LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONL BEHAVIOR

Select a well-known (or well known to you) leader or pair of leaders, and describe their leadership styles in relation to other course concepts.

Suggested topic: Compare Apple leaders Steve Jobs and Tim Cook but don’t select either of them as your leader.

Describe the leader(s) in relation to key course concepts, including:

1. Summarize the leader’s key strengths, values, goals and achievements. You might also discuss key influences, challenges, passions, weaknesses, seeming contradictions, and most surprising characteristics. Include some quotes from your leader, people who worked with him or her, and major articles written about him or her (e.g. in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, NY Times, etc.).

2. Leadership. Describe relevant aspects of the person’s leadership skills, styles, behaviors, strengths, weaknesses, derailers, etc. (Some of these topics could be included with extra topics below.) What does this leader value (espoused or actual)? Would you describe this leader’s decision making style as autocratic, participative, empowering, centralized, des-centralized.? Is this person more of a leader or a manager? Is this a positive, energizing leader? Which leadership theories are most relevant to this person? Is this leader: Visionary, innovative, charismatic, inspiring, hard-driving, results driven, strategic, or a servant leader? A transactional or transformation leader, a change leader? A leader or a manager? Which behaviors or aspects of Path-Goal Theory are most relevant to this leader? How does this leader use power and influence?