Leadership Project: The Qualities And Attributes Of Its Leadership

Leadership Project
Student’s Name
Institution
Leadership Project
Introduction
One of the key determinants of success in an organization is leadership. The type of leadership present in an organization determines the behaviors of employees as they carry out their duties to help attain organizational goals. Theories have been put forth by scholars to explain leadership behaviors and how they impact a company’s performance. These theories explain different types of leadership and how they impact the behaviors of employees in an organization. The Fortune 500 companies have leaders with different styles of leadership and each have achieved success in their own different ways. This paper examines two leaders, Satya Nadella, and the late Steve Jobs, both of whom have had remarkable influences in the performance of their respective companies. The paper compares their leadership styles and performance and goes on to assess the change of leadership styles over time. Finally, I offer an assessment of my leadership style.
Leadership profiles
Satya Nadella
Satya Nadella is Microsoft’s current CEO, a position he has held since February 2014 (Nadella & Euchner, 2018). Before then, Nadella held various leadership positions in the company including overseeing consumer and enterprise operations. He also served as the VP of the company’s Business Division. Prior to joining Microsoft, Nadella was a technology staff member at Sun Microsystems.
There are certain attributes that underpin the success of Nadella as the leader of Microsoft: humility, confidence, and intelligence. Nadella portrays great humility when dealing with the members of the organization. According to Eragula (2016), in order for a leader to build trust and respect with employees, they must have humility, regardless of the power and authority they possess. The author mentions that Nadella’s humility plays a key role in encouraging employees in the company. In an email sent to the employees in which he shared the mission and vision of the company, Nadella addresses them as “team” rather than subordinates (Eragula, 2016). Eragula points out that such respect of the employees goes a long way in encouraging them. Confidence is another key attribute that defines Nadella. In the wake of declining reputation the company was facing during his appointment, he launched new products that turned around the company’s fortunes. As informed by Eragula (2016), when confidence is blended with humility, followers can easily trust their leaders. Nadella has also portrayed a great deal of intelligence as the company’s CEO. Nadella learns from his interaction with people and the environment. In a trip to Europe, Nusca (2016) describes how Nadella “extracted intelligence in each European capital” (p. 83).
The transformational leadership theory fits well the leadership behavior of Nadella. As informed by Arnold and Loughlin (2013), transformational leaders inspire commitment, engagement, and satisfaction among followers. Nadella’s leadership behavior is consistent with the components of transformational leadership: idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and individual con...