A good leader is passionate and has a clear vision. He aligns his followers and motivates them to achieve the goal beneficial for the company. Good leaders do not compromise on ethics either, like in this case study-

H. Ross Perot started his career as a salesman for IBM. In the 1960s he started his own company, Electric Data Systems (EDS), one of the first businesses that built and serviced computer systems for other companies. In contrast to IBM, Perot trained his workers to do whatever needed to be done for a customer without waiting for approval. There was a strong bias toward action.

In the beginning, Perot shunned strategic planning. Over the next few years, however, he hired military officers who could take orders and give orders. Perot’s slogan was “Go, do.”

If an employee took credit for someone else’s work, they were out the door. The motto of Perot’s company at one point was “We bring order to chaos.”

Subordinates have a tendency to restrain themselves and be apprehensive when it comes to interacting with their leaders. Most employees think that they work for the person above them. Leadership requires the discretion to treating everyone equally and in doing so respect individual differences and developmental levels or skill set. Efficient leaders practice leadership rather than supervision and assign members important and responsible tasks.

When General Electric’s top management launched a major drive to encourage their high-level executives to embrace information-age technology and use it in their daily work, they found that many of the veteran managers were computer illiterate. Jack Welch, GE’s chairman and CEO liked to get things done quickly. He then asked the top managers to find a mentor, a younger tech savvy employee to help them in advancing their knowledge in technology. Welch himself did the same, as he used to communicate using hand-written notes too. The young employees felt more at ease with the top managers and observed first-hand the abilities needed to be successful at that level. Not only it increased their confidence and facilitated knowledge exchange, it also strengthened the leader-follower bond.

Researches have confirmed that high job performance is directly related to high leader-member exchange. GE, back in 2000 showed us a great example of motivating the employees and learning from each other.

At its simplest, empathy can be defined as the ability to understand other people’s emotions and feelings. It helps us understand a person’s experience from their perspective. It encourages pro-social behaviour. Leaders first understand the other’s perspective and then respond. Whether in negotiation or to form leader-follower relationship, empathy is imperative to make decisions.

Toro, the lawn equipment manufacturer, is accustomed to lawsuits, due to the inherent hazards associated with using its machinery. During the late 1980s, the company was facing major financial troubles and put Ken Melrose in place as CEO. One of his first successes was reducing the company’s cost of lawsuits by implementing a new mediation policy, and invoking an important leadership trait: empathy.

Prior to Melrose’s tenure, Toro faced about 50 lawsuits every year involving serious injuries. He decided to switch to mediation to address product liability claims. This approach included sending a company representative to meet with people injured by Toro products, as well as their families. The objective was to see what went wrong, express the firm’s sympathy and attend to the family’s needs. One result of the new mediation policy was a 95% rate of resolving the company’s claims, along with significant cost savings.

Great leaders recognize problems and do what it takes to overcome them. They are open and empathetic and let their values guide their actions.

Leadership is the ability to not only understand and utilize one’s innate talents, but to also effectively leverage the natural strengths of one’s team to accomplish the mission. Leaders better whichever environment they are in and demonstrate great power to unite their team and empower them to achieve organisational goals. Leaders establish their efficiency certain set of traits, which we will discuss in this blog series.

Failure does not stop a leader; it works as a stimulus for him to do better. A leader envisions how he can transform an obstacle into an opportunity.With necessary skills at his disposal to do so,the leader bounces back from difficult circumstances.

When the organisation’s reputation is at stake, not all leaders are able to safeguard against sudden crisis that threatens financial well-being, reputation, or survival of the firm or some portion thereof.

Take the example of, PepsiCo’s can tampering rumors (1993)

The crisis: A syringe was allegedly found in a can of Diet Pepsi in Washington state. The following week, more than 50 reports of tampered Diet Pepsi cans sprung up across the country. It turned out to be a hoax.

How PepsiCo responded: Both PepsiCo and the FDA were confident that the reports were fabrications, so the company came out hard, defending itself staunchly against the accusations.

But PepsiCo didn’t make vague statements telling the public to simply trust it. The company produced four videos throughout the crisis, such as a comprehensive report on its soda canning process. The most compelling was a surveillance tape of a woman in a Colorado store putting a syringe into a can of Diet Pepsi behind the store clerk’s back.

PepsiCo North America CEO Craig Weatherup appeared on news stations armed not only with visual evidence of the bogus reports, but with the explicit support of the FDA. He appeared most notably on Nightline with FDA Commissioner David Kessler, and they both assured the public that Diet Pepsi was safe.

The result: The rumors fizzled out within two weeks following multiple arrests by the FDA for filing false reports. Diet Pepsi sales had fallen 2% during the crisis but recovered within a month.The situation required an aggressive defence because PepsiCo hadn’t done anything wrong. If the company remained quiet and complacent the damage could have been far worse.