman, J. (2013). Driving workplace performance through high-quality conversations: What leaders must do every day to be effective. Pittsburgh, PA: Development Dimensions International.

Chung, (2009). The Exploration of Relationship between the Organizational Culture and Style of Leadership, IEEE.

Cong, Y. & Yu, W. (2009). An Empirical Study of Relationship among Leadership Style, Psychological Empowerment and Service Innovation, Information Management, Innovation Management and Industrial Engineering, International Conference, 386-390

Johansen, B. (2009). Leaders make the future: Ten new leadership skills for an uncertain world. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Lirong L. & Minxin, M. (2008). Impact of the leadership style of organizational change, IEEE

Murphy, K. (2012, January 15). Richard Branson. New York Times. p. 2.

Oladipo K., Jamilah O., Abdul, S., Jeffery L. & Salami D. (2013). Review of leadership theories and Organizational performances. International Business Management Journal, 7(1), 50-54

Richard B. (2011). Outside, 36(4), 62

Robbins, S. & Judge, T. (2010). Organizational Behavior. 14th Ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in Organizations. 8th Ed. Pearson Education, Inc, Upper Saddle River, NJ.